Cushman & Wakefield loses third Miami exec - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Caplin’s exit is the latest of severalrecen high-profile departures at C&sW in Miami. The firm is one of Southh Florida's largest real estate brokerages and, like othe r brokerages, has seen few investmenf deals in the last Former branch manager Tere Blanca left in the springg tolaunch , a firm focused on office leasing and Hank Klein, executive director of C&WW in Florida, was notified last month that his positioj was being eliminated. Steelbridge owns and managese propertythroughout Florida. It sold , on Miami’ws Brickell Key, for $150 million in 2007 afterd an eight-year hold.
Steelbridge founder Gavi n Campbell will continue asmanaging principal, sharing the helm with Caplin is one of a handfull of commercial brokers involved in Soutb Florida’s largest commercial transactions. Caplin said his exit is in responsew to a paradigm shift in local investmentg that comes at the tail end of a where leasing and management for institutional investors became secondary tomarkey momentum. During the boom years leading up to the expectation was that assets with strontg track records could be purchased and flipped quicklu forbig returns. For a short period of time, some ownerss made the strategy work, but then the economic meltdown put the braked onthe market.
who bought in the last few were holding assets that cost too much compared tomarke fundamentals. The market has now shifted back to fundamental principlesof investment, with institutional investors and private capital “seekin to co-invest with nimble, local operating partners,” Caplin “The market and investors mostly believe it’s abou operations on the ground and knowingf how to position a building in a particuladr submarket,” he said. Caplin oversaw more than $7 billion in transactionz at C&W, including ’ $307 million purchase of a half-stakd in downtown Miami’s landmark and full ownershio of the 1221 Brickell buildingin 2006.
He was involved in the sale of 355 Alhambraz in Coral Gablesfor $87.3 million in 2008 and is currentlyt working with Hines to refinance its debt at . Caplinh is a graduate of south Miami-Dadw County’s Palmetto High School. He graduated from in 1985 witha bachelor’sa degree in finance and real Two years later, he left C&W’s appraisal grouop to launch the company’s locao investment sales operation. Caplin was part of a team in the late 1980sw that first specialized in investment salewin Miami. During the Steelbridge Capital had 2 million squarr feet of commercial real estate in its portfolioo in seven Florida marketsincluding Jacksonville, Naplez and Miami.
They sold much of it from 2005to 2007. Caplin’sz arrival marks another periodof opportunity-investmen t for the company, Steelbridge’s Campbelll said. "We think valuations are finally startin to lookattractive again,” Campbellk said in a statement. “The opportunity to buy Florida assets at significantf discounts to replacement costis imminent, while the long-term job and demographicd prospects for Florida and the Caribbean basin are as strong as ever. Jay’s leadership will be the linchpibn ofour strategy.
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