The head of Newport Beach-based Voit Real Estate Services’ brokerage operations in Orange County has jumped to one of its biggest competitors.
Kurt Strasmann last week resigned from Voit, which he joined in 2009, and moved to Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.
He’ll be heading up CB Richard Ellis’ industrial practice in OC, Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.
The regional industrial group counts close to 140 brokers, according to Lewis Horne, executive managing director for the company’s Los Angeles and OC operations. About 35 of those brokers are based in OC.
The industrial group is said to bring in close to $100 million in annual revenue for CB Richard Ellis.
Strasmann will join the brokerage as a senior managing director and head up its Commerce office.
He said he plans to keep an active presence in OC, where CB Richard Ellis’ recently expanded office in Newport Beach serves as the company’s West Coast operations hub.
The brokerage’s local operations will continue to be run by senior managing director Jeff Moore, who also oversees CB Richard Ellis’ retail operations in Southern California.
The company’s looking to “selectively add” a few brokers to its regional industrial practice, according to Strasmann.
CB Richard Ellis already is the area’s largest commercial real estate brokerage in the region. It ranked as OC’s largest in 2009, working on about $2.4 billion worth of leases and sales.
Voit ranked No. 3 among area brokerages in 2009, working on about $1.3 billion worth of deals.
Surprise Move
The Business Journal’s list of largest commercial real estate brokerages for 2010 will be published next week. Most companies on the list are expected to post year-over-year gains in number of deals, thanks to improving market conditions.
Strasmann’s move caught many in the county’s tight-knit brokerage community by surprise.
It comes a little more than a year and a half after he joined Voit from Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co.
He’d worked at Grubb for 24 years and served as the head of the company’s brokerage operations in OC at the time of his departure. Prior to that, he was one of Grubb’s top industrial brokers.
At Voit he helped open a handful of new brokerage offices in Southern California, a push that was part of the company’s overall expansion plans during the past two years.
Officials for Voit declined to comment on his departure and said they do not have a replacement to announce at this time.
The locally based brokerage has lost a few of its top names in the past few months.
John Strockis, who also joined Voit in mid-2009 and served as managing director of the company’s asset services division, recently left the company. He took over as president at Tustin-based Mar West Real Estate, a commercial real estate services company.
In November, John Pierce, president of Voit’s commercial brokerage division, died after a lengthy fight with liver cancer.
Voit has made some recent executive and broker hires.
Robert Osbrink joined from Grubb & Ellis as executive regional director. He’ll direct Voit’s 10 brokerage offices.
Cary Calkin joined as director of asset services, working with banks, insurance companies, special servicers and others. Calkin, who replaces Strockis, hails from U.S. Bank.
Jason Gallelli and his retail brokerage team joined Voit’s Sacramento office. Gallelli came from Colliers International.
