Cushman & Wakefield has hired a longtime JLL broker who has represented a who’s who list of clients in more than 9 million square feet of office deals in New York.
Randy Abend joined Cushman & Wakefield as an executive managing director and is based in the firm’s New York office, the Chicago-based real estate services firm said Monday in a statement. Abend will focus on tenant representation as well as brokering on behalf of property owners in agency client services throughout the Manhattan office market.
He also will handle national and international account work for larger corporate clients, Cushman & Wakefield said.
Cushman’s New York office team expansion comes as it reports that second-quarter Manhattan new office leasing surged to 8.4 million square feet, the highest quarterly total since the pre-pandemic fourth quarter of 2019. Class A new leasing totaled 6.9 million square feet, the highest quarterly total since the second quarter of 2011, Cushman said, adding that renewal activity also “accelerated.”
Before joining Cushman & Wakefield, Abend spent 23 years at JLL, most recently as a managing director in JLL’s New York office. While at JLL, he worked on deals representing clients including Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, Wellington Management, Microsoft, Meredith, Oracle, Carlyle Group, BXP and Silverstein Properties.
“Randy’s deep expertise in both tenant representation and agency leasing, combined with his proven track record advising some of the world’s most recognized companies, will be an incredible asset to our clients,” Cushman Northeast Regional President Todd Schwartz said in the statement. “His addition underscores our commitment to growing our platform with top talent who deliver exceptional results throughout the Northeast and across the country.”
At Cushman, Abend joins its New York office leasing team of Adam Ardise, Stephen Bellwood, Bryan Boisi and Daniel Thompson.