CBRE hire pursues retail investments; Parkview appoints construction loan chiefs; Buchalter expands real estate team

Mark Damiani joined CBRE’s National Retail Partners team as an executive vice president in Orange County, California. The brokerage said Damiani, based in Irvine, will focus on institutional sales of retail properties. He has nearly two decades of industry experience, serving most recently as managing director at Eastdil Secured after earlier work as a director at HFF, now part of JLL.

Damiani has handled more than 150 transactions with a total value of more than $30 billion on behalf of institutional and private clients, primarily in the West. CBRE said the National Retail Partners team has handled more than $57 billion in investment sales in more than 2,400 transactions totaling 336 million square feet to date. 

Alternative investment firm Parkview Financial hired new leaders for its development-focused financing business. One is Scott Denham, who joined as a managing director and head of nationwide construction. The Los Angeles-based company said Denham will oversee the underwriting and risk assessment of existing and new construction loans and monitor their performance. He has more than 25 years of investment and development experience in multiple property categories, serving most recently as a senior vice president at Mack Real Estate Group, where he led national industrial development. Before that, Denham held positions at Freeman Group, Rexford Industrial Realty, EVOQ Properties and CIM Group.

Abe Kohn is another new leader at Parkview Financial. He was named vice president of construction and will oversee projects in the Northeast, the firm said. Kohn is based in the firm’s New York office and reports to Denham in Los Angeles. Kohn has more than 13 years of development experience in several property categories, working most recently as associate director at construction consulting firm Gardiner & Theobald. 

Michelle Da Rosa and Ian Taylor joined national business law firm Buchalter as shareholders in the Pacific Northwest. Da Rosa is based in the Los Angeles-based firm's Portland, Oregon, office, and Taylor is based in its Seattle office. The industry veterans are now members of Buchalter’s real estate practice group after prior work in private and public law positions.

Buchalter said Da Rosa’s practice involves traditional real estate transactions, along with development and renewable energy projects. She works with commercial and residential real estate developers and other clients in the hotel, wind, solar and natural gas industries. Taylor represents landlords and tenants in their sales and leasing of office, retail and distribution facilities, along with cell towers, marinas and aviation properties. He also advises on eminent domain and other legislative and regulatory matters, the law firm said.

Real estate investment firm The Ardent Cos. appointed Matt Snyder as managing director in Chicago. Atlanta-based Ardent said Snyder, who worked most recently as executive managing director at Newmark, will oversee Ardent’s debt sourcing, product development and related functions in the Chicago region. He has more than 20 years of experience in debt-related services, including work in commercial mortgage-backed securities and real estate loans. All told, he has handled more than $50 billion in finance transactions.

Prior to Newmark, Snyder co-led the Midwest and East Coast origination teams at Mesa West Capital and worked in Wells Fargo’s Real Estate Capital Markets group. With a presence in 39 states, the privately owned Ardent Cos. has about $3 billion in assets under management. 

Holt Lunsford Commercial Investments, or HLCI, hired Matthew Sibley as a vice president. In his new job, he's responsible for sourcing and completing investments in the Houston region, the Dallas-based company said. Specifically, he will oversee the sourcing, negotiation, due diligence, zoning, and design and construction of HLCI Houston assets.

Sibley previously served as associate director of industrial development at Stream Realty Partners, where he handled investment functions across several regions in the Southeast. In that role, he also presented investment opportunities to Stream’s investment committee and oversaw construction timelines and leasing efforts of existing projects.

Sibley managed construction timelines and leasing efforts for existing projects at Stream. From 2020 to 2022, he worked as an asset analyst with CBRE Multifamily Capital.