Newmark has expanded its capital markets business with the launch of a data center and digital infrastructure group anchored by Brent Mayo, who joined the brokerage this month. The new practice is aimed at fortifying Newmark's data center consulting work and is part of the firm's effort to expand in alternative asset classes. Mayo, based in New York City, joined Newmark from DH Capital, a firm that's a division of Citizens, an investment bank that focuses on data centers and digital infrastructure. In his new role, Mayo will work with Newmark’s capital markets brokers on capital formation, financing and asset and portfolio sales. He'll also collaborate with the data center consulting group advisers.

Chad Lavender, Newmark's president of capital markets for North America, said the time is right to expand its business because digital infrastructure and data centers have become increasingly relevant in today's global economy. In fact, Newmark said, demand for the data center space is expected to outpace the current estimated projection of a 10% annual compound annual growth rate through 2030, partly because of advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Berkadia's hotels and hospitality group, which last month hired Andy Wimsatt from Eastdil Secured, added the team of Christian Charre, Paul Weimer and Natalie Castillo from CBRE Hotels. Charre and Weimer joined as senior managing directors and Castillo as a managing director. At CBRE, Charre and Weimer worked with owners and investors in Florida, the Caribbean, and Latin America, and Castillo specialized in sales of select-service and extended-stay hotels in Florida and across the Sun Belt. Prior to CBRE, the team worked at The Charre Group. Charre, Weimer and Castillo are based in Miami and report to Wimsatt.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities President and Chief Financial Officer Dean Shigenaga submitted his resignation last week. Shigenaga, who has served as president of the Pasadena, California-based real estate investment trust since January 2001 and CFO since December 2004, is stepping down "for important personal family health reasons," according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Alexandria, known for its life science developments, said following Shigenaga's departure, it is expected that he"will continue to assist the company with transitional matters and ongoing as a strategic consultant." His resignation is effective Sept. 15.

On Thursday, the REIT said its board elected Marc Binda to take over as chief financial officer and treasurer when Shigenaga leaves next month. Binda, 47, has served as executive vice president of finance and as treasurer since June 2019. He joined Alexandria in January 2005.

JLL's property management group has tapped Lewis Taulbee, a 30-year veteran of the commercial real estate industry, to direct its receivership team as managing director of asset resolutions. In his new role Taulbee, who previously worked as JLL’s director of business development for the national retail group, will lead the receivership team in providing turnaround strategies for distressed assets across the U.S. “Although the commercial real estate industry is facing unprecedented challenges, it is also one of the most exciting times as it calls for a new generation of visionaries and pioneers to reimagine and recreate" properties in distress, Taulbee said in a statement.

Taulbee and his team will work with special servicers, lenders, bond holders, investors and others and offer a single channel of interdisciplinary property resolutions. Before joining JLL, he held positions with Starwood Capital, CompassRock Real Estate and Simon Property Group.

Savills has hired veteran broker Zak Snider as part of its life science team in North Carolina. Snider joined Savills as an executive managing director in Raleigh-Durham region. In his new role, Snider will focus on growing Savills' Southeast life science business. He'll work closely with Austin Barrett, head of the firm's life science practice group and with Vinnie Durand and Ryanne Boursiquot, both of whom are also based in Savills' Raleigh, North Carolina, office. In addition, Snider will work on local business pursuits and recruitment with North Carolina market leader and Executive Vice President Tucker Shade.

Prior to joining Savills, Snider worked for a local life science owner and as vice president of global real estate partnerships and asset management at WeWork. He also served as a senior Vice President at CBRE in New York City, executing more than 10 million square feet of transactions, including two separate deals over 1 million square feet and several transactions eclipsing 100,000 square feet.

Colliers has named broker KB Yabuku as vice president of its Atlanta office tenant representation team. Yabuku. who joined Colliers in January 2022 from Ackerman & Co., has transitioned to the role from his previous position as a senior-level consultant and sales pro on Colliers' occupier services group. In his new role, he will focus on representing office tenants across the Southeast. Before working for Ackerman, where Yabuku worked as an investment sales broker, he was an associate director at Stan Johnson Co., now part of Northmarq, where he specialized the sale of net-lease properties across the country. He also worked at BB&T, which is now known as Truist, Staubach Co. and JLL.

Kingbird Investment Management, the real estate subsidiary of Puerto Rico-based family-owned investment company Grupo Ferré Rangel, has hired 30-year industry veteran Mark Pasierb as president. Based in Boston, Pasierb succeeds Ken Munkacy, who is retiring from the firm after five years at Kingbird and more than three decades in the industry. As Kingbird president, Pasierb will set the strategic direction of the firm’s portfolio, manage its financial performance, and more broadly will oversee Kingbird’s mainland U.S. and Puerto Rico operations.

Because Pasierb has a record of leading organizations through dramatically changing markets, "he’s arriving at Kingbird at a pivotal time,” CEO Antonio Luis Ferré Rangel said in a statement. Before joining Kingbird, Pasierb served as the CEO and president of Pitcairn Properties for 18 years. He also has held senior roles at The Rubenstein Co., where he was a partner, and PGIM Real Estate, where he served as a director.

Commercial and multifamily mortgage banking firm BWE has entered the South Florida market with an office led by Executive Vice President Dan Rosenberg, who joined the firm in 2020 in Chicago. The firm said it hired Maxx Carney as a senior vice president in its new office. Carney joined BWE after for nearly 10 years at JLL, where he was on the capital markets team. He has been involved in more than $4 billion of real estate transactions across the U.S.

For his part, Rosenberg will continue to serve as head of BWE's Chicago office in addition to his new role spearheading the firm's expansion in South Florida. While the new office means BWE will serve clients based in South Florida, "it will also benefit our Midwest-based clients interested in pursuing opportunities in the Southeast," he said in a statement. BWE said it will "continue to bring on new producers and add offices in South Florida in the years to come."