Northmarq expands investment team in LA; BH taps director to grow retail portfolio; CBRE adds to litigation support team

Northmarq added Tim Kuruzar as senior vice president of commercial investment sales in its Los Angeles office. Kuruzar is a 19-year industry veteran who most recently was a senior director in the Los Angeles office of JLL, where he served for seven years after earlier work as a vice president at CBRE. He has closed more than $3 billion in investment transactions across Southern California. In his new Northmarq position, he will focus on retail investment advisory for clients nationwide.

Minneapolis-based Northmarq also bolstered its national debt and equity business with three new hires. It added Chinmay Bhatt, Noam Franklin and Cody Kirkpatrick as managing directors in its debt and equity finance practice. All three previously led the joint-venture equity and structured capital group at Berkadia, where they handled over $7 billion in transactions across 24 states. Before that, Bhatt, Franklin and Kirkpatrick founded Central Park Capital Partners, an advisory firm that Berkadia acquired in 2019 and made part of its national equity platform. Bhatt and Franklin also did earlier finance work in the United Arab Emirates. 

Investment firm BH Properties appointed Janel Jensen as managing director of retail properties. Jensen is based in the Los Angeles-based firm’s Seattle office. The company said Jensen will lead leasing, merchandising and positioning efforts for BH Properties’ growing portfolio of West Coast retail and mixed-use properties that include high-profile centers it recently acquired in Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego. Prior to joining BH Properties, Jensen served as a director and market leader at Unico Properties, where she focused on retail and mixed-use centers. She worked earlier as a senior associate at Real Retail in Seattle, handling ground-floor merchandising and leasing of Amazon’s headquarters, as well as leasing for Evergreens Salad. 

Alden Katagihara joined the national litigation support and dispute group at CBRE, as the real estate services firm said it is expanding its appraisal services by establishing a national roster of experts. CBRE said Katagihara joined the firm as a senior vice president and is to be based in its downtown Los Angeles office. Katagihara previously served as senior director at Ankura Real Estate Advisory in Los Angeles. His experience includes valuation, litigation support, financial reporting, feasibility analysis and due diligence work for property acquisitions. Katagihara’s work has been focused on property sectors including retail, office, self-storage, parking lots, hotels, car washes and religious facilities.

Cushman & Wakefield hired Kelly Evans as senior managing director of the firm’s multimarket advisory solutions team. She is based in Atlanta. Evans worked most recently at CBRE, where she held several positions, including global senior director for the company’s portfolio service and sales team during her 11-year tenure there.

At Cushman, Evans will report to Paul Koenigsdorf, executive managing director of occupier advisory services, the real estate services firm said.

Cushman is working to expand its tenant representation services, including those geared to data analytics for clients in property categories such as office, industrial, retail and data centers. 

Retail property brokerage Western Retail Advisors promoted John Leffler to associate vice president. He's based in Western Retail's office in Irvine, California. The Phoenix-based company said Leffler will take on expanded responsibilities on behalf of landlord and tenant clients, including site selection, lease negotiations and growth initiatives. Western Retail is seeking to grow its client base in Southern California, which includes retail and restaurant operators.

Leffler is a 15-year industry veteran who joined Western Retail in 2022 as a senior associate. He's represented national clients such as Jersey Mike’s and Wingstop in securing new locations. He worked previously as a residential real estate broker at GateHouse Properties and also co-owned a regional brokerage. His early career included co-owning a retail mortgage bank with 220 employees.