JLL expanded its senior management team in West Palm Beach, Florida, with the addition of office leasing veterans Kevin Probel and Kevin McCarthy, who join the brokerage as the market contends with an increase in the amount of available space.
Probel and McCarthy, who joined JLL’s office leasing team as senior managing directors from rival CBRE, are charged with growing the firm’s commercial real estate advisory and transaction services for tenants and landlords.
In their new roles, the two will continue to focus on representing office owners and landlords while working to grow the firm’s West Palm Beach office.
“One of the most important aspects of our business is understanding your client base, and we recognize that South Florida is much more than just Miami which is why we are investing to strengthen our services within the Palm Beach office market,” Rod Barnes, JLL market director for South Florida, said in a statement.
In Palm Beach, office vacancy rates have inched upward, to 8.3%, over the last year, with tenants downsizing to smaller spaces to help save on costs, according to CoStar's latest market report. While the market’s office vacancy rate is well below the national average of 13.3%, tenants moved out of 157,000 square feet more space than they moved into over the past 12 months.
Office demand has concentrated on high-end, Class A spaces, which remain in limited supply despite the increase in development in Palm Beach County's central business district. Over 1.9 million square feet has been completed over the past decade, with the majority coming on line after 2015. An additional 970,000 square feet of office space has been completed over the past three years, including the Related Cos.' 20-story, 300,000-square-foot 360 Rosemary building that is nearly fully leased.
Between Probel and McCarthy, the two have completed over 320 leasing transactions involving a total of 1.4 million square feet and having an aggregate value of $250 million during their tenure as first vice presidents of transaction and advisory services at CBRE.
Probel began his real estate career at Prentiss Properties Trust where he spent 12 years and was responsible for the leasing, management and construction of more than 4 million square feet of office space throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. He would then move on to serve five years with Related and as a vice president at JLL for six years.
McCarthy spent six years with JLL as senior vice president leading the firm’s Palm Beach brokerage division after the company’s acquisition of the Staubach Co., where advised clients on occupancy issues and managed the firm’s transaction process in the downtown Chicago office market. He also spent six years as a broker with Lee Real Estate.