Global brokerage Newmark is working to expand its leasing operation, and it tapped a company veteran with deep ties in the tech world to lead the group as transaction activity lags.
Newmark said it named Elizabeth Hart, one of its top-producing brokers in the San Francisco Bay Area, to serve as president of leasing for its businesses in North America. As part of her promotion, she will join Newmark's executive committee and report to CEO Barry Gosin.
"Thank you to our clients and advisors whose collaboration, support, and love have influenced me from a junior starting place to this big turning point as Newmark’s President of Leasing, North America," Hart wrote in a LinkedIn post. "I'm excited about the future of commercial real estate, the pace of change in our industry and the opportunity at Newmark!"
In her new role, Hart is responsible for driving the overall strategy of Newmark's leasing. Newmark said she will work with leadership to form a leasing executive committee and with the global corporate services group to expand the firm's tenant representation, including building on existing services that address its clients' workforce flexible office needs.
Newmark's creation of the president of leasing position follows a period of dwindling U.S. demand caused by fits and starts in workers returning to their workplaces and tenants struggling to figure out how much space they need as the pandemic eases.
The amount of office square footage leased in the fourth quarter was 14.4% lower than the third quarter, and 20.3% lower than the fourth quarter a year earlier, according to CoStar data. The number of leases signed was the lowest since the third quarter of 2021. Moreover, the annual volume of office square footage signed in 2022 was 23.6% lower than 2019, the year before the pandemic started, according to CoStar.
Deal-Making Track Record
In Hart, Newmark has picked a broker with an established track record of getting leasing deals done.
During her nearly 20 years in the industry, Hart has completed transactions involving nearly 35 million square feet and having an aggregate value of more than $4.2 billion. She's represented owners and tenants ranging from entrepreneurs to companies in the top 10% of the Fortune 500.
Hart also has expertise in the entitlement processes and has "represented numerous large-block developments and skyline-defining projects," Newmark said.
One of her largest deals was for Uber Technologies' 1 million-square-foot headquarters in San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood. In 2018, Hart represented CIM Group of Los Angeles in its 355,000-square-foot, full-building lease with Stripe at Uptown Station in Oakland, California.
Hart joined Newmark in 2005. She ranked as one of the top five producers in Newmark San Francisco office in 2007 and from 2010 to 2022.
In 2019, Newmark promoted Hart to vice chair. She was the first female at Newmark to be promoted to vice chair in the San Francisco Bay area and only the fifth female ever at the brokerage to attain the highest level a producer can reach.