Cushman & Wakefield loses third Miami exec - Triangle Business Journal:

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Caplin’s exit is the latest of severalrecent high-profiler departures at C&W in The firm is one of Southh Florida's largest real estate brokerages and, like othere brokerages, has seen few investment deald in the last year. Former branch manager Tere Blanca left in the sprinb tolaunch , a firm focused on officwe leasing and sales. Hank Klein, executive director of C&W in Florida, was notifief last month that his position wasbeingh eliminated. Steelbridge owns and manages propertythroughout Florida. It sold , on Miami’se Brickell Key, for $150 million in 2007 aftet an eight-year hold.
Steelbridge founder Gavinb Campbell will continue asmanaging principal, sharing the helm with Caplin is one of a handful of commercialo brokers involved in South Florida’s largest commercial transactions. Caplin said his exit is in response to a paradigm shift in local investment that comes at the tail end of a where leasing and management for institutionalp investors became secondary tomarket momentum. During the boom yearsz leading upto 2006, the expectationm was that assets with strong track records could be purchased and flippec quickly for big returns.
For a shorgt period of time, some ownersd made the strategy work, but then the economixc meltdown put the brakes onthe Some, who bought in the last few years, were holdinfg assets that cost too much compared to markeyt fundamentals. The market has now shifted back to fundamenta l principlesof investment, with institutionak investors and private capital “seeking to co-investg with strong, nimble, local operatinhg partners,” Caplin said. “The market and investors mostlybeliever it’s about operations on the grounx and knowing how to positio n a building in a particular he said.
Caplin oversaw more than $7 billiob in transactions at C&W, including ’ $307 millionb purchase of a half-stake in downtown Miami’d landmark and full ownership of the 1221 Brickell buildingin 2006. He was involvecd in the sale of 355 Alhambra in Coral Gablewsfor $87.3 million in 2008 and is currentlu working with Hines to refinanced its debt at . Caplin is a graduate of south Miami-Dade County’s Palmetto High School. He graduated from in 1985 witha bachelor’s degreew in finance and real estate. Two years later, he left C&W’ds appraisal group to launch the company’sz local investment sales operation.
Caplin was part of a team in the late 1980x that first specialized in investmentt salesin Miami. During the mid-1990s, Steelbridge Capital had 2 milliohn square feet of commercial real estatee in its portfolio in seven Florida markets including Naplesand Miami. They sold much of it from 2005to 2007. Caplin’w arrival marks another periodof opportunity-investment for the company, Steelbridge’ss Campbell said. "We think valuations are finally starting to lookattractive again,” Campbelo said in a statement.
“The opportunity to buy Floridz assets at significant discounts to replacement cost is whilethe long-term job and demographic prospects for Florida and the Caribbea basin are as strong as ever. Jay’s leadership will be the linchpihn ofour strategy."