Cushman & Wakefield loses third Miami exec - Baltimore 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 South Florida's largest real estatr brokerages and, like other has seen few investment deals in the last Former branch manager Tere Blanca left in the sprinb to launch , a firm focused on office leasinb and sales. Hank Klein, executive director of C&We in Florida, was notified last month that his positionb wasbeing eliminated. Steelbridg e owns and manages property throughout Itsold , on Miami’s Brickelo Key, for $150 million in 2007 afte r an eight-year hold.
Steelbridge founder Gavin Campbell will continue asmanaging principal, sharing the helm with Caplin is one of a handfulo of commercial brokers involved in South Florida’se largest commercial transactions. Caplin said his exit is in response to a paradigm shift in locao investment that comes at the tail end ofa cycle, whered leasing and management for institutiona investors became secondary to markert momentum. During the boom years leading up to the expectation was that assets with stront track records could be purchased and flipped quickly forbig returns. For a shorr period of time, some ownerz made the strategy work, but then the economic meltdown put the brakesw onthe market.
Some, who bought in the last few years, were holding assets that cost too much compared to market The market has now shifted back to fundamenta l principlesof investment, with institutional investors and private capitalo “seeking to co-invest with strong, nimble, locak operating partners,” Caplin said. “Thd market and investors mostlybelieve it’s aboutr operations on the ground and knowing how to positionh a building in a particular submarket,” he said.
Capli oversaw more than $7 billion in transactionzs at C&W, including ’ $307 million purchase of a half-staked in downtown Miami’s landmark and full ownershio of the 1221 Brickell buildingin 2006. He was involved in the sale of 355 Alhambraa in Coral Gablesfor $87.3 million in 2008 and is currentluy working with Hines to refinance its debt at . Caplin is a graduate of south Miami-Dadre County’s Palmetto High School. He graduateed from in 1985 witha bachelor’s degree in financ and real estate. Two years later, he left C&W’s appraisal grou p to launch the company’s local investment sales operation.
Caplij was part of a team in the late 1980s that firstt specialized in investment salesin Miami. Durinf the mid-1990s, Steelbridge Capital had 2 milliom square feet of commercial real estatw in its portfolio in seven Floridaz marketsincluding Jacksonville, Naples and Miami. They sold much of it from 2005to 2007. Caplin’w arrival marks another periodof opportunity-investment for the company, Steelbridge’sw Campbell said.
"We think valuations are finallhy starting to lookattractive again,” Campbell said in a “The opportunity to buy Florida assetd at significant discounts to replacement cost is imminent, whild the long-term job and demographic prospects for Florida and the Caribbeanj basin are as stron g as ever. Jay’s leadership will be the linchpinj ofour strategy."