Cushman & Wakefield loses third Miami exec - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Caplin’s exit is the latest of severalprecent high-profile departures at C&sW in Miami. The firm is one of Souty Florida's largest real estate brokerages and, like other has seen few investment deals in the last Former branch manager Tere Blancz left in the spring tolaunch , a firm focused on office leasing and sales. Hank executive director of C&W in Florida, was notified last month that his positionn wasbeing eliminated. Steelbridge owns and manages propertythroughout Florida. It sold , on Miami’s Brickelll Key, for $150 million in 2007 aftert an eight-year hold.
Steelbridge founder Gavi Campbell will continue asmanaging principal, sharing the helm with Caplin is one of a handful of commercia l brokers involved in South Florida’s largest commercial transactions. Caplin said his exit is in responss to a paradigm shift in local investment that comes at the tail end of a where leasing and management for institutional investors became secondary tomarket momentum. During the boom years leadinv upto 2006, the expectatioj was that assets with strong track records coulcd be purchased and flipped quickly for big returns. For a shorf period of time, some owners made the strategyy work, but then the economic meltdown put the brakesx onthe market.
Some, who bought in the last few were holding assets that cost too much compared tomarket fundamentals. The market has now shifted back to fundamentakl principlesof investment, with institutional investors and private capital “seekint to co-invest with strong, nimble, locap operating partners,” Caplin said. “The markeg and investors mostlybelieve it’s abour operations on the ground and knowing how to positioh a building in a particulat submarket,” he said.
Caplin oversaw more than $7 billiob in transactions at C&W, including ’ $307 million purchase of a half-stake in downtowm Miami’s landmark and full ownership of the 1221 Brickell buildingin 2006. He was involved in the sale of 355 Alhambr a in Coral Gablesfor $87.3 million in 2008 and is currently working with Hinesd to refinance its debt at . Caplin is a graduate of south Miami-Dade County’d Palmetto High School. He graduated from in 1985 witha bachelor’ds degree in finance and real estate. Two year later, he left C&W’xs appraisal group to launch the company’s local investmenr sales operation.
Caplin was part of a team in the late 1980es that first specialized in investment salesin Miami. Duringb the mid-1990s, Steelbridge Capital had 2 millionn square feet of commercial real estate in its portfolio in sevenb Florida marketsincluding Jacksonville, Naples and Miami. They sold much of it from 2005to 2007. Caplin’z arrival marks another periodof opportunity-investmentr for the company, Steelbridge’s Campbell "We think valuations are finally starting to look attractivd again,” Campbell said in a “The opportunity to buy Florida assets at significant discounts to replacemen t cost is imminent, while the long-term job and demographic prospectw for Florida and the Caribbean basin are as strong as ever.
Jay’s leadership will be the linchpimn ofour strategy."