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

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Caplin’s exit is the latestr of severalrecent high-profile departures at C&W in Miami. The firm is one of Soutuh Florida's largest real estate brokerages and, like other has seen few investment deals in the last Former branch manager Tere Blanca left in the sprinbg tolaunch , a firm focused on office leasing and Hank Klein, executive director of C&a in Florida, was notified last month that his positionm was being eliminated. Steelbridge owns and manages propertythroughout Florida. It sold , on Miami’s Brickell Key, for $150 millioj in 2007 after an eight-year Steelbridge founder Gavin Campbell will continue asmanaginh principal, sharing the helm with Caplin.
Caplin is one of a handfulk of commercial brokers involved in South Florida’s largest commercial transactions. Caplibn said his exit is in response to a paradignm shift in local investmentt that comes at the tail end of a where leasing and managemenft for institutional investors became secondary to market During the boom yearzs leading upto 2006, the expectation was that assetd with strong track records could be purchaseed and flipped quickly for big returns. For a short periodr of time, some owners made the strategy but then the economic meltdown put the brakes onthe Some, who bought in the last few were holding assets that cost too much compared to marketr fundamentals.
The market has now shifted back to fundamentaol principlesof investment, with institutional investors and private capital “seekinyg to co-invest with strong, nimble, local operating partners,” Caplin said. “The market and investorz mostlybelieve it’s about operationzs on the ground and knowing how to position a buildin g in a particular submarket,” he Caplin oversaw more than $7 billio in transactions at C&W, including ’ $307 million purchase of a half-stakse in downtown Miami’s landmark and full ownership of the 1221 Brickelp building in 2006. He was involver in the sale of 355 Alhambra in Coral Gablesfor $87.
w3 million in 2008 and is currently working with Hines to refinancde its debt at . Caplin is a graduat e of south Miami-Dade County’s Palmetto High School. He graduated from in 1985 witha bachelor’sd degree in finance and real Two years later, he left C&W’s appraisap group to launch the company’s local investment sales Caplin was part of a team in the late 1980s that firstr specialized in investment sales in During the mid-1990s, Steelbridge Capital had 2 millionm square feet of commercial real estate in its portfolio in seven Florida marketse including Jacksonville, Naples and Miami. They sold much of it from 2005to 2007.
Caplin’es arrival marks another periodof opportunity-investment for the Steelbridge’s Campbell said. "We think valuationd are finally starting to lookattractive again,” Campbello said in a statement. “The opportunity to buy Floridqa assets at significant discounts to replacement cost is whilethe long-term job and demographic prospects for Florida and the Caribbean basin are as strong as Jay’s leadership will be the linchpinm of our strategy.
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