Powerhouse JLW brokers join the Insignia/ESG team

Real Estate Weekly, Feb 17, 1999

In a development that adds both power and prestige to one of New York City's dominant commercial real estate brokerage firms, four top producers from Jones Lang Wootton USA in New York - Michael J. Monahan, Mark L. Ravesloot, Bradley P. Gerla and Scoff Savin - have all joined Insignia/ESG, announced Joseph R. Harbert, the company's COO for the New York region.

"We are thrilled to have attracted the talent and loyalty of four of the most important names and brokerage leaders in the business," Harbert said. "This is a clear-cut case where the dominant player grows exponentially stronger with the addition of select talent. We know they will excel together and individually at Insignia/ESG, and we look forward to providing them with a platform from which they can each achieve magnificent results."

Michael Monahan and Mark Ravesloot join Insignia/ESG as Senior Managing Directors in the Midtown office. Most recently they served as Senior Directors and Co-Leaders of the Leasing Department of Jones Lang Wootton USA. Under their direction, the 26-professional leasing department at JLW completed' more than 3 million square feet in transactions last year. As a team and individually, Monahan and Ravesloot are credited with many of the largest leasing deals in New York City every year. Recent deals together include transactions for Lord Abbett & Co., Waterhouse Securities, Warburg Dillon Read and Shandwick, N.A.

The team has also earned recognition for its work on behalf of institutional owners in marketing commercial office projects. Together, representing such entities as Harborside Financial Center, 505 Park Avenue, 20 Exchange Place and 175 Water Street, the team has successfully marketed in excess of 9 million square feet of space.

Monahan, who specializes in headquarter relocations, joined JLW in 1990. Previously, he served as Vice President at Cushman & Wakefield. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Marietta College, and has completed graduate work at New York University's Real Estate Institute.

Ravesloot began his career at the Savin Corporation, and previously worked at the State Department in Washington, D.C. He was educated at Trinity College, and pursued post-graduate studies at Pace University and New York University. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Commercial Brokerage Division of the Real Estate Board of New York.

The duo are recognized for having among the most successful partnerships of talent in the industry. As such, they have been singled out for three years in a row as the leading "Super Star Office Broker Teams" by publications such as Real Estate Forum.

In another important addition, Brad Gerla joins Insignia/ESG's Downtown office as a Managing Director. Consistently among the leading producers in the Downtown office market, Gerla counts among his corporate and institutional clients the American Stock Exchange, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Prudential Securities and Chase Manhattan Bank. He has also exclusively represented Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., National Bank of Canada and TIBCO, a subsidiary of Reuters. In addition, he is recognized for his work on behalf of landlords, having served as leasing agent at such Manhattan properties as 95 Wall Street, 90 Broad Street, 90 William Street, 130 William Street and, along with his colleagues, New Jersey's Harborside Financial Center.

Gerla is very well recognized and regarded in the industry, having served as 1996's Chairman of the prestigious Young Men's/Women's Real Estate Association of New York. He is a graduate of Cortland State College and has a graduate degree in real estate from New York University.

Scott Savin has also joined the Midtown office of Insignia/ESG with the title of Managing Director. In recent years he earned a key position on transaction teams with Monahan and Ravesloot, overseeing such notable recent deals as Lord, Abbett & Co.'s 160,000 square-foot relocation from the GM Building to 90 Hudson Street in Jersey City, NJ; CUNY's lease for 50,000 square feet at 555 West 57th Street; and American Horse Shows 40,000 square-foot relocation from New York to Lexington, KY.

Savin began his 11-year career in real estate at Cushman & Wakefield with Monahan, and then followed him to success at JLW.

Insignia/ESG is one of the largest commercial real estate services providers in the United States, with comprehensive brokerage, property management, facilities management, consulting, investment sales and debt placement operations in many of America's top markets, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. Through Richard Ellis Group Limited, the company also delivers commercial real estate services in the United Kingdom. Nationally, Insignia/ESG provides services for a property portfolio spanning more than 195 million square feet.