Movers & Shakers: Corcoran Poaches Elliman’s Investment Sales Head

South Florida real estate firms are in growth mode.

Corcoran Group poached Sam Gaita from Douglas Elliman to launch a Miami-based investment sales division, the brokerage announced. Gaita spent more than 12 years at Elliman, where he also launched the brokerage’s investment sales division. In his new role as global investment sales advisor, he will work out of Corcoran’s office in Surfside, under Senior Managing Director Lily Zanardi, according to a release. His new investment sales division will work alongside the commercial division launched in Miami last year with Cyril Bijaoui at the helm.

Gaita said the continued domestic migration into South Florida is a big draw for investors to the region, but it is an odd time in the market because of interest rate hikes and uncertainties in the office sector. He is seeing a lot of 1031 exchanges coming from the Northeast, developers wanting to buy out aging condominiums in prime locations, and companies looking to do sale-leasebacks, Gaita said.

Miami-based law firm Bilzin Sumberg announced that Joseph Hernandez joined as a partner in its real estate practice. Hernandez was most recently chair of the real estate practice at Miami-based Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman. In his new role, Hernandez will represent clients in commercial and residential transactions in Florida, nationally, and across Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a release.

His appointment follows the recent high-profile addition of former Florida Judge Michael A. Hanzman, who oversaw litigation related to the Champlain Towers South collapse.

Shawmut Design and Construction, a billion-dollar construction and management company headquartered in Boston, hired Alexis Leal as head of Florida. The move is part of its expansion plans in the region, according to a release. Leal was most recently COO of fellow Boston construction giant, Suffolk Construction, according to LinkedIn.

Shawmut focuses on South Florida, particularly Miami and West Palm Beach, in the commercial, education, retail, health care, and hospitality sectors. That is part of its 10-year growth plan in the region, according to the release.

Miami-based KW Property Management & Consulting hired Diana Rivera as executive director of association finance, according to a release. Rivera specializes in financial auditing, and most recently was an auditing partner at BDO USA LLP. The hire comes on the heels of KWPMC’s bringing in Jorge Lago as COO last month.
Illustrated Properties added Jill Stone to its Jupiter office. Stone is establishing her own agent group, Stone & Co, with the move, according to a release. She was most recently an agent with the Meyer Lucas Real Estate Team at Compass, also in Jupiter.