Savills Studley is the latest among several major real estate services firms to bolster its capabilities in the lucrative business of selling commercial real estate in the city and arranging the financing for such deals.

The firm has just hired Paul Leibowitz and David Krantz, two sales brokers from CBRE, and Michael Rotchford, a former Cushman & Wakefield executive with an expertise in real estate finance.

David Heller, who recently worked with Rotchford at an investment firm that Rotchford launched in 2015, is also joining the new team at Savills Studley.

Rotchford will head up the firm's new investment sales platform in partnership with Woody Heller, a broker who has long led Savills Studley's sales practice.

Rotchford, who helped structure the sale of a stake in One World Trade Center in 2010, is expected to boost the firm's abilities to arrange the financial side of major real estate deals, while Leibowitz could help the brokerage break into the business of selling major real estate assets owned by institutional investors.

At CBRE since 1998, Leibowitz was considered a protege of Darcy Stacom, a broker at CBRE who has handled some of the city's biggest real estate deals, including the $5.4 billion sale of the residential complex Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town in 2006. Stacom, who has seen several members of her team depart for other firms in recent months, sought to dispel notions that she was losing talent.

"I'm very excited on a going forward basis," Stacom told Crain's. "I like the market we're in right now and our synergies with other professionals at the firm. We look forward to serving our clients."

A spokeswoman at CBRE said that Stacom's team, which she leads with colleague Bill Shanahan, continues to have over 20 professionals working for it. Stacom meanwhile has continued to win marquee projects, recently securing the assignment from Brookfield Office Properties to market the sale of 245 Park Avenue for $2 billion.

The hires by Savills Studley follow a sharp uptick in poaching across the city's ultra-competitive commercial real estate brokerage business. Cushman & Wakefield hired a sales brokerage team led by Doug Harmon and Adam Spies from rival Eastdil Secured in October. Harmon and Spies generally vie with Stacom for the highest dollar volume of sales of any brokerage team in the city.

In December, Colliers International wooed a trio of top sales brokers, Richard Baxter, Scott Latham and Ron Cohen, from JLL.

Handling the sale of big buildings in a city where such assets can trade for billions of dollars is a lucrative business that can generate tens of millions of dollars in fees for brokerage companies. Brokerage firms have also begun to see investment sales and financing deals as an entry point to establishing relationships with landlords, to whom they can then offer other money-making services like leasing and property management.

Savills Studley is the latest among several major real estate services firms to bolster its capabilities in the lucrative business of selling commercial real estate in the city and arranging the financing for such deals.

The firm has just hired Paul Leibowitz and David Krantz, two sales brokers from CBRE, and Michael Rotchford, a former Cushman & Wakefield executive with an expertise in real estate finance.

David Heller, who recently worked with Rotchford at an investment firm that Rotchford launched in 2015, is also joining the new team at Savills Studley.

Rotchford will head up the firm's new investment sales platform in partnership with Woody Heller, a broker who has long led Savills Studley's sales practice.

Rotchford, who helped structure the sale of a stake in One World Trade Center in 2010, is expected to boost the firm's abilities to arrange the financial side of major real estate deals, while Leibowitz could help the brokerage break into the business of selling major real estate assets owned by institutional investors.

At CBRE since 1998, Leibowitz was considered a protege of Darcy Stacom, a broker at CBRE who has handled some of the city's biggest real estate deals, including the $5.4 billion sale of the residential complex Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town in 2006. Stacom, who has seen several members of her team depart for other firms in recent months, sought to dispel notions that she was losing talent.

"I'm very excited on a going forward basis," Stacom told Crain's. "I like the market we're in right now and our synergies with other professionals at the firm. We look forward to serving our clients."

A spokeswoman at CBRE said that Stacom's team, which she leads with colleague Bill Shanahan, continues to have over 20 professionals working for it. Stacom meanwhile has continued to win marquee projects, recently securing the assignment from Brookfield Office Properties to market the sale of 245 Park Avenue for $2 billion.

The hires by Savills Studley follow a sharp uptick in poaching across the city's ultra-competitive commercial real estate brokerage business. Cushman & Wakefield hired a sales brokerage team led by Doug Harmon and Adam Spies from rival Eastdil Secured in October. Harmon and Spies generally vie with Stacom for the highest dollar volume of sales of any brokerage team in the city.

In December, Colliers International wooed a trio of top sales brokers, Richard Baxter, Scott Latham and Ron Cohen, from JLL.

Handling the sale of big buildings in a city where such assets can trade for billions of dollars is a lucrative business that can generate tens of millions of dollars in fees for brokerage companies. Brokerage firms have also begun to see investment sales and financing deals as an entry point to establishing relationships with landlords, to whom they can then offer other money-making services like leasing and property management.

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