Avison Young adds top-producing capital markets veterans to New York City office

Justin Piasecki joins Avison Young as a Principal as firm continues to deepen its bench of real estate professionals in Tri-State region

NEW YORK CITY, May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Arthur J. Mirante, II, Principal and Tri-State President of Avison Young, Canada's largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company, announced today the hiring of two top-producing capital markets professionals to join the company's New York City office.

Effective immediately, Justin Piasecki joins Avison Young as a Principal and Amy Levenson joins as an Executive Vice-President in the New York office. Piasecki most recently worked at the Carlton Group, where he was one of the firm's top producers and dealmakers. Previously the head bank note trader with Goldman Sachs, Levenson brings more than 20 years of Wall Street experience to her role at Avison Young. As members of Avison Young's capital markets team, both Piasecki and Levenson will focus on loan and note sales as well as financial structuring and restructuring of real estate capital transactions. 

In recent weeks, Avison Young has aggressively expanded its Tri-State market presence, making several high-profile hires following last month's announcement of the firm opening its first office in New York City.

"We have built strong momentum in the Tri-State market with a number of strategic hires, and this latest announcement reflects our focus on continuing to strengthen our platform by welcoming the industry's top talent to our organization," comments Mirante. "With these new hires, we are expanding our slate of services considerably and furthering our ability to deliver the high-level, integrated solutions that have become the hallmark of our firm."

Avison Young Principal Greg Kraut in New York adds: "Avison Young is building a strong reputation in the New York Metropolitan Area through a selective approach to recruitment and methodical assemblage of a hand-picked team. The broad-based capital markets expertise that Justin and Amy bring to our regional operations will greatly enhance our service offerings and business development capabilities."

Over the past three years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to 31 offices and from 300 to more than 900 real estate professionals across Canada and the U.S.

"I am excited by the opportunity to join Avison Young as a Principal and play an instrumental role in growing a thriving capital markets practice in the Tri-State market from the ground up," says Piasecki. "The ability to access Avison Young's unparalleled network in both the U.S. and Canada will provide our team with a unique competitive advantage in executing deals and delivering high-quality consulting services to our clients."

"I am thrilled to be part of the high-caliber team that Avison Young is building in the Tri-State market, and leveraging my years of experience and industry relationships to support the growth of the firm's capital markets group," states Levenson. "I am confident that Avison Young's team-oriented culture and extensive North American platform will greatly enhance our ability to produce high-level results to the benefit of our clients."

Today's announcement comes on the heels of Avison Young opening an office in Charleston, South Carolina earlier this week.

Biographies

Justin Piasecki
Justin R. Piasecki has extensive secondary market experience and expertise, including origination of loan packages for sale and placement, debt and equity capital raises, and investment sales. Over the past four years, he has sold $2.5 billion of loans for banks in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Prior to joining Avison Young, Piasecki was a Senior Vice-President at the Carlton Group, a global real estate investment banking firm, where he was one of the company's top producers and dealmakers. Before joining the Carlton Group, Piasecki served as the Chief Operating Officer and Vice-President of Zurich Mortgage Capital, a national direct private equity lender with annual originations of more than $150 million.

Piasecki began his career at Triple Crown Properties, a luxury home developer and real estate company in Palm Beach, Florida, where he was promoted to Vice-President of Operations before joining United Appraisal Network, which he helped grow to become the # 2 residential appraisal company in the U.S. Throughout his career, Piasecki has been recognized in the industry with various accolades, including being named to The Real Deal's "Top 35 Under 35" up-and-coming real estate moguls in New York City in April 2011, and to Real Estate Forum's "40 Under 40" in commercial real estate in October 2011. He is a graduate of Rutgers University, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in political science and was a four-year letter winner on the men's basketball team. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute.

Amy Levenson
Amy Levenson comes to Avison Young after more than 20 years on Wall Street and as a veteran of Goldman Sachs. At Avison Young, Levenson will focus on origination of recapitalization opportunities as well as financial opportunities such as REO and non-performing and performing loan portfolios. She will sub-specialize in multi-family and retail. Levenson will also contribute to the team's execution capabilities by utilizing her extensive financial engineering skills and her relationships with the nation's top institutional capital.

While at Goldman Sachs, Levenson served as the head bank note trader during the RTC era. She also traded the debt of banks, financials, retailers, homebuilders and REITs. In 1996, she moved into fixed-income sales at Goldman Sachs, where she was awarded many honors as one of the company's top institutional salespeople in North America.

Levenson migrated to commercial real estate as a Managing Director at Grubb & Ellis, after which she was recruited to build the commercial real estate division at NewOak Capital. There, she served as Chair of commercial real estate notes and property. Most recently she ran the triple-net lease/sale-leaseback group at NAI Global, where she was an Executive Managing Director.

Levenson has worked with some of the nation's top retailers and has also been engaged with several top private equity firms. Additionally, Levenson has published various articles and has been a well-received speaker at numerous commercial real estate conferences. She holds a Bachelor's degree from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an MBA from Columbia Business School. She also received the State of New Jersey Senate and General Assembly Citation of Accommodation and Praise award in 2008 for her extraordinary volunteer activities. She is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York and the International Council of Shopping Centers.

In February, Avison Young was named a winner of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies program for 2011, sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC, National Post and Queen's School of Business.

Founded in 1978, Avison Young is Canada's largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Avison Young is also the largest Canadian-owned, principal-managed commercial real estate brokerage firm in North America. Comprising more than 900 real estate professionals in 31 offices across Canada and the U.S., the full-service commercial real estate company provides value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-residential properties.

•Editors/Reporters: please click on links to view and download photos of Justin Piasecki and Amy Levenson

http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/AY_JustinPiasecki_2012.jpg

http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/AY_AmyLevenson.jpg

For further information/comment/photos:

New York Media Relations:

• Christa Segalini, Vice-President, Beckerman PR: (201) 465-8021
• Elliot Baum, Principal and Vice-President of Marketing, New York, Avison Young: (212) 729-7465

Avison Young Media Relations:

• Sherry Quan, National Director of Communications & Media Relations, Avison Young:
  (604) 647-5098; cell: (604) 726-0959
• Arthur J. Mirante, II, Principal and Tri-State President, Avison Young: (212) 729-1896
• Earl Webb, President, U.S. Operations, Avison Young: (312) 957-7610
• Mark Rose, Chair and CEO, Avison Young: (416) 673-4028

www.avisonyoung.com

Avison Young is a winner of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies program for 2011, sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC, National Post and Queen's School of Business

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SOURCE Avison Young (Canada) Inc.