L.A.’s top landlord broker in 1999 credits his success to thinking like an owner.

“We want to approach office leasing from the perspective of asset managers,” John Ayoob said. “We don’t want to be transaction-based. So we approach each deal thinking like an owner, and take ownership of the process itself.”

Ayoob, senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis Inc., led the competitive office landlord broker field with $81.8 million in leases, inching just ahead of his partner Grafton Tanquary to nab the top spot. All of the deals were in the South Bay area.

Ayoob’s deals last year included a $40 million, 10-year lease for 100,000 square feet of office space at Arden Realty’s new Howard Hughes Center development signed by Internet consulting firm iXL. He also brokered deals bringing Arden’s 10-story, 240,000-square-foot building at 6060 Center Drive up to 90 percent full.

And in November, he brokered a 10-year, $28 million lease for 81,000 square feet of space at Continental Grand Plaza II for Hughes Space and Communications.

Michael Pollack, director of leasing for Howard Hughes Center at Arden Realty, appreciates Ayoob’s strong landlord perspective.

“John is the guy who sees it from all points of view,” Pollack said. “He has the perspective of being the real senior guy. He’s not just transaction-oriented. That’s his strongest point, he’ll give you a real analysis that’s why we trust him.”

A native of the San Fernando Valley, Ayoob got his MBA in real estate and finance from USC and joined CB Richard Ellis directly out of school in 1980. He spent his first year in CB’s Wheel Program, in which brokers are rotated between different offices to get a feel for each different area. He soon became an office specialist focusing on the South Bay market.

He achieved overall top producer honors in 1996 and 1999, and has been a member of the CB Richard Ellis Colbert Coldwell Circle (meaning he was in the top 2 percent of the company’s sales force) three times during that period.