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Greenwich Group International LLC has hired real estate veteran Martin Sawa to head up sales for its Western U.S. region.
Based in Los Angeles, Sawa will work with founding partner Adrian Goldstein overseeing sales and major capital market transactions in the Western half of the United States. He will focus specifically on the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas and serve as a liaison to international capital sources interested in investing in the Western U.S.
Currently Sawa is focusing on Northern California properties for the company because there is so much activity in that market. “The markets in Northern California are very heated right now,” Sawa said. “They have a lot of technology companies, the dot-coms, that were taking space and driving the markets up.”
The Greenwich Group is a real estate marketing and investment banking firm that represents buyers and sellers. It specializes in the sale and financing of major properties such as office buildings, retail centers and hotels. In the recent sale of the CNN Tower in Hollywood, both the buyer and seller were represented by Greenwich Group.
“We’re compensated along investment banking lines,” Sawa said. “There’s no incentive for one of us to try to work separately. All of the money goes in one pot, and that encourages the team approach. On that basis we can provide the highest level of service.”
Besides the CNN Tower sale, Greenwich handled the $120 million sale of the building in which its offices are located, the Landmark II, which also houses Time Publishing, Ogilvy & Mather and Ziff-Davis Publishing.
Headquartered in New York, the privately held firm also has offices in Boston, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Sawa was previously a senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis Inc. in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Before that, he was a director with Cushman & Wakefield Inc.
Sawa moved to Los Angeles in 1996, a move he says he is happy he made. “The Bay Area is a great place to live, but the weather is better here,” he said. “I like to rollerblade by the beach. In San Francisco, it’s too cold and windy and hilly.”
Jolie Gorchov
