Fallout from the year-end purchase of real estate brokerage Cassidy Turley by an affiliate of DTZ Investment Holdings has hit Los Angeles.
Company officials confirmed that Jonathan Larsen, a fixture in downtown L.A. real estate circles and Cassidy Turley’s regional managing principal for Los Angeles, left the firm Jan. 23 along with four others. Larsen, who moved from Transwestern to join Cassidy Turley when it opened its local office in April 2012, brokered last year’s biggest office lease, representing Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith in its December deal for 215,000 square feet at the U.S. Bank Tower after its offices were severely damaged in the DaVinci fire.
Larsen could not be reached for comment.
Suzanne Lee, a Cassidy Turley managing director and principal who came with Larsen from Transwestern, stayed on at DTZ, as did two others who made the move, according to the company’s website.
“There will be no other changes,” said Dan Broderick, DTZ’s San Diego-based regional managing principal, responsible for its five Southern California offices. “Moving forward, we have a growth strategy for the region; we expect to grow.”
Broderick, who would not comment specifically on the departure of Larsen and the others, said the firm would consolidate its two L.A. offices. It also has a presence in Woodland Hills.
DTZ, a London-headquartered real estate services company, purchased Washington, D.C.-based Cassidy Turley for a reported $557 million in a deal that closed Dec. 31, and the Cassidy Turley name is being phased out. Real estate blog Real Deal, which covers the commercial real estate industry in New York, reported last week that 45 employees nationwide were let go by DTZ on Jan. 23, including nine in Manhattan.
Larsen started his real estate career in Los Angeles as a broker at CBRE Group Inc. before opening the local office of Trammell Crow Co. (which CBRE later purchased). He joined Transwestern in 2006, and has brokered some of the biggest downtown deals over the last 20 years, including the 1996 sale of the historic Biltmore hotel and office tower, a 125,000-square-foot lease for Citigroup and a 1 million-square-foot sale/lease for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
