Portfolio Lender Loses Exec to Transactions Shop

SAN FRANCISCO-Bay Area multifamily debt and equity specialist Andrew Behrens has left Prudential Mortgage Capital for CB Richard Ellis’ Capital Markets division. The former principal with Prudential is now executive vice president of CBRE’s Capital Market’s division.

“The loans portfolio lenders made in 2006, 2007 and 2008 are going to haunt them for years,” Behrens tells GlobeSt.com. “I expect to grow my market share significantly over the next several years as a result of coming to CBRE while most of my competitors—the big national players owned by institutions with legacy problems–are sitting this round out.”

Behrens has spent the past 13 years as a mortgage banker focused on sourcing debt and equity for apartment investors. At Prudential Mortgage, Behrens was responsible for building the west coast operations for PMCC’s Fannie Mae DUS execution. Having completed several billion dollars in financings, Behrens has been one of Fannie Mae’s top originators and the top producer for Prudential.

In addition to Prudential, Behrens has been a regional VP with Lend Lease mortgage Capital, where he was responsible for building the company’s West Coast production platform via Fannie and Freddie; director of origination at TRI Capital Corp., where he oversaw a national platform of apartment originations focused primarily on FHA and Freddie originations; and a senior investment associate with Marcus & Millichap, where he is said to have spent a significant amount of time during the last recession working with Resolution Trust Corp.

CBRE’s local managing director Mike Smith was available for comment. In a prepared statement Smith describes the addition of Behrens as “a significant coup” for its multifamily clients while Peter Donovan, senior managing director of CBRE Capital Markets says Behrens experience will “significantly enhance our debt capabilities nationwide.”