SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
John Cashin, John Norton, Jonathan Allen become Principals

Earl Webb, President, U.S. Operations, of Avison Young, Canada’s largest independently-owned commercial real estate services
company, announced today that five commercial real estate industry
leaders have joined the firm’s new office in San Francisco.

The new additions expand Avison Young’s newly-opened 12th location
outside of Canada, and the company’s third California office.

Effective immediately, John Norton, Jonathan Allen and John Cashin join Avison Young as Principals. Melinda Miyagishima joins the firm as a sales and marketing specialist/office manager and Raquel Ledesma becomes sales and marketing specialist/market research co-ordinator. All
five will be based in Avison Young’s new downtown San Francisco office,
which opened April 11, 2012.

Prior to joining Avison Young, all five worked in the San Francisco
office of Cornish Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank with Nick Slonek, who was appointed two weeks ago as Avison Young’s new Managing
Director for the Northern California region.

“In a dynamic market like San Francisco, it’s vital that our new
operations get off to a strong start. This talented new San Francisco
team will help us achieve that goal and enable us to gain a solid
foothold in San Francisco and Northern California from the outset,”
comments Webb. “All five team members are proven industry leaders who
will help us continue to recruit top professionals from throughout the
region, and further our expansion program in the Western U.S., which we
view as an integral part of our future growth.”

Allen will continue to focus on tenant representation on behalf of his
public and private office clients, Norton will continue to specialize
in agency leasing, and Cashin will continue to concentrate on servicing
both landlords and tenants throughout the Bay Area. In addition, Cashin
will play an active role in the recruitment of young brokers as Avison
Young continues to expand in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area.

“I could not be more excited to embark on this exciting and challenging
journey with this crew,” notes Slonek. “Most of us have worked together
for nearly a decade now, so we know what we need to do to be successful
together. We are truly a team.”

Webb adds that the appointments reconfirm Avison Young’s strong desire
to use its highly profitable platform and its pristine balance sheet to
recruit more senior brokers, executives and administrators to fill the
company’s service-delivery needs in San Francisco and the Western
region, and further the growth of the Avison Young brand nationally and
internationally.

“Avison Young’s commitment to quality service combined with its
strategic plans to build its brand across North America and beyond, and
expand in all facets of the commercial markets, is something I look
forward to being a part of,” says Norton. “Avison Young’s holistic
approach to providing best-in-class real estate solutions creates a
compelling value proposition for our clients.”

“Taking the next steps in our careers with Avison Young is quite an
honor,” notes Allen. “We look forward to reaching the next level of
client service with our new platform and with our esteemed colleagues
across the United States and Canada.”

Adds Cashin: “The company’s vision for growth and its focus on the
client are completely parallel to my goals. Avison Young’s pool of
talent, resources and expertise gives us the ability to provide the
most comprehensive real estate services to our clients.”

Avison Young’s new San Francisco office is located at 601 California
Street, 5th floor, in downtown San Francisco.

Over the past three years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to 29 offices
in 26 markets and from 300 to more than 900 real estate professionals
across Canada and the U.S.

Avison Young opened its first California office in Los Angeles in August
2011, followed by a second Los Angeles office in December through the
acquisition of Ramsey-Shilling Commercial Real Estate Services, Inc.

Biographies

Jonathan Allen
Jonathan Allen has 13 years of sales and leasing experience in the
commercial real estate industry and joins Avison Young after spending
the past five years with Cornish Carey Commercial Newmark Knight
Frank. Before that, he worked for six years in the Bay Area with Grubb
Ellis Company. Allen’s move to Grubb coincided with his move to the
Bay Area after he launched his real estate career in London, England.
Allen’s major clients have included Trulia, Parsons Brinckerhoff,
Sierra Nevada Corporation, San Francisco County Transportation
Authority, KeyBank, Lending Club, and the Consulate General of Canada.
His community participation includes pending election to the Board of
Directors for Wu Yee Children’s Services. A native of England, Allen
holds an honors undergraduate degree in urban land economics from
Sheffield Hallam University in his home country.

John Cashin
Prior to joining Avison Young, John Cashin spent seven years with
Cornish Carey Commercial, negotiating on behalf of both tenants and
landlords. He moved there in 2004 after three years as a
tenant-advisory expert with Transwestern Commercial Services. Before
joining Transwestern, he helped operate his family’s residential firm,
Cashin Company Realtors, a prominent real estate company in the Bay
Area. Cashin’s clients have included Wells Fargo Securities, Oak Hill
Capital Management, GLL Real Estate Partners, Broadreach Capital
Partners and Sears Corporation. Cashin is a member of the Olympic Club
and Meals on Wheels. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in sociology from the
University of Oregon.

John Norton
John Norton launched his commercial real estate career in England in
1999 before moving to San Francisco to join Grubb Ellis Company in
2001. Since then, he has specialized in both landlord and tenant
representation in the downtown San Francisco office market, serving
local and national clients. He joined Cornish Carey Commercial’s San
Francisco location in 2007. Norton currently represents Langley
Investments, Ashforth and GE Pension Fund at 405 Howard Street, and
Kennedy Wilson at 300 California Street. Recent clients include Levi
Strauss, Skyy Spirits, Blurb and New Resource Bank. Norton is a
graduate of the urban land economics school at Sheffield Hallam
University in England.

Melinda Miyagishima
Prior to joining Avison Young, Melinda Miyagishima spent eight years as
a sales and marketing assistant in the San Francisco office of Cornish
Carey Commercial, of which she was a founding member. A licensed
California real estate sales agent, she supported the downtown office
leasing team and was named Employee of the Year in 2009. Prior to
joining Cornish Carey, she served as an administrative assistant for
three years at CB Richard Ellis in San Francisco, working with the
project management group and brokerage services. Miyagishima has also
held positions with two well-known architectural firms, Reel Grobman
Associates and Hellmuth, Obata Kassabaum, and a small private real
estate firm. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in health and
physical education from Oregon State.

Raquel Ledesma
Raquel Ledesma has 12 years of experience assisting commercial real
agents in San Francisco. Before joining Avison Young, she served as a
sales and marketing assistant at Cornish Carey Commercial for four
years, supporting the downtown office leasing team. During her career,
Ledesma has handled a variety of tasks, ranging from desktop publishing
to database maintenance. Prior to moving to Cornish Carey, she served
as an administrative assistant with Grubb Ellis Company and with
Whitney Cressman Limited (now GVa Kidder Mathews). Ledesma was named
Cornish Carey Commercial’s Employee of the Year in 2011, Grubb
Ellis’ Employee of the Year in 2007, and Whitney Cressman Limited’s
Employee of the Year in 2000. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in health
education from San Francisco State University.

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 29
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 link to view and download head shots

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SOURCE Avison Young (Canada) Inc.

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Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/five-industry-leaders-join-avison-youngs-new-office-in-san-francisco-2012-04-23