As the hosts announced nominees in various commercial real estate categories at this year’s local Broker of the Year Awards in May, David Brennan of CBRE said he remembered thinking the nominees from his office in Sacramento had good years.
And as those hosts then announced the winners — in eight of the 15 categories, from CBRE — Brennan realized many of them had years better than anyone else in town.
“It’s very encouraging,” said Brennan, the senior managing director for CBRE’s offices in not only Sacramento, but Roseville, Stockton and Reno. “You kind of know how people are doing, and you’re just excited for them.”
At CBEE’s local helm since 2006, Brennan doesn’t take much credit for that recognition, or the office setting a record for revenue in 2021. What should get the spotlight, he said, is a healthy camaraderie among the brokers and an array of tools at their fingertips to help them do their jobs better.
Like many brokers, Brennan didn’t start out in commercial real estate, but found himself drawn to it. In his first job after college, at a title company, he’d occasionally have to stop by a commercial brokerage to drum up business, and began asking the brokers about their jobs.
Bitten by the bug, he got a real estate license at night, and in 1990 joined what was then Cornish & Carey, now Newmark, as an industrial broker. There was a hands-on component to it he enjoyed, he said, even in a competitive environment for sales and leasing.
“When you’re selling title insurance, you’re selling something else,” he said. “With this, you’re doing the work.”
The Sacramento region’s industrial market then consisted of more transactions on smaller buildings and owner-user sales. Big institutional investors didn’t look here and local players like Buzz Oates and Joe Benvenuti dominated the development market.
Brennan said he discovered that with hard work, it was a good way to make a living. Sixteen years later, CBRE began recruiting him for a role in its Sacramento office, initially as an industrial broker again, but then to be the market leader instead.
That role wasn’t something Brennan had thought about before, he said, but he soon discovered he liked it.
“The coaching aspect, the leadership aspect,” he said. “And it was like going from a boutique to a large corporation, just the sheer size and depth of the company.”
In his current role, though, Brennan doesn’t work on transactions, and he said he misses the rush of closing a big deal. But a market leader can be involved in other ways, such as his recent work in advocacy for commercial real estate at the California Legislature.
Many state legislators don’t know commercial real estate or, for that matter, business interests well, he said. His advocacy role gives him a chance to weigh in on bills and policies and avoid unintended negative consequences for his industry.
Also, Brennan said, he’s part of CBRE’s industrial and logistics business development group for the northwestern U.S, another role where he can help engineer big changes that affect his company.
But much of the focus these days is on more internal issues. When economic times are tough, Brennan said, he emphasizes grit and persistence to brokers, as well as being ready for change.
Kim Follett, the sales director at CBRE’s Sacramento office, said whatever the situation, Brennan focuses on the positive.
“He sets priorities on what’s important,” said Follett, who began working with Brennan when he came to CBRE 16 years ago. “Working with him is not hard.”
She said Brennan also remembers where he came from. When someone from outside the profession reaches out to learn more about commercial real estate, Brennan will always take a meeting or a call to give them insight, she said. It’s a habit she said she’s adopted herself.
In the last year, the new world of hybrid work schedules for office workers began unfolding. Though it’s possible to work from home, Brennan said, a commercial brokerage is an inherently social place, where brokers constantly bounce ideas, contacts and leads off one another. Training young employees is also more challenging in a remote environment.
“You can make money in a hybrid situation,” he said. “The question is, what’s the balance? There’s still a need to be amongst each other.”
Dealing with hybrid work schedules is here and now, but CBRE’s other big internal push is a long-term strategy: increasing diversity.
In addition to making diversity a goal in hiring, the effort has to extend into college scholarships, internships and mentorships, he said.
“There’s a lot of different opportunities,” he said. “It’s just the way of the world right now. You want to look like your clients.”
Then there’s the bigger picture of making the four offices he oversees better in all ways. That includes recruiting good brokers and looking for diversity, but also emphasizing business services, appraisal and project management, he said.
“I want to continue to develop this group of offices so I turn them over in the best shape possible,” he said.
The Essentials
David Brennan
Title: Senior managing director, CBRE (overseeing four offices, including Sacramento and Roseville)
Age: 59
Education: Bachelor’s degree from California State University Sacramento
Career: 1990-2006, broker, Cornish & Carey Commercial Real Estate; 2006-current, senior managing director, CBRE Sacramento
Personal: Married 31 years to wife Cindy, two daughters
An effective business leader … “surrounds themselves with good people and talks through ideas and solutions instead of quickly saying ‘yes’ or ‘no.'”
Fantasy job: NBA head coach
First job: Parking attendant at Candlestick Park, the San Francisco 49ers’ former stadium.
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