Real estate veteran Dunavin to lead Cresa Atlanta

Real estate services firm Cresa has named Lisa Dunavin as market leader and managing principal for the Atlanta office.

Dunavin, a senior managing director with Cushman & Wakefield, is a 25-year veteran of Atlanta real estate.

It’s the second time in five years Dunavin has led a real estate services company in Atlanta — the only woman to achieve that role in the market. In 2014, she was appointed market leader and managing principal of Cassidy Turley/DTZ.

Dunavin also becomes the first market leader in Atlanta for Cresa, which was established in the city in 1998.

“We intend to capitalize on the company’s upward trajectory to grow this office with both additional occupier services and additional team members including a continuation of the focus on diversity and inclusion,” Dunavin said in a statement.

Dunavin will focus on increasing annual revenue in the Cresa-Atlanta office from about $12 million to at least $25 million within five years, she said. Cresa-Atlanta has about 40 employees in brokerage, project management and consultancy. Attracting and retaining talent is another big priority, Dunavin added.

Cresa is also carrying out an international expansion of its occupier services-focused model.

“We felt it was the right time to find a person who could be the true market leader in Atlanta to help us accelerate that growth potential,” Jim Byrd, managing principal, Cresa Atlanta, said in a statement. “Lisa’s long and very respected career in Atlanta put her at the forefront of all candidates for us.”  

Her appointment to market leader comes a little more than three years after Cresa named James Underhill chief executive.

Underhill had led the Americas division of Cushman & Wakefield.

This piece originally appeared in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Read the article here.