The team leader, Robert E. Griffin Jr., along with Marci Griffith, Ed Maher Jr. and Christopher Griffin, left along with mid-level brokers and support staff, totaling 14 people. Thomas Collins confirms for GlobeSt.com that Cushman & Wakefield has hired Griffin and his team and adds that it's a "homecoming" for the brokers. Griffin, Griffith and Maher all worked for Cushman & Wakefield in the early 1990s before moving, as a team, to Fallon Hines O'Connor, which was acquired by Trammell Crow three years ago for $35 million.

According to Collins, "Rob, who leads the team, was thinking about what to do as a group. He approached us." Griffin will serve as president of Cushman & Wakefield's New England office. Griffith and Maher will serve as executive directors and Christopher Griffin will be a senior director.

Among Griffin's clients are MGI Properties, PaineWebber, MetLife, Hart Advisers, Shaw's Supermarkets, Congress Group Ventures, Westbrook Partners and RREEF. The team's recent deals include One Federal Street, which was a $375.4 million deal; State Street Banking Building, a $268.4 million deal; 99 High Street, a $213.5 million deal; One Kendall Square, a $192 million deal; Arsenal on the Charles, a $168 million deal; One Memorial Drive, a $112.5 million deal; and, Waltham Woods Corporate Center, a $104.5 million deal.