Jones Lang LaSalle's Cissel and Melnick

Late last month, Al Cissel Scott Melnick—counted among the highest-producing investment sales brokers in the Washington, DC area—left longtime firm Transwestern to join Jones Lang LaSalle’s Capital Markets group. Operating out of the company’s Bethesda, MD office, the managing directors and their team will continue to focus on growing their business in the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as helping JLL expand its reach on the East Coast. The duo, which has closed some $5 billion in multifamily deals over the past five years, recently spoke with GlobeSt.com about the move to a new brand and their expectations for the market as well as the Washington, DC region, which has been a relative hotbed of activity in terms of multifamily investment.

GlobeSt.com: What was behind your decision to move over to Jones Lang LaSalle?

Melnick: We have a long relationship with Transwestern. It’s a great company, and our team has sold more multifamily product in the Washington, DC area over the past two to three years than anyone else. But with JLL, their platform and vision for growth matched up exactly with ours. The Mid-Atlantic is one of the most desirable and most active spots for multifamily. Along those lines, there’s a lot of opportunity. JLL’s national and international platform and its visions for growth in multifamily and the capital markets in general, was a perfect fit for our team.