Lynn A. Williams

Lynn Williams is widely regarded as one of the industry’s leading advisors to real estate occupiers, major law firms, financial institutions, entertainment companies and corporations globally. A CBRE Vice Chairman, the highest title achievable by the firm’s brokerage professionals, she has lead hundreds of transactions and consulting assignments totaling almost 40 million square feet (SF).

Lynn’s unique experience as both a real estate attorney and an advisory and transaction expert gives her invaluable insight into real estate decision-making across most major industry sectors. She specializes in the development and implementation of complex transaction strategies, including headquarters assignments (negotiating more than 80 leases of over 100,000 SF, more than 1/3 of which are headquarters leases).

Ms. Williams joined CBRE in 2015 with her partner, Jeff Welch, after 29 years with Cushman & Wakefield (formerly Cushman Realty Corporation), and immediately achieved success, including:

• Edward S. Gordon Award: In 2018, Lynn was the first woman to receive this prestigious award which recognizes one outstanding CBRE professional who displays a unique talent for creating exceptional client outcomes, excellence, a strong work ethic, creativity, and a relentless drive to be the best
  
• Real Estate Forum: Named one of Southern California’s Most Powerful Women in Commercial Real Estate in 2016 
• Los Angeles Business Journal: Received Office Lease of the Year Award in 2017 for the City National Bank lease at City National 2CAL/City National Plaza (600,000 SF), as well as the Largest Office Lease in Los Angeles County Award for the Farmers Insurance lease (500,000 SF) in 2015

Notable Entertainment Experience

• NBCUniversal West Coast Transaction Lead since 2017; 1.1M SF of leasing and advisory assignments, with a focus on production and office facilities, in the greater Los Angeles area
• Netflix Los Angeles Studio Master Plan Team Lead; completed long-term, 14-stage / 315,000 SF master lease of Netflix / Raleigh Studios (studio, production and office facility space in Los Angeles), as well as land purchase in Hollywood in 2021 
• NFL Network West Coast Transaction Team; responsible for establishing and growing the NFL Network’s headquarters facility in Culver City, CA from 10,000 SF (one studio) to over 160,000 SF (four studios) over the course of 8+ years

Notable Corporate Experience

• City National Bank 3.0+ million SF of transactions, including over 200,000 SF of leasing assignments in New York in 2020, as well as the landmark 310,000 SF headquarters consolidation in Los Angeles at City National Plaza, and the two integrally related headquarters leases (City National Plaza and the new City National 2CAL), for a total of 600,000 SF
• Pepperdine University 920,000 SF of leases in five Southern California campuses, including the 115,000 SF headquarters
• Farmers Insurance 500,000 SF headquarters consolidation and lease restructure, including an extensive review of labor, real estate and business drivers
• Marsh & McLennan Companies 85,000 SF lease in Downtown Los Angeles, focused on establishing a new workplace paradigm
• Raytheon Company 3.3+ million SF of transactions involving major build-to-suit, disposition, ground lease, development and leasing transactions from California to South Carolina

Notable Law Firm Experience

• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP 500,000 SF of transactions globally, including the 165,000 SF Los Angeles lease restructure/renewal (2011), the 125,000 SF renegotiation/relocation assignment (2021), and the 54,000 SF new lease in Century City (2023)
• O’Melveny & Myers LLP Global Transaction Advisory Team; responsible for all real estate transactions for the firm, including the implementation and maintenance of a global lease database and portfolio dashboard. Assignments include 3+ million SF in portfolio transactions, including the 700,000 SF Los Angeles headquarters sale, 300,000 SF lease restructure and renewal
• Latham & Watkins LLP Southern California Transaction Team; involved in 700,000 SF of lease assignments in the greater Los Angeles area, including the 292,000 SF Los Angeles headquarters relocation and subsequent 191,000 SF lease restructure, 60,000 SF Global Services Operations expansion/restructure, 135,000 SF Century City Lease and 60,000 SF Orange County lease restructure and renewal
• Paul Hastings LLP Global Transaction Advisory Team Lead: over 32 years, 4+ million SF in global portfolio transactions, including 300+ SF of lease transactions in Los Angeles (including building top signage), Washington DC, Palo Alto, London and Beijing