Professional Experience
Associated Office
Tommy Cleaver joined CBRE in 2005 and is the Head of CBRE’s Institutional Office and Life Sciences Sales teams in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
During his career, he has led many of the most complex and high-profile transactions, advising on dispositions, recapitalizations, joint ventures, development, conversions, and headquarters decisions.
Today, he is at the forefront of the capital stack restructurings reshaping the next generation of commercial ownership working with the lending and investment communities to develop portfolio and asset-level strategies that effectively navigate the post-Covid environment.
Mr. Cleaver is known for cutting-edge marketing processes that reset the bar. His creative solutions yield successful outcomes most recently recognized in the executions of 1900 N – a top five, core trophy offering; the restructuring of the capital stack at 1050 17th – a value add trophy offering; 1735 K – an office to residential conversion; Research Square – the record setting office to lab conversion; and the capitalization of several flagship R&D campuses poised to bolster Maryland’s life sciences sector.
Mr. Cleaver thrives on innovative interactions with his clients, most recently embodied by a wellness and employee engagement initiative he created during the pandemic. On any given month, you can find the industry’s leaders in the trenches of his Capital Gainz fitness bootcamps as the sun rises over the National Mall.
His highly regarded methods for connecting capital to opportunity have consistently placed Mr. Cleaver amongst the top producers across all service lines within CBRE.
Outside of the office, Mr. Cleaver maintains a high level of community and charitable involvement. He sits on the Board of Trustees for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, is an advisor to the National Research Center for Health Disparities at Howard University and Founder of Living Proof – a nonprofit organization devoted to the support of cancer research.
A graduate of Middlebury College, Mr. Cleaver lives in Washington, DC with his wife and three children.
Led by Tommy Cleaver, CBRE’s Mid Atlantic Office Sales team advises on dispositions, recapitalizations, joint ventures, development, conversions, and capital stack restructurings.
Comprised of a curated group of subject matter experts, the market-leading team has the highest transaction volume within the region since 2020, which marked an inflection point that transformed execution within the office asset class.
Each team member has spent time within the leasing and consulting disciplines which yields a differentiated approach that is consistently recognized by successful outcomes and more importantly, within client testimonials.
The team sources capital at the asset, portfolio, and platform levels for institutional investors as well as generational families and high net worth individuals with bespoke solutions that protect long term interests.
They also frequently partner with CBRE’s occupier account teams to advise on acquisition and disposition strategies for Fortune 500 and non-profit organizations.
The team leverages proprietary data on local and global trends to shape their processes and drive substantiated investment theses. This data is brought to life through the team’s utilization of cutting- edge technology, which is widely recognized as the most innovative in the business.
They are a conduit to CBRE’s debt and structured finance platform and play an instrumental role in sourcing mezzanine and preferred equity capital.
Office Team
Tom Traynor, CFA
Vice Chairman | Co-Head of U.S. Large Loans
Tom Rugg
Vice Chair, Co-Head of U.S. Large Loans
CBRE’s Mid Atlantic Life Sciences team enjoys dominant market share across the capital markets, agency leasing, and occupier disciplines.
The real time insight, gleaned from an unrivaled number of engagements with pharmaceutical, biotech, genomic, contract research, and contract manufacturing organizations produces a market intelligence advantage within an opaque asset class. Simply put, we see things others can’t.
Buttressed by an industry-leading life sciences platform, the team is largely comprised of professionals that have spent their entire careers working solely within biotech verticals including substantial experience on the principal side of the industry.
This deep bench of technical expertise translates to superior guidance on the best ways to meet the user demands of today, from incubation all the way to big pharma, and how to attract specialized talent.
The team leverages proprietary data on a local and global basis to tailor their insights and arm their clients with conclusions that enable effective decisions. This data is brought to life through the team’s utilization of cutting-edge technology, which is widely recognized as the most innovative in the business.
