Five years after hanging out his own shingle and launching Audubon Commercial Real Estate, Joe Gorman is closing up shop and joining Corporate Realty.
In his new role with the firm, one of the state’s largest commercial brokerages, Gorman will serve as director of leasing for Place St. Charles, downtown New Orleans’ tallest skyscraper.
While the office market in New Orleans, as elsewhere around the country, has been challenging since the pandemic normalized remote work, Gorman said the decision was not based on recent market activity.
“Rather, the opportunity came up and it was a really good chance for me to jump,” Gorman said. “I was not looking for this. It came to me.”
Gorman will replace Bennett Davis, who will move into an expanded role at Corporate as senior director of leasing for Place St. Charles and serve as liaison with the building’s New York owners. Davis will also assume more general brokerage responsibilities, according to a prepared statement from the firm.
Gorman, meanwhile, will bring his largest client–the Exchange Center, an older office building in the Central Business District–with him to Corporate and will continue to serve as its director of leasing.
Gorman is a native of California, who first came to New Orleans in the early 2000s. He spent 17 years at Max Derbes Commercial Real Estate, where he specialized in the local office market, before founding Audubon in late 2019.
As director of leasing for Place St. Charles, he will be taking over one of the healthier office towers in the market. Built in 1985, the 52-story building is nearly 84% leased, well above the average of less than 80% for newer, or class A, buildings in the CBD.
Among the tower’s major tenants are Jones Walker, Baker Donelson, Chase Bank, Capital One and Corporate Realty, which has its headquarters in the building.
“Joe is a great fit for the company and he is a perfect fit for Place St. Charles,” said Corporate Realty CEO Mike Siegel, who has seen the firm grow from 70 to nearly 90 employees over the past three years.
The changes will take effect Jan. 1.