CHICAGO (June 2, 2022) – The Savills tenant advisory team led by Vice Chairmen Joe Learner and Robert Sevim was honored with the Office Broker of the Year award at the 34th annual Chicago Commercial Real Estate Awards. The event was held May 19 and benefited the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD). Along with Learner and Sevim, team members Jon Azulay, Adam Southard, Alex Greene, Cullen Hurley, and Bernice Ramos also share in receiving the award.

Selected by a voting block of industry peers, the honor is bestowed on the brokerage team that negotiated the most significant lease transactions and exhibited exceptional leadership and professional excellence during the previous year. The award marks the team’s sixth achievement in the category, with prior wins occurring in 2021, 2018, 2016, and 2015. Learner and Sevim have partnered together for 17 years, and both are highly regarded tenant advisory professionals who bring exceptional advocacy, creative advisory, and strategic problem solving to all their clients.

Upon accepting the award, Sevim shared, “We are humbled to receive this recognition and on behalf of our entire team, thank you to the GCFD for honoring us. We are proud to support the GCFD for its unfailing commitment to ending hunger in Chicago and supporting Cook County when communities are most in need. We’d like to congratulate the other finalists on their achievements from the past year. We deeply appreciate the trust our clients have in us, but without our unique community of developers, owners, leasing agents, architects, general contractors, and attorneys, we would not have been able to accomplish the successful outcomes we achieved. Our win is a true team effort, and every member played a unique role in our success. Thank you to our entire Chicago office and our clients for trusting us to guide their real estate strategy during one of the most uncharted times in history.”

In addition to being a member of the winning ensemble for Brokerage Team of the Year, Learner was honored with the prestigious Deal of the Year award for the Kirkland & Ellis transaction. He shared the recognition along with Bob Chodos of Newmark. Learner and Chodos handled lease negotiations and site selection for Kirkland & Ellis, who will relocate to the new office tower at 333 Wolf Point. The deal was acknowledged as one of the most substantial downtown office leases of the past decade.

The Chicago Commercial Real Estate Awards brings together the city’s top architects, brokers, developers, property managers, interior contractors, and design professionals to celebrate outstanding achievements in all facets of the industry and support the GCFD. The event is considered the top awards program for Chicago’s commercial real estate industry and the largest annual fundraiser for the GCFD. Since the event began in 1989, it has raised more than $22 million, and this year’s event raised over $1.1 million for hunger relief in Cook County.