Shortly after PwC has appointed a real estate leader, rival accounting and consulting firm Ernst & Young has also made a similar move. A managing partner of Ernst & Young’s Americas Construction & Real Estate Advisory Services (CREAS) practice has been tapped to head up the organisation’s global real estate advisory services.
A statement issued by the global firm reveals that Mark Costello has been appointed global leader of its real estate advisory practice. In this position, Costello will be responsible for overseeing the Ernst & Young’s advisory assignments related to large scale construction projects, corporate users of real estate and multinationals and operational advice to REITs and large institutional investors.
“With the movement of capital and corporations becoming ever more global, I look forward to increasing our cross-border support for large-scale real estate transformation projects and other real estate advisory projects,” said Costello. “A properly structured global real estate advisory network can be instrumental in assisting our clients with large-scale capital projects anywhere in the world.”
Costello replaces Malcolm Bairstow, who will continue to lead Ernst & Young’s global infrastructure and construction practice.
“With 30 years of experience under his belt, five of those in key capacities at Ernst & Young, Mark has assembled an extensive knowledge of the real estate sector, including hands-on real estate experience in brokerage, property and asset management, development and corporate management,” said Howard Roth, global leader of Ernst & Young’s real estate group. “Costello’s knowledge has grown to encompass advisory capabilities in strategic planning, enterprise cost reduction, portfolio management, process improvement and organizational design.”
As global head of the Global Real Estate Center, Roth oversees the coordination of all of the firm's global real estate practices, including real estate advisory services, tax, assurance and advisory business services and transactions.
While managing partner of Ernst & Young’s CREAS practice in the Americas, Costello built and led a practice which now has nearly 100 employees spread among three major hubs in Dallas, Los Angeles and New York. “That experience has more than prepared him to assume this important global leadership role,” added Roth.
Separately, news of this promotion comes immediately off the heels of the announcement that rival accounting and consulting firm PwC has recruited Byron Carlock for the newly created position of US real estate practice leader. An 11-year veteran of CNL Financial Group, Carlock in his new position reports to Barry Benjamin, who heads the firm’s US and global asset management practice. The New York-based PwC also is seeking to hire a real estate leader to oversee the Asia market.
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