Veteran broker Julia Silva to lead Lee & Associates Tampa office
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 17, 2023

National commercial real estate firm Lee & Associates is opening an office in Tampa — and has tapped veteran broker Julia Silva to lead it.

Silva, who was most recently with JLL Inc., has a 30-year history in Tampa Bay’s commercial real estate industry. She was a managing direct JLL and Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and has also worked for some of the largest commercial landlords in the U.S., including Prologis, Duke and Liberty Property Trust.

Lee & Associates has offices throughout North America and has been in expansion mode for the last five years, opening offices in more than a dozen markets, including Naples and Miami.

In addition to leading the Tampa office as president, Silva will continue to transact her own deals. By the end of 2024, she’d like to have a head count of 10 to 12 people in the Tampa office; by the end of 2025, she wants to have up to 25 employees, including brokers and support staff. The firm has office space in Hyde House, a coworking hub in Hyde Park Village.

“I don’t think we’re going to have a hard time recruiting,” Silva told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “We’re going to have a harder time making sure that the brokers that want to come on board fit within the culture of the company that I’m super passionate about.”

Lee & Associates, Silva said, is different from its competitors — most notably for its “entrepreneurial but collegial” culture. After spending time with Lee & Associates CEO Jeffrey Rinkov, she said she was convinced the move was a good fit.

Her founding principals include Erika Thompson, an industrial broker who was with Dikman Co., and Ed Killmer, a longtime independent broker. She’s also brought on board Felicia Saunders as director of marketing and operations.

The firm’s Tampa office will open with a focus on office and industrial real estate. Silva will recruit teams on the landlord and tenant representation sides of retail real estate.

“This West Coast of Florida market is one of the fastest-growing areas in the region and certainly a place where we have ongoing representation opportunities,” Rinkov said. “We look forward to building a robust Tampa Bay footprint with the incredible foundation provided by Julia, Erica and their team.”