James Nelson is Principal and Head of Avison Young’s Tri-State Investment Sales group where he leads a group of three dozen professionals in the sale of multi-family, office, development and retail properties.

In 2018, the Tri-State Investment Sales group closed 16 sales valued at $394 million, resulting in Avison Young naming James one of its Top Sales Professionals for the year.

James has built a unique sales platform at Avison Young consisting of a unified, client first, sales group that is broken out by asset class, rather than territory, and where brokers share information and commissions in order to provide the best client experience. The group is currently marketing 50+ active listings valued at over $1.5 billion.

Avison Young is the only global real estate firm that is principally-owned, meaning that principals are personally invested in the long-term success of their clients. The company recently acquired GVA, one of the U.K.'s leading real estate advisory businesses, resulting in 5,000 real estate professionals located in 120 offices in 20 countries.

Throughout his 20-year career, James has been involved in the sale of over 400 properties and loans with an aggregate value of over $4 billion. Prior to joining Avison Young, James served as Vice Chairman of Cushman & Wakefield, where his team marketed over $1 billion in listings, ranking him as the number one Investment Sales broker nationwide in 2016. Previously, James was a partner and top producer for Massey Knakal for six of their last eight years and was named the company’s youngest partner in 2004.

James is the Chairman of REBNY’s Commercial Board of Directors, a Board Member of both the Citizens Budget Commission and the Catalog for Giving, member of the Counselors of Real Estate and Young Men’s/Women’s Real Estate Association of New York (YMWREA), and Founder of the Real Estate Services Alliance and the Colgate Real Estate Council. He has received numerous distinctions including being #1 Top NYC Deal Maker by LoopNet, Real Estate Forum’s 40 Under 40, Top 35 and Under NYC Real Estate Players by The Real Deal and REBNY’s Most Promising Commercial Sales Person of the Year Award.