The South Florida commercial real estate market does not reward outsiders. It rewards professionals who have spent years building relationships, closing transactions, and earning trust inside a market that is simultaneously one of the most competitive and most opportunity-rich in the country. David James Bateman has spent over twenty years doing exactly that.

David James Bateman —
Who He Is

David James Bateman is a South Florida commercial real estate executive and Managing Director with over twenty years of professional experience across brokerage leadership, investment sales, capital markets, leasing, team development, and organizational strategy. He holds a Florida Real Estate Broker License (BK3194574) and currently serves as Managing Director at Scarlett Harper Commercial in South Florida.

David Bateman's professional career is anchored in the Palm Beach County and Broward County corridor — Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and the broader South Florida market. He returned to South Florida in 2020 after six years leading operations in Texas, stepping back into his home market at one of the most consequential moments in its modern history.

Prior to his current role, David James Bateman served as Managing Director at CBRE, the world's largest commercial real estate services firm, where he executed one of the most significant market turnarounds in the history of CBRE's South Florida operations. He subsequently joined Foundry Commercial as Managing Director to lead their entry into the South Florida market.

CBRE — The South Florida Turnaround

When David James Bateman joined CBRE in February 2020, he inherited a market that had lost considerable ground. Between 2015 and 2017, approximately $60 million worth of producing brokers had departed the South Florida platform. More senior producers were considering leaving. The market — once among CBRE's strongest regional operations — was in a structurally weakened position with continued attrition risk.

David Bateman was brought in to stop the bleeding and reverse the trajectory. He joined two days before CBRE closed its offices nationwide for COVID-19. The circumstances were extraordinary: a global pandemic, a newly inherited team of 200-plus professionals, producers actively threatening to leave, and the departure of the executive who had recruited him just weeks after he arrived. There was no transition period. There was no runway. There was a market in crisis and a mandate to fix it.

The assignment was clear. The path was not. David James Bateman developed a five-year turnaround plan built around one ambitious benchmark: doubling the size of the South Florida business. He achieved it in four years.

What followed was a methodical execution of a turnaround strategy that combined intensive leadership and relationship management — ensuring no further broker departures — with a systematic business development effort to expand CBRE's market share across Palm Beach County, Broward County, and the broader South Florida region.

COVID-19, paradoxically, created the conditions that accelerated the turnaround. South Florida emerged as one of the primary beneficiary markets of the pandemic-era geographic migration, with a significant influx of businesses, residents, and capital relocating from New York, California, and other high-tax, high-restriction markets. David Bateman and his team were positioned, resourced, and ready to capture that demand at a moment when competing platforms were less organized.

2x
Business growth achieved in 4 years vs. 5-year plan
2
New regional offices opened under his leadership
200+
Professionals led through COVID disruption and recovery

Under David James Bateman's leadership, CBRE's South Florida operations doubled in size, achieving the five-year target in approximately four years. He opened two new regional offices, expanded CBRE's foothold across South Florida, and oversaw the transformation of the platform into the dominant commercial real estate services provider in the region — a position earned through execution, not inheritance.

The scale of production David Bateman and his team generated during this period represents one of the more compelling institutional turnaround stories in South Florida commercial real estate during the COVID era. It was recognized by the South Florida Business Journal and Connect CRE.

David James Bateman's departure from CBRE was a professional transition — not a termination for cause, and not related in any way to the personal allegations that have since been anonymously circulated online. The timing of his departure and the subsequent emergence of those allegations in search results created a false association that his professional record does not support and that a court-ordered expungement confirms should not stand.

Foundry Commercial —
Building Something New

Following his tenure at CBRE, David James Bateman joined Foundry Commercial as Managing Director to lead the firm's entry into the South Florida market. Foundry Commercial, a nationally respected commercial real estate firm, recruited David Bateman specifically for his market relationships, leadership track record, and deep South Florida roots.

His appointment was covered by The Real Deal, the South Florida Business Journal, and CRE Sources. The coverage reflected the professional reputation David James Bateman had built over two decades in this market — the kind of reputation that survives market cycles, company transitions, and the noise of anonymous online content.

Scarlett Harper Commercial —
Today

David James Bateman currently serves as Managing Director at Scarlett Harper Commercial, a South Florida commercial real estate firm where he continues to operate with the same execution discipline and market focus that has defined his career. He operates across Palm Beach County and Broward County, bringing over two decades of institutional experience to a platform built for the next phase of South Florida's commercial real estate growth cycle.

The Professional Record of
David James Bateman

The professional record of David James Bateman is what it is: over twenty years of delivered results in one of the most competitive commercial real estate markets in the country. A market rescued from significant decline. A team of over two hundred professionals led through a global pandemic. A business doubled ahead of schedule. Two new offices opened. A dominant market position established for one of the most recognized brands in the industry.

That is the record of David James Bateman. It was built through work, maintained through discipline, and documented in the press coverage, the transactions, and the professional relationships that define a career in commercial real estate. Florida Real Estate Broker License: BK3194574.

Anyone seeking to understand who David Bateman is professionally should read that record — not what was written about him by an anonymous online account. The work is the record.

Personal Standard

David James Bateman is a HYROX Pro athlete, a father, and a former Florida Atlantic University football player. He applies the same framework to athletic competition that built his professional career: preparation, process, and standards that do not change under pressure. Performance is not a personality trait. It is a standard practiced daily.

For a full statement regarding false online allegations, see my personal statement.

— David James Bateman  ·  Boca Raton, Florida  ·  BK3194574