HKS Capital Partners, a New York-based capital advisory firm, announced the appointment of Charles Yellen as the company’s new managing director.
Yellen’s responsibilities will be to manage the firm’s growing practice and work in collaboration with the founding partners and staff to mentor HKS brokers and trainees. In keeping with the HKS’ ‘client-centric’ approach, Yellen brings a wealth of experience to the key components of HKS: originations, processing and operations.
Before joining HKS Capital Partners, Yellen worked at Pergolis Swartz Associates Inc. for ten years where he successfully obtained commercial mortgages for all asset classes (multi-family, retail, industrial, office, hotel, construction) in transactions with a net worth of over $500 million dollars.
Yellen is an active member of his community where he has coached sports’ teams for the West Side Soccer League, CYO and the Yorkville Youth Athletic Association. He has served as President and Co-President of the Park Avenue Synagogue Men’s Club and on the synagogue’s Advisory Council.
The Manhattan resident is most proud of his volunteer activity serving as a mentor to at-risk city youth, including teenagers, for the “I Have a Dream” Foundation and Mentoring USA.
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Gebroe-Hammer Associates has promoted three of its top-producing brokers and one administrative professional to new executive management positions. Debbie Pomerantz of Passaic was named senior vice president and Gehane Triarsi of Mountainside, Adam Zweibel of Livingston and Kathleen DeMarino of Bloomfield were named vice presidents.
Managing Director David Oropeza, who is the firm’s market specialist for The Oranges, also was recognized for his 30-year tenure at Gebroe-Hammer. Each of the newly promoted professionals, along with Oropeza, played a key role in contributing toward the firm’s 132 deals involving 12,117 total units sold for $1.83+ billion in 2016.
Pomerantz joined Gebroe-Hammer as a sales associate in 2011 to focus on Northern New Jersey’s Bergen and Passaic submarkets. During her tenure, she has closed 48 deals netting over $200 million in these high-barrier-to-entry hubs as well as throughout New Jersey. She is a two-time recipient of Gebroe-Hammer’s peer-selected Salesperson of the Year Award, a NJ Top Broker, “Woman of Influence” in real estate and a two-time Executive Women in Real Estate honoree. Pomerantz was promoted to assistant vice president in 2013 and vice president in 2014.
Triarsi also joined Gebroe-Hammer in 2011 to focus on the Union County submarket. After launching her professional career as a television producer for a major New York network, her interests shifted to commercial real estate investment sales and the art of structuring deals. Since entering Gebroe-Hammer’s industry-unique mentoring program, she has closed over 25 deals totaling more than 2,000 units. Additionally, she has been recognized as a two-time Executive Woman in Real Estate honoree and a Gebroe-Hammer Salesperson of the Year.
Zweibel was hired as a Gebroe-Hammer sales associate in 2013 and is among the region’s leading Central and South Jersey market specialists. In 2016, he closed 14 deals totaling 1,629 units and $192+ million, topping off 2015’s 13 deals encompassing 1,340 units sold for $147.27 million. Similar to Triarsi, his affiliation with Gebroe-Hammer marked a career change thanks to the firm’s mentoring program. Previously, he served as president of Alpha Technology Group, a company he successfully built, restructured and eventually sold to Strategic Micro Systems.
Specializing in property offering memorandums, as well as the preparation of critical real estate, legal and bank documents, DeMarino has risen through the Gebroe-Hammer ranks, from administrative assistant to assistant vice president. She also is a member of the Board of Health in Bloomfield, where she has resided for 35 years.
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Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors (CBC Advisors) named Gregory Gang partner of the firm’s New York office. Gang is a long-term Manhattan commercial real estate veteran, widely recognized as one of the industry’s most accomplished professionals.
Gang has successfully completed over $3 billion in real estate transactions, representing several million square feet of commercial real estate over the course of his career. He has more than 25 years of experience, primarily representing property owners in New York City, and is known for his unparalleled market knowledge.
Recent transactions include the lease renewal and expansion of HMS Productions for 51,000 sf at 250 West 39th Street, new lease with The Yard for 33,000 sf and expansion and extension of The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey for 19,000 sf at 116 Nassau Street, the sale of 79 Walker Street to Caspi Development and the sale of a commercial coop at 246 West 38th Street to Laxman Hari Real Estate.
Greg joined Tarter Stats O’Toole in 2013, which was acquired by Coldwell Banker Commercial the same year. Prior to 2013, he advised landlords at Endurance Real Estate Advisors. He spent the majority of his career at Sage Realty Corp; an owner and developer of class “A” office buildings from 1990-2008.
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Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. (HFF) announced that it has hired Gregory Nalbandian as a senior managing director in its New Jersey office. Mr. Nalbandian will focus on debt and equity placement transactions in New Jersey and the Tri-State area.
Mr. Nalbandian has more than 23 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry and joins HFF from NorthMarq Capital, LLC, where he worked as a senior vice president and managing director since 2005. In this role, Nalbandian was responsible for leading the New Jersey regional office and was consistently a top producer nationally working on a variety of debt and equity placements.
Prior to NorthMarq, Mr. Nalbandian was a principal at The Schonbraun McCann Group, LLC, a leading real estate-dedicated advisory firm in New Jersey. Mr. Nalbandian began his commercial real estate career with O’Connor Capital Partners, a real estate private equity fund headquartered in New York City. He is an active member of ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) and NAIOP (National Association of Industrial and Office Properties).
Mr. Nalbandian graduated from New York University with a Master’s in Real Estate and from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
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Real estate professional Ido Tzaidi has been named partner and principal of EPIC Commercial Realty.
In his new role, Tzaidi will spearhead the Manhattan division and build upon the firm’s success alongside CEO and Founder Yona Edelkopf.
A strategic decision maker and knowledgeable real estate broker with more than 10 years of managerial experience in the financial and commercial real estate industries, Tzaidi served as a senior associate broker at EPIC before this promotion.
Tzaidi accomplished numerous achievements early in his career as a broker including successfully closing a multimillion dollar transaction within his second month in the industry. He also closed a full block assembly on the Upper East Side – for over $100 million during his second year.
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Greystone announced that Jerry Muir has joined as a Managing Director working with the Agency lending team. A 25-year veteran of Fannie Mae, Mr. Muir will focus on building out Greystone’s manufactured housing lending platform.
Mr. Muir most recently served as Director of Multifamily Credit/Underwriting at Fannie Mae, responsible for a 12-state Southeast Region, with a dual role in having developed and managed the manufactured housing community (MHC) lending platform at the GSE. Mr. Muir managed the MHC platform at Fannie for over 15 years, overseeing over $10 billion in financing for this asset class.
Mr. Muir, who reports to Joe Mosley, Executive Vice President of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Lending, will work closely with the Origination Team to identify lending opportunities with owners of manufactured housing communities.
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Sahn Ward Coschignano, PLLC has announced that John P. Christopher, a Partner with the Firm, has been appointed as a Fellow of The New York Bar Foundation. Fellows are nominated by their peers to the Foundation based on their outstanding achievement and dedication to the legal profession.
The Fellows are a distinguished group of legal professionals, with only 1 percent of New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) membership invited to share in this honor. All fellows must be members of the NYSBA and admitted to practice in the State of New York.
Mr. Christopher concentrates his practice in the areas of zoning and land use, real estate transactions and leasing, landlord/tenant disputes and municipal law. He is an active member of the Young Lawyers Section of the NYSBA, currently holding the position of Chair-elect and previously holding the positions of Treasurer and Secretary. In addition, he serves as a Section Delegate to the NYSBA House of Delegates and Liaison to the Real Property Law Section.
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JLL hired life sciences expert John Cunningham as part of the expansion of its life sciences practice. He joins the firm as an executive vice president in its Parsippany, N.J., office and will work with Daniel Loughlin, international director and head of New Jersey office brokerage and the life sciences practice for JLL.
Cunningham, 53, has more than 30 years of experience in New Jersey’s commercial real estate sector and specializes in representing corporate office and life sciences clients across the globe. He has been involved in more than 500 leasing, sale or consulting transactions valued at more than $1 billion.
Prior to joining JLL, Cunningham served as the national director of the life sciences practice of a major international brokerage company.
Cunningham earned a bachelor’s degree from Wittenberg University. He is a licensed real estate broker in the state of New Jersey, and is an active member of BioNJ and NewYorkBIO.
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Levin Management Corporation (LMC) has announced that Kyle Farley of Manhattan has joined the commercial real estate services firm as a senior leasing agent. The appointment comes at the start of the North Plainfield-based company’s 65th year and during a period of strong organizational growth.
Farley brings more than 10 years of retail leasing experience representing both tenants and landlords to his new role. He is responsible for leasing and marketing efforts at several regional shopping center properties, including Brunswick Shopping Center in North Brunswick, Aldrich Plaza in Howell, Rite Aid Center in Hackensack, Old Bridge Plaza in Old Bridge and Bayshore Plaza in Barnegat, N.J.; and River Plaza in Johnson City, N.Y.
Prior to joining LMC, Farley was head of real estate at Zelnik & Company, a Manhattan-based retail real estate firm. He previously held positions at The Greenberg Group, Robert K. Futterman & Associates, CBRE and Rosen Associates. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Real Estate Board of New York. Active in his community, Farley also volunteers his time with the Valley Stream Green Hornets youth football organization.
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Michael Volpe has joined Manhattan based investment sales firm, Highcap Group, as the Director of Finance.
Volpe graduated with a BA from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and with an MS in Real Estate Finance from New York University. Prior to Highcap, he was with the financing firm, Pergolis Swartz Associates. He has over 15 years in the industry and has originated commercial loans on all CRE asset classes: Multi-Family, Office, Industrial, Hospitality, Owner-Occupied and Land. He understands the dynamic nature of the capital markets and prides himself on linking the needs of the borrower and lender alike.
Volpe will provide creative, personalized financing options at competitive rates to Highcap’s clients as well as new customers.
