Citi Habitats founder to start new brokerage


Andrew Heiberger

Broker-turned-developer Andrew Heiberger is getting back into the brokerage game.

The Citi Habitats founder and former CEO is in the process of starting a new rental and sales firm, he told The Real Deal, under the umbrella of his development firm, Buttonwood Real Estate.

“I am in the process of finalizing a business model for a new residential real estate brokerage focusing on both sales and rentals,” said Heiberger, who founded Buttonwood after selling Citi Habitats to NRT, parent company of the Corcoran Group, in 2004, for a reported $49.6 million.

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He remained mum about further details, saying: “It would be premature to announce any further details at this time but we look forward to creating a resource that will better Manhattan’s rapidly evolving residential real estate business.”

Heiberger emphasized that he plans to remain in the real estate development and investment business.

Heiberger founded Citi Habitats, now the city’s biggest rental firm, in 1994 at age 25.

His won’t be the only new firm that’s popped up recently. In the midst of the real estate downturn, a number of new companies experimenting with different brokerage models have appeared in the city.