Ali Jafri, one of the top-producing brokers of the Bracha Group at Prudential Douglas Elliman, is leaving the 15-person group after three years and will likely start his own team, he told the Wall Street Journal. While Jafri, 30, will remain at Elliman, whether he will keep his listings is “still under negotiation,” he said.
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Prudential Douglas Elliman executive vice president Rob Gross, who has been working on 14 West 14th Street for two years.

From the April issue: You can file the bizarre sales situation at 14 West 14th Street under “thanks to the economy. “Rather than sell all their units at post-meltdown discounts, the sponsors of the building decided to sell just one-third of the units. Read: Roughly 20 of the 30 condos will remain in the developer’s hands and be rented out. Because most banks won’t finance buyers in a building where only 33 percent of the units are being sold, the developers, Albert and Robert Dweck, originally said they would sell only to all-cash buyers. Sales started in September. That strategy, not surprisingly, didn’t bear much fruit. No buyers plunked down cash for their apartments out of the gate. But then, after a couple of months, the team finally found a bank, NJ Lenders Corp., willing to finance buyers at the building. [more]

From left: Christine Blackburn, Lior Barak, Ilan Bracha and Dolly Lenz

Dolly Lenz, the Bracha Group and the Barak/Blackburn Group won top awards at Prudential Douglas Elliman’s annual awards ceremony held at Cipriani tonight (see full awards list after the jump). Lenz received the individual award based on transactions and gross commission income, while the Bracha Group, led by Ilan Bracha, won the award for the top team by GCI. Bracha himself also received the 2009 award for the most sales exclusives in Manhattan. Other top groups by GCI were the Leonard Steinberg Team (number 2), the Jacky Teplitzky Team (number 3), the Tamir Shemesh Group (number 5) and the DeNiro Group (number 8). The Kotler Group, which secured the 7th spot, was also acknowledged for closing the most rental transactions in Manhattan. The top team in terms of transactions was Barak/Blackburn Group, led by Christine Blackburn and Lior Barak. Groups who won based on sales transactions included the Doron Zwickel Team (number 2), the Bracha Group (number 3), the Jacky Teplitzky Team (number 4) and the Tamir Shemesh Group (number 7). On the commercial side, Faith Hope Consolo won the top retail and commercial award by highest GCI. TRD [more]

Condominiums in Brooklyn, including BellTel Lofts, One Hanson Place and Oro, still have empty retail spaces. Two of the buildings have lost out on national retailers — BellTel was in discussions with Starbucks, and One Hanson Place lost Borders as a tenant — and now retail brokers are focusing on attracting local tenants. According to Lawrence Lee, vice president with Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Bracha Group, which represents BellTel, said they are looking for a locally owned lounge, restaurant or small grocer. Paul Rich of TerraCRG, who is marketing Oro’s space, said people have approached the company to open a diner or restaurant in the space. And at One Hanson Place, the 15,000-square-foot ground-floor space is being rented for weddings and special events. According to Caroline Pardo, director of leasing at Two Trees Management, “There are definitely more mom-and-pops looking right now than big national tenants.” [Post] and [Post]