From left: Anthony DeGrotta, founder and principal at A.C. Lawrence & Co., and Bruno Ricciotti, Bond’s principal broker

Making a charge ripped from the pages of a thriller spy novel, residential and commercial brokerage A.C. Lawrence & Co. accused competing firm Bond New York and seven of its principals or agents of hacking into its proprietary listing system to steal valuable listings.

The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court Sept. 20, claims that beginning in February, Bond, its agents and others broke into the listing system and stole the information, later contacting the owners of properties in an effort to poach the business.

A.C. Lawrence claims in the suit that it lost at least $100,000 in commissions “which would have been earned by plaintiff but, instead, were converted and wrongfully received by defendants,” and is seeking $5 million in punitive damages. “Bond vehemently denies all allegations in this frivolous and desperate suit by a competitor. Bond will aggressively defend the complaint,” said Bruno Ricciotti, Bond’s principal broker in a statement to The Real Deal.
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From left: Trump Organization Chairman and President Donald Trump, Naftali Group CEO Miki Naftali and Jones Lang LaSalle President of New York operations Peter Riguardi

September marks The Real Deal’s 100th magazine issue (to be posted online tomorrow). In it, we will be bringing you some of the stories that made the biggest impact on us and on the market. In the meantime, here is what some industry execs have to say about The Real Deal’s magazine milestone as well as about what The Real Deal has meant to them in the publication’s eight-year existence. For example, Donald Trump, chairman and president of the Trump Organization, said: “The Real Deal has become more comprehensive in its coverage of the real estate industry in New York City and it has also become a valuable source of information. The Real Deal has done a terrific job.” Compiled by Lauren Elkies

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Bond’s Bruno Ricciotti and 1776 Broadway (building photo source: PropertyShark)

Bond Real Estate New York has signed an eight-year renewal and
expansion at its Columbus Circle location at 1776 Broadway and West
57th Street, bringing the company’s total square footage to 10,800
square feet, Crain’s reported. Bond principal Bruno Ricciotti told The Real Deal  in its May issue that the new space
was 5,500 square feet. The 10-year-old firm, which currently occupies
the entire 19th floor, will also take over the second floor of the
25-story, 110,000-square-foot building come September. The asking rent
for the lower floor was in the low $40s per square foot. Bond has four
other Manhattan offices and continues to expand its staff. The company
hired 100 people last year and plans to hire close to 80 brokers soon,
according to Jeffrey Rosenblatt, the Newmark Knight Frank broker who
represented Bond in the transaction. Peter Berti of Cushman &
Wakefield represented landlord ULM Holding. [Crain's]

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Aiming to change its rentals-only reputation, Citi Habitats has renamed
its sales division, calling it “Citi Sales.”
The company has issued new marketing materials, business cards and
window displays, emblazoning them with a new Citi Sales logo. But the
division will remain under the Citi Habitats umbrella, operate out of
Citi Habitats’ offices, and see no major changes, explained Gary Malin,
the firm’s president. Founded as a rental agency in 1994, Citi Habitats is the third-largest
real estate company in the city and does more rentals than any other
firm. Its sales business has also grown steadily over the years: by
2008, sales transactions comprised around 40 percent of the company’s
revenue, Malin said. Still, the company — which rented nearly 13,000 apartments in 2009
— is known to many clients and brokers as a rental firm. “When you rent 13,000 apartments a year, it just overshadows everything
you do,” Malin said, adding that Citi Habitats has lost customers
because people don’t realize that the company also does sales. [more]

From the May issue: A year ago this month, New York’s real estate community experienced one of the darker moments of the recession when Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy — one of the city’s largest and most established firms — announced it would close. However, CBHK turned out to be the only major firm that disappeared. Business, meanwhile, has steadily improved for months. “New York has had a very good rebound,” said Pamela Liebman, CEO of the Corcoran Group. [more]

Concessions lead to flare-ups between agents and renters

One might think that months of free rent and scarce broker’s fees — hallmarks of the current marketplace — would ease the notoriously fraught relationship between renters and real estate agents.

On the contrary, the ever-changing array of incentives is leading to confusion for renters and fueling flare-ups with brokers, experts say.

“It can be very confusing for clients, because landlords will change these offerings on a moment’s notice,” said Bruno Ricciotti, a principal at Bond New York Real Estate.

When an incentive changes unexpectedly, renters often think they are being scammed.

“Unfortunately, clients always think that brokers are deceptive,” said Marc Lewis, the president of Century 21 New York Metro, who has recently seen several disputes between clients and agents arising from misunderstandings about incentives. [more]

Douglas Wagner, president and general manager at Benjamin James Real Estate, has left the shrinking company for a position at brokerage Bond New York. Wagner became executive managing director of sales at Bond just over a week ago, according to Bruno Ricciotti, a principal at Bond, and will manage sales and rentals at the company’s 45-agent Upper East Side office at 1500 Second Avenue between 78th and 79th streets. Ricciotti said Bond and Benjamin James have often worked on rental deals together. Wagner’s departure raises questions about the future of Benjamin James,
which has lost market share during the recession. James Benjamin Ferrari founded the
firm in 1993, but in recent years left the company almost entirely in
Wagner’s hands.
Ferrari was not available for comment by press time.
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Bond’s Bruno Ricciotti and 64 W. 21st St.

Bond New York is taking over at least one of the offices previously occupied by Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy, and may lease another one as well. The residential brokerage signed a lease yesterday for three floors in a townhouse in the Flatiron District at 64 West 21st Street, a space occupied by CBHK until the company closed in May. The 2,500-square-foot space, located between Fifth and Sixth avenues, has a deck and backyard and fits 35 desks, according to Bruno Ricciotti, a principal at Bond New York. [more]

As industry leaders lamented the dissolution of Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy, a story The Real Deal broke Wednesday, the Corcoran Group’s CEO Pamela Liebman dismissed rumors that the mid-sized brokerage will be absorbed into Corcoran. “There is no formal incorporation of Coldwell Banker agents into Corcoran,” Liebman said. “This is not a purchase by [Corcoran parent company] NRT.” She said that in the coming weeks, some former CBHK agents may be encouraged to come to Corcoran because the two companies share ties to New Jersey-based Realogy Corporation. Industry sources have said that JoAnne Kennedy, the COO of CBHK, will
be relocated within Realogy, and in a memo released Wednesday, Kennedy
told CBHK brokers that if they “follow her,” they will be able to keep
their listings and data. When asked whether Kennedy would be hired by Corcoran and bring CBHK agents with her, Liebman said she had no comment. [more]

From left: Bruno Ricciotti, Bond’s commercial listing at 33 Canal Street and Frank Gerage

Boutique residential brokerage Bond New York is diving into the commercial real estate game and, appropriately, taking on new office space. The firm is in the process of leasing an additional floor at its Union
Square office at 21 West 19th Street to accommodate a new 10-agent
commercial sales and leasing division, according to Bruno Ricciotti, a
principal at Bond. The nine-year-old firm plans to lease a third floor of the building,
where it already has 3,300 square feet of space on two levels, adding
another 2,500 square feet and 67 desks, Ricciotti said. Since it launched in January, the new division has garnered some $70
million in commercial sales exclusives and has sold two mixed-use
buildings, said Frank Gerage, Bond’s new managing director of
commercial properties. Bond hired Gerage away from Coldwell Banker Hunt
Kennedy, where he was the commercial director, this winter. [more]