Core CEO Shaun Osher and the site at 15 Renwick Street

New York-based residential real estate firm Izaki Group Investments USA has taken control of a development at 15 Renwick Street in partnership with real estate investment firm Glacier Global Partners, it announced, following a foreclosure auction on the Soho property yesterday. It has tapped residential brokerage Core to head sales at the property.

The partnership is planning a boutique condominium development on the site and plans to break ground this fall, Izaki said; Core will oversee sales at the property as well as another luxury condo project at 93 Worth Street, which will feature 90 apartments, six penthouses and 10,000 square feet of commercial space. [more]

Michael Garr

The real estate community is mourning the loss of residential broker Michael Garr, founder of the boutique brokerage Garr and Co., which was acquired in 2009 by the brokerage Core. Garr passed away last night after a brief illness, a spokesperson for Core told The Real Deal today. He was unmarried and had no children.

“Last night, sadly, our family at Core, our industry, and the world, lost a very special man,” said Core CEO Shaun Osher, “an authentic man who was a leader in our business for many years. A man I was proud to be associated with, and honored to have as a part of what we have built.” [more]

Core CEO Shaun Osher and One Museum Mile

An East Harlem development is banking on a new name, inspired by landmarks more than a mile to the south, to jumpstart sales of its 116 apartments. The Wall Street Journal reported Bruce Brickman and his new marketing team, Core, are changing the name of the Robert A.M. Stern-designed condominium at 1280 Fifth Avenue to One Museum Mile after calling it by its address since sales launched in October 2010 under Brown Harris Stevens. [more]

Emily Beare (top), Vickey Barron and 210 West 18th Street

JDS Development’s conversion of the Verizon building in Chelsea will yield 53 condominium units priced between $3,000 and $10,000 per square foot, the New York Times reported.

As The Real Deal previously reported, the project is a joint venture between JDS Development and Property Markets Group and obtained equity from Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital. It is set to hit the market in this spring under Core, which told The Real Deal yesterday that it selected Vickey Barron and Emily Beare to head the marketing effort. [more]

From left: Mark Ripka, the new president of brokerage services at MNS, and Andrew Barrocas, CEO of MNS

Mark Ripka, the former chief business development officer at residential brokerage Core, who left the firm in November before being replaced by Reba Miller of R.P. Miller & Associates, has landed a high-profile position at Andrew Barrocas’ MNS, he told The Real Deal.

Ripka, who departed Core last year “on mutual and good terms,” according to a spokesperson for Core, is now president of brokerage services at MNS, a role in which he will oversee resales and rentals for the whole firm and improve systems and educational curriculum for the firm’s agents. [more]

From left: Lawrence Rich, Dottie Herman and Reba Miller

Lawrence Rich, a former vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman who left the firm to take a position as senior vice president at residential brokerage Core in August, has defected to Elliman after just five months, he told The Real Deal today, because he feels it’s more “like a family.”

Rich, who joined Elliman in 2004, resigned his post at Core today. He will start work at Elliman again as of tomorrow, working out of the company’s flagship office at 575 Madison Avenue, at 56th Street [more]

After a two-month stretch at Core as a senior vice president and associate broker, Ivana Tagliamonte has gone back to Halstead Property.

She is an executive vice president at the village office, according to a press release from Halstead. A specialist in Gramercy and Downtown, Tagliamonte had the highest sales volume in the village office in 2008. Tagliamonte, who has more than a decade of real estate experience, who often works with domestic and
international clients as a certified senior relocation agent.
— Lauren Elkies [more]

From left: 1280 Fifth Avenue, 4 East 102nd Street and 1212 Fifth Avenue

A trio of Upper East Side developments will test the traditional northern boundary for luxury buildings, the Financial Times reported.

The projects — 1280 Fifth Avenue, 4 East 102nd Street and 1212 Fifth Avenue — will test the East 96th Street line Manhattanites have long considered the separation between the Upper East Side and Harlem. But the new developments offer the amenities of buildings to the south and all three were designed by “brand-name” architects. While 1280 Fifth Avenue and 4 East 102nd Street are new developments, by Brickman and Durst Fetner Residential, respectively, 1212 Fifth Avenue is a conversion.

The Robert Stern-designed 1280 Fifth, the furthest north, at 109th Street, is anchored by the African Museum of Art. [more]

From left: 1280 Fifth Avenue and Tom Postillo, Natalie Rakowski and Parul Brahmbhatt, all of Core

East Harlem’s new 116-unit tower on Central Park, 1280 Fifth Avenue, will no longer be marketed through Nancy Packes and Brown Harris Stevens Project Marketing. The developer, Brickman, has opted instead for Core, The Real Deal has learned.

“We appreciate the initial involvement and contribution from Brown Harris Stevens on the pre-development and initial marketing of 1280 Fifth Avenue,” Brickman’s principal Bruce Brickman said, though he declined to give any specifics on why the company made the switch. Nancy Packes declined to comment, citing confidentiality arrangements. [more]

From left: Shaun Osher, CEO of Core, and Reba Miller, the new managing director of sales for Core

Shaun Osher’s Core has acquired residential real estate brokerage R.P. Miller & Associates, a firm founded by industry stalwart Reba Miller in 1998, Core told The Real Deal today. Miller will take the role of managing director of sales at Core, the company said, overseeing the firm’s agents and resale business.

Osher confirmed that Miller would be bringing a few “select” members of her team at R.P. Miller & Associates to Core; “less than 10,” he said, declining to reveal their names. Susan Rubell, an agent at Miller’s namesake company based at 115 East 57th Street, said she and Lee Frankel would be joining Core, effective next week, but said she could not speak for anyone else. It was not immediately clear how many brokers R.P. Miller & Associates has in total, but the state Department of State’s website shows four licensed brokers in total.
[more]