From left: Paul Leibowitz, Doug Harmon, Darcy Stacom, Vincent Carrega and Jon Epstein

Darcy Stacom, a vice chairman of CBRE, represented the seller in two of the top five brokered commercial real estate sales, based on price, recorded in city property records last month, data from PropertyShark.com and CoStar Group show.

Stacom, along with CBRE’s William Shanahan and Paul Leibowitz, were the brokers for the sale of two St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers buildings to Rudin Management and Long Island-Jewish Health Care System. In another bankruptcy proceeding, Eastdil Secured brokers Doug Harmon and Adam Spies represented the bankruptcy court in the sale of 1107 Broadway to the Witkoff Group. [more]

The double townhouse at 24 East 39th Street that has housed the Williams Club since 1924 is on the market and is expected to fetch close to $20 million, the Post reported. The six-story, 28,000-square-foot club was last appraised at $21 million and has 28 hotel rooms and several rooms for events; the National Realty Club was among the organizations that used to meet there. Williams College’s alumni organization stopped using the club last spring because, according to its website, “maintaining such an independent facility… [had] become financially impractical.” Its members have since become part of the Princeton Club on West 43rd Street. Grubb & Ellis’ Jon Epstein, Neil Hellman and Yoav Oelsner are handling the listing for the townhouse, which they’ll likely market to foreign ministries, consulates and foundations. [Post, 2nd item]

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From the February issue: While activity remains sluggish in the New York real estate market,
there may be pockets of opportunities for profits over the next few
years for those who invest wisely.
Experts point to three areas for investors looking to lay the
groundwork for a future fortune: office towers, land and multifamily
buildings.
First, a warning or two. Many of the properties sold will go to
insiders rather than victors in a public auction process. With few
assets available for cheap prices through public listings, “smart money
will use alternative paths to get to core real estate,” said Dan
Fasulo, managing director at Real Capital Analytics.
While there will be “opportunities to pick up quality assets at
attractive prices over the next year,” he warned that “investors who
feel like we’re going to fall off a cliff … will be greatly
disappointed.” [more]

Yoav Oelsner is one of a trio of commercial sales brokers who met at Eastern Consolidated, then moved in 2003 to Cushman & Wakefield and then jumped this month to Grubb & Ellis.
At Cushman, Oelsner, Jon Epstein and Charles Kingsley worked on investment sales of up to $50 million and together closed four transactions this year, with four more properties in contract. Since moving to Grubb & Ellis, a firm with a smaller presence in New York City and about half the size of Cushman worldwide, the three executive vice presidents have started working on three other deals. Oelsner talked with The Real Deal about why the group moved from Cushman and what will be different at Grubb & Ellis. [more]

Three middle-market sales pros from the capital markets group of
full-service commercial firm Cushman & Wakefield have moved to the
New York office of brokerage Grubb & Ellis. The brokers, Charles Kingsley, Jon Epstein and sales agent Yoav Oelsner,
began Monday, a source familiar with the move said. They were three of
eight “power brokers” named by the New York Observer in October 2008. The team, which focused on buildings under $100 million for Cushman
& Wakefield, was making deals despite the down market and had been
courted by more firms in addition to Grubb & Ellis, the source
said. The team brokered the sale of the Booth House, at 318 East 15th Street, for $56 million, the Post reported in 2008. The group was at Eastern Consolidated before joining Cushman & Wakefield several years ago. The Cushman & Wakefield capital markets group is now composed of 13 brokers, down from 16. “By coming to Grubb & Ellis, we are joining an expanding platform
that will allow us to better serve our clients. We can focus on
institutional properties as well as private capital transactions going
forward,” said Epstein, now an executive vice president. Neither Kingsley nor Oelsner responded to requests for comment. Frank Liantonio, executive vice president and head of Cushman & Wakefield’s capital markets group in the U.S., said of the trio’s
departure: “These are terrific professionals who will be missed and we
wish them well.” [more]