Andrew HeibergerFrom the January issue: Andrew Heiberger has decided that Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village is a neighborhood. Most New Yorkers think of the massive rental housing complex as part of the East Village. But it’s large enough to warrant its own neighborhood, at least according to the 42-year-old founder of Citi Habitats, who largely credits himself with creating the current layout of neighborhoods in Manhattan.

“When I first had Citi Habitats, Manhattan used to be divided into four neighborhoods — Upper East, Upper West, Midtown and Downtown,” said Heiberger. “I came into the business, and I said, ‘This is not how the city works.’ I put out a real estate map that most of the firms are still using today, which broke [Manhattan] into 13 neighborhoods.”

With Heiberger’s new brokerage, Town Residential, he’s at it again. [more]

From left: Wendy Maitland, Reid Price, Jeffrey Appel and Itzaskun “Itzy” Garay

In addition to Brown Harris Stevens power brokers Wendy Maitland and Reid Price, new recruits to Town Residential — the new brokerage launched today by Citi Habitats founder Andrew Heiberger — include Citi Habitats managers Itzaskun “Itzy” Garay and Matthew Van Damm, and Bank of America’s Jeffrey Appel.

Town Residential has opened two branches with space for around 140 agents. The 16,000-square-foot flagship office is located at 110 Fifth Avenue, between 16th and 17th streets, and will house 115 agents. A 30-agent office at 88 Greenwich Street is located in the former sales office of Greenwich Club Residences, a new 452-unit condominium developed by Heiberger’s Manhattan-based development company, Buttonwood Real Estate. The building is now nearly sold out, the firm said, and Heiberger will continue to be active in development under the auspices of Buttonwood, which is a separate company from Town. [more]

The top 25 residential real estate companies nationwide saw an almost across-the-board drop in the number of sales transactions in 2009 compared to 2008, according to Inman News, with ZipRealty, an online brokerage, emerging as the only company on the list compiled by Real Trends to see its activity increase. It came in fifth place, after last year’s ninth place showing. The top four companies retained their places on the list, with NRT, HomeServices of America, Long & Foster Companies and Prudential Douglas Elliman coming in at first, second, third and fourth places, respectively, although all four saw their transaction volume decline. Another report from RISMedia, which also ranked the top residential brokerages nationwide, saw slightly more positive data, with the companies it ranked showing an overall 5.7 percent increase in transactions from 2008 to 2009. TRD

[more]

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]

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. 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. [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]

Century 21 Real Estate today announced that President and CEO Tom Kunz has resigned, and that industry veteran Rick Davidson will replace him, effective immediately.

In June of 2004, Kunz became CEO of Century 21, a subsidiary of the New Jersey-based Realogy.

Davidson was previously the COO of Coldwell Banker Real Estate — another Realogy brand — and president and COO of Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates.

“We thank Tom Kunz for his many years of service to the CENTURY 21 System, and we wish him well in the future,” said Alex Perriello, president of the Realogy Franchise Group, in a statement. “I am especially pleased that we were able to make this executive appointment from within Realogy, which speaks to the high level of managerial talent that exists across our organization.” [more]

Warburg Marketing Group has replaced the now-defunct Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy as the exclusive marketing and sales agent at Twenty9th Park Madison, Warburg said. Richard Steinberg, an executive managing director at Warburg, is
overseeing sales at the 142-unit condominium, according to Andres Hogg,
U.S. general manager of Espais Promocions Immobiliáries, the building’s
developer. The on-site brokers, formerly CBHK agents, will now be employed by Warburg and Steinberg will lead the team. “We made a decision to keep the sales staff we had in-house, but to
bring in a person like Richard to manage the people who are doing our
sales,” Hogg said. [more]

Joanne Kennedy and David Michonski said goodbye to agents at the 555 Madison Avenue HQ.

The owners of soon-to-be shuttered brokerage Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy bid a
tear-soaked farewell to agents and well-wishers yesterday during a
goodbye party at the company’s headquarters on the 12th floor of 555
Madison Avenue. Eyes brimming with tears, company co-founder and COO JoAnne Kennedy said she was proud of her agents and the two-decade-old company. “We’ve made a very positive difference in New York City real estate,” said Kennedy, who will start work at the Corcoran Group next week. She and co-founder David Michonski, the company’s CEO, spoke of how they sought to uphold high ethical standards and put their customers
first. [more]

Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy’s agents will move to the Corcoran Group and other brokerages.

While Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy brokers expressed concerns about what will happen to their listings and commissions with the company closing, sources confirmed that JoAnne Kennedy and the majority of Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy agents will move to the Corcoran Group, though Corcoran has said it has no formal agreement with the soon-to-be-defunct brokerage. “Nearly all” of the current Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy agents are moving to Corcoran, said Philip Kiracofe, chief technologist at Coldwell Banker Previews International, CBHK’s luxury home marketing arm, who is “overseeing the transition.” Corcoran and CBHK share ties to New Jersey-based Realogy Corporation. A source, who asked for anonymity, said all brokers have been told the four CBHK offices will be closed by June 5. [more]