From left: Joseph Moshe, co-owner of Rutenberg Realty, and Paul Purcell and Kathy Braddock, heads of the brokerage

A co-owner of Rutenberg Realty is suing the brokerage and firm heads Paul Purcell and Kathy Braddock for almost $2 million, claiming they have failed to pay him any dividends since the company’s founding, a new lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court says.

The suit was filed last Friday by Joseph Moshe, who heads the large Long Island branch of the Rutenberg franchise and is a co-owner of the New York City office. He claims in the suit that Braddock and Purcell are improperly siphoning funds from the New York Rutenberg office, and that they are competing against the firm with their own consulting company, Braddock + Purcell. [more]

From left: The animals include a coatimundi and a tamandua; guests include Kathleen O’Leary Garbarino, president of the Staten Island Board of Realtors, Laird Klein, committee chairman of the gala, and Georgianna Diaz, president elect of SIBOR

At the Staten Island Board of Realtors’ holiday party this evening, the borough’s top brokers may bump into some unexpected guests — a coatimundi, which is a member of the raccoon family, and a tamandua, a type of anteater.

This strange turn of events is the result of a partnership between the realtor board and the Staten Island Zoo, the board said, whereby proceeds from the gala will assist with the renovation of the children’s classroom at the local zoo.

“Despite a tough economy, Staten Island’s real estate professionals have continued throughout the year to support local causes in every way possible,” said Laird Klein, committee chairman of the Staten Island Board of Realtors’ Winter Wonderland Holiday Gala.
[more]

From left: Steven Kopstein, a broker at SKNY Real Estate, and the interior and exterior of the apartment at 450 West 147th Street

The crowded residential marketplace often leads brokers to take great lengths to market a property for sale, sometimes offering unique incentives like free landscaping or even free flights for international purchasers, but today one New York real estate company launched a marketing scheme that even the most jaded New York brokers may balk at.

Steven Kopstein, whose firm Steven Kopstein Real Estate recently merged with Forecast Realty to become SKNY Real Estate, is dropping the price of a two-bedroom, pre-war Harlem co-op listing by $1,000 a day until the property sells or the owners decide to take it off the market.

For Kopstein, the main challenging of selling the 1,150-square-foot apartment at 450 West 147th Street in Hamilton Heights is getting prospective buyers through the door. [more]

A 2.5-acre rocky islet just off City Island in the Bronx named Rat Island will hit the auction block Oct. 2, Rutenberg Realty’s Malcolm Carter reported on his eponymous blog.
The island, which offers views of Long Island Sound and nearby Hart Island, is owned by Red Brennan, a marine contractor who salvaged barges and stored equipment there. Brennan tried unsuccessfully to sell the island in 2009 for $300,000. The property has been on the market for $250,000, he said, and was assessed by the city to be worth $265,000. Bids will be subject to Brennan’s approval.
Brennan acquired the island by foreclosing on a tax lien that he had purchased in 1972, he told Carter, and has no regrets.
“I’ve made a lot of money with it,” he said, referring to the salvage operations. [more]

From left: Steven Spinola, president of the REBNY; Eric Anton, executive managing director at Eastern Consolidated; Debra Shultz, managing director at Manhattan Mortgage; David Heiden, a principal at W Financial and Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group

As the debt ceiling debate nears a critical juncture in Washington D.C., real estate executives in New
York are concerned that absent a final resolution, the fragile recovery will be short circuited by a sudden
spike in interest rates.

Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, the 12,000-member trade organization,
said the industry’s main concern is the impact a debt ceiling default could have on projects financed
with tax exempt bonds.

“If there is no agreement and our credit rating goes down, what will that do to interest rates?” Spinola
said. [more]

From the July issue: It’s easy for Charles Doolan to explain why he left the 100 percent — commission firm Rutenberg Realty to launch his own brokerage. “I saw a loophole in their structure,” Doolan said. “I felt I could improve upon it and make it better for rental agents.”

Doolan’s new firm, Kian Realty, launched last month in a 1,600-square-foot office at 450 Seventh Avenue. Doolan said he expects to hire 100 agents over the next year and 200 by 2014. He currently has six, including himself. The firm has a similar model to Rutenberg, but with a different fee structure, Doolan explained. At both Rutenberg and Kian, agents keep the lion’s share of their commissions, paying fixed monthly fees instead. When Kian agents do a rental deal, however, they pay $200 to the firm for apartments that rent for less than $2,000 per month, and $400 for all other rentals. [more]

Chris Shiamili, founder of Ardor

Another residential brokerage is getting into the high-commission split game and
as more firms with this model pop up across the city, it’s becoming imperative
that the companies differentiate themselves.

Chris Shiamili, founder of Manhattan-based Ardor New York Real Estate,
launched a new commission model for his firm July 1 and said his firm is distinct
in two ways.

The first is agents’ option every couple of months to switch between three
different commission split models — two offering a 90 percent split on all non-Ardor exclusives and one being the already existing, more traditional, 50-percent split — and the
second, he said, is the amount of back-end support Ardor offers to all of its agents
compared to the other high-split firms. [more]

Makkos apartment at 721 Fifth Avenue

A glamorous Parisian-themed three-bedroom apartment in Trump Tower owned by the ex-wife of a hospitality mogul has hit the market today for $14.5 million.

The 55th-floor apartment, at 721 Fifth Avenue, is owned by Evangelia Makkos, former wife of Thomas Makkos, Central Park food-cart king-turned-hospitality-magnate and owner of celebrity hot spot Nello restaurant at 696 Madison Avenue, according to public records. The couple divorced three years ago, a source with intimate knowledge about the listing said, and Evangelia and her daughter are ready to move on, perhaps to another building or even another city.

Thomas and Evangelia together purchased the unit in 2000, according to public records. It was transferred into Evangelia’s name last month, records show. [more]

Clockwise: Amnon Hecht, 2336 Second Avenue and Brad Brigati (building source: PropertyShark)

In joining the legion of residential brokerage firms beginning to offer a 100 percent commission model, Titan Real Estate of New York is banking on volume for profit.

Titan’s model requires agents to pay Titan $375 for each deal in which they collect a commission of at least $2,000, and $250 for deals that yield less than $2,000. In addition, there’s a $475 monthly fee that covers office space and an advertising package (note: clarification appended).
“We don’t have much use for those $50,000-a-year agents,” said Amnon Hecht,
CEO of Titan. “We want people who are fed up with giving away their earnings, are
driven, and ready to work to pull in a quarter million dollars a year. That’s, literally,
why we called it ‘Titan.’” Hecht said he’s nearly doubled his agent stable at Titan, which operates under Hecht’s Hecht Group brokerage, from 36 to more than 70 since February, shortly after Titan launched and began offering the model. [more]

Stuart Elliott

From the May issue: The Real Deal is firing up the klieg lights and rolling out the red carpet.
This month will see the premiere of our first full-length documentary feature film. Called “Building Stories,” it’s a look at the most prolific architect in New York City, Costas Kondylis, who has added an incredible 86 towers to the skyline here but is a relative unknown to the average man on the street.
The film, which features interviews with real estate bigwigs like Donald Trump, Larry Silverstein, Richard Meier, Aby Rosen and many others, will be screened as part of an invite-only event May 11 at the Morgan Library in Midtown. Later this month, check out our website for more information about the film’s public release date. [more]