CORE goes on hiring spree

After losing several top agents, the boutique brokerage CORE went on a hiring binge last month, adding more than 10 new agents, including one of the Corcoran’s Group largest teams.

Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy alumni Patrick Lilly and seven of his team members last month left Corcoran, one of the city’s largest firms, for the much smaller CORE. The agents who joined Lilly at Core include Adie Kriegstein, Martin Eiden, Andres Soto, Latoya Anderson, Eric Purcell, Cassie D’Agata and Jasmin Abrol. Also last month, Core hired broker Deirdre DeRisi from Douglas Elliman, and Sidney Whelan and Reggie Grayson from Halstead Property. The firm also hired real estate newcomer Marsi Gardiner, who previously worked in marketing and theater production.

CORE has recently seen the departure of top producers Michael Graves, who left for Elliman, and Vickey Barron, who took with her the exclusive marketing assignment for the high-profile Walker Tower condo at 212 West 18th Street.

When asked if the new hires are an explicit attempt to make up for the loss of Graves and Barron, CORE CEO Shaun Osher said through a spokesperson: “We are continuing to follow our original business model, which is to attract like-minded agents who are interested in building their business in a transparent environment that embraces the evolution of our industry and the art of marketing and selling real estate.”

Lilly joined Corcoran in 2009, after 13 years at the now-defunct Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy. He said he decided to hop to CORE because of the way the industry is changing. With most buyers and sellers now going to sites like StreetEasy for information, he said, the reach of a large firm is “not as necessary as it was.” The addition of these 11 new brokers represents a substantial increase in size for CORE, which had 55 agents as of mid-March, according to a TRD ranking.