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Corcoran’s Noble Black jumps to Elliman
Broker had nearly $250M in listings prior to move, including $135M at Baccarat
Noble Black, one of the biggest names at the Corcoran Group, jumped ship to rival brokerage Douglas Elliman, The Real Deal has learned.
To date, Black has sold $650 million worth of real estate, according to his Corcoran bio, which highlighted his status as one of Corcoran’s top 25 sales agents. Notable deals include the 2012 sale of singer Denise Rich’s penthouse at 785 Fifth Avenue for $54 million, a record for a co-op at the time.
Black is a perennial top-ranked broker of pricey Manhattan real estate, and this year, his team ranked No. 11 on TRD’s list of the city’s Top 75 agents, with more than $247 million in listings as of May 31. The Noble Black Team closed $177.5 million worth of sales in 2014, coming in at No. 44 in a ranking of top brokers nationwide by Real Trends/The Wall Street Journal.
Elliman chair Howard Lorber said in a statement that Black’s “drive, determination and keen eye for detail have propelled him to the top of the industry and have led to his stellar reputation.” He added: “He will be an incredible asset to our team.”
It’s unclear what listings Black and his team will bring to Elliman. At Corcoran, he was marketing more than $135 million worth of luxury condos at the Baccarat Residences, including the $60 million penthouse that is co-listed with Corcoran’s Deborah Grubman.
Black, who grew up in the South, worked in securities law prior to his career in real estate. His team includes Erik Ternon, Justin Figari, Sarah Smith, Cory Cahlon and Jennifer Kaufman Stillman, who will work out of Elliman’s flagship office at 575 Madison Avenue.
Last year, Corcoran weathered the loss of several top agents, including Robby Browne and Maria Pashby to Brown Harris Stevens and Lauren Muss to Elliman. It also lost the five-person LaChance team and dozens of other agents to Compass, which it is battling in court.
More recently, Corcoran recouped some of its losses. It hired Cathy Franklin from Brown Harris in January, around the same time it welcomed back Bill Cunningham, who was president of Trump International Realty for eight months.
Meanwhile, Elliman’s been on something of a recruiting spree. In May, it brought in CORE’s Tom Postilio and Mickey Conlon. Last month, it hired Roy Kim, Compass’ former head of new development.