Little-known broker takes Elliman’s top prize for 2015

Type in the names of Douglas Elliman’s top agents on the firm’s website, and you’ll generally be greeted with a tally of their accolades, splashy photographs of glitzy listings and, in some cases, their own vanity pages.

But visit the page of Setsuko Hattori, and you’ll find no awards, no biography, and no clue to suggest she was the brokerage’s top individual performer in 2015.

Thanks to several buy-side trophy deals at One57, the native of Japan, who works out of the firm’s 485 Madison Avenue office, bested perennial winners such as Marcos Cohen, who came second, and Melanie Lazenby, who tied for the third spot with Jennifer Kalish.

Hattori received her prize, which was based on gross commissions, at Elliman’s annual awards ceremony, held Thursday night at Radio City Music Hall. Dubbed the Ellies, the ceremony included a performance by the Radio City Rockettes.

The Radio City Rockettes performed at Douglas Ellimans annual awards ceremony (Credit: Douglas Elliman)

The prize for the top team went to Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes for the third consecutive year. Eklund and Gomes, who are based out of the firm’s 26 West 17^th Street office, also snagged the top spot for two consecutive years on The Real Deal’s annual ranking of top agents, which is based on overall dollar volume of listings.

John Gomes and Fredrik Eklund (credit: Dominick McGee of Production Glue)

The runners-up in the teams category included the De Niro team, led by Raphael De Niro, and the Sukenik team, led by Darren Sukenik.

Nationwide, Elliman closed $22 billion in total sales in 2015, according to its representatives. The firm is in the midst of an aggressive expansion into some of the country’s most affluent markets, including Aspen, Los Angeles and Greenwich, and has spent tens of millions on its marketing efforts. Its revenue in the third quarter of 2015 was $186 million, according to its parent company Vector Group.