WATCH: David Schechtman on retail’s demise, his lawyer days and Meridian’s gender divide

It was the summer of 2005 and David Schechtman was holed up in a small room in Alabama late at night performing due diligence for a bankruptcy. One of the documents the then-DLA Piper attorney pored over was an account statement for a young real estate broker who was brokering a deal from the bankruptcy sale. It showed the broker’s salary, which was triple that of Schechtman.

“That was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back. I applied to be a real estate broker at my former firm just weeks later,” Schechtman said during an interview with The Real Deal’s Mark Maurer.

Schechtman is now one of the most active middle-market investment-sales brokers in New York City. He serves as senior executive managing director of Meridian Capital Group’s investment-sales division, which he joined upon launching in 2005. He previously worked at Eastern Consolidated for 10 years.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

Schechtman’s team recently brokered the Gilardian family’s $110 million purchase of a Murray Hill rental building and Delshah Capital’s pending $100 million-plus purchase of 28 rental buildings.

In the interview, Schechtman also talked about the challenge of brokering retail deals, anti-tenant harassment legislation, President Trump, and the gender gap within the real estate industry and his own firm.

Video produced by Jhila Farzaneh. Interview conducted by Mark Maurer.