Halstead Development Marketing has tapped a new executive lead the expansion of its leasing division.
The company has hired Carole Bloom, of Bloomstone Group, as executive president of leasing, Halstead said in a statement. Bloom will help grow the firm’s rental division, which works with landlords and developers on pre-development consulting through marketing and leasing.
Bloom said she chose to jump from her own firm to Halstead because being part of a larger company would allow her to work on multiple large-scale projects at once.
“As wonderful as it is to have your own company, I realized it needs to be bigger to accommodate bigger projects,” she said. “That allows me to consult, and provide individual attention, without running day-to-day operations.”
Halstead’s rental portfolio currently includes handling leasing at an array of projects in Brooklyn including 180 Franklin Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, 409 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights and 181 Front Street in Dumbo. It’s also handling renewals at Brooklyn Zinc (313 St. Marks Avenue), Billiard Factory Lofts (363 Prospect Place) and 388 Bridge Street.
Halstead has opportunity to grow its leasing business given the volume of projects in the pipeline in Brooklyn and Manhattan, Bloom said. The team has already started pitching and Bloom said she’s also recruiting. How much headcount expands will depend on the number of projects the team has.
“We saw a need in the market for a research-driven, creative, soup-to-nuts marketing firm to rethink how rentals are planned, marketed and leased.” Stephen Kliegerman, president of Halstead, said in a statement. The division will work on new development consulting and sales as well as helping landlords reposition properties and improve finances.
Prior to launching Bloomstone in 2016, Bloom worked on leasing and marketing at companies including Durst Residential, Manhattan Skyline Management, Gotham Organization and Brown Harris Stevens. Before that, she worked with Related Companies for more than a decade. Bloom has worked on projects including Henry Hall in Hudson Yards and Watermark LIC.
Bloom said she’s banking on her experience, and cultivating the right team, to navigate a market that has been marked by widespread concessions.
“There are a lot of big projects in the pipeline,” she said. “It takes a confidence level to be able to raise rents.”