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Cushman’s slam dunk: NCAA player joins brokerage

Former Duke University center Brian Zoubek will work with Bruce Mosler

Brian Zoubek with teammates
Brian Zoubek with teammates

An acclaimed basketball player is entering the big leagues … of real estate, that is. Former Duke University center Brian Zoubek, 25, this month will join commercial brokerage Cushman & Wakefield as an associate broker, working with top Cushman executive Bruce Mosler, The Real Deal has learned.

The 7’ 1” New Jersey native played four seasons for Duke University’s Blue Devils, a Division I team that won the NCAA championship Zoubek’s senior year.

After college, Zoubek was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New Jersey Nets, but injured his back while attending training camp. The injury continually recurred, and in 2012 Zoubek decided to take his career down another path, opening an adorably monikered bake shop, Dream Puffz, in Haddonfield, N.J.

But Zoubek also had a longtime interest in real estate. “I’ve always known that I would be involved in real estate in some way,” Zoubek said. “I have been drawn to it my whole life.” For a year while operating the bakery, he invested in and developed single- and multi-family properties on the side.

“It got to a point where I was enjoying the real estate aspect” more than managing the bakery, Zoubek said. “It only seems natural at this point to make it my career.”

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Zoubek is not the first athlete to take an interest in real estate. Mo Vaughn, the former Red Sox and Mets first baseman, operates Omni New York, which owns 4,000 apartments in New York City, and Magic Johnson Enterprises — founded by the basketball legend — now owns real estate in 13 states.

Mosler, Cushman’s global chairman of brokerage, is also a Duke graduate. Through friends and the school’s alumni network, Zoubek was able to connect with Mosler and join his team of seven office-leasing brokers.

Mosler, who played rugby at Duke, said he believes team sports are an excellent preparation for work as a broker.

Zoubek “has shown an extraordinary work ethic and a high degree of ability to work in a team,” Mosler said, adding: “I have always been very team-oriented. Any deal I have ever done has been the result of partnering.”

Mosler added that there are some perks to pursuing real estate rather than professional basketball.

“Look,” he told Zoubek. “A number of your peers in the NBA are earning millions today, but let’s just say that in basketball, you have eight years [until] you are past your peak years.” By contrast, in real estate “in your mid-30s and on … you will be earning seven figures if you are successful, and you will be at the beginning of a long and successful career.”