Updated December 12 In need of more space after acquiring A.C. Lawrence, the Bellmarc Group will open a new office at 48 West 22nd Street in Chelsea this month, firm head Neil Binder told The Real Deal.
Bellmarc Group, the parent company of Bellmarc Realty, absorbed fellow brokerage A.C. Lawrence in October. The merged company now has a total of 400 agents in its five offices. Especially crowded is Bellmarc Realty’s office at 936 Broadway, which now has 150 agents crammed into it, Binder said. Roughly 45 agents will move from there to the new, 2,500-square-foot storefront space.
Lisa Strobing, executive vice president and manager of sales of the Broadway office, will manage the new office, he added.
The two firms, both members of the Bellmarc Group, will maintain separate names — though AC Lawrence has dropped the periods between its initials — and forge a symbiotic relationship, Binder said. Bellmarc Realty will continue to focus primarily on residential sales, but begin inching into the rental space, while AC Lawrence will do the opposite. The two companies will train their agents together.
All of the agents moving to the new space will be from Bellmarc Realty rather than AC Lawrence, Binder said. “I am anxious to maintain the separation because they have different cultures,” he said of the two firms.
The new storefront space was slated to open early last month, but was delayed due to Hurricane Sandy, Binder said.
The location of the new space was a strategic choice, Binder noted, since Bellmarc hopes to expand its business in Chelsea.
“We felt it would broaden us to touch the Chelsea market a little more,” Binder said, adding, “Chelsea is a very cool market.”