A trio of commercial brokers who left Besen & Associates has formed a new Manhattan-based firm, Onyx Real Estate Advisors, the team told The Real Deal in an interview. The group includes Laurence Ross, who partnered with Adelaide Polsinelli to form the Platinum Team at Besen from 2005 until 2007.
In July 2008, Polsinelli, a 10-year veteran of Besen & Associates, moved to Marcus & Millichap. Polsinelli said she is not going to join the Onyx team.
Ross, Christen Portelli and Joshua Goldflam are equal managing principals in their new venture, which was formally created last month and focuses on commercial sales. The team will also handle leasing, management and financing.
In a city that has been hit with cutbacks at real estate services firms, including Massey Knakal, Cushman & Wakefield and CB Richard Ellis, the three said their departure was not related to staff reductions. “It was just time for us to be a little bit more independent,” Portelli said.
Onyx, whose offices are located at 99 University Place, has about a half dozen listings, most in Midtown South. The firm has two additional salespeople and an office administrator, and hopes to hire six additional brokers by July.
In the new lower-volume sales and leasing market, the principals said they were not cutting their commissions but were offering more hands-on services.
The approximately 10 people who left Besen & Associates this past year bring the number of brokers there down to about 25, they said. Ronald Cohen, chief marketing director of Besen & Associates, declined to comment on the current number of employees, but said the firm had recently hired new brokers.