Douglas Elliman Inks Lease for Official’s Former Aspen Office

Oren and Tal Alexander’s brokerage Official exited its lease in Aspen and has lost nearly all of its agents in the Colorado ski town, The Real Deal has learned.

Douglas Elliman is taking the space, sources told TRD. Elliman declined to comment.

Official, the Side-backed brokerage the Alexanders launched two years ago with Nicole Oge, Richard Jordan and Andrew Wachtfogel, closed its office in Aspen just months after opening up shop. Agents across the country have left the firm since TRD first reported on civil lawsuits accusing the Alexanders of raping and drugging women.

James Cinque, an attorney representing Oren and Tal Alexander, said Official is “downsizing and relocating and retains a group of agents in the Aspen market.”

The Alexanders stepped back from Official briefly after the allegations emerged in June, only to return as the sole owners earlier this month. More than a dozen women have alleged that Oren, his twin brother Alon, and/or Tal Alexander sexually assaulted them in alleged attacks dating back to when the brothers were in high school. The Alexanders have denied the allegations.

All five agents in the Aspen office at 520 East Durant Avenue are now practicing under Side-backed Plus Real Estate, according to records with the Colorado Division of Real Estate.

That includes Official’s Aspen founding agents, the mother-son duo Leah Moriarty and Walker Moriarty, in addition to Jamay Shook, Peter Grenney and Alain Azizi. Azizi remains on Official’s website, despite state records indicating he’s with Plus.

All five were part of the office when it opened in March.

Shook, Azizi and both Moriarty’s did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Grenney declined to comment.

West Hollywood-based Plus was founded by luxury broker Tyrone McKillen, who Official tapped in January 2023 as the founding agent for its Los Angeles office.

McKillen began making preparations to leave Official in July, taking with him his eight-person team to focus fully on Plus, setting off a wave of departures.

The rest of the L.A. office — the Watson Salari team, composed of Brent Watson, Marco Salari and Serena Gibb — most recently decamped earlier this month to boutique brokerage The Beverly Hills Estates.

McKillen did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday on the Aspen agent acquisitions or future plans for that market.

Plus has clearly benefited from Official’s contraction.

The brokerage has now absorbed Official’s western region presence, which also included those in Newport Beach: former founding agent Ariana Gaffoglio, Kim Karney and Zac Dweck.

The closure of the Aspen office leaves Official with locations in New York and Miami Beach, according to its website. The Alexander brothers were spotted in Aspen earlier this month, trying to convince remaining agents to stay, sources said.

The new lease marks an expansion for Elliman, which already has an office at the commercial complex. Christie’s International Real Estate also has a space in the same building. Elliman has four offices in Aspen, according to its website.

Oren and Tal Alexander spent about a decade building their careers at Elliman before they started Official in the summer of 2022.

Elliman has been cutting costs and grappling with two years of losses. Chairman Howard Lorber has also been under fire, though shareholders backed him at a recent annual investor meeting by voting to renew his seat on the board of directors and voting in favor of his compensation package.

Last month, investor Brad Tirpak issued a letter urging shareholders to oppose both measures. Tirpak’s concerns included that Lorber received the full amount of the diversity, equity and inclusion portion of his bonus despite the allegations that the Alexanders assaulted women during their time at Elliman.