Bill Cunningham returns to Corcoran after cameo at Trump

Just eight months after being named president of Trump International Realty, Bill Cunningham is returning to the Corcoran Group as the brokerage’s general sales manager, The Real Deal has learned. He will assume leadership responsibilities from Tresa Hall, Corcoran’s longtime director of sales, who is stepping down after 25 years with the brokerage.

Cunningham joined Corcoran in 2001 and worked his way up to running the firm’s main East Side office. He took the job at Trump International in May, and at the time, said that Trump was the “biggest name in real estate” and that the role presented an “opportunity to attract the best in the business.” But in a statement today, he said that “the opportunity to return to Corcoran was appealing not only because I feel like I’m coming home,” but because it allows him to work with the city’s top talent.

“We are thrilled to have Bill back in the Corcoran family and look forward to his contributions going forward,” Corcoran CEO Pam Liebman said in a statement to TRD. Trump International did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cunningham’s return to Corcoran runs counter to the string of departures from the firm in recent months. In December, longtime Corcoran agent Wendy Sarasohn decamped for Brown Harris Stevens, following in the footsteps of Robby Browne and Maria Pashby, who also left Corcoran for BHS.

As for Hall, she plans to bow out of the firm in February. She started at Corcoran in 1989 and is widely known for coining Corcoran’s “One Day Sale” in 1991 in which the firm discounted 87 apartments and put them all into contract in one day. She was named executive vice president and director of sales in 2001.

“The decision to retire is not an easy one,” Hall said in a statement. “It’s been a long time coming, and after much careful consideration I knew the time was right for me.”