Christie’s nascent New York City brokerage has just made its first hire — tapping top-producing agent Erin Boisson Aries from former affiliate Brown Harris Stevens.
The announcement, made Thursday, comes more than six months after Christie’s cut ties with BHS in order to launch its own firm, which will cater to clients of the auction house. Along with Boisson Aries, three members of her team will join Christie’s, the firm said, including Dustin Crouse, Adam Zucker and Nic Bottero.
“Their approach to real estate felt very consistent with the way other Christie’s specialists approach their craft,” said Dan Conn, CEO of Christie’s International Real Estate, adding that the team’s clientele also overlapped with Christie’s clients.
Boisson Aries’ team was No. 6 on The Real Deal‘s most recent ranking of Manhattan’s top residential brokers. In 2016, the team closed $331.7 million in new development sales at 551 West 21st Street, the 44-unit condo designed by Foster + Partners. The team has also worked on the Jean Nouvel-designed 100 Eleventh Avenue and Sky Garage at 200 11th Avenue.
CIRE, a subsidiary of the 251-year-old auction house, encompasses roughly 1,500 square feet on the first floor of the company’s U.S. headquarters at 20 Rockefeller Plaza. “There’s not one client or one Christie’s employee or member of the public who can walk into the auction house and not walk by our space,” Conn said. In addition to New York City, the new brokerage will also serve the Hamptons market.
Until now, CIRE has generated little buzz. Late last month, BHS rolled out a partnership with 30 high-end brokerages around the world, through which the firms agreed to promote each others’ listings online without fees or shared marketing costs.