It’s still January, but Compass is fishing in the Hamptons again.
The Union Square-based firm said Monday it hired Douglas Elliman’s Matthew Breitenbach — a top East End agent and son of the Corcoran Group’s Susan Breitenbach — to join its Southampton office.
The son of two real estate professionals, Breitenbach started in the business at the Corcoran Group, where he spent eight years working with his mother, the No. 2 agent in the Hamptons, according to The Real Deal‘s July 2017 ranking of residential brokers. His father, Stephen, is a luxury homebuilder and owner of Breitenbach Builders. Matthew Breitenbach joined Elliman in 2015.
According to Compass, Breitenbach has sold more than $1.5 billion in real estate — a good chunk while working with his mother. His celebrity clients include the NBA’s Jason Kidd and Kyrie Irving, as well as the actor Jeremy Piven and music mogul Russell Simmons.
Breitenbach said he’d been doing well at Elliman, but shares Compass’ “hunger and desire to grow and build” in the Hamptons.
“I really want to attack the luxury market even harder than I have been,” he said, adding that Compass’ marketing prowess would help him do that.
Breitenbach recently sold a 4.17-acre Bridgehampton plot once owned by Emmy-winner Elinor Bunin Munroe, a graphic artist and the namesake of the Lincoln Center film venue. The asking price for the property, which hasn’t yet closed, was $19.5 million.
Compass first opened an office in the Hamptons in 2015, but has suffered several missteps. In 2016, manager Ed Reale — who had been tapped to lead Compass’ foray on the East End — defected to Sotheby’s. Later that year, the firm’s Sag Harbor office was destroyed in a fire.
Compass ranked No. 6 on The Real Deal‘s most recent ranking of the East End’s top residential firms. The startup had $643 million worth of listings as of June 2017, TRD data show. The No. 1 firm on TRD‘s ranking was Corcoran with $2.5 billion worth of listings, followed by Elliman with $2.4 billion and Sotheby’s with $1.5 billion.