A pair of top Town Residential managers, stunned by last week’s announcement that its resale and leasing businesses would close, are taking their boxes to new desks at the Corcoran Group and Compass.
The hires of Ryan Fitzpatrick, who has moved to Corcoran, and Dan Marrello, who is set to go to Compass next month, offered insight into Town’s downfall.
Fitzpatrick said his office at 110 Fifth Avenue had been “very busy” in the lead up to the announcement.
“In the moment it came as a surprise,” Fitzpatrick said. “Was I aware of some internal issues? Of course. But I did not think they would result in what transpired last Thursday.”
Fitzpatrick, who oversaw 150 agents at Town’s flagship office, heads off to Corcoran as a senior managing director, the same firm where he started his career.
110 Fifth Avenue
Town’s divisional closures also came as a surprise to Marrello, who was sitting in Town’s office at 110 Fifth Avenue when contacted by The Real Deal. The departing managing director of leasing at Town will be the last to leave the premises before joining Compass next month as a sales manager, he said.
“I’m really excited, it’s a bittersweet time for me. I don’t see a better place than Compass,” Morello said. “To be honest with you, I don’t think any of the other traditional brokerages will be able to hold the stick to them.”
Agents and managers aren’t the only assets up for grabs. Compass is in talks to take over Town’s 16,600-square-foot flagship office in Flatiron. TRD reported Tuesday that Compass is looking to lease the fourth and fifth floors, where the asking rents check in at $80 per square foot.
Asked whether Town is a casualty of change within the city’s real estate industry, Fitzpatrick said he is still absorbing what happened.
“In New York, it’s an anomalous market, but it has to change too,” he said. “Certainly there are lessons to be learned.”