Brian Ezratty and Ron Solarz join Newmark Knight Frank

Former Eastern Consolidated brokers Brian Ezratty and Ron Solarz have landed at Newmark Knight Frank, where they’ll head up the brokerage’s new private client group.

Newmark president James Kuhn said that Ezratty and Solarz would help the company’s national expansion.

Ezratty will join as vice chairman and Solarz will have the title of executive managing director. They were two of the top-performing brokers at Eastern, which shut down last month after a nearly four-decade run.

Following Eastern’s closure, a number of the firm’s former brokers have found new homes.

James Famularo in June joined Meridian Capital Group to launch the firm’s new retail leasing division. And Compass earlier this month announced it hired Adelaide Polsinelli to head up the company’s new investment sales group.

Aside from the fallout stemming from Eastern’s closure, the world of commercial real estate brokerage is undergoing a major shakeup, and many top dealmakers are either switching firms or seeking out new opportunities.

Newmark, meanwhile, has been in expansion mode since its initial public offering late last year. The company in May lured top hotel broker Larry Wolfe and his team from Eastdil Secured.

And Newmark is working on finalizing its acquisition of RKF.

Ezratty and Solarz’s group will work closely with Newmark’s debt and structured finance team, which is headed by Dustin Stolly and Jordan Roeschlaub. The group ranked third among the city’s most-active debt brokerages last year with $3.46 billion worth of deals under its belt.