Elegran sees an opportunity in New York City’s vast quantity of unsold condos.
The brokerage is launching a new development marketing division, to be led by former Douglas Elliman executive Carolyn Sebba.
Sebba was a senior vice president and managing director at Douglas Elliman Development Marketing for seven years, before being laid off last spring as the firm slashed costs due to the pandemic. During her tenure, she handled sales strategy at high-profile projects such as the Baccarat Residences & Hotel, the Aman Residences at the Crown Building, and the Belnord, HFZ Capital’s Upper West Side condo conversion.
A spokesperson for Sebba’s former employer — now competitor — said “everyone at Douglas Elliman wishes Carolyn the best of luck in this new venture.”
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This isn’t the first time Elegran has tried its hand at new development marketing; the brokerage is the managing agent for several luxury rentals for the Moinian Group, among them Sky and Oskar.
But Sebba will be leading the firm’s push into the competitive arena of new development sales, going up against giants like Elliman, Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group and the Marketing Directors, among others.
“It appealed to me to join a team that was known to be forward-thinking and set aside the traditional ways of doing things,” she said. “Given what’s happened with the pandemic and how it affected our industry, we both felt the time was right to offer new options and a new alternative to developers and property owners.”
Sebba’s new team will use Elegran’s in-house platform, Alfred, to assist with sales and marketing. While she hasn’t begun to hire staff just yet, she has started pitching Elegran’s services to developers and owners. The amount of business she secures will determine the initial size of her team.
Sebba also has skin in the game: She took an equity interest in Elegran when she accepted the role.
“We’re very optimistic about the future for new development,” she said.