Darcy Stacom, CBRE’s top investment sales dealmaker and broker on some of Manhattan’s most iconic properties, has been accused by 11 former employees of abusive behavior, including berating staffers and throwing things at them.
The former employees told Insider they saw Stacom engage in hostile behavior, including an outburst in which she allegedly threw a stapler in the direction of a staffer and another in which she hurled a metal paper holder across the corridor.
After the paper holder incident, which reportedly occurred in July 2018, Stacom reportedly denied throwing anything despite a witness account and allegedly tried to get another witness to change their story. She also insisted a support staff member – ostensibly the source of her outburst – be fired, a request that was denied. Human resources determined Stacom threw the item, but did not discipline her.
“I appreciate that at high-intensity times I may not have handled every situation the way I would want and offended some people,” Stacom wrote in an email to staffers seen by Insider after the publication reached out for comment. “For that I apologize. I also recognize that, like any leader, I am continually learning and seeking to improve how I manage people.” She added that events described in Insider’s reporting were “taken wholly out of context” and said there was a double standard employed against successful women.
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Two people who spoke to the publication said they had filed internal complaints against Stacom, but that CBRE had not taken sufficient action given her status as a top dealmaker at the firm, where she’s sold properties including Stuyvesant Town, the Chelsea Market building and the CBS headquarters. In 1997, the Wall Street Journal dubbed her the “Queen of the Skyscrapers.”
“You’re not making friends with powerful people here,” CBRE spokesperson Steve Iaco told Insider. “The fact that you’re going down this road is disappointing — and frustrating.” Iaco reminded the publication that there is a long history of misbehavior among men in commercial real estate.
Stacom’s abuse wasn’t just restricted to her team, according to the publication. In a 2018 incident, Stacom reportedly berated a florist who had come to service a plant in Stacom’s office at 200 Park Avenue.
“You’d have to be an idiot because you have no taste,” Stacom said. “You have no talent. No wonder you’re in New Jersey.”
Stacom’s team took the top spot in The Real Deal‘s 2020 ranking of New York’s top investment-sales firms, which looked at deals north of $100 million. The team, which is co-led by Bill Shanahan, brokered $3.13 billion in deals, according to the ranking.
[Insider] — Holden Walter-Warner