Elliman Veteran Raphael De Niro Jumps to Brown Harris Stevens

Raphael De Niro is leaving Douglas Elliman after more than 20 years at the firm.

De Niro, who began his career at Elliman in 2004, is bringing his eight-person team to Brown Harris Stevens, according to an internal company memo sent by Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman on Thursday morning.

De Niro’s has been a top-producing team at Elliman in New York City. In 2016, his team ranked first in The Real Deal’s annual broker rankings after closing over $720 million in sell-side deals. The team claims over $5.2 billion in sales since its inception, CEO Bess Freedman wrote in an announcement about the move.

The team works on both resale and new development projects. Past projects have included 108 Leonard, 111 Murray and 150 Charles. Recent noteworthy deals have included resales in those buildings, including a penthouse at 111 Murray sold for $28 million in July and a condo at 150 Charles that sold for roughly $16 million this month.

De Niro’s team also has the listing on another penthouse at 111 Murray asking over $33 million.

He also worked with his father, actor Robert De Niro, on expanding the family’s real estate holdings. The younger De Niro was a partner and helped open the boutique Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca in 2008, and has been a part of the expansion of the upscale restaurant Nobu. Last year, the De Niros opened their 775,000-square-foot production studio in Queens.

De Niro said in a statement he felt “it was time to take my business in a new and different direction” after 20 years at Elliman.

“We are proud of the agent Raphael became with Elliman and wish him nothing but the best in his next endeavor,” a spokesperson for Elliman said in a statement.

De Niro is the latest in a long line of big-name Elliman agents who have left the firm.

Earlier this month, Lindsay Barton Barrett, one of the top brokers in Brooklyn, brought her four-person team to Compass. Top-producing teammates Noble Black and Glenn Davis parted ways with Elliman and each other last fall when Black left for Corcoran and Davis headed to Serhant.

The moves come as Elliman shuffles senior staff as well. The brokerage parted ways this month with its head of residential leasing, Hal Gavzie, and last month, it laid off four senior employees, including two members of its new development marketing arm.
The high-profile agents from Elliman have largely landed at Compass and Corcoran, but De Niro will be joining a fellow Elliman veteran at BHS. New York City agent Jessica Cohen left the firm in April after roughly 20 years for BHS.