Gary Phillips and Will Silverman

Phillips and Silverman are reliable closers in an unreliable market.

As co-heads of the Eastdil’s equity sales business in New York, they’ve steered some of the city’s biggest post-pandemic trades, including Extell’s $931 million purchase of the Park West portfolio from Disney in 2022, the largest development site sale ever, and Gucci’s $963 million deal to buy 717 Fifth Avenue from Jeff Sutton in 2024, the largest single retail deal the city’s ever seen.

In 2022, the powerhouse pair brokered the blockbuster $930 million sale of 8 Spruce to Blackstone. And in 2023, they notched the priciest single transaction in the city with the sale of Sutton’s 720–724 Fifth Avenue to Prada for $835 million.

In a market where billion-dollar deals have been scarce, they’re leading the comeback in large office sales. The duo logged the first $1 billion-plus office deal in five years at 590 Madison, plus big-ticket trades at 1177 Sixth Avenue and Park Avenue Tower. 

Phillips joined Eastdil after almost two decades on the principal investing side of real estate, most recently at Allianz Real Estate of America. Silverman was previously the founder and group head of Hodges Ward Elliott’s commercial division, where he expanded that firm’s offerings from hotels to office, multifamily, retail, land and industrial. 

— Elizabeth Cryan