A pair of former Eastern Consolidated brokers have traded Manhattan for Brooklyn, launching a commercial real estate brokerage based in Williamsburg.
Gabriel Saffioti and Nicole Rabinowitsch founded Constellations Real Estate Advisors LLC (CREA), a firm that specializes in the sale of commercial, development, and multi-family investment properties, as well as advisory services to clients.
The duo also brought on two other brokers to the new firm – former Douglas Elliman Commercial broker Leah Balkany, who will specialize in investment sales, and former Massey Knakal broker Ryan Reszelbach, who will focus on retail leasing.
“We’ve spent a lot of our time on our deals in Brooklyn, we decided we were spending a lot of travel time and thought we’d be better located in Brooklyn,” Saffioti exclusively told Real Estate Weekly. “We wanted to do more quiet, off-market, confidential deals, which were what a lot of our buyer and seller base were asking about. We thought it’d be better to start our own shop in Brooklyn with a clean slate. It’s very exciting.”
The firm officially opened its doors January 11, located in the heart of Williamsburg at Roebling Street and Grand Street.
“Our whole concept is about sharing, openness, and clarity about deal making,” said Saffioti. “It seems to be working so far, within 10 days of opening we’ve received 50 different listings for sellers we’ve worked with for the past three years.”
The partners, who have a collective 25 years of experience between them, said they are happy with the size of the firm as it is now and have no immediate plans to hire more brokers, but are always on the lookout for talented people. Collectively, the brokers of CREA have closed over $540 million in commercial real estate transactions in their careers.