After nearly 20 years working at his family’s firm, Nick Judson is striking out on his own.
Judson has partnered with money manager Masakazu Hiruma to launch Judson CRE, a commercial real estate brokerage and advisory firm catering to landlords, tenants and investors.
The firm has signed a new office lease at 654 Madison Avenue and has plans to quickly grow its team of leasing specialists and investment sales experts.
“Despite the devastation of the pandemic, our commitment to our clients has generated continuous deal flow,” said Judson.
The new company has already brokered long-term leases for Edward Tyler Nahem at RFR’s 980 Madison Avenue (pictured top) and Portico Capital at Metropole’s 681 Fifth Avenue as well as a series of renewals, including Mignoni art gallery 960 Madison Avenue and Farinella Bakery, located at 1132 Lexington Avenue.
Prior to Judson CRE, Judson served as the director of his family-owned real estate company, specializing in sales and leasing with a deal volume in excess of $1 billion. Before that, he founded a firm which developed data communications systems for small business applications.
Hiruma is a former vice president at Gresham Investment Management, the largest institutional commodities manager in the US. Before that, he worked at The Falconwood Corporation, a New York-based family office, where his roles included business development and project manager under Dr. Henry Jarecki. Earlier in his career, he also held positions at Prodigious Capital Group and at Morgan Stanley.
The partners said they believe that, despite the disruption COVID has caused to the New York City real estate market, there is plenty of work to be done by boutique firms such as theirs.
“We offer expertise across various property types and work with clients to fully analyze and consider the strategic, financial and commercial opportunities available to support their business goals and growth ambitions,” they said.
Judson’s father Bill founded the family’s firm in 1972, growing it to one of the city’s most reputable boutiques based on real estate holdings that originally formed part of the portfolio of Jules Stein, founder of the Music Corporation of America, Inc. (MCA). From these properties, principally located in the vicinity of 57th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan, the company developed into a general service real estate firm still helmed by E. William Judson.
