Residential

WHO’S NEWS: CORE adds McDonough-Hershkowitz Team, Related hires former design executive as creative director

Douglas Elliman Real Estate announced that Glorianne Mattesi has joined the firm’s Westchester brokerage.
An award-winning multimillion-dollar real estate professional, Mattesi has consistently been ranked as one of Westchester’s top brokers over the course of her 20-plus year career in real estate.

She was ranked the number one agent by volume and number of transactions in New Rochelle for 2014 by Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service.

Mattesi possesses extensive knowledge of co-operatives, condominiums, single and multi-family homes, vacant land, new construction, and luxury homes.

She is a certified and preferred agent for two dominant international relocation companies — Cartus Worldwide ERC and Affinity.

Most notably, she was chosen to represent the estate of Robert Merrill, the iconic singer/songwriter and acclaimed opera baritone for the sale of his home in Wykagyl Park.

Mattesi has been the recipient of numerous Excellence in Real Estate Industry awards including the Westchester/Putnam Association of Realtors Diamond, Platinum Awards, and the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Masters Award.

She was the number one agent and top producer for over 15 years at Lucille Ritacco Real Estate, which was acquired by Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty.

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Related Companies announced that design executive Stephen Earle has been named senior vice president and creative director.

In the newly-created role, Earle will lead the firm’s interior design efforts on residential developments.
Earle joined Related from Ralph Lauren where he served as senior vice president of Home Design.

From 2004, he directed the design of all home products under the Ralph Lauren, Lauren and Chaps brands. He also led the direction of home product presentation, showrooms and product photography.

He previously spent nearly a decade at Martha Stewart Living serving as senior vice president/style director and as home editor.

At the magazine, he oversaw and directed the department of stylists and editors that created content and interpreted it in the MSLO visual style for the magazine, books, television show and merchandise.

He regularly contributed decorating editorial as well as design content and direction for Martha Stewart Books, Television and Home merchandise programs.

Prior to Martha Stewart, he served as design director in Creative Services at Ralph Lauren where he was part of a team that created the corporate headquarters and designed and executed the showrooms that present the Ralph Lauren Home Collection.

He also brings experience as a freelance stylist/set designer having worked with a variety of commercial and editorial clients including House and Garden, House Beautiful, GQ, Vogue, Self, New York Magazine, the New York Times, Tiffany, Wedgewood, and Henredon.

He holds a BA in Textile Design from the Rhode Island School of Design.

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Dara Commorata-Rubens, a seasoned residential real estate professional with hands-on experience in on-site leasing and sales, as well as working on marketing plans for luxury residential projects, has joined The Marketing Directors’ corporate office as project manager.

Commorata-Rubens will work with on-site sales and leasing teams to implement customized strategies designed to ensure the success of all marketing campaigns for multiple luxury condominiums and rental developments.

She is currently working on a number of assignments including 18 Park in Jersey City, The Residences-W NY Downtown and 50 West Street.

Prior to joining The Marketing Directors, Commorata-Rubens served as a real estate sales associate with Douglas Elliman.

Before that, she worked with The Marketing Directors on several residential projects as an on-site leasing and/or sales associate.

Commorata-Rubens holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Villanova University. She also studied at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy.

She is a licensed real estate sales person in both New York and New Jersey and is a member of the RealSource Association of Realtors, The National Association of Realtors and REBNY.

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The Corcoran Group announced that Cathy Franklin and her team have joined the firm.

Franklin moves to Corcoran with her long-time colleague, Alexis Bodenheimer, who has been associated with Franklin for over ten years, and sales associate Marion Smith.

Franklin is nationally renowned as one of the most successful, top performing brokers in America having sold over $3 billion in luxury property sales throughout her extraordinary career.

She has repeatedly set Manhattan records for selling the most expensive townhouse mansions, condominiums and co-ops and for closing record rental deals.

Franklin was the recipient of the Upper East Side Broker of the Year Award for ten years at Brown Harris Stevens, the firm with which she was affiliated previously for 28 years.

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Urban Compass announced that Kristin Thomas, a Trump International Realty broker, and Corcoran top-producer Julianne Bond, have joined the firm.

Kristin Thomas, a nine-year industry veteran, was formerly a a building specialist for the Trump Parc and Trump Parc East.

Before launching her career in brokerage in 2005, she was an active real estate investor who acquired, renovated, and managed 15 units throughout the United States and Dominican Republic.

She then launched her own boutique real estate firm, Thomas and Ingram Real Estate, where she served as president and CEO.

After three successful years, her firm joined forces with TOWN Residential where Thomas became the sales director of its West Village office before her eventual move to Trump. Thomas brings to Urban Compass approximately $10 million in exclusives. She joins Urban Compass with her teammate, Caitlin Pearlman.

Julianne Bond, one of Corcoran’s consistently ranked top producers, has also moved to Urban Compass.

Bond has 14 years of real estate experience, 12 of which were spent at Corcoran. She was ranked in the top one percent of NRT agents nationwide multiple times in her years at Corcoran, and was a member of that firm’s Multi-Million Dollar Club every year since 2004.

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Douglas Elliman Real Estate announced that Matthew Breitenbach, one of the nation’s leading real estate brokers, has joined the firm.

Widely regarded and respected as a top-producer in the Hamptons region, Breitenbach will be based out of the company’s flagship office in Bridgehampton. He previously was with Corcoran.

The son of a prominent real estate developer and broker, Breitenbach closed his first multi-million dollar deal at the age of 22.

Since then, he has been involved in over $1 billion worth of real estate transactions, all before the age of 30.
He was most recently being linked to real estate deals with pro athletes and hedge funders. His clientele and buyer network reaches from New York City, to Palm Beach, Aspen, LA, London and South America.

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CORE announced the addition of the McDonough Hershkowitz Team.

Heather McDonough and Henry Hershkowitz are responsible for over $750 million in residential real estate sales in New York City.

Their experience includes a specialty in new residential development in addition to a substantial re-sale business.
In 2014, the team closed on over 80 transactions, selling over $110 million. Another $50 million in sales were put into contract, securing an average of 101 percent of the asking price.

Heather and Henry have worked with some of the best residential developers in New York. In 2014, the team successfully repositioned and re-launched 15 William, with a sellout of $285 million, ranking the project one of the most popular developments of the year.

Their new development experience includes Shigeru Ban’s Metal Shutter Houses, Gwathmey Seigel’s Soho Mews, KPF’s One Jackson Square, Asymptote’s 166 Perry, and 123 Third Avenue.

Joining them at CORE will be Cartwright Lee, Katja Knupfer and Cindy Tong.

With the latest hirings, CORE has over 115 agents in Manhattan. Other recent new agents to join CORE include Sarah Lipman and Barbara Lombardo from The Corcoran Group and Vered George, Frank Mohr and Eric Purcell from Douglas Elliman.
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Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC has named Rick Gregory senior vice president of network development, a newly created position within the Coldwell Banker brand.

For the past two years, Gregory served as senior vice president of franchise sales for Coldwell Banker. He has been with Coldwell Banker’s parent company, Realogy Holdings Corp., since 2009.
Reporting to Michael Fischer, chief operating officer for Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, Gregory will oversee the field servicing of the franchise network through the regional teams across the country with a strong emphasis on growth initiatives.

Gregory held many leadership positions in the industry prior to joining the Coldwell Banker brand.
He was vice president of operations and business services for Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, where he oversaw business consulting and core service products.

Gregory also held executive positions with Weichert Financial Services, Home Connects Lending Services and GMAC Home Services.
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Charles Rutenberg LLC announced that Academy for Continuing Education’s Esther Muller will lead complimentary broker-coaching sessions each week at the firm.
New president Stefani Markowitz has also recommitted to the 100 percent commission structure for all its 525 brokers and agents.

In addition, Rutenberg has added a full roster of “concierge services” to assist agents with board packages and closing documents.

Rutenberg brokers and agents pay a monthly fee of $99 that provides them with access to a private phone line and voice mail, desk, computer, admin support, coaching and training sessions, advertising discounts, PR support, credit card services, check writing and the company’s databases and networks. They retain 100 percent commissions and are responsible for nominal closing costs of no more than $2,000 per transaction.

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