Look who’s back.
Three weeks after leaving Coldwell Banker for Compass, Steve Frankel confirmed Tuesday that he has returned to Coldwell, the real estate agent’s workplace for the past 20 years.
The about-face was “not monetary,” Frankel said in a phone interview, but instead an opportunity to “come back to where I’ve grown my career and wanting to continue that success.”
The veteran agent had only nice things to say about Compass, calling the firm “quite dynamic,” and simply stating Coldwell presented him with a “wonderful opportunity.”
Compass responded to Frankel’s quick departure with a statement from its regional president Kamani Lane. “Compass is at the forefront of a swiftly changing real estate industry,” Lane stated. “Innovation means change and sometimes an agent is simply not ready to make that change.”
Lane stated Compass had “the highest regard for Steve” and wished him well.
The firm also said that it had retained the four agents who came along with Frankel to Compass, Brandon Polley, Lauren Tizabi, Lauren Blankenship, and Allen Blankenship.
Frankel responded that he did not know if Coldwell might yet be able to persuade those agents to return from Compass.
Frankel’s return stems the tide of top-performing luxury real estate agents leaving Coldwell for Soft Bank-backed Compass. Ginger Glass and Chris Cortazzo, among others, left Coldwell for Compass last year.
It also shores up Coldwell’s Beverly Hills office, which consolidated from two offices into one last summer.
The Beverly Hills-based Frankel has been listing agent on multiple recent multimillion-dollar deals, serving as agent on a $9.5 million Bel Air farmhouse that closed in September and Beverly Hills estate on Tower Grove Drive that fetched $7.1 million in October.
Frankel joined Coldwell Banker when the brokerage acquired his previous employer, Fred Sands.