Warburg Realty moved a step closer to breaking into Brooklyn with the hiring of a sales director to select a new location and potentially acquire smaller brokerages in the borough, the residential brokerage told The Real Deal.
Michael Guerra joined the firm this month from Douglas Elliman, where he served as managing director and executive vice president. The Park Slope native helped developed Elliman’s Brooklyn operation, which grew from one to five offices under his direction. He also was a broker at the Corcoran Group and William B. May.
Warburg announced in October that it was looking at buying a smaller, local brokerage or setting up shop independently in Brooklyn by the first quarter of this year, as The Real Deal reported. Guerra, still working from one of the Manhattan offices, is scouting locations in Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope and Cobble Hill. The plan is to sign a deal to open the first office in the borough in the next one to two months, Guerra said.
Guerra said Elliman’s goal to become a large national brokerage eventually conflicted with his professional interests.
“I wanted to take a more personal approach to the business and to Brooklyn,” Guerra, who worked at Elliman for more than 7 years, told The Real Deal.
He said there has been preliminary recruiting for the Brooklyn office, including Warburg agents who have frequently have listings in the borough. But the number of agents will depend on the size of the space chosen by the brokerage. Guerra said he expects several Warburg Brooklyn outposts to crop up over the next year.