Itzy Garay is the latest top gun to leave Town Residential.
Garay, the company’s executive vice president of sales and leasing, had been a part of the firm’s core management team since its inception in 2010. She was previously a manager at rental giant Citi Habitats, the brokerage formerly owned by Town founder Andrew Heiberger before he started Town.
She headed up the company’s Astor Place office and oversaw the firm’s sales and leasing managers.
Her departure follows the news that Heiberger bought equity partner Joe Sitt of Thor Equities [TRDataCustom] out of his stake in the company last month. Earlier this week, Jacqueline Pestana, the company’s director of operations, was also appointed COO, a newly created position.
“Itzy informed me just yesterday that she no longer wanted to be the office manager at Astor Place and wanted to explore other career opportunities. I wish her all the best and only continued success and happiness,” Heiberger told The Real Deal.
In a statement, Garay called Town an “extraordinary company” and said there were no hard feelings between her and Heiberger. She said she plans to take the rest of the summer off before finding a new position.
Garay’s exit follows the departure of several other key agents and managers at the company, including Wendy Maitland, who sued the firm over claims that Sitt had deprived it of financial resources. That suit is still pending. Other recent defections include that of Judi Lederer, who went to Douglas Elliman, and Jason Karadus and Ginger Brokaw, who went to Brown Harris Stevens.
In her new position, Pestana, a former executive assistant who worked her way up on the operations side at Town, will oversee the day-to-day operations at Town, including human resources, legal, listings, facilities, accounting and IT.