Eastern Consolidated’s James Famularo will be heading Meridian Capital’s new retail leasing division.
Famularo and his team of sales agents will start at Meridian next month, Commercial Observer reported. His title will be president of retail leasing — and he’ll work out of the 800 Third Avenue office, where the investment sales team is located.
“Everyone who’s there is transaction heavy and deal-focused,” Famularo, who was on Eastern Consolidated’s retail team, told CO.
Earlier this month, Eastern Consolidated’s founders said the commercial brokerage will shut down permanently in July, citing a downturn in investment sales, large overhead and no sign of sunnier days. Amid larger consolidation in commercial real estate, founders Peter Hauspurg and Daun Paris sought a buyer but couldn’t find a deal with favorable terms.
Eastern Consolidated was a top 10 investment sales shop in New York as of last year. But the firm was recently surpassed by competitors like Meridian Capital. In 2015, the company lost top agents including David Schechtman, Lipa Lieberman and Abie Kassin to Meridian.
Earlier this year, Newmark Knight Frank began the process to absorb retail brokerage RKF. [CO] — Meenal Vamburkar