Ric Clark is stepping back from his day-to-day duties at Brookfield.
Ben Brown (Credit: Brookfield)
Clark will serve as a senior adviser and remain chairman of Brookfield Property Group, Brookfield Property Partners and Brookfield Property REIT, Commercial Observer reported. Ben Brown, who currently oversees the Toronto-based firm’s New York City and Boston portfolio, will take over as head of Brookfield’s Northeast region.
In a memo to Brookfield staffers obtained by CO, Clark expressed emotion at pulling back from the company where he has spent much of his career.
“When I joined Brookfield, the real estate group was largely comprised of a small North American office portfolio and a few dozen people,” he wrote. “Today, we are not just one of the world’s largest and widest reaching real estate companies, we are the industry standard.”
Clark has been at Brookfield and its predecessor firms since 1984.
Brookfield Property Partners became the largest commercial landlord in New York City in 2018, when it acquired the Forest City Realty Trust for $6.8 billion in 2018. Last year, it sold much of its massive Putnam rental portfolio to L+M Development Partners and Invesco under an affordability agreement. The firm was the second most active developer in New York City last year. Its major projects include Manhattan West, a 1,350-unit Bankside project in the South Bronx and trio rental towers at Greenpoint Landing.
The firm has also made some more controversial plays during Clark’s tenure. Brookfield is still defending its 2018 purchase of the Kushner Companies 666 Fifth Avenue, which it intends to renovate and reposition. [CO] — Georgia Kromrei