Epstein tells GlobeSt.com he has "nothing but great things to say about Eastern. It's a great shop." As to why the foursome decided to change horses, he adds, "We all just felt it was time to move on and we were given a great opportunity here. The reason we came over was to build the middle-market [business]. It's the same thing we were doing before but with Cushman's fantastic platform and tremendous resources."

During his 16-year real estate career, Epstein has focused on development, management and transactions in the commercial and multifamily sectors. He also has a background in negotiating equity and debt restructuring of office properties.

Kingsley, with more than 20 years experience as a broker, owner and manager of Manhattan real estate, has spent the bulk of his career selling class B office assets, vacant buildings and developable land. In the Downtown market alone, he has negotiated property sales aggregating more than 1.5 million sf of office/loft space. Prior to joining Eastern Consolidated, Kingsley was a principal at investment/management firm SKS Realty Corp.

During his three years as a director at Eastern Consolidated, Price put together the sale of the Crescent, a 260-unit multifamily property. And Oelsner, a former associate director at Eastern Consolidated, closed more than $100 million in transactions over a one-year period, including the deal for 21 Astor Place, a 110,000-sf property that sold for $41 million as an office-to-residential conversion.

Among the group's collective recent transactions are the Elisabeth and Gregory Apartment Complex, a 19-building package with 894 apartments in Astoria, Queens; 21 West St., a 350,000-sf vacant office building to be redeveloped; a 500,000-sf development site on East 38th Street for Standard Charter Bank; a 200,000-sf development site on East Houston Street for Chemical Bank; a 324,000-sf development site; and a package of four Tribeca loft buildings containing over 250,000-sf.