Jon Epstein and Charles Kingsley have joined the firm as senior directors, while Yoav Oelsner, and Mark Price have been appointed directors. All four have extensive experience closing class B building deals.

"These four were recruited heavily to fill this niche at Cushman & Wakefield," says Cushman president of US operations Bruce Mosler. Combined with the expertise of Andrew Merin, Scott Latham and Jon Caplan, Cushman & Wakefield has forged unprecedented strength in our Financial Services Group in the Manhattan investment sales market."

Merin is an executive vice president, member of the firm's Board of Directors and head of the Metroplitan Area Financial Services Group. Latham and Caplan joined C&W in 2002 as senior directors. The trio recently represented MetLife in the sale of the landmark Fred F. French Building, 551 Fifth Ave.

Eastern Consolidated chairman and CEO Peter Hauspurg tells GlobeSt.com that the team's departure, which reunites Eastern alumnus Latham with former colleagues Epstein and Kingsley, is not only amicable but potentially a positive situation for all concerned. "We wish them well there," he says. "They're good brokers and it will give us more contacts to work with there. We have the highest regard for Scott and we deal with him on a very close business and personal relationship. They're great guys and we wish them well. We'll certainly be working with them."

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.

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