Although the firm is being launched amid the challenges of the credit crunch, O'Keefe tells GlobeSt.com that it wasn't formed as a crisis management team. Discussions to form the partnership began last spring, well before the Wall Street upheaval, he says. "We realized that as we were going into the down cycle, there might be more people that need our type of expertise--people with real estate assets that they didn't intend to wind up with. But by no means do we think we're only germane in this type of market, or that we can only help people who have problems. Alternatively, people might have opportunities that they need advice on. We're not like the workout specialists of the 1990s who went into something else after things improved."

In a release, Glick calls the new firm "the ultimate real estate department for hire." The four principals bring diverse backgrounds to the new venture. O'Keefe and Gallin have both represented tenants and landlords in the leasing of millions of square feet of office space, and Gallin helped create the Edward S. Gordon Co., a predecessor to what is now CB Richard Ellis' New York operations, while O'Keefe served as president of Grubb & Ellis New York. Glick's background includes owning and operating portfolios of multifamily, industrial and office properties, while Sullivan's experience in finance and investment sales has translated into senior positions at Goldman Sachs and Jones Lang LaSalle.

"Our value proposition is that when you hire us, you're hiring all four of us," O'Keefe tells GlobeSt.com. "We have overlapping expertise, but also expertise that extends into some different places for each of us. Not only do you get all of four of us, you only get the four of us. There are no juniors or associates. We don't sell the assignment and then bring in other people to do it."