Dream Team Launches National Consultancy

NEW YORK CITY-Four heavy hitters in New York City real estate–Henry Gallin, Michael Glick, Frank Sullivan and Ray O’Keefe–have teamed up to form Gallin Glick Sullivan O’Keefe, a locally based consulting firm with a national platform. Each brings more than 40 years’ experience to the firm, which will help clients across a variety of asset classes and disciplines devise workout strategies and take advantage of opportunities.

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.