Jeff Fishman on Boosting Capital Markets at Newmark RKF
With the Newmark Group's RKF acquisition, the vice chairman discusses his work at the new shop.
NEW YORK CITY—Jeff Fishman has joined the private client group at Newmark RKF as vice chairman. Holding the same title at RKF, Fishman was part of the group that came over with Newmark Knight Frank’s acquisition of RKF.
Fishman will work with Brian Ezratty and Ron Solarz. The former Eastern Consolidated brokers had signed on with NKF in August.
Their team will focus on investment sales transactions over $25 million. Fishman, a 30-year veteran in the industry, has negotiated on a wide variety of transactions with an aggregate value exceeding $5 billion. His assignments range from the disposition of New York REIT’s Manhattan retail portfolio to the sale of a three-building, 53,000 square-foot retail portfolio on Lincoln Road in South Beach, FL for $139 million. He has also worked extensively for the Goldman family and their real estate business BLDG.
Fishman tells GlobeSt.com that one thing remaining the same will be the existing, long-term client relationships that he and the other RKF brokers will bring to NKF. Although located in New York City, Fishman goes to where his clients are doing business. He says clients often want the same person, someone they have experience with and trust to spearhead transactions in different locations. “My sales might have been in various states in the country simply because that’s where my clients had their real estate holdings,” he explains.
What will be different will be his access to increased technology, research and knowledge that Newmark offers. But it’s not as if NKF is a stranger. Fishman has had extensive business relationships with people at the firm in capital markets, office leasing and many other areas. He goes back a long way with Ezratty, who was also appointed vice chairman of the private client group.
“I’ve known Brian forever. We’ve been partners in deals. We’re very close friends, We have similar clients. We are excited to work together,” says Fishman.
RKF brokers have a robust pipeline of deals. In addition, Fishman believes as part of NKF the amount of business referred to him and the other brokers joining the firm will undoubtedly increase.
Fishman joined RKF 13 years ago working with retail driven assets. “It was an area that they were just getting some business in, some traction without leadership in focus,” says Fishman. “It was a driver that morphed into all different types of investment sales. Everything from a million square-foot industrial building in Bristol, CT to the sale of the Camargue, a multifamily apartment building [303 E. 83rd St. on Manhattan’s Upper East Side].”
He particularly enjoys family owned real estate transactions. “There might be families out there that inherited two, three or four buildings. They are looking for someone they trust to hold their hand through the process,” says Fishman. “The satisfaction you get from finishing a transaction—it’s just a personal satisfaction.”