🗞️ Howard Lorber exits Douglas Elliman | Inside the November 2024 Issue

Inside the latest issue of The Real Deal Nov 04, 2024 [View in Browser]( [Share](   [Magazine Cover Image]( There are so many questions in real estate these days. There are so many questions, period. As I write this note on the second-to-last day in October, I realize that it will soon be a time capsule: First, we don’t know right now who will be our next president. Forget the existential future of our nation. If Kamala Harris is elected, will 3 million homes get built and what will that look like for the real estate market? If Donald Trump is re-elected, what will that look like? The leadership of New York City is another open question (and nobody seems particularly concerned). What is going to happen to Mayor Eric Adams, currently under indictment? And when it comes to real estate, can his deputies and departments come through so that [projects can still get built](? How impacted is the normal bureaucracy by all the investigations? And then what will happen with City of Yes, the largest zoning change in decades, that could impact what can be built in New York? Or with the city’s broker fee bill, which could disrupt the landscape for rental agents even more than the National Association of Realtors commission verdict affected agents on the sales side of the brokerage business? What is the road ahead at Douglas Elliman, the New York brokerage behemoth that forced out long-time chairman [Howard Lorber]( last month? Lorber’s exit came at the urging of the board of directors over concerns about the firm’s workplace culture after an internal investigation, according to reports. There are still questions being asked about what top brass knew when it came to sexual assault allegations against two of its former top brokers, Oren and Tal Alexander. Hell, we don’t even know who is going to win the World Series as I sit here wrapping this up before the start of Game 5. (It’s likely the Dodgers, unfortunately.) And finally, who will make news at our South Florida event on Nov. 6 and 7 in Miami? It’s our biggest showcase yet, two full days of the most important names in real estate at Mana Wynwood. See [TheRealDeal.com/Events]( for more information. With so much in doubt, there are still some sure things. One that seems pretty bankable is the future of South Florida. Even if it is not immune from headwinds, there is still plenty of gas in the tank, as several stories in the issue explore. Our [ranking of residential brokers]( in Miami shows that the top of the heap did more business than the year prior, even if some agents describe it as “challenging” and “an adjustment period.” Having buyers like Jeff Bezos and David and Victoria Beckham snapping up properties helps. Elsewhere in the issue, check out our story on Rabsky Group’s Simon Dushinsky, the [quiet emperor of Brooklyn development](, who is now heading down to Fort Lauderdale, planning a project that would include the tallest tower in the city. Finally, there’s our [Closing interview]( with Miami’s Jeff Zalaznick, the co-founder of Major Food Group, who has had a decade of astronomical success with restaurants like Carbone, Torrisi and Sadelle’s. Expansion includes the restaurant group’s first residential project (every luxe brand becomes a condo project in Miami at some point), a tower on the city’s bayfront that developer David Martin is building. It’s another sign of Miami’s certainty that it is the place to be, even if the rest of the world is unknowable. Enjoy the [issue]( and hope to see you at the event. Editor's Note Stuart Elliott Editor-in-Chief & CEO   If you’re interested in receiving future magazine issues in print, sign up for our [annual subscription](. Save $20 OFF with promo code: MAG20 [SUBSCRIBE NOW](   Howard Lorber exits Douglas Elliman Douglas Elliman’s longtime chairman and CEO Howard Lorber stepped down from the firm at the end of October, and the balance of powers in residential real estate shifted. The sudden transition marked the end of an era for Elliman, which Lorber had led for more than 20 years. It’s the most significant leadership shakeup since Dottie Herman, who bought the firm with Lorber in 2003, stepped down three years ago after selling her stake for $40 million in 2018. Lorber’s contract ran through the end of the year. Elliman noted that Lorber’s resignation was “not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices,” according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But the Wall Street Journal reported days later that Lorber’s exit came at the urging of the board of directors over concerns about the firm’s workplace culture after an internal investigation was conducted. An SEC filing posted the next morning announced the termination of Scott Durkin as CEO of Elliman’s brokerage segment. It’s unclear who else is on the chopping block, but Lorber’s exit caps off a series of eyebrow-raising moments for one of residential real estate’s most influential players. [READ MORE](   [Image]( How broker misdeeds get swept under the rug in New York New York is a real estate town. It’s the home base of many of the nation’s largest brokerages, and the birthplace of the celebrity broker. Deals are bigger, stakes are higher and buyers and sellers are at the zenith of industry, upper-crust society, celebrity or international wealth. In recent years, brokers and their shops have come under fire for bullying, discrimination, sexual assault, fair housing violations and attempts to poach exclusive clients. But despite the market’s reign over the U.S. and the industry’s place at the heart of the city, there’s a hole in the power structure. It’s enough to sow doubt in the reputation of the industry and raise the question: who’s responsible for the agents?   [Image]( One syndicator’s newest strategy: folding old deals into new fund Scott Everett had pioneered the biggest private REIT to focus solely on multifamily. He wasn’t looking to buy. Or at least, not yet. The head of S2 Capital was inoculating syndicated deals against this cycle’s plague: floating-rate debt. Everett had slipped on the same banana peel that laid out Tides Equities, GVA and Nitya Capital. Every syndicator in trouble has gone searching for a solution. Tides hunted for preferred equity that threatened to wipe out limited partners. GVA called for more capital, throwing good money after bad. S2, meanwhile, has whipped up a tonic that may heal deals without the side effects, buoying them until the firm can realize its value-add plan.   [Image]( Miami hustle: Top agents lean into challenging market To talk with Miami’s real estate agents is to get the sense that their market is El Dorado, and its riches are for the hustlers selling the city of gold. While other key U.S. markets slowed and stumbled, Miami’s top brokers posted record numbers, thanks to a series of deals involving buyers such as billionaire Jeff Bezos, consumer goods magnate Anand Khubani and David and Victoria Beckham. Still, Miami’s top real estate agents describe this year as “challenging,” “interesting” and “an adjustment period.” But it was better than last year.   [Image]( Map shows Shaya Prager’s property deals collapsing across US All you need to know about Shaya Prager and Fort Worth’s tallest building, Burnett Plaza, is that he bought it, he lost it and he got sued over it. But this drama was just the tip of the iceberg. Since May, the New Jersey investor’s saga has evolved into a national mess of intersecting lawsuits and loan defaults. They share a common thread: trying to parse how and where Prager built a multibillion-dollar real estate portfolio out of almost nothing, and whether any of it is real.   [Image]( Inside Simon Dushinsky’s Rabsky Group Simon Dushinsky is the Alexander the Great of Brooklyn. His firm, Rabsky Group, constructed some of the borough’s biggest buildings and scored its largest loans, one successful campaign after another. And he’s done it all seemingly without institutional money. Dushinsky is a rarity in modern-day New York real estate: He doesn’t hail from a dynastic real estate family. And, importantly, he continues to scale without a major financial blowup. Now he is eyeing the next conquest.   [The Closing: Jeff Zalaznick]( INTERVIEWS WITH REAL ESTATE TITANS [Image]( The Major Food Group restaurateur talks branded condos, fun restaurants in Miami and where the personal and professional meet in business.   When Jeff Zalaznick first met his partners, Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, at their Torrisi Italian Specialties, a restaurant on Mulberry Street in New York, he was purely focused on his meal. More than a decade later, the three Major Food Group partners keep cuisine at their core, but their growth — they have 24 concepts in about a dozen cities, from Dallas to Doha — has pushed them into the real estate industry. That foray includes MFG’s first residential project, a luxury condo tower on Miami’s bayfront that developer David Martin and his partners are building. Zalaznick, 41, found himself in Miami as many people do: on spring break with his family. It was March 2020, the day before the pandemic lockdown, and they decided to stay “for some period of time,” he said, renting a waterfront home on Miami Beach’s Sunset Islands. By October, they declared the city their domicile, marking their official relocation from New York. Zalaznick saw a hole in the market in his new home for a “much more sophisticated product” with great food that was fun, but not a nightclub or a so-called “clubstaurant.” By November 2020, Major Food had signed three leases, and the group’s first South Florida restaurant, Carbone Miami Beach, opened in January 2021. The Real Deal spoke with Zalaznick over Zoom about his ties to real estate, MFG’s expansion beyond restaurants into branded condo development, and how he handles criticism as a restaurateur. [Read full story here →]( [FULL ISSUE HERE]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( [YouTube]( [Share]( | [Manage Newsletters]( | [Unsubscribe](list=Subscribers + Engaged) | [Privacy Policy]( | [Subscribe]( | [Advertise]( The Real Deal 450 West 31st Street, New York, NY 10001 ©2024 TheRealDeal. All rights reserved. [View Online](