Three Top Brokers From Eastern Consolidated Head to Meridian
By Lauren Elkies Schram April 21, 2015 11:51 am
reprints
David Schechtman, Lipa Lieberman and Abie Kassin have left Eastern Consolidated for Meridian Capital Group, Commercial Observer has learned, launching a new investment sales division with Mr. Schechtman as a key principal.
The trio’s last day at Eastern Consolidated was yesterday, according to Daun Paris, the co-founder of Eastern Consolidated, who noted that while Mr. Schechtman “was an important part of the team,” Eastern Consolidated still retains “a deep bench of talent.”
After his 10 years at Eastern Consolidated, Mr. Schechtman said while he would follow Ms. Paris and her husband and co-founder Peter Hauspurg “into fire,” “I was presented with an offer I just couldn’t refuse, notwithstanding repeated queries over the last several years.”
Meridian also brought on board Yoni Goodman, formerly of Goldman Sachs, to help lead the platform.
The team will be based at 1 Battery Park Plaza for a week and a half before moving into new 11,000-square-foot Midtown offices, Mr. Schechtman said. He received a large signing bonus not tied to performance as well as other monies, a source with knowledge of the situation told CO.
“They did [$30] billion in mortgage loans last year,” said Mr. Schechtman, whose new title is senior managing director. “That’s 14 mortgages a day, and well more than half of those are in New York. That’s more than 40 loans for the product type which I have handled in my 10-year career. They have handled investment sales throughout the years and have been turning it away to other brokerage firms. There has been a tremendous amount of pressure on them to expand into that field for more than a decade. I am that expansion.”
Meridian, which has been around for 24 years, declined to comment.
