NEW YORK CITY—Following Eastern Consolidated's closure in July, two of their former executives are headed to Newmark Knight Frank to start its new private client group.

At NKF, Brian Ezratty will serve as vice chair and Ronald Solarz will be executive managing director, positions they each respectively held at Eastern Consolidated. Their new team will include Eastern Consolidated alums, Karlene Canner, Scott Ellard, Jason Shein and Johnny Yuran.

Throughout Ezratty's career, he has been responsible for the sale of more than $14 billion in commercial real estate. He started at Eastern Consolidated in 1985. Another top producer at the former investment-sales brokerage firm, working more than 30 years in the industry, Solarz has experience with more than $9 billion in transactions throughout all of New York City's boroughs. At Eastern Consolidated he arranged more than 90 development site sales.

“We're thrilled to elevate NKF's platform with its new private client group,” says Ezratty. “This specialized group will focus on cultivating new client relationships and generating countless new opportunities for NKF. We look forward to leveraging our industry expertise with our new team.”

Ezratty's professional recognitions include winning the Real Estate Board of New York's Most Ingenious Deal of the Year Award for his sale of the Ed Sullivan Theater and office building to CBS.

In a June 2018 GlobeSt.com interview, Solarz described some of the skills that brokers would need to bring to new positions following Eastern Consolidated's decision to close.

He now adds, “Joining NKF in the height of its expansion in attracting top talent is a thrilling opportunity and we're excited to get started. We're in great company alongside such notable industry veterans.”

Solarz has won several awards from organizations and publications including CoStar, Real Estate Weekly, Real Estate Forum and Commercial Property News.

NFK's CEO Barry Gosin comments that Erzatty and Solarz “will help our capital markets platform grow at a time of great success and expansion in New York and throughout the country, serving clients with a wide range of investment requirements through their deep experience with the sale of commercial property as well as land sales.”

James D. Kuhn, president and chief strategy officer at NKF, says Ezratty and Solarz's joining the capital markets group is critical to the brokerage's plans for national expansion due to their industry expertise. He further notes, “Our institutional team has $4 billion in the marketplace and has had several notable deals like the $1.5 billion Parker Portfolio, the 350,000 square-foot Blackstone office building, the $1.6 million site in Long Island City, 1100 units in Bay Ridge in contract with Jonathan Rose and the 900-unit high line site recently certified by Douglaston.”

Instant Insights /

Former Eastern Consolidated Brokers Brian Ezratty and Ronald Solarz Join NKF

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