NEW YORK CITY—Todd Bassen,former senior director of acquisitions atInvesco Real Estate, has joinedMetropolitan Realty Associates, where he willserve as managing principal, CIO and partner. The three-decadeveteran of the industry—who has completed over $11 billion incompleted acquisitions and brings extensive experience inpurchasing office, retail and multifamily properties here—willspearhead MRA's renewed focus on large investment in Manhattan andthe outer boroughs, company founder Joseph Farkastells GlobeSt.com.

"We want to make large deals in Manhattan and the boroughs moreof the focus of what we do," he says. "We previously have donetransactions in suburban office too but we're looking more atretail, multifamily and office properties here, and Todd has afantastic track record on that."

He continues, "We've grown from $50 million deals to $100million, plus we love Manhattan and we like the dynamics of theouter boroughs. We're looking at Brooklyn, we want to look inQueens too and we just completed a major deal in the Bronx with Riverdale Crossing so we want tobuild on our relationships there. This is just the next phase ofthe company, which has been in business for 15 years."