Douglas Elliman Real Estate Announces Douglas Elliman Commercial

Douglas Elliman Real Estate is growing its current portfolio of real estate services with the addition of an expanded commercial division, Douglas Elliman Commercial, LLC, by joining forces with Williamson, Picket, Gross, Inc., (WPG), a commercial brokerage.

The newly formed division will be led by WPG founder Jim Gross, his son and partner Peter Gross, and Douglas Elliman’s Louis Puopolo. The new division will service New York City, South Florida and Long Island. The division will also include The Nickolai Team led by Irene Nickolai, which specializes in international clientele and ranks among the top-producing teams at Douglas Elliman.

“Douglas Elliman is best known for being New York’s largest residential brokerage with a growing national presence, but we’ve been ranked among the best brokerages in the commercial realm for years,” said Howard M. Lorber, the chairman of Douglas Elliman.  “This is the right time to increase our scope with this division, as we continue to expand our full-service real estate capabilities in the national arena.”

Jim Gross, formerly the vice chairman of WPG, ran the brokerage successfully since 1971. He has personally leased more than 40 million square feet of New York office space and has been responsible for mentoring some of the most successful commercial real estate brokers in the industry.

Since 2004, Puopolo and his team have been among the top commercial brokers in New York City for Douglas Elliman. Puopolo began his real estate career in residential sales and segued into the commercial sector.  He has worked with Lorber to build a cohesive corporate division for the company.

Douglas Elliman Commercial will specialize in tenant representation, landlord representation and investment sales. They are based out of Elliman’s newly renovated office at 205 East 42nd St. Michael Murphy and David Restainer will lead the Long Island and South Florida commercial offices, respectively. WPG’s previous senior managing director Will Carr will also be joining this corporate division.