8D — September 13 - 26, 2019 — 40 Under 40 — M id A tlantic
Real Estate Journal
www.marej.com
40 U nder 40
Niko Nicolaou Executive Vice President Gebroe-Hammer Associates Years with company/firm: 10 Years in field: 14
Stephen Tragash Executive Vice President Gebroe-Hammer Associates Years with company/firm: 13 Years in field: 15
Adam Zweibel Senior Vice President
Gebroe-Hammer Associates Years with company/firm: 6 Years in field: 6
Years in real estate industry: 14 Real estate organizations/ affiliations: NJAA, NJPOA, NPOA
Years in real estate industry: 15 Real estate organizations/ affiliations: NJAA, NJPOA, NPOA
Years in real estate industry: 6 Real estate organizations/ affiliations: NJAA, NJPOA, NPOA
“Many new brokers ask me what’s my secret for thriving each year and setting new year-over- year sales benchmarks. My response is always the same: the time-honored art of relationship building and delivering results.” – Niko Nicolaou During the timeframe of 2016 through YTD 2019, Nicolaou has orchestrated more than 72 deals encompassing 6,015 units valued in excess of $1.23B. Over the course of the past 36 months – along the 19-mile stretch of Hudson County alone – he has arranged 26+ multi-family deals totaling $612,481,665 and 2,887 units. These latest sales highlights involve orchestrating the $75M trade of 487 units spanning Hudson (Union City) and Ber- gen (Lodi and Bergenfield) counties; the $16.29M sale of 106 units in emerging Jersey City and Union City neighborhoods; and the trade of 75 total units throughout Union City sold for $15.75M. Nicolaou also has secured a number of promi- nent exclusive listings in this submarket, which continually outpaces comparable submarkets nationwide in terms of rent growth, property ap- preciation and delivery of new Class-A product. In addition to dramatically expanding Gebroe-Ham- mer’s presence within Hudson County, known as New York City’s Sixth Borough, Nicolaou is active throughout the entire North Jersey MSA. Cumulatively, his milestone benchmarks – from exclusively representing the seller in the disposi- tion of a 118-building, 2,137-unit portfolio divided into six separate packages to being a member of the brokerage team that arranged one of the na- tion’s top-25 single multi-family asset sales for 2017 – have resulted in numerous firmwide and industry accolades. In 2019, Nicolaou has been recognized by MAREJ for 2018’s Largest Multi-Family Sale in the Mid-Atlantic Region (NJ-PA-DE-MD-VA- DC). Furthermore, he has been named to several prestigious Top Broker and three Under-40 Rising Star lists. These accolades include being ranked as a Top-25 Multi-Family Dealmaker in the Na- tion (2017); a Top-Producing Sales Broker: New Jersey; and a Tomorrow’s Leader: New Jersey Real Estate (2014). Nicolaou also has garnered several in-firm awards, including being named Gebroe-Hammer’s Salesperson of the Year and promoted from sales associate to vice president (2012), senior vice presi- dent (2014) and executive vice president (2018). Since joining Gebroe-Hammer Associates in 2009, Niko Nicolaou’s name has become synonymous with the surging volume of multi-family transac- tions in the lower reaches of the Hudson River Region – New Jersey’s Hudson County, which is one of the smallest yet most-densely-populated land areas in the nation. As a result, he has become the go-to broker-of-choice in this leading multi-family investment submarket where he represents a wide spectrum of property owners and investors – from institutional entities and private equity funds to family offices and private individuals.
“I have been told I don’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer and, as a result, I go after the ‘yes’ and ‘can’ with extreme drive. This seems to be working for me so why mess with it?” – Adam Zweibel Seven years ago, Gebroe-Hammer Associates’ Senior VP Adam Zweibel shifted his entrepreneurial IT spirit and intuitive analytic and problem-solving skills to a completely new career – commercial real estate. Fol- lowing 10 years in the tech field, Zweibel made the move to the investment brokerage profession after a pitch call to Gebroe-Hammer President Ken Uranow- itz. Although Uranowitz did not contract with Zweibel for his IT services, he did extend an invitation to call him if there was ever any interest in real estate. Uranowitz, who has been with the firm since its inception in 1975, immediately recognized Zweibel’s tenacity and sales aptitude for building new business. The young entrepreneur did just that after selling his second company and took Uranowitz up on his offer. The rest is history that is still being written. A quick study his whole life, Zweibel has since made the successful jump in just six years from building and selling two tech companies to brokering some of the multi-family sector’s most prominent deals. As a result of his unyielding drive, exceptional sales prow- ess, sharp data analytics and exceptional property- marketing competencies, Zweibel has been instru- mental in dramatically expanding Gebroe-Hammer’s presence and transaction volume throughout Central Jersey and the South Jersey/Greater Philadelphia Metro. He also represents private owners, family of- fices, private equity funds and institutional investment entity interests throughout the Greater New Jersey Metro and beyond. This once-unanticipated path is a “second act” of sorts for Zweibel. In essence, he “started over” in 2013 as a sales associate and trainee in Gebroe-Hammer’s industry-unique mentoring program and has since risen rapidly through the firm’s ranks to assistant vice president, vice president and his current role as senior vice president. Along the way, he also has garnered numerous industry and firmhonors and achievements. One such achievement is the top honor of Salesper- son of the Year, the firm’s most coveted peer-selected award. Recognized for tripling his year-over-year sales benchmarks, he earned the honor for consistently closing a high velocity of sales in the $10+M category. From the sales years 2016 through 2019, Zweibel has arranged 59+ deals amounting to over 6,476 units and $918.5M in sales. And in 2019 thus far, he has been involved in arrang- ing 16 deals totaling over 1,500 units valued in excess of $160.3M. Highlights include two separate trades in Camden County involving a total of 287 units sold for a combined $38.3M; the 100-unit/ $23.25M sale of Waterside Villas in Monroe Twp.; a 109-unit portfo- lio spanning Bergen, Essex and Middlesex counties sold for $17M; a 168-unit/$17.9M garden-apartment complex trade in Newton; and the sale of 38 acres of land in Jackson primed for redevelopment. All of the properties are located in New Jersey.
“I firmly believe in order to find success in the multi-family investment brokerage industry, you need to distinguish yourself – first, by aligning yourself with an organization that shares your core values, and second, by digging in and being hands on from the start of each deal’s lifecycle.” – Stephen Tragash Since the earliest days of the Great Recession when he started at Gebroe-Hammer, Tragash has employed his trademark approach to every transaction by be- ing meticulous, analytical and composed. The results have been tremendous: he has spearheaded the firm’s record-breaking activity and dominance from Union County – the 15th most-densely-populated county in the United States – to Hunterdon, Sussex and portions of Morris counties. He also represents private inves- tors, family offices, private equity funds and other institutional investors throughout the entire North Jersey Metro and beyond. A former financial analyst and asset manager, Tragash excels at forecasting trends within multi- family strongholds, identifying emerging markets and streamlining the entire investment sales process – from the initial exclusive listing to contract closing. He also has been – and continues to be – instrumental in expanding Gebroe-Hammer’s activity and dominance in markets where multi-family trading velocity had been historically low. As a result of Tragash’s contribu- tions, the firm has established new local, regional and national sales benchmarks that outpace its national and regional competitive set. Throughout his tenure, Tragash has rapidly risen through the multi-family investment brokerage ranks. Since joining the firm in 2006, he became a member of Gebroe-Hammer’s executive management team in 2012, when he was promoted from sales associate to vice president. He has since gone on to be named a senior vice president and executive vice president, his current position. In addition, he was honored as the firm’s Salesperson of the Year in 2015 for contributing significantly toward Gebroe-Hammer’s 178 percent increase in year-over-year sales. In the last 24+ months, Tragash has completed over $238,059,000 in multi-family sales totaling more than 1,667 units. Highlights include the single-property sale of a newly constructed 100-unit Bridgewater apartment-home community for $32.55M ($325,500 per unit) and a portfolio sale of five Union County properties sold for a combined $29.974M. Additionally, he has recorded several prominent trades in 2019 thus far. These include closing the $16.65M sale of 120 units in Orange; $10.25M sale of a 40-unit, four-story Downtown Elizabeth building; and two separate Sussex County, N.J., trades involving 302 units and land sold for a combined $34.45M. Intelligent, affable, tenacious – the list of terms commonly used by multi-family property owners and investors to describe Gebroe-Hammer Associates’ Ex- ecutive Vice President Stephen Tragash is seemingly endless. Such praise is hard-earned and well-deserved by one of the North JerseyMetro’s most prominent and persistent apartment-market specialists.
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