After 20 Years, David Greene Is Out at MHP
Norman and David Sturner will take on a more aggressive role
By Lauren Elkies Schram January 30, 2018 1:35 pm
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At the end of last week, MHP Real Estate Services “cut the ties” with its head of brokerage, David Greene, company President and CEO Norman Sturner told Commercial Observer.
“The income wasn’t progressing as we had hoped,” Sturner said, “so we decided it may be better to take it totally in house and have people like myself or David Sturner [Norman’s son and the company COO] take on some of the brokerage.”
No, Norman will not be “doing brokerage,” he assured. “I’m going to be beating the shit out of my [35] brokers.”
Greene and David Sturner described the move as a “mutual decision.”
“There was a lot of transition stuff at MHP,” Greene said. “For me, it felt like I was ready for the next thing. [Norman] knows that I have a lot I want to accomplish. I love New York. I love traveling… It’s not an easy thing to move on, but I’m going to do what I want to do, and I’m going to remain in real estate to a certain extent.”
What Greene—who was at MHP for 20 years—will be doing in real estate remains unclear.
Greene told CO that the change had been a long time coming. “We started talking about the direction of the company more than a year ago,” Greene said, adding that he still “bleeds MHP blue,” and has spoken to both Sturners multiple times since the decision was made.
As for what comes next for MHP, Norman said that “everybody has different leadership style” and “we just needed a more aggressive approach.” That approach will be applied to bringing in more tenant business.
MHP has been focused on its own portfolio of 4-plus million square feet, but that’s at 90 percent occupancy so it wants to move more aggressively into the the tenant side of the business.
“I’m going to take a more active role,” Norman said. “The possibility is my name out front may make a difference.”
With additional reporting provided by Max Gross.
