JLL’s Howard Hersch and Steven Rotter Jump Ship for Newmark
By Nicholas Rizzi January 24, 2024 2:11 pm
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JLL (JLL) has lost two of its top-producing office brokers to Newmark (NMRK).
Steven Rotter and Howard Hersch, both vice chairmen, left their posts at JLL to join Newmark, the latest in a string of hires Newmark has made in recent months, Commercial Observer has learned.
It’s unclear what Hersch and Rotter’s titles will be or who they will report to, but a source said the pair have already joined Newmark.
Hersch, Rotter and spokespeople for Newmark and JLL did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Hersch and Rotter both led a team at JLL that has completed more than 410 leases of more than 12 million square feet around New York City since 2018, according to their bios. Most recently, Rotter was part of the team that represented KKR in its 220,000-square-foot expansion at 30 Hudson Yards and Axsome Therapeutics’ 48,000-square-foot sublease from Condé Nast at 1 World Trade Center.
And, at the end of 2023, Hersch represented landlord Tavros in its 6,000-square-foot deal for luxury car maker Rolls-Royce at 50 Ninth Avenue.
Hersch got his start in real estate in 2004 when he joined PBS Real Estate — which later merged with ABS Partners — and joined JLL in 2010, according to his LinkedIn page. While there, he was part of the team tapped by WeWork in 2021 to market and lease its coworking spaces in the city.
Joining Newmark is a bit of a homecoming for Rotter. He served as a director at Newmark from 2005 to 2009 before he left for JLL, according to his LinkedIn page. While at JLL, he made a name by representing a cadre of tech firms grabbing office space in the city, including Match.com, Tidal and Square, Crain’s New York Business reported.
Rotter and Hersch are the latest brokers to jump ship to Newmark as CEO Barry Gosin focuses on talent acquisition to navigate the choppy commercial real estate market. That includes Robert Ferman leaving Marcus & Millichap to spearhead Newmark’s Brooklyn investment sales efforts and, in a massive move for the industry, snagging two of the industry’s most prolific investment sales brokers Doug Harmon and Adam Spies from Cushman & Wakefield.
Nicholas Rizzi can be reached at nrizzi@commercialobserver.com.
