Greg Goldberg of IPRG: 5 Questions

Investment sales brokerage IPRG has enticed another Meridian Capital Group alumnus to join its leadership team. 

In September, Greg Goldberg, the former senior director of retail leasing at Meridian, was appointed vice president of retail leasing at IPRG. He joined Ben Biberaj, who also left Meridian in September to join IPRG as president of retail leasing.

Goldberg recently sat down with Commercial Observer to talk about his latest career move, his successes as a retail broker, and his goals now that he is with IPRG. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Commercial Observer: How did you end up in retail real estate and at Meridian?

Greg Goldberg: Originally I was a graphic designer — that’s why I moved to New York City in 2012. I was a graphic designer for the hospitality group the ONE Group. They own and operate STK Steakhouse and Benihana, so that was my background. I have a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design and photography. My passion was, and still is, art.

When I was ready for my next adventure, after about a year and a half as a graphic designer, I had some friends and family influences in real estate who all thought that with my personality and my work ethic that commercial real estate, and more specifically retail leasing, would be a good fit.

I had interviewed with a few firms to be an investment sales broker. I am so happy I didn’t go that route, it’s just not my scene. Being in front of landlords, in front of tenants and different owners and operators every day, that was more my speed, and especially coming from the hospitality world. So, in 2015, I was hired as an associate broker at Eastern Consolidated and, when Eastern closed in 2018, Meridian reached out to my senior broker and he brought his team over to Meridian, myself included.

Can you tell us about your time at Meridian and the reputation you developed there?

I don’t know who gave me this nickname — I think maybe some tenants and landlords — but they called me “The King of the East Village.” I had dominated First Avenue over the years at Meridian. Going from 14th Street to Houston Street you couldn’t not see our signs, and especially my name on every block. Landlords and tenants got to know my name and face. They’d see me walking down the street in a suit and knew I meant business. 

There’s a lot of turnover in Manhattan, and landlords call me because they know when I get a space I’m going to lease it for the best price and to the best quality tenant. 

So I made this reputation, and other brokers and other firms noticed, and Derek [Bestreich, principal and founding partner at IPRG] and the other guys at IPRG have been noticing too. 

Do you have a favorite deal that you have worked on?

I want to say all my clients are my favorite. But my favorite deal was for the tattoo shop Bang Bang, which is owned by Keith McCurdy, a famous tattoo artist, at 62 Grand Street in SoHo. 

This was years ago, but he posted on Instagram one day that he was looking for retail space. I saw it, I messaged him, we met the next day, and we toured a space the next week. Mid-tour, Justin Bieber FaceTimes him about a tattoo idea he wanted McCurdy to do for him, and he ended up flying out there for three days, so that interrupted our tours. 

Originally we were touring 21 Crosby Street. He wanted a private studio, but that ended up becoming another studio. So 62 Grand Street, that was a historic deal because there hadn’t been a tenant there for 30 years. I leased it to Bang Bang, it was a 3,500-square-foot space — ground-floor and basement. He gutted it, did a multimillion-dollar gut job, and it was a gorgeous buildout. 

At the time, I was still a younger broker and it was just so intriguing to be on both sides because I represented the tenant and the landlord. 

Why leave Meridian for IPRG?

I was approached by Derek, Luke [Sproviero], Steve [Reynolds] and Adam [Lobel]. These are great guys who believed in me and had their eyes on Ben and I for a while. As a broker posting deal after deal after deal, you make a name for yourself as a deal-maker. So we all had met multiple times throughout the year and I was just feeling comfortable, and I was ready to leave Meridian and go onto the next step and the next chapter of my career. 

Sept. 8, 2025, was my official start date. 

What are your goals now that you are with IPRG?

To become a better broker and just get as many listings, as many deals, done as we can. We’re deal junkies. I focus more on the mom-and-pop businesses. The big ones do come to me sometimes and I do go after them sometimes, but this city is built on mom-and-pop owners, landlords and tenants — that is the bloodline of this city and how it continues to thrive.

I just want to continue to grow, and I feel that with the new blood and the new brokers I see everyday that I am going to get there. 

But our goal here is similar to how we grew the division at Meridian. Ben and I were a big part of growing Meridian’s retail division, and we kind of felt we were capped at a certain point. Our goal is to grow a thriving retail division at IPRG and bring our 10-plus years of experience in the retail market and grow this company as big as it can go.

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.