Livingston, N.J. – It has been quite a year for Gebroe-Hammer Associates’ Nicholas Nicolaou, the multi-family investment brokerage firm’s Hudson County/North Jersey market specialist. Named to three rising-star Under-40 lists and recognized for brokering last year’s largest multi-family transaction within the New Jersey to Washington DC corridor, Nicolaou also has added his firm’s Salesperson of the Year honor to his latest accolades.
Named in memory of the firm’s late founders, Mel Gebroe and Morris Hammer, the annual peer-selected Salesperson of the Year award recognizes one brokerage professional for exceptional, consistent sales performance. Nicolaou is a two-time recipient.
“Niko’s name is now associated with virtually every multi-family investment transaction, regardless of unit count or dollar value, in Hudson County – from North Bergen to Hoboken and Jersey City to Bayonne,” said Ken Uranowitz, president of Gebroe-Hammer who has been with the firm since its inception 44 years ago. “Since joining us in 2009 as a trainee in his early 20s, we knew he possessed a very special, untapped skill set. In just a short period of time, he has propelled himself to the forefront of one of the most competitive submarkets in the nation. His expertise runs the full gamut – from value-add and market-rate properties to land sales primed for development.”
In addition to dramatically expanding Gebroe-Hammer’s presence within Hudson County, known as New York City’s “Sixth Borough,” Nicolaou is active throughout the entire North Jersey MSA and beyond. Most recently, his industry profile soared with the sale of – and exclusive representation of the seller in – the disposition of a 118-building, 2,137-unit portfolio totaling $328+M. Closed in late 2017/early 2018, the six-package Gateway Portfolio marked the highest concentration of stabilized assets in Hudson County to ever come to market.
As follow-up to this ground-breaking transaction, Nicolaou has recorded 24 sales/nearly 3,000 units/$400+ million from Q1 2018 to Q1 2019. The latest includes a $75M trade of 487 units/18 buildings throughout Hudson and Bergen counties on behalf of Madison Hill Properties. The buyer was a private investor.
A consistent top-producer among his competitive set, Nicolaou joined Gebroe-Hammer following a few years with a Fortune-500 commercial real estate brokerage and investment firm. During his tenure with Gebroe-Hammer, he has been promoted from sales trainee to assistant vice president, vice president and senior vice president. Late last year, he was named an executive vice president and now mentors the next generation of Gebroe-Hammer multi-family investment brokerage professionals.
“My late father once told me to figure out who the best and the brightest in the investment brokerage industry were and to join them so I could soak up all their wisdom,” said Nicolaou. “These very words led me to Gebroe-Hammer Associates where I’ve had the unique opportunity to be schooled by a multi-family icon like Ken [Uranowitz] and have been fortunate to work on behalf of an organization with values that are an extension of my own.”
In addition to representing private individual owners, who dominate the New Jersey multi-family landscape, Nicolaou’s diverse client base includes REITs, private equity firms and institutional investment entities.
Since 1975, Gebroe-Hammer’s brokerage activities have concentrated on suburban and urban high-rise and garden-apartment properties. While initially focusing on New Jersey, the firm has evolved during the past 44 years to also dominate the northeastern Pennsylvania and New York State submarkets as well as represent client interests nationally. Gebroe-Hammer also markets mixed-use and free-standing office and retail properties. Widely recognized for its consistent sales performance, the firm is a 15-time CoStar Power Broker and was named a 2018 Top Multi-Family Influencer.