Prudential Douglas Elliman Gains Ground in North Shore

By Glenn Roberts Jr.

Inman News
April 9, 2004

New York-based Prudential Douglas Elliman strengthened its “Manhattan to Montauk” mantra with the acquisition of Goodstein Realty, a firm with more than 145 agents and $355 million in closed sales volume in 2003. The move is part of a wave of aggressive acquisitions activity in the Long Island region, where major competitors are gobbling up smaller boutique brokers in quick succession to get a bigger share of a booming market.

Lara Berdine, a spokeswoman for Elliman, said the acquisition of Goodstein Realty’s offices in Great Neck and Roslyn give the company its first offices
on the North Shore of Long Island. The move fills “a gap in the road from ‘Manhattan to Montauk,’“ she said, referring to Elliman’s string of offices
from New York City to Long Island.

Elliman in November announced the acquisition of Celic Realty, a full-service company with about 35 employees operating in the North Fork area of Long Island. The Corcoran Group and parent NRT, a subsidiary of Cendant Corp., have also made big moves for smaller brokerages in the Long Island area. Corcoran picked up East Hamptons-based Cook Pony Farm Real Estate in October and Hamptons-area real estate powerhouse Dayton/Halstead LLC
in March. NRT’s February acquisition of Sotheby’s International Realty also included three Hamptons-area offices.

Terra Holdings, parent of Manhattan-based Brown Harris Stevens, dove into the Hamptons acquisition market in January, when Terra acquired Dunemere Associates, which had five offices and 100 brokers. Terra Holdings is New York City’s largest residential brokerage firm, with more than $3 billion in annual residential property sales and a staff of about 1,000. Corcoran Group has 23 offices and about 1,100 sales associates in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Hamptons and outlying areas, and Palm Beach, Fla.

Prudential Douglas Elliman was ranked ninth in 2003 sales volume by
REAL Trends, a publishing, communications and research company.
Elliman now has 57 offices in New York City and Long Island, with about
2,500 real estate agents.

Dottie Herman, Prudential Douglas Elliman CEO, said the Goodstein Realty acquisition “is a natural fit” for the company. The merger was initiated by Esther Muller, president and CEO, for a New York-based consulting company. Talks between Elliman and Goodstein companies started about
a month ago, Berdine said, and Goodstein Realty management will remain
in place.

Ivan Goodstein, CEO and president of Goodstein Development, said the sale of the Goodstein Realty brokerage division “will allow us to refocus operations to the development side of the company.”