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18 APRIL 2021
MEETING THE CHALLENGE
Marcus & Millichap brokerage team perseveres in pandemic, riding high after banner year
Like so many other brokers, Rich Gatto and Fahri Ozturk felt and heard their clients’ anxiety as
COVID-19 sent shockwaves through the commercial real estate market in March 2020.
They were all the more relieved when their worst fears were not realized.
“Owners were forecasting Armageddon for April collections,” said Gatto, a first vice president with Marcus & Millichap. “Then, come
July and August, we had four or five months of much better collections than anyone expected.”
Even in the hardest-hit areas, he added, “owners were looking at collection rates in the mid-90s. They were feeling pretty positive and they were pleasantly surprised by the resiliency of their tenants, so that was a time when there was a lot of optimism.”
Ozturk and Gatto have carried that
optimism forward through the ups and downs of the pandemic. That’s no surprise for a duo that not only withstood the crisis, but managed to have their best year since forming a team under the Marcus & Millichap banner.
Namely, the Saddle Brook-based brokers closed $205 million in transaction volume in 2020, including the $92.5 million sale of a 24-building, 702-unit portfolio in Essex County. They’ve now completed more than
$710 million collectively since joining the firm nearly five years ago, they said, and they’re poised to continue that momentum in 2021.
“What tends to happen during economic downturns is that some brokers leave the business, some struggle and others actually capture market share during that turbulence,” said Brian Hosey, a first vice president and district manager with Marcus & Millichap. “And they are,
of course, an example of a team that captured market share.”
Hosey, who said Gatto and Ozturk “stand out in the marketplace as brokers that are honest and really have their clients’ best interests at heart,” expects another strong year from the team.
Gatto, 42, and Ozturk, 38, brought different backgrounds when they joined the brokerage and advisory firm in 2016. Ozturk had been in commercial real estate since 2006,
in a series of roles for New York City-based owners such as Broadway Partners and Thor Equities. He became a broker in 2013 when
he joined Massey Knakal Realty Services, which was acquired by Cushman & Wakefield in 2014, before moving to Marcus & Millichap.
For his part, Gatto spent more than 15 years on Wall Street, starting as
a broker with Bear Stearns before moving into the field of equity derivative sales in late 2007. When he joined Marcus in spring 2016, it was a chance to realize a longtime goal
of entering commercial real estate, while pursuing a career that he felt would be more transferrable to his children.
“We feel that we’re very fortunate to have our backgrounds,” said Ozturk, also a first vice president, noting that their respective experience allows them to be “very structured (and) very transparent” as brokers and as leaders of their seven-member team.
By Joshua Burd
Richard Gatto (left) and Fahri Ozturk, both first vice presidents in Marcus & Millichap’s Saddle Brook office, visit a multifamily property at 129 Halstead St. in East Orange. The duo recorded a banner year in 2020 alongside their team of brokers and support staff.
Photo by Aaron Houston for Real Estate NJ