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   Ozturk was still with Cushman & Wakefield when he and Gatto first crossed paths in 2016, they said, noting that they were competing
for a listing that ultimately went to Marcus. As Gatto recalled, the client wished she could have also worked with Ozturk, so when the latter joined Marcus several weeks later, it only made sense for them to join forces.
The deal, which involved a development site in Maplewood, closed in late summer 2017. It wasn’t long before the two struck a formal partnership and began to build a dedicated team. The group went on to grow its average deal size from around $5 million in 2018 to $10 million in 2020, they said. They’ve also helped Marcus climb the ranks among middle market brokerage houses in categories such as Essex County multifamily transactions, where it leads among seller brokers, according to CoStar.
“I think one of the main reasons that we ended up partnering up is, aside from both feeling aligned morally and ethically and having the same work ethic, we said one and one feels more like five than two,” Gatto said. “Building a team gives us the ability to scale up and take our process to be able to service more clients at one time — and ultimately close more deals.”
The Ozturk Gatto team today also includes brokers David Ferber,
Jed Matricaria and Henry Fuentes, along with Daniela Corbosiero and Jillian Hennin as administrative sales assistant and marketing coordinator, respectively. As Ozturk noted, the group “had a good momentum coming out of 2019,” leading to 18 deals either in contract or with an accepted offer in the first quarter of
2020. Then came the COVID crisis in mid-March, he said, when “it seemed like the market was collapsing” and its pipeline was in danger of suddenly drying up.
But the brokers were resolved “to make sure that our clients were going to close the deals that they gave us,” Ozturk said.
“We were not prepared to participate in the recession at all,” Gatto added. To a large degree, that meant making sure their clients were aware of the government and industry resources that could help them weather the pandemic.
“And that was a huge component of what we focused on — making sure that they knew of every program that was available to their tenants, that they knew of every program that was available to themselves, whether
it be educating clients on (federal Paycheck Protection Program loans) or on rental assistance programs locally or on the state or national level,” he said.
Ozturk added that the team “essentially became a direct bridge” between clients and those that
were providing the resources. That helped clients “get clear information directly,” he said.
The Ozturk Gatto team ultimately closed 17 of those 18 deals, helping to maintain its momentum as it worked on listings that were still active and others that were set to hit the market. That translated to new business by mid- to late summer, they said, as cases had fallen and clients became more encouraged about the path forward.
It was around that time that the group was hired to market the
Marcus & Millichap’s Ozturk Gatto Group ended 2020 with the $92.5 million sale of a 24-building, 702-unit portfolio in East Orange and Irvington, contributing to its $205 million in transaction volume for the year. Pictured is 49 Prospect Ave. in East Orange.
REALESTATENJTM 19
    24-building, 702-unit portfolio in East Orange and Irvington. Gatto, Ozturk and their team closed the deal on Dec. 31, representing a partnership of ERCT Capital Group, MAVeCap and Metropolitan America in the $92.5 million sale to Spaxel LLC.
“This was a special deal for us
since we worked with the seller to assemble the entire 702-unit portfolio over the past two and a half years,” Gatto said at the time. “It was rewarding to help our client generate a significant return, even more so because we were able to execute in the middle of a pandemic.”
He noted that Eric Anton and Chris Warner of Marcus’ Manhattan office represented the seller, a New York- based multifamily developer and operator. That was all the more noteworthy given that it was the buyer’s first acquisition in New Jersey, Gatto said, which reflects a trend of new entrants to the state that continued during the pandemic.
“There’s definitely new blood into the market,” Ozturk said. “And we can
say that confidently.”
They expect that North Jersey will continue to attract first-time buyers, which dovetails with a Marcus platform that is “geared toward migrating capital from different markets and different offices,” Gatto said. It was no surprise, then, to
see that trend amplified during the pandemic.
“If you think about it, psychologically ... when you get punched in the face and you feel a little beat up, you kind of look around for answers — and people typically look around for answers outside of them more than inside,” Gatto said. “And I think that’s no different than any real estate owner, where COVID shook people up. They were concerned about their property’s ability to perform and they started looking outside of their markets for other opportunities.
“That’s really what we’ve been focused on — bringing in that out-of- market investor to generate the best deals for our clients.” RE
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