By Joshua Burd
RIPCO Real Estate has added two veteran retail brokers as executive vice presidents, helping to bolster its team in the New Jersey market.
Both Steven Winters and Michael Horne join the firm after nearly a decade with CBRE, which they joined as part of the latter’s acquisition of Fameco Real Estate LP. The longtime partners will continue their focus on northern and central New Jersey, bringing more than three decades of commercial real estate experience to their new roles.
“At RIPCO, we are actively recruiting top talent to join our New Jersey team and both Steven and Mike were at the top of our list,” company President Mark Kaplan aid. “They bring expansive market knowledge and decades-long relationships, but more importantly, they’re fantastic people who fit right in with our existing team. We are confident that they will quickly get rolling in our Elmwood Park office and expand our presence throughout northern and central New Jersey.”
Winters joined Fameco in 2008, when he was part of the team that opened the firm’s Woodbridge office. He also spent 17 years in the retail brokerage division of The Schultz Organization, part of his more than three decades of experience in landlord and tenant representation, investment and land sales, development layout and design expertise and advisory services to retail and mixed-use property owners, developers and tenants.
RIPCO also noted that Winters has completed hundreds of lease and sale transactions with clients such as ARC Trust, Prism Capital Partners, Invesco, Kimco, Costco, Carmax, Walmart, Home Depot, Target and more.
“I couldn’t ask for a better partner than Mike, and we are tremendously privileged and excited about our new journey with RIPCO, a first-class retail real estate organization,” Winters said.
Horne, for his part is also a former member of Fameco’s leadership team in New Jersey, having joined that firm in 2003. He has spent more than 35 years in retail real estate, with experience in site selection, market analysis, site development and dispositions.
He has represented and completed transactions for clients such as Staples, Barnes & Nobles, LA Fitness, Walmart, Texas Roadhouse, Carmax and Panera Bread, RIPCO said, as well as property owners including Simon Property Group, Getty Realty Trust, Kin Properties, ARC Trust, MCB Real Estate and Stavola Realty.
“Steven and I have complementary skillsets which has allowed our partnership to flourish, and we expect that success to accelerate using the RIPCO platform,” Horne said.
RIPCO added that Winters and Horne were involved in the development and lease-up of the well-known Teterboro Landing redevelopment, which brought a host of national retailers to a stretch of Route 46. They also worked on Eatontown Plaza along routes 36 and 35 in Monmouth County, representing ARCTRUST in the lease-up.
“These two individuals are strong additions to our New Jersey team, and we are confident that they will be successful leaders in landlord, tenant and developer representation,” said Michael Fasano, managing partner of RIPCO. “Steven and Michael’s strong experience in the retail and shopping center industry will help to increase RIPCO’s presence across New Jersey as well as provide younger members of our team with valuable role models to learn from.”
