Brown Harris Stevens is an American real estate service company headquartered in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
with offices across the East Coast serving Connecticut, New Jersey, the Hudson Valley, the Hamptons,
Palm Beach, and
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
. The original firm was founded in 1873. It is primarily known for its real estate brokerage and management divisions that have catered to wealthy buyers and sellers.
Early history
After graduating from college, Charles Stelle Brown went into the
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
business in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in 1873. He specialized in valuations and appraisals. A descendant of
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
settlers in the area, Brown was born in New York. His business was immediately successful.
In 1901, Brown formed a partnership with the prominent New York real estate broker Douglas Robinson. Robinson was married to the former
Corinne Roosevelt, sister of
President Theodore Roosevelt. The new partnership was called Douglas Robinson, Charles S. Brown Company.
On Robinson's staff was appraiser Francis K. Stevens. Stevens began his real estate career with the Astor Bank after graduating from Yale in 1897. He joined Robinson's office in 1901. Stevens remained with the merged companies.
While Robinson and Brown increasingly handled many high-profile transactions in the city, another broker was making his mark in the field. Duncan G. Harris began his real estate career as an assistant to real estate tycoon
John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by History of opium in China, smuggl ...
in 1901, the year after he graduated from
Harvard.
In 1907, Harris began his own firm, Harris & Vaughan.
He later partnered with Douglas Vought and, in 1914, the company name changed to Harris, Vought & Co.
William H. Wheelock joined the Robinson Brown firm after he graduated from Harvard in 1898. Starting in the maintenance department, Wheelock rose through the ranks to become a vice president and director in 1902. When Robinson died in 1918, Wheelock was elected president of the firm.
In 1922, Wheelock and Harris arranged a merger of their two firms and the new company was named Brown, Wheelock, Harris, Vought & Co.
When Vought left the firm in 1931, the name changed to Brown, Wheelock, Harris & Co.
Charles S. Brown died at 85 in 1935. He held the title of chairman of the board. He was a trustee or director of several insurance and banking companies and non-profit groups. He lived at 535 Park Avenue.
In 1938, Wheelock took Brown's title of chairman and Harris become president. The firm's main office was at 67 Wall Street. When the new titles were announced, it was noted that Wheelock had participated in the sale of the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schult ...
and the assemblage of the land for the
Pennsylvania Railroad Station.
When Wheelock died in 1942, he was also credited with assembling property for
New York Hospital,
Presbyterian Hospital and the
Brooks Brothers
Brooks Brothers, founded in Manhattan, New York, in 1818, is the oldest apparel brand in continuous operation in America. Originally a family business, Brooks Brothers produces clothing for men, women and children, as well as home furnishings. B ...
and
Gimbels stores.
At the time of Wheelock's death, the firm had the name Brown, Wheelock, Harris, Stevens, Inc.
By 1948, the name of the company was Brown, Harris, Stevens.
Harris, who had been president since 1938, took the title of chairman of the board in 1951. Henry Forster, vice president, become president. Another Harvard graduate, Forster had joined the company in 1913.
In 1959, Forster stepped down as president and became vice chairman; John W. Lonsdale became president; and Harris remained as chairman of the board. Lonsdale had been a vice president of the firm since 1941. Forster retired from the firm in 1960 but continued to work in real estate. He finally retired from William A. White & Sons in 1984 after his 95th birthday. He died at age 100 in 1989.
After his death, the
Real Estate Board of New York established the Henry Forster Award for “outstanding record of achievement and conduct – both within the industry and in the community.” The award was given to a member of the profession "whose career accomplishment brings credit to the residential brokerage community." The first award was given in 1990.
The Helmsley years
New York real estate investor
Harry Helmsley purchased the company in 1965. Helmsley retained Harris as chairman. Paul J. Etzel was president. Helmsley said he would keep the company, which was mainly known for its residential brokerage and management services, separate from his commercial companies.
In 1970, Harris died at age 93.
Seven top agents and executives from rival
Douglas Elliman moved to Brown Harris Stevens in 1988. Angered by Elliman's management policies and the firing of executive Roger Tuckerman, the group moved to Brown Harris Stevens along with the management of many buildings at prestigious addresses. Tuckerman later became president of Brown Harris Stevens. Hall Willkie, one of the executives who left Elliman, became sales director.
The Helmsley real estate empire suffered when Helmsley's wife
Leona Leona is a female given name derived from the Latin word ''leo'' for "lion".
People and fictional characters named Leona include:
People
*Leona (wrestler) (born 1980), Japanese professional wrestler
*Leona Aglukkaq, Canadian politician
*Leona B ...
was convicted for federal income tax evasion and other crimes in 1989. After serving nineteen months in prison and dealing with her husband's declining health, Mrs. Helmsley put the company on the market in 1992.
In 1994, more than 80 individual New York real estate property managers and companies pled guilty to charges of bribery by
Manhattan District Attorney's office. The managers were found to have been extorting millions of dollars annually from contractors working in buildings managed by the companies. A total of fourteen real estate management companies were found to have employees involved in the schemes. Brown Harris Stevens saw 17 of its agents indicted. The company acknowledged that it failed to properly supervise the managers and made more than $1 million in restitution payments.
The company was the exclusive sales agent for the sale of the cooperative apartment owned by the late
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in early 1995. The 14-room apartment was sold to industrialist
David Koch
David Hamilton Koch ( ; May 3, 1940 – August 23, 2019) was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second largest privately held c ...
for $9.5 million.
Current ownership
In March 1995, Helmsley sold the company to a partnership led by brothers Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf and Kent Swig. The three were active real estate investors and developers whose families were also in the real estate business. The Zeckendorf brothers' father was
William Zeckendorf, Jr. and grandfather was
William Zeckendorf, Sr., both real estate developers. Swig's father was San Francisco real estate investor
Melvin Swig
Melvin Morse Swig (July 31, 1917 – May 14, 1993) .
In 2000, after five years, the number of buildings managed by the company went from 98 to 170. On the brokerage side of the business, the number of agents grew to a total of 160 from 58 and closed sales went from $250–300 million to $1.3 billion. The company's headquarters was located at 770 Lexington Avenue with Manhattan sales offices on the east side, west side, downtown and another office in
Palm Beach, Florida. Aside from Swig and the Zeckendorf brothers, the other partner was David A. Burris.
The owners of Brown Harris Stevens purchased Halstead Property Company in 2001. The combined companies made the firm the second largest in New York, behind
Douglas Elliman. The combined sales volume of the two companies would be close to $3 billion and number of agents was 635. In the previous two years, Brown Harris Stevens purchased one of the city's largest rental brokerage firms, Feathered Nest.
In 2001, Hall F. Willkie was named president of the company's residential sales division. In his new position, Willkie was charged with overseeing the company's 190 residential sales agents. He had been executive vice president with the company.
Edward Lee Cave Inc., a 28 year old firm noted for its high-end sales, was taken over by Brown Harris Stevens in 2009.
For the year ended on February 29, 2016, Brown Harris Steven had closed 789 sales totaling $2.02 billion.
In 2017, the company was the exclusive agent for the sale of
David Rockefeller
David Rockefeller (June 12, 1915 – March 20, 2017) was an American investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the third generation of the Rockefeller family, ...
’s upper east side town house. The asking price was $32.5 million.
Bess Freedman, an executive with the company, was named co-president with Hall Willkie in 2017. At that time, the company had about 500 agents and closed more than $4 billion in sales in the previous year in NYC. Less than an year later, she was promoted to Chief Executive Officer.
Restructuring
In June 2020
Terra Holdings announcedthat its subsidiaries Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead would restructure to form one unified company operating under the Brown Harris Stevens Brand. The move created one of the largest privately held real estate services companies with more tha
2,500 agents and 55 officesacross New York City, Connecticut, New Jersey, the Hudson Valley, the Hamptons, Palm Beach and Miami. Combined, the two firms had more tha
$9 billion in sales in 2019
References
{{reflist
Real estate companies of the United States
Real estate companies established in 1873
Companies based in New York City
American companies established in 1873
1873 establishments in the United States
1873 establishments in New York (state)