Ellen Israel is among New York’s most accomplished commercial real estate professionals, recognized for her excellence in investment sales and leasing brokerage, especially for her ability to conceive and orchestrate complex transactions. Her most recent transaction – a record-breaking 640,000 sf leasing in lower Manhattan – is representative of such ability.
In her 30 year career, Ellen Israel has worked for some of the largest institutional and entrepreneurial real estate organizations, and has sat on every side of a negotiating table.
Ms. Israel launched her career in 1980 at N.Peter Burton, where she worked with and learned the business from her father, George Israel, a respected and accomplished 50-year veteran of the industry. She immediately gained the notice of the industry when she successfully sold a 1-million-sq.ft. building for the owner, Ford Motor Development (currently known as the BMW Building), to two leading New York landlords (George Kaufman and Aaron Gural) for $40 million.
In the years since, Ms. Israel has executed transactions totaling over 25 million square feet of sales and leasing on behalf of owners, investors and tenants.
Prior to joining JRT, Ms. Israel served as a Transaction Manager with Cushman & Wakefield’s Client Solution team supporting Verizon in helping them accomplish their goals reducing the size of their real estate portfolio and operating expenses. She directed the all-cash sales of nearly 1 million square feet of condominium interests in Verizon-owned office buildings in Manhattan, and repositioned 500,000 square feet of third-party leases.
Previously, Ms. Israel was Senior Vice President of The Witkoff Group, a leading entrepreneurial investor and owner of New York property. In her 12 year tenure at this company, she managed leasing for the Daily News Building, the Woolworth Building and the Pepsi Bottling Headquarters in Westchester among other properties. She was also responsible for acquiring – and later selling at profits – noteworthy properties including 20 Exchange Place and 28 West 44th Street.
In addition, as a leading investment sales broker, Ms. Israel was a Managing Director at Georgia Malone & Co. and at Insignia/ESG (now CBRE) and an Investment Advisor at Riverbank Realty. As a prolific broker, she was involved with the sale of numerous properties, including 10 East 53rd Street, 866 Third Avenue and 222 Broadway.
Ms. Israel is involved with several real estate groups, including YMWREA, and the Real Estate Board of New York. She graduated from Ithaca College, and continues to be involved with the college. She is the recipient of REBNY’s 2023 Louis Smadbeck Broker Recognition Award.
