Douglas Harmon

Doug Harmon is the Co-Head of Capital Markets for Newmark, based in New York City.

Since the beginning of his real estate career in 1985, Harmon has been a prominent leader in New York City and a trusted advisor on the international real estate scene. Harmon has handled most of the world’s largest, highest-profile and record-setting transactions over the last three decades with a total career to date transaction volume of over $300 billion. Doug has sold both the largest office and residential transactions in history as well as most recently the largest loan portfolio sale in history through the sale of the failed Signature Bank on behalf of the FDIC. Harmon and his New York City based partners both sourced and led the disposition of Signature Bank’s Loan Portfolio in 2023, shortly after joining Newmark earlier in the year. The assignment included multiple components of Signature Bank’s business lines including $33 billion of real estate backed loans, the largest real-estate portfolio marketed in history. The Portfolio encapsulated a culmination of Harmon & team’s relevant experience given the New York City geography and the mostly rent-stabilized multifamily product given the team’s experience from relevant transactions such as Peter Cooper Stuyvesant Town ($5.45 billion) and Starrett City ($905 million), among many others.

Throughout his career, Harmon has led the investment sales teams at Eastdil Secured, Cushman & Wakefield and now Newmark, leading each firm to the top of the charts in transaction volume during his tenure. Harmon was a Senior Managing Director and member of the Management Committee at Eastdil Secured, where he worked from 1993 to 2016, perennially leading the firm to be the #1 investment sales leader in NYC. From October 2016 through 2022, alongside his partner Adam Spies, Harmon served as the Chairman of Global Capital Markets at Cushman & Wakefield. For the five years from 2018-2022, the team led C&W to take over the top market share across all asset classes in NYC Metro with over $55 billion in transactions. In February of 2023, Doug alongside his full team made the move to Newmark. In less than one year, the team once again took the firm to the #1 spot of transaction volume for sales in NYC for 2023.

Harmon’s real estate transaction experience is broad and extensive, with a resume that includes well-known office properties like the Sears / Willis Tower in Chicago, the Bank of America Center in San Francisco and the GM Building in New York City; to major residential assets such as Peter Cooper Stuyvesant Town, Starrett City, Parkmerced, and The Apthorp; to iconic hotels such as the Waldorf Astoria, The Setai, The W Hotel Miami and the Chelsea Hotel on two different occasions. Furthermore, Harmon has been a pioneer in transacting in what are now Manhattan’s most exclusive submarkets. Just a few examples include the Chelsea Market, Google’s NYC Headquarters (111 Eighth Avenue), the Starrett-Leigh Building, Time Warner Center, The Toy Buildings, 10, 20 and 30 Hudson Yards for a combined $5.0 billion in Hudson Yard’s sale proceeds.

Major Transactions

• Helmsley Portfolio (1997 – 2000) – In his early 30’s, Harmon handled the sale of the Helmsley Portfolio, valued at over $5 billion, marking a watershed moment in his career. Major assets included One Penn Plaza, 230 Park Avenue-Helmsley Building, Starrett-Leigh, Park West Village, Greybar Building, 500-512 Seventh Avenue, 140 Broadway, 1466 Broadway, and the Villas Parkmerced.
• Peter Cooper Stuyvesant Town (2015) – Sold to Blackstone this iconic, 110 building, 11,250 unit, 80- acre, $5.45 billion residential complex, marking the largest single real estate transaction ever recorded.
• Chelsea Market (2003, 2011, 2018) – Harmon’s latest sale of The Chelsea Market to Google for $2.4 billion in 2018 was New York City’s largest single office / multi-use transaction of all time.
• GM Building (2003, 2006) – Sold the GM Building to Harry Macklowe in 2003 for a record-breaking sum of $1.4 billion, at the time the priciest in New York City history, also sold Jamestown’s GM interest in 2006 (Macklowe’s sole partner at the time) at a $2.5 billion valuation.
• Bank of America Center / 555 California Street (2005) – Sold Bank of America Center to Hudson Waterfront for $1.05 billion on behalf of Mark Karasick and David Werner.
• Apthorp (2006) – Quarterbacked the sale of the Apthorp in 2006, achieving a record for the highest price ever paid on a per-unit basis at $2.4 million plus per unit.
• Google NYC Headquarters / 111 Eighth Avenue (2010) – Sold this largest transaction in 2010; at $1.9 billion, it marked the largest NYC transaction of the last few years, the largest single transaction to a user, and a watershed moment for the Midtown South submarket of Manhattan – as Google expanded in the building and completely transformed Chelsea and the Meatpacking District.
• 200 Fifth Avenue (Eataly) and 1107 Broadway (2007) – Arranged the sale of 200 Fifth Avenue and 1107 Broadway, then known as the Toy Buildings, which have since transformed the Flatiron District of Midtown South.
• Sony Building / 550 Madison Avenue (2013, 2016) – Advised the Sony Corporation in their Midtown headquarters sale for $1.1 billion. Sony purchased the building from AT&T in 2002 for approximately $236 million. In 2016, he navigated Ownership through a $1.5 billion sale – the highest price achieved for a vacant office building at $1,800 PSF.
• 650 Madison Avenue (2013) – $1.35 billion sale, the largest single-asset sale transaction in 2013.
• 5 Times Square (2014) – Led the $1.55 billion sale, the largest single-asset transaction in 2014.
• Three Bryant Park / 1095 Avenue of the Americas (2015) – Sold for $2.2 billion, marketing the largest single-asset transaction in 2015.
• 450 Park Avenue (2007, 2014) – Achieved the price PSF record for office in New York City both times he sold the building, achieving $1,583 PSF in 2007 and $1,700 PSF in 2014.
• Sears / Willis Tower (2004, 2015) – Sold this iconic tower in 2004 and again to Blackstone for $1.3 billion in 2015, marking the highest price ever paid for an office building outside of New York City.
• Villas Parkmerced (1998, 2005, 2010, 2014) – Sold or recapitalized this deal four different times every year it was the largest multi-family deal in the country. Located in San Francisco, Villas at Parkmerced contains 3,300 units and over 150 acres. The latest sale for $1.5 billion was the largest residential sale in the country since 2006.
• Crown Building / 730 Fifth Avenue (2015) – Led the sale on behalf of the Winter and Spitzer families in the $1.775 billion sale. At $4,490 PSF, the 2015 sale sets the record for the highest price ever paid for an office building on a PSF basis.
• 1211 Avenue of the Americas (2006, 2016) – Sold to Beacon for $1.55 billion and in 2016 recapitalized with Ivanhoe Cambridge at a $1.75 billion valuation.
• 787 Seventh Avenue (2016) – Sold for $1.95 billion to Calpers / Commonwealth for AXA Equitable Life.
• 10 Hudson Yards (2016) – Led the complex $2.2 billion recapitalization of 10 Hudson Yards with Allianz buying a 44% joint venture interest from Coach, JPMorgan, and Related.
• 1515 Broadway (2017) – Sold a 43% interest in the trophy mixed-use asset in the heart of the Times Square Bowtie to Allianz for SL Green at a total valuation of $1.95 billion.
• 1 Liberty Plaza (2017, 2023) – Partnered Blackstone with Brookfield in a 49% / 51% joint venture of the 2.2 million square foot building at $660 PSF, a high watermark for Downtown Manhattan.
• Starrett City (2018, 2021) – Arranged the sale and subsequent 2021 recapitalization of Starrett City / Spring Creek Towers, the largest federally subsidized rental housing development in the United States. The 5,881-unit, 150-acre complex was purchased in 2018 for $905 million by a partnership of Brooksville / Rockpoint.
• Milk Building / 450 West 15^th Street (1996, 2004, 2008, 2013, 2019) – Sold this marquee Meatpacking building a record five times, the latest in 2019 to Google for $2,000/PSF or $600 million.
• 711 Fifth Avenue (The Coca-Cola Building) (2019) – Led the $910 million sale of the boutique office and retail asset on behalf of The Coca-Cola Company. This sale represents the first time the property had ever been offered to the market.
• 30 Hudson Yards (2019) – Sold at a $2.155 billion price tag this sale marked the largest single sale leaseback in history.
• 1 Manhattan West (2022) – Sold 49% interest to Blackstone on behalf of Brookfield Asset Management for $2.85 billion sale, the largest NYC office sale of 2022.
• American Copper (2022) - $837 million sale of American Copper Buildings (626 1^st Avenue) to Black Spruce and Orbach on behalf of developer JDS.
• 19 Dutch Street (2022) - $487 million sale of 19 Dutch Street to first time NYC residential buyer, Ponte Gadea.
• Signature Bank Portfolio Sale (2023)
  • Commercial Real Estate Portfolio – Sold just under 5,000 loans totaling $33 billion in UPB in a strategic marketing effort of 14 unique loan pools. The marketing of the portfolio attracted 160 bids from over 30 unique bidders, representing $336 billion of Gross Bid Volume or $58 billion of Total Bid Equity.
  • Subscription Line / Fund Banking Business – Sold 203 facility lines totaling $18.9 billion of UPB, to PNC and Goldman for over 99 cents on the dollar.
  • Venture Capital Loan Portfolio – Sold 129 loans, $627 million of UPB within Signature’s Venture Capital Business Line.

Education & Achievements

Harmon holds an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA and a BA from Brown University.

He is a longtime Board Member of the New York Stage and Film Company, a not-for-profit dedicated to the development and production of new works of emerging and established artists for theater and film. He also serves on the advisory board of Caravel Management, LLC a New York-based emerging and frontier markets investment firm. Harmon is also a member of the World Resource Institute’s Global Leadership Council. WRI is the pre- eminent global research based environmental think tank.

Harmon currently serves on the board of directors for a number of real estate projects in Manhattan and was named the Institutional Investment Broker of the Year in 2003 and 2004 (the last two years Institutional Investors Inc. awarded this particular country-wide distinction). Mr. Harmon has accumulated numerous other real estate awards and accolades.