Ariel Aber Embracing Brokerage Change at CBRE

Nearly a month since joining CBRE from real estate investment firm DivcoWest, Ariel Aber is still adjusting to his new role on the brokerage side of the business in a move largely driven by market forces.

Aber joined CBRE as an investment sales broker on April 21 after seven years leading  DivcoWest’s New York acquisition strategy. The decision to join CBRE was sparked by Aber’s long-standing relationship with Doug Middleton, the firm’s vice chairman of New York investment sales, who recruited him after years of working on deals together. 

“The market has obviously been a little bit slower for quite some time coming out of the pandemic and then the rising interest rates, and for the last number of years of the seat where I was sitting it was a great opportunity to connect with a whole list of people,” Aber said. “It  wasn’t something that was on my radar at all, but the more I started thinking about it and the more conversations I had, I said to myself ‘This is something that’s interesting to me.’ So far, almost a month in, it’s one of the best career decisions I made in my life.”

While at DivcoWest, Aber helped expand the San Francisco-based real estate investment firm’s New York presence. Among his notable DivcoWest deals was the  $310 million acquisition of an office property at 540 Madison Avenue from BXP in August 2019 and the $310 million purchase of the Press Building at 311 West 43rd Street from William Macklowe Company. He also led the  $135 million purchase of 325 Hudson Street, a 10-story mixed-use office building, from Jamestown in May 2021. 

CBRE arranged the 540 Madison and 335 Hudson deals, which gave Middleton added insight when deciding to bring Aber into the fold. 

“You want somebody to complement you but also somebody that is your friend who you trust, and Ariel perfectly fits that,” Middleton said. “He’s also got relationships across New York City and beyond that will be incredibly useful to CBRE in New York and across the country.” 

Aber is focused largely on the office and multifamily sectors throughout New York City along with some retail deals. 

With the office sector, Aber said he is optimistic that a recovery seen in Midtown Manhattan of late around Grand Central Terminal will have a positive ripple effect for the rest of the city. He also expects there to be more office trades soon, with more institutional buyers like family offices and high-net-worth individuals seeking assets on a reset basis.

Office-to-residential conversions will also be a big focus for Aber. His team is now in the process of closing three such deals.

Aber began at CBRE at an interesting time — during a slowdown in the investment sales market on the heels of President Donald Trump’s April 2 Liberation Day tariff announcement — but transaction volume has since picked up, and Middleton sees strong tailwinds ahead for transaction volume in the Big Apple. 

“It’s been very choppy waters for the last five years, and I think with the amount of capital and long-term belief in New York City we are seeing, all the investors start to really put a focus back on here,” Middleton said. “On the office side we’re continuing to have a lot of inquiries from pension funds and institutional capital who want to refocus and don’t want to miss the window.”

Andrew Coen can be reached at [email protected]