The RC Family Brag Letter
Dec 16, 2019
The RC Family Brag Letter
Growing up my family, a brag letter was not something my family participated in, but I recently realized from another business owner that my RC Family was something I should be bragging about. I am so proud of the work my family is doing both in and out of the real estate arena! As we approach the end of the year and close out a decade, I want to take a moment to highlight their achievements over the last 10 years! We are happy to share your brag on our blog as well!
Things We Feel Good About This Year
This year, Realty Collective’s Principal, Victoria Alexander, created the Founder’s Circle for Entrepreneurs at The Wing (a women’s only co-working space) with fellow member Lindsay Meck of Onward, bringing together female entrepreneurs from all types of backgrounds to find community and support.
RC’s Jesse Alexander joined the team, branded and named our gallery space, Compére Collective, a space with a mission to nurture and host diverse artistic practice and thoughtful dialogue; understanding that art should be used as a catalyst for critical thinking. RC partnered with Residency Unlimited to host their end of residency gallery shows for artists. We hosted 15 RU artists over 3 shows.
- Contingencies: RU artists Curated by RU curator in residence, Osman Can Yerebakan and exhibition RU artists, Shay Arick, Mikhailo Deyak, Paula Dunlop, Von Calhau!
- RECLAMATION: RU artists Ahmed Alasad, Mariam Alnoaimi, Elsie Kagan, Judith Leinen, and Ran Zhou.
- The Space In Between Curated by RU alum Iara Pimenta and exhibiting RU artists, Colleen Merrill, Alex Nowak, Anthony Ragucci, and Emanuel Rossetti
We also hosted artists; Flo Ngala, Eric Eyeball Richardson, Ethan Cornell, Lisa Ingram, Beriah Wall and Grant Cutler and community events with, RHAP, Denham Wolf, Resilient Red Hook, Katherine Walsh.
RC was proud to work with the 24 Hour Plays gala, raising $32,745 for LE&RN (Lymphatic Education & Research Network). The annual benefit event, in which writers, directors, actors, and production staff create original works in less than 24 hours, was founded by RC’s Tina Fallon and honored Kathy Bates, with proceeds going to fight lymphedema and lymphatic disease. Tina also hosted two Buying into Brooklyn Classes this year that helped several first-time buyers purchase their very first home in Brooklyn.
RC’s, Frank Manzione brought in a $22 million dollar deal that was 3 years in the making at 145-165 Wolcott Street in Red Hook, a record for the area in commercial real estate!
Shyda Hoque worked with long-term clients and sellers to come to a meeting of the minds on a very tricky deal at 140 Degraw. There were moments when things could have easily fallen apart but Shyda calmly worked with everyone to make sure her clients got over asking price and reached their goals.
Alex Prose joined the RC family in 2019 and in just under a year rented over 40,000 sqft of commercial space in Red Hook.
Gino Dimeo overcame a challenging property and finally closed this fall. Everyone was impressed with hard work and diligence that was needed to make this deal happen.
Matthew Taylor joined RC just this fall and has already had lots of deals to brag about! He is also looking forward to the release of a feature length film he has been participating in, bringing his love for real estate and music together.
Emily Cardona joined the team as a licensed assistant and agent and has been working to upgrade our customer service systems- improving the RC experience for all our clients!
RC also has three support staff that work remotely. They have been able to give backend support to our office and agents so that no task is forgotten and every client has several hands on deck to support them in reaching their real estate goals. Thank you Michelle, Rona, and Ryan for your hard work and support.
Things we feel good about over the decade: 2010-2020
Realty Collective will be entering its 15th year in business in 2020! Although we can quantify our work by dollars and deals, we are deeply proud of the things that are harder to quantify.
For Victoria, the event that changed it all happened 7 years ago. Hurricane Sandy hit the sleepy neighborhood of Red Hook and impacted her and her neighbors physically, emotionally, and even politically. Realty Collective agents headed down to the area and literally got their hands dirty helping Victoria and other residents. Realty Collective’s office turned into an aid center run by local non-profit PortsideNewYork, providing resources to the community from organizations like SBS and Brooklyn Chamber, to hosting seminars about rebuilding and remediating. It was the experience that catapulted Victoria even further into urban planning and social justice conversations. The work Victoria did with PortSideNewYork earned them a Champions of Change Award. Victoria’s advocacy work has deepened since- she now is a member of Community Board 6 and Resilient Red Hook, and has taken an active role with the Gowanus CAG and as a board member of the 24 Hour Plays.
In 2011, RC acquired Vita Real Estate from Angela Vita– ,a patriarch of Carroll Gardens real estate for over 30 years.Sadly, Angela passed away in 2016, but we honor her memory and commitment to her community by carrying on her tradition of high customer service, local participation, and community engagement.
In 2014, Gino Dimeo was recognized for his advocacy work as a mediator for families during a challenging time of loss and heartache. His expertise and guidance as kept families from falling apart during this transition and helped all involved make educated decisions instead of ones based in emotion.
Over the last decade we have hosted over forty first-time home buying seminars tailored to the Brooklyn market. We partnered with organizations like the Brooklyn Brainery, The Wing, Brooklyn Based, as well as strategic partners like Barnum Financial, Freedom Mortgage, Serpico, Serpico and Siddiqui.
In 2018 we started our women’s blog series, giving local, Brooklyn women-owned businesses a platform to be seen and exposed to our network. We are eager to continue this series in 2020, so please introduce us to any women-owned businesses we should be giving the spotlight to!
We donated over $50,000 to over 30 non-profits in the last 10 years. We focus on supporting locally and make impacts here in our own community. Here is a list of organizations we supported financially: CUP, 78th Precinct /Baseball Team, NY Charities, Sky Rise , Flatbush Development Corp, Portside NY, Doctors Without Borders, Brooklyn Historical Society, Red Hook Initiative, Falcon Works, BWAC, Funds for the city of NY/Red Hook Films, Brooklyn Greenway, Cora Dance, SBIDC, Carlos for Council, Waterfront Museum, Brooklyn Emerging, Architecture League, Municipal Arts Society, Extreme Kids, The Greenwood Historical Society, The 24 Hour Plays, Wildlife Conservation Society – Prospect Park, Goodwill, Special Olympics, Resilient Red Hook, Mark Morris Dance, Aids Lifecycle, Border Angels, and RHAP. We even hosted a CUP zoning workshop for Red Hook residents to learn about zoning.
Reflected back on 10 years puts a lot into perspective. Thank you for being on this journey with us!