Ira Rovitz serves as an executive managing director at Newmark’s New York headquarters, where he focuses on providing tenant and owner representation, strategic planning, consulting, portfolio analysis and other brokerage services to clients in New York City and its surrounding suburbs. He has assisted both U.S. and global corporations searching for flagship U.S. and/or New York locations. In 2019, Ira received Newmark’s award for Deal of the Year and was also named Newmark’s Senior Managing Director of the Year in 2019, three years after he was named Managing Director of the Year. Additionally, Ira and his team were awarded REBNY’s Most Ingenious Deal of the Year award in 2019 for their work with New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.
Ira brings to his position versatility, market knowledge and real estate industry relationships that enable him to successfully represent clients from a wide array of business sectors, including entertainment, medical and hospital, hospitality, technology, legal, creative, new media and consumer goods. These clients have included Ales Group, Avalanche Studios, Dish Network, Limited Stores, Pacific Life Insurance, Pearl Studios, Sun Life Financial and Trillium Trading, among others.
Currently, Ira represents the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the largest provider of public healthcare in the U.S., with hospitals and clinics totaling 16 million square feet. Among his latest deals for NYC H+H was a 527,000-square-foot lease at 50 Water Street. He has also represented NYC H+H in leases for 48,000 square feet at the Factory Building in Long Island City, Queens, and for a 53,000-square-foot ambulatory care facility at 815 Broadway in Brooklyn.
Ira recently completed a 115,000 square-foot deal at 55 Hudson Yards on behalf of Intercept Pharmaceuticals. In Midtown, he represented Return Path, a digital analytics company, in its lease for 45,000 square feet at Three Park Avenue and fintech company Bizfi in its 45,000-square-foot lease at 450 Park Avenue South. He also closed a 90,000-square-foot lease at 500 Eighth Avenue for Pearl Studios.
In Brooklyn, Ira represented MetroPlus Health Plan in a lease for 38,000 square feet at 1 MetroTech Center. He also closed a 140,000-square-foot lease at 850 Third Avenue in Sunset Park on behalf of Brooklyn Grange, LLC.
In addition, Ira is a conscientious landlord’s and sublandlord’s agent who has worked with institutional, public, private, REIT, individual and corporate ownership organizations. The properties he has represented directly include 28 West 44th Street for SL Green, 501 Seventh Avenue for ESRT, 546 Fifth Avenue for Safra National Bank, and 555 Madison Avenue for the Coates Family, among others.
Prior to joining Newmark, Ira was a managing director at Grubb & Ellis. Newmark’s parent company, BGC, acquired the assets of Grubb & Ellis in 2012. Previously, Ira served as a vice president at Tishman Real Estate Services, where he also represented tenants and owners in the New York area. During his tenure there, his clients included the government of Dubai (Dubai Investment Group and Jumeirah Hospitality and Leisure USA). He also acted as landlord’s agent at 165 Halsey Street in Newark, New Jersey, a 1.2 million-square-foot data center and telecom building.
Education
Ira earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland College Park’s College of Business and Management, Industrial Labor Relations. Ira also graduated from Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School (now The Institute of Culinary Education).