Albert B. Ashforth sells to director and brokers - sale of its Manhattan retail brokerage division to its director of sales, Frederick Warburg Peters

Real Estate Weekly, Feb 19, 1992

The firm that is credited with forming the first apartment cooperative in New York back in 1904, Albert B. Ashforth, Inc., is embarking on yet another first with the sale of its Manhattan residential brokerage division to its director of sales, Frederick Warburg Peters, and seven other top-performing brokers. The newly-formed "broker co-op" will be called Ashforth Warburg Associates.

Peters has a majority interest in the film and assumes the title of president. "The new combined name," he said, "reflects our decision to continue as a leading edge residential brokerage, while incorporating the radical broker-ownership concept in Manhattan. While we have a continued commitment to the qualities that have earned Ashforth its reputation during the past 95 years, we need to be responsive to today's quickly changing market."

Peters, who has been with the almost century-old firm for six years, will maintain 51 percent ownership. Seven other brokers will share the remaining 49 percent: Jane Bayard, Jane Andrews, Bonnie Chajet, Wendy Greenbaum, Ronnie Lane, Linda Reiner and Misako (Mimi) Yoshii. Bayard, who was named executive vice president, will assist Peters with the management of the firm, which has a total of 60 brokers.

A member of the renowned Warburg family, Peters considers himself a "lone wolf" in New York City, taking on the majority ownership of a residential brokerage firm at a time when the co-op and condominium markets have been hard hit by economic conditions in the region. "What it means is that collectively, we have a great deal of faith in Manhattan as a place to live, enough to make considerable personal investment in this business," he said.