A selection of real estate’s elite sellers gathered in New York on Wednesday to celebrate the year’s biggest sales, best portfolios and their industry impact as part of The Hollywood Reporter’s annual New York Power Broker Awards.
Held at a private members club and co-hosted by Selling the City stars Eleonora Srugo of Douglas Elliman and Steve Gold of Corcoran, this intimate gathering of the city’s inner circle of top sellers presented honors recognizing the outstanding individual and group achievements of some of the industry’s most influential and commanding real-estate brokers.
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“This is really a room tonight of people that I actually admire in this business,” Srugo said. “We often celebrate in isolation when a deal is done, so any opportunity to come together is really exciting for us.”
Thirty brokers in total were named to The Hollywood Reporter’s list of top New York real estate agents in 2025, selected based on sales volume, media presence and property prestige. “We’ve all done deals together. I’d say probably 29 out of 30 of the people here I’ve tried to do a deal with,” Gold said, discussing how special the annual gathering is. “It’s a fun way we can all get together and celebrate each other’s success in an uber-competitive profession, where often we’re on the other side and we’re competing against each other. At the end of the day, I think we have to be able to celebrate each other outside of the single deals we’re doing when we’re going up against each other.”
Presented by real estate PR firm The Society Group, of which founder Alexander Ali was in attendance, and sponsored by the AD100-honored full-suite furnishing firm Ash Staging, the awards celebrated agents’ work around celebrity property portfolios and historic architecture, alongside distinctions for media and philanthropic impact.
“Thank you to The Society Group and The Hollywood Reporter for having us today,” said Ash Staging co-founder Andrew Bowen, who helped kick off the event’s awards portion. “We are so excited to partner this evening on the Power Broker Awards. It’s our third time doing it in New York, in the room with the biggest players in New York real estate.”
The curated event, which is part of a much larger ecosystem around the world of high-profile real estate deals, signifies not only how THR has its finger on the pulse of the industry’s market but its growing pool of big players, said Gold, as brokers are increasingly leveraging social platforms and high production quality video to make big sales.
“Everyone’s always had this interest in seeing how other people live, especially when you have it on the scale that many of us at this award ceremony do it — the highest level of clients and properties in the world. Even before our [modern] real estate shows, with MTV Cribs and other shows like it, people wanted to know what celebrities collect, what furniture they get, their design ideas, all of that,” Gold explained.
“What’s changed now is how real estate and the job as a real estate broker has become glamorous, and that was not always the case. It’s kind of like being a fashion model; it seems very glamorous, but there’s a lot behind the scenes that has to go on,” he continued. “It’s the same with real estate. There’s so much that we do — mundane kind of stuff — that isn’t shown, but at the end of the day, it is pretty fabulous to look at multi-million dollar apartments or houses, infinity pools, the coolest views you’ve ever seen in New York City.”
And for Srugo, celebrating that work behind the glam is particularly special in New York City. “The price points are just so much higher than they are anywhere else in the country, the entry point. And it’s the secondary home capital of the world. There’s not a culture or country internationally that doesn’t have its hand in New York City,” Srugo said. “I also think this is just the birthplace of real estate empires and you can see it in all of our monuments and skyscrapers.”
Gold added that the ability to sell historic architecture and new architecture within the same city is one of his favorite features of dealing in the Big Apple, as is the efficiency of showing $20 to $70 million dollar homes, as travel across the city can be significantly shorter than other major real estate centers. “It’s an upwardly mobile city. Everyone comes here to make it so you grow with your clients here, who are upsizing and moving and shaking,” he said. “I’ve done this for almost 20 years, and I’m growing with my clients. I’m starting to work with their kids now. It’s very dynamic, always changing. Nothing’s the same.”
Gold and Srugo were seen mingling among the event’s esteemed sellers in a pre-awards cocktail hour that kicked off the event on Wednesday evening. The buzzy atmosphere, soundtracked by a drum and cello jazz duo, felt frequently reminiscent of a homecoming for the brokers, who shared laughs and even closed deals over drinks and photos. Top agents in attendance included Douglas Elliman’s Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes, co-founder and partner of The Michael Lorber team Alexander Boriskin, Corcoran’s Cathy Franklin and Deborah Kern, Hudson Advisory’s Clayton Orrigo and Compass’ Holly Parker and Carl Gambino.
During the ceremony, Gambino — who was this year’s winner for the Celebrity Property Portfolio — recognized the city as part of his acceptance speech and the road to his win. “I’m just happy I’m doing real estate in the city I was born and I love. I started here — most people don’t know that — and I’m glad to be back,” he said.
The rest of the evening was largely an energetic affair that oscillated between sincere appreciation and light humor, the latter of which began for co-host and winner Gold early in the event. Gold’s win for Media Maverick, presented by THR’s senior features editor Julian Sancton, was particularly sweet after previously being nominated three years in a row — something his co-host was quick to note early in the ceremony. “You’ve been nominated for three years and you’ve never won,” Srugo playfully jabbed, before adding, “But tonight is your night. You’re nominated for three out of seven awards. That’s huge.”
During his acceptance speech, Gold pointed to several of his fellow nominees as part of his own journey as a seller — including Eklund, who took home the night’s Penthouse Sale of the Year honor alongside John Gomes. “Frederick was the one who got me into the whole TV thing. Probably without you, I would have never gotten to do that, so thank you,” he said to rousing cheers.
During the presentation of this year’s Philanthropic Impact Award, which was presented by last year’s honoree Cathy Franklin, a toast — with Franklin’s Hillrock brand double cask bourbon whiskey passed around the room — was made in honor of this year’s winner Tim Davis, “to cheer them on because we love people who do and give.”
And while accepting Hudson Advisory’s win for Team of the Year, Orrigo expressed his team’s shock while also revealing he had just closed on a major penthouse deal only an hour before. “I did not prepare at all, literally,” he told the small group. “[Co-founder] Stephen [Ferrara] is in South Africa, and he’s a little shocked by all this.”
See the complete list of this year’s New York Power Broker Awards winners below.
Team of the Year
Stephen Ferrara and Clayton Orrigo of The Hudson Advisory Team at Compass
Media Maverick
Steve Gold at Corcoran
Agent of Historic Architecture
Serena Boardman at Sotheby’s
Philanthropic Impact Award
Tim Davis at Corcoran
Penthouse Sale of the Year
Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes of The Eklund | Gomes Team at Douglas Elliman
Celebrity Property Portfolio
Carl Gambino at Gambino Group at Compass
Stratospheric Sale Award
Deborah Kern at Corcoran
