From left: Fredrik Eklund, Dottie Herman and Luis Ortiz
As the second season of Bravo TV’s broker battle reality show “Million Dollar Listing New York” came to a close yesterday, the stars of the series — and of New York City’s real estate industry — gathered at the General, a club at 199 Bowery, to toast their fellow cast member Fredrik Eklund.
From left: Listing photographer Evan Joseph, guest, Ariel Cohen of Douglas Elliman
Douglas Elliman’s Eklund, wearing a summery, salmon-colored suit, was joined by a lengthy list of real estate names, including his colleagues Vickey Barron, Melanie Lazenby, Ariel Cohen and Faith Hope Consolo; his boss, Elliman Chairman Howard Lorber; Lorber’s son, Michael, also an Elliman broker and former MDLNY castmate; Massey Knakal Chairman Robert Knakal; Keller Williams NYC CEO Eric Barron; Elliman CEO Dottie Herman; and Michelle Kleier and Samantha Kleier Forbes of Kleier Residential. (The younger Lorber left relatively early, however, ducking into a taxi and telling a friend he was headed to the Metropolitan Club.)
Eklund shows off a custom suit with an embossed “Million Dollar Listing New York” logo
From left: Fredrik Eklund and Dottie Herman, both of Douglas Elliman
Custom cocktails on offer made references to the show’s final episode – the “high kick,” referring to Nest Seekers International broker Ryan Serhant’s impersonation of Eklund’s behavior, and the “fancy sock,” referring to, well, that one’s still a mystery to us, actually. But by the time The Real Deal made our way into the gathering — we had to muscle our way through a line of tanned women in skyscraper heels — the bar had run dry of the bespoke beverages.
From left: Eklund, Sonja Morgan and Ortiz; Melanie Lazenby and Eklund
The underground space, decorated to mimic a speakeasy, pulsed with brokers and so-called Bravolebrities. Keller Williams NYC’s Luis D. Ortiz, the pint-sized Puerto Rican broker who joined the show this season, waded through the crowd, clad in a burgundy suit and trailed by his twin brother, Daniel.
Fellow reality show celebrities Sonia Morgan and Ramona Singer, of “The Real Housewives of New York,” were also on hand.