John Roesch Exits Meridian to Start Roesch Real Estate Group – Commercial Observer
Following an almost decade-long run with Meridian Retail Leasing, broker John Roesch decided to strike out on his own and has founded Roesch Real Estate Group (RREG).
The days-old firm will focus on retail leasing with the eventual goal of starting an investment sales team, and bring institutional-style execution to the middle market. Roesch said he didn’t leave Meridian due to a sense of needing to escape — on the contrary, he said his time with the firm helped grow him into the broker he is today, giving him the skills and the confidence to start his own retail leasing business.
“I’m at a point in my career where I am ready to start my own firm,” Roesch said. “I have a great team under me, and we just felt that it was a good time to make the leap.”
Joining Roesch at his new firm are Meridian alumni Griffin Hanes, now an associate with RREG, and Jessica Blocker, a new director at RREG. Both Hanes and Blocker spent time working with Roesch almost from the day they began working at Meridian.
“From day one of my real estate career, I have been alongside John, so, when the opportunity came to join him at RREG, it felt like the right move,” Hanes said. “I’ve learned a lot from him in the past year, and he’s played an important role in my growth as a broker through his guidance, support and actions.”
Blocker added: “John and I had already built a foundation together at Meridian — the client relationships, the deal instincts, the shared approach to this business. RREG felt like the natural next step: Take what worked and build on it. And with the retail market as active as it’s been, there was no better time to do that than now.”
During his time with Meridian, Roesch said he helped grow the firm to almost 60 brokers, after it started out with just seven.
Some of the more notable deals Roesch said he worked on at Meridian included leasing the entire 6,600-square-foot Jean-Michel Basquiat Building at 57 Great Jones Street in Manhattan’s East Village to actor Angelina Jolie, as well as Bark BBQ‘s 10,000-square-foot flagship at 25 Thames Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
As of now, RREG has just five employees, but Roesch said they are looking to grow that team as quickly as possible. His goal is to grow the firm much in the same way he helped Meridian grow.
“At RREG we want to integrate both the new school and old school way of doing things,” Roesch said. “We’ll be using AI systems, but I am also big on making a ton of cold calls, going to stores and giving the owner of the store your business card, and showing up to a landlord’s office asking for a meeting. I want to integrate both styles of thinking.”
Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.
