Biography
David Firestein is one of New York City’s preeminent retail brokers. He continues to transform New York City neighborhoods with significant transactions such as the 28,000 square foot Starbucks Reserve store which opened in December 2022 at the Empire State Building, and Starbucks Roastery, 20,000 square feet of experiential retail in the Meatpacking District which opened in December 2018. Today, Firestein oversees three metro area offices and a team that exclusively represents a stellar list of tenants including Starbucks, Whole Foods, and Sweetgreen.
Recognized as one of the key contributors to New York City’s retail renaissance, Firestein founded Northwest Atlantic Real Estate Services in 1994 and built the company into one of the city’s top real estate services firms. Northwest merged with TSCG in December 2011, operating out of White Plains. In 2012, he led an initiative to create a new division focused on urban commercial real estate, SCG Retail based in Manhattan.
David introduced Starbucks to New York City in 1994, where he still represents them exclusively. He has done over 300 deals with the Seattle coffee purveyor. A leader in the real estate community, he is currently a member of the University of Massachusetts Real Estate Advisory Board, was previously a member of the Real Estate Advisory Committee of George Washington University and has been a guest lecturer at University of Massachusetts, Columbia, Fordham and NYU. He was the former chair of New York’s ICSC program committee and was featured in the March 14, 2023 edition of the Commercial Observer.
Prior to starting Northwest Atlantic, he was with Vornado Realty Trust and AMC Theaters.