Halstead Property

Diane M. Ramirez
President
dramirez@halstead.com
(212) 381-3203

Halstead Acquires Wheeler Real Estate Country Living

By Susan Nova

Founded in 1927 by Cass Wheeler, Wheeler Real Estate is the longest-established realty firm in Darien, with a Post Road office that hosts 55 agents. Not limited to the Darien market, the agency also covers New Canaan, Rowayton and Norwalk. Now, Wheeler has become Halstead Property Wheeler, acquired by Halstead Property, based in New York.

Halstead on Monday announced it had absorbed Country Living and established offices at Two Sound View Drive; Greenwich; The High Ridge Center, 1099 High Ridge Road, Stamford; 183 Elm St., New Canaan; 616 Post Road East, Westport; and 21 River Road, Wilton. These will bear the Halstead Property Country Living moniker.

"Our strategic plan is to move into Fairfield County," said Diane Ramirez, president of Halstead. "It's a great growth opportunity for us, since we have a significant number of clients moving in and out. This is the time you look for opportunities. We think long-term."

"Wheeler has a similar culture to ours, very much a family-like environment with talented, motivated agents," Ramirez added. "We love their strong brand."

Wheeler has covered its local markets in every price range and is well-known for its marketing of upper-end properties. It consistently has been ranked among the top firms in the area.

Halstead was familiar with Wheeler because both belonged to The Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, a global network of real estate firms.

After Darien, moving into Greenwich, Stamford and other area communities can't be far behind for Halstead, which since 2001, has been part of Terra Holdings, a large privately held real estate services company established in 1995.

Terra parents nine industry firms, including Brown Harris Stevens, a residential and commercial real estate firm in New York and Florida, and Vanderbilt Appraisal & Consulting. David Burris, Kent Swig, Arthur Zeckendorf and William Lie Zeckendorf are Terra co-chairmen, together with Allied Partners.

Five years ago, Terra acquired a majority interest in Dunemere Associates, with five offices in the Hamptons -- in East Hampton, Southampton, Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor and Greenport -- and folded the offices into Brown Harris Stevens.

This is not Halstead's first venture into the New York suburbs. Last fall, Halstead opened an office in Hoboken, N.J. The firm had a dozen offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Riverdale and Hudson, N.Y., and more than 600 sales and rental agents.

Halstead Property Wheeler will continue to be run by former owners Nancy Rawls Dauk and the husband-and-wife team of David and Holly Saunders Hawes, along with Edward Saunders, the chief operating officer and director of sales. Dauk has been an award-winning broker for three decades, and David Hawes was formerly a custom-home builder, while Holly was a registered nurse.

Dauk and Holly Saunders Hawes will serve as executive directors of sales, while David Hawes will be the designated broker, and Saunders will continue in his former posts.

From 1989 to 2006, Wheeler was a franchisee of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, but dropped the affiliation and returned to independent operations.

Halstead's history dates to 1984, when it was founded by Clark Halstead and Ramirez. Early on, Ramirez spent a couple of years in real estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and then moved to New York, working for Key Ventures, a small boutique firm. Today, Ramirez serves as president and Clark Halstead is chairman of Halstead.

Long part of the streetscape in Fairfield County communities, street-front offices in Manhattan were first opened by Halstead Property, also believed to be the first to have streetside offices on the West Side and downtown.

Earlier in his career, Clark Halstead was a co-founder of Sotheby's International Realty. Previously, he had been a national spokesman and model for shirt manufacturer C.F. Hathaway Co. in Waterville, Maine. Hathaway's shirt ads, usually picturing a sophisticated, worldly man-about-town with an eye patch, became an iconic part of American culture for decades. The concept for "The Man in the Hathaway Shirt" was developed in 1951 by the late David Ogilvy of the famed 497-office Ogilvy & Mather, then Ogilvy Benson & Mather, the creative advertising, marketing and public relations firm.

Ogilvy's son, David Jr., is a partner in David Ogilvy & Associates, a leading Greenwich real estate firm that is the exclusive town representative of Christie's Great Estates.

Details of the Halstead/Wheeler transaction were not disclosed.

Contributed photo This Overbrook Lane, Darien, home is typical of listings for Wheeler Real Estate. The English Manor home has 16 rooms, including five bedrooms, along with five baths and two powder rooms and six fireplaces. Set on one acre, the more than 6,500 square-foot house has a custom limestone fireplace in the living room, and French doors open to a terrace with an outdoor fireplace.

Friday, June 12, 2009