Most commercial real estate brokers think of a press release as something you issue after a deal closes. A celebration. A credential. Proof for the next listing presentation that you got the job done.
Lev Mavashev uses them differently.
When Mavashev, Principal of Alpha Realty, secured the exclusive assignment on 132 Ludlow Street, a generational corner mixed-use asset in Manhattan’s Lower East Side held by the same family since the 1980s, he did not wait for the closing to make noise. His listing press release went live the same day the property hit the market. It ran in USA Today. It distributed across national financial news channels. And it told every investor in the country that a rare, income-producing Manhattan corner was available right now, represented by a broker who treats his clients’ assets as market events worth announcing.
That is not the standard approach. It should be.
Why a Press Release for a Real Estate Listing Announcement Changes the Buyer Pool
The investors who pay the highest prices for commercial real estate are not all watching the same platforms. LoopNet and Crexi reach the buyers who are already looking. A press release distributed through national financial news channels reaches the buyers who were not looking yet but would move quickly if the right asset appeared in front of them.
That distinction matters most for listings with a compelling story: a generational family hold, a rare physical attribute, a submarket with documented demand, a property that has not traded in decades. These assets deserve an audience beyond whoever happens to be running searches on a listing portal the week the property goes live.
A press release creates that audience by turning the listing into a news event, indexed and discoverable by anyone researching the market, the asset class, or the broker.
For 132 Ludlow Street, the story was built into the property. Every element of the asset warranted the announcement:
- A cornerstone location at Ludlow and Rivington Streets with 124 feet of wraparound frontage, a physical attribute that commands premium retail rents and is nearly impossible to replicate in Manhattan
- A proven commercial corridor with a tenancy history that includes globally recognized luxury retailer Louis Vuitton, demonstrating the street’s demonstrated ability to attract premium operators
- Strong and diversified income with effective gross income exceeding $1.4 million and net operating income above $900,000, supported by both residential and commercial revenue
- Meaningful upside through most residential units operating at free market rents, giving the next owner both current cash flow and long-term appreciation potential
- A generational ownership story — held by the same family since the 1980s, which means the property has not been through a sale process in decades, and a qualified buyer who moves decisively has a real advantage
“This is the definition of a legacy asset: family owned, deeply rooted in the neighborhood, and positioned on one of the most recognizable corners in the Lower East Side,” Mavashev said. “Opportunities to acquire corner mixed-use properties with this level of frontage, history, and upside are extremely rare.”
That quote belongs in a press release. It does not belong buried in a CoStar description.
How a Listing Press Release Changes the Conversation in a Listing Presentation
This is where the strategy compounds beyond the transaction itself.
When a property owner evaluates brokers for an exclusive assignment, every broker in the room arrives with a track record and a marketing plan. The track records differ. The marketing plans rarely do. LoopNet, Crexi, direct outreach to known buyers, a broker blast to the internal database. Every firm runs some version of that sequence.
Alpha Realty’s marketing plan includes a line that most competing presentations do not: a professionally crafted press release distributed through national financial news channels to reach the investors that listing platforms cannot.
When a seller sees that, the conversation changes. They are not evaluating which broker has the most impressive list of prior closings. They are evaluating which broker will treat their property as a media event worthy of national distribution before it ever goes to contract. For a family that has held an asset for 40 years and wants the best possible outcome, that is a materially different value proposition.
The press release does not just market the listing. In a listing presentation, it markets the broker.
Why a Listing Press Release Reaches the Buyers LoopNet and Crexi Miss
The highest-performing commercial real estate brokers deploy layered distribution strategies that go beyond the standard listing platforms. The most effective layer, and the one most underused, is tier-1 press release distribution.
An exclusive listing press release issued at the listing stage accomplishes three things simultaneously:
- It creates a search-indexed, publicly available announcement that surfaces when investors research the market, the submarket, or the property address
- It reaches capital sources: family offices, private equity groups, 1031 exchange buyers through the financial publications they actually read rather than listing platforms they may not actively monitor
- It establishes the broker as a credible, serious representative of a credible, serious asset before the first inquiry call
Each of those outcomes is hard to replicate with a portal posting. Together they create the conditions for competitive offers from qualified buyers, which is what every seller actually wants.
Can a Press Release Help Sell a Commercial Real Estate Listing Faster?
The short answer is yes, and the mechanism is the same regardless of asset class, price point, or market.
A listing press release works by expanding the buyer pool beyond the platforms everyone else is using. Specifically, it:
- Places the property in front of investors who are actively researching but not actively browsing listing portals
- Indexes the announcement so it surfaces in Google searches by buyers with specific acquisition criteria
- Signals to the broader market that a credible broker is representing a property worth pursuing
Those three outcomes improve the speed and quality of inquiries for any commercial listing, not just trophy assets.
What varies is not whether a exclusive listing press release works but how the story gets framed. A generational family-held corner in Manhattan gets a different narrative than a stabilized strip center in a growing suburban corridor. Both have a story. Both have a buyer who responds to that story. The press release is the tool that finds that buyer before your competitors do.
For Alpha Realty’s exclusive listing press release for 132 Ludlow Street, the story wrote itself: four decades of family ownership, 124 feet of wraparound corner frontage, a tenancy history that includes Louis Vuitton, and income metrics that justified a national announcement. The press release was not a gamble. It was the right distribution strategy for an asset that had earned the visibility.
Every listing has a version of that story. CREPressReleases.com helps CRE brokers find it, frame it, and put it in front of the buyers who need to read it.
About Alpha Realty
Alpha Realty is a New York City-based commercial real estate brokerage specializing in the sale of multifamily and mixed-use properties across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the surrounding boroughs. The firm advises owners, investors, and developers on acquisitions, dispositions, and long-term value strategies, with a focus on market knowledge and hands-on execution. Learn more at alpharealtyny.com.
