New York’s top real estate agents celebrated their towering achievements over the last year in a penthouse overlooking Gramercy Park, as part of The Hollywood Reporter’s annual New York Power Broker Awards. 

Presented on Wednesday by real estate PR firm The Society Group and sponsored by interior styling firm ASH Staging, the 2026 event brought together over 40 top sellers and teams from Corcoran Group, CORE, Sotheby’s International Reality, Compass, Douglas Elliman, Brown Harris Stevens, Serhant, R New York, Hedgerow, Nest Seekers, and the Gambino Group at Compass. 

Nominated and selected by THR based on their sales volume, media presence and deal portfolio, brokers were honored across eight categories, including Best Team, Best Hampton Sale of the Year and Rising Star awards inside a historic multilevel residence in 34 Gramercy Park East. The nearly 5,000-square-foot three-level penthouse — which is currently owned by Cara Delevingne and also counts Jimmy Fallon as a former occupant — comes with its own key to Gramercy Park and is currently listed by Carl Gambino of the Gambino Group and Stefani Berkin of R New York for $9.45 million. 

“Hosting this event is always so fun because you always want to surprise them, to show them something new. I love to keep people guessing,” The Society Group founder Alexander Ali said of selecting this year’s awards location. “So when I saw this residence, I knew. It’s so unique, so different, and if you want to know what’s selling in New York, this is it.”  

Taking place timed to THR’s reveal of its 2026 New York Power Brokers List, the event kicked off with a cocktail hour as guests wandered about the three dually vintage and rustic-feeling floors, where art — of the professional and Etsy variety, both hand-selected and leftover from Fallon’s wife Nancy — not only hangs from the walls, but at several points is literally painted on. That includes a hand-painted staircase wall with custom portraiture that features Lin-Manuel Miranda in Hamilton, an ode to Jim Henson featuring Kermit the Frog, and figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.

Other points of interest include a first-floor bathroom with hand-painted vintage shadow portraits including Drew Barrymore and Questlove; a cozy, third-story tree house-esque tourette with a nook bed and overhead fairy lights; a bedroom featuring a built-in bunk bed and original seats from Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show run in Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Center; and a top-level suite with skylights, a fireplace, wet bar, dual dressing rooms, steam shower and soaking room. 

This year’s honorees were first greeted in the home’s eat-in kitchen, which currently features hand-written notes by Taylor Swift, that permanently overlooks the park and comes with E.R. Butler hardware, an antique tile fireplace and an oversized pantry. Shortly after arriving, many quickly moved to get a glimpse of one other first-floor room: a hidden nook underneath the staircase. Along with two small hatch doors connecting to a pantry and the second-floor staircase, it has a working phone that only calls to a third-level former playroom, where miniature dioramas once on display in a New Hampshire-based Natural History Museum are now set into the walls. For Gambino Group co-founder and executive director Addie Dorsey, a penthouse like the one at 34 Gramercy Park East is “just really fun” to sell.  

“You can feel the excitement as you show. I feel like that adds an element to it. There’s something very special about what we get to show because it’s not always the case in New York,” she continued. “This is really something so thoughtful and intentional of the past owners, Jimmy Fallon and his wife Nancy, and they were just building up, one layer after the next. They built their lives here and you can feel that. That’s what a home is supposed to be.”

Celebrity homes, in particular, require a certain level of discretion, added Dorsey, and brokers are always mindful of whether the client wants to disclose their association with the property. But “we’re happy and grateful to get to work with a lot of celebrities and people within those industries, and I feel like that adds an element to the sale. You can picture exactly what you’re walking into picturing them, so you then know what’s within the [property’s] realm and what you want from a home,” she explained. “I think it certainly does grab attention and people do gravitate towards it.”

Between the home’s various reclaimed floorboards, hand-painted Venetian plaster hallways, textured wallpapers and hand-painted tiles, repurposed stained glass, vintage Stillnovo fixtures and four gas fireplaces, honorees spent their first hour enjoying canapes while sipping on Aveline wine, Coke and lemon water. Music was pumped through speakers built into the home’s various rooms (including the first-floor restroom) while the brokers conversed over the day’s events and their latest deals. Among them was one nominee who jokingly dared colleagues to “name a part of town and I’ve been there today,” while another regaled the recent sale of Lily Allen and David Harbor’s former Brooklyn brownstone and its “extra wallpaper.” 

Underneath an astrological-themed skylight in a tourette within the second-floor Great Room — designed as a private members’ club-style lounge with a stone fireplace and stained-glass back bar (resembling one of Fallon’s neighborhood favorites) — Ali offered a brief and airy introduction, telling the room, “You guys are all part of a very small list every year of the top 35 agents that represent the power of New York real estate.”

That preceded a brief statement from Andrew Bowen, co-founder of ASH Staging, who, after highlighting the company’s recent expansion into London and latest venture Room Service, noted that, “it’s great to see familiar faces and some new ones,” before offering a “cheers to all of you. You’re all winners.”

That was the feeling for Media Maverick Award nominee Jordan Silver (BHS), a producer on Broadway’s The Lost Boys, who, after the event concluded, noted that it felt “synchronous” to be in Fallon’s former home after the show’s cast had just performed on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. “It was surreal to be nominated with people like Frederick Eckland and John Gomes, Steve Gold, who, a few years ago, I was watching on Million Dollar Listing and going, ‘I want to be on the level with them,’” he told THR. 

The ceremony itself was quick and punchy, with Ali jumping straight into awarding the year’s Stratospheric Sale, which “made every other number in the room feel modest. Seven nominees printed figures that rearranged the comp set and one closed at an altitude no one else reached,” he told the packed but intimate room. Bowen announced the second honor, explaining that there’s a “difference between buying a great house and being trusted with it. The brokers nominated tonight understand that historic architecture in New York is not inventory. It is a record. A pre-war floor plan, a landmark that lasted three mayors and a handful of marriages. These homes require a steward, not a salesperson.”

Cathy Franklin (Corcoran), who took home the Philanthropic Impact Award last year, offered praise for her colleagues while accepting the 2026 Stratospheric Sale Award. “I know all the brokers in this room. I love them. This is such a great group, and that’s what makes this industry,” she said. “The nice thing about this industry is there are so many good people.” Dorsey accepted the Agent of Historic Architecture Award on behalf of Carl Gambino, who was traveling internationally and could not be in attendance.  

“This is the one he was really excited about. In his words, he wanted to say he’s especially proud of his involvement in the sale of the Woolworth Mansion. Such an extraordinary landmark and piece of New York history. Being entrusted with properties of that significance is something we certainly never take for granted,” he said. “So thank you, The Hollywood Reporter, thank you Society Group. We’re grateful for the recognition.”

Their wins preceded the announcement of the Philanthropic Impact Award, which went to Greg Williamson of Douglas Elliman, a “recipient who made it a personal practice to ensure his success quietly underwrites the success of others,” said Ali. 

“About 13 years ago, I started a concert called Love Rocks and it has raised $70 million for God’s Love We Deliver. This helps to feed six and a half million New Yorkers who are too sick to cook or shop for themselves,” Williamson told the room. “In addition, I’ve done other things with music and impact and collectively raised a hundred million dollars. The reason I do it besides wanting to help others and build community, is that music makes me feel good. It almost feels selfish, but it’s the good kind of selfish.”

See the complete list of this year’s New York Power Broker Awards winners below.

Team of the Year
Janice Chang Team of Douglas Elliman

Media Maverick
Ryan Serhant of Serhant

Stratospheric Sale
Cathy Franklin of Corcoran

Agent of Historic Architecture
Carl Gambino of Compass

Hamptons Sale of the Year
Terry Cohen, Gary Cooper and Preston Kaye of Compass and Hedgerow

Philanthropic Impact
Greg Williamson of Douglas Elliman

Celebrity Property Portfolio
Sami Hassoumi of Brown Harris Stevens

Rising Star
James Weiss of Corcoran