Former Mets ace Matt Harvey has traded pitching baseballs for pitching loans.
Harvey, who quit the sport last month after a 10-year career, has quietly joined commercial real estate firm Newmark as managing director of its multifamily debt origination and advisory unit, The Post has learned.
A source said Harvey’s job will be to develop new client relationships while he undergoes a “crash course” as part of the powerhouse Capital Markets Strategies division.
“I’ve always been interested in the many different aspects of real estate,” Harvey told The Post. “By joining an incredibly successful firm such as Newmark, I will be able to learn and grow from some of the best in the industry.”
Newmark told The Post in a statement, “Matt’s high-profile career has given him tremendous exposure to industry professionals and his position will allow him to expand the group’s footprint in the tristate region.
“Matt has already hit the ground running, meeting with clients and colleagues and deploying his team-building skills to the multifamily and commercial financing sector.”
Harvey, who earned the moniker of “The Dark Knight,” helped lead the Mets to their only World Series appearance in the past four decades.
They lost to the Royals in 2015 and his Hall-of-Fame trajectory was soon derailed by injuries and an MLB suspension for drug use.
He pitched for four teams after leaving the Mets and last appeared in the majors in 2021.
Harvey, 34, landed the position at one of the world’s largest commercial real estate brokerages and service firms thanks largely to his relationship with lifelong Mets fan Anthony Orso, the president of Capital Markets Strategies.
The two met in 2013, Harvey’s second season with the Mets, when the rising star helped Orso’s son Steven with his knuckleball during a bullpen session at Citi Field.
Orso had co-founded Cantor Commercial Real Estate — Cantor Fitzgerald’s commercial and multifamily real estate finance company, which closed over $50 billion in loans during Orso’s tenure as CEO — before joining Newmark.
Harvey participated in Cantor’s many charitable programs, Orso recalled.
“And sort of coincidentally, I had a friend who had a box at Citi Field who was friends with Matt’s parents in Mystic, Ct.,” said Orso, an Amazin’ fan since since the Miracle Mets won the Worlds Series in 1969.
A few months ago, another Newmark executive who knew Harvey told Orso about the pitcher’s plans to hang up his cleats.
“I felt bad. He’s such a great guy. I knew he had a lot of surgeries,” Orso said.
Orso soon offered him a job in his division, which specializes in complex real estate financings, private equity placements and restructuring advisory services, and Harvey reported for work at the firm’s 125 Park Ave. headquarters.
“He’s in the office early, working all day” and often out with clients at night, Orso said.
This week, Harvey took clients to the “Subway Series” at Citi Field.
“What client doesn’t want to go there with Matt Harvey?” Orso mused.
As for whether the former starter will thrive in his new role as a closer, Orso predicted, “He’ll be very successful.”
This story originally appeared on NYPost
