On the heels of its announcement last week that it had completed the acquisition of 57 New York City area branch locations, Bridgeport, Connecticut-based People’s United Bank has hired John Costa to head up its New York commercial real estate lending operations, sources told The Mortgage Observer.

Mr. Costa, who couldn’t be reached for comment, started at People’s United Monday, having most recently served as executive vice president and managing director at Santander Real Estate Capital.

Neither Sovereign Bank nor People’s United Bank returned phone calls seeking comment about the move.

Upon closing on the branch locations, however, Jack Barnes, president and chief executive of People’s United Bank, hinted at ongoing, increased operations in the New York City area.

“We are pleased to welcome our new customers and employees to People’s United Bank as we expand and deepen relationships in the greater New York market, the nation’s largest market,” Mr. Barnes said. “As the premier regional bank headquartered in the Northeast, we look forward to offering increased lending resources and additional products and services to our new customers.”

Carl Gaines is reachable at cgaines@observer.com

Four Brooklyn retail properties on 86th Street will be hitting the market as a single portfolio and are expected to fetch upwards of $55 million.

The properties, which are located at 420 86th Street, 502-512 86th Street, 514 86th Street and 526-528 86th Street, all in Bay Ridge, are currently owned by The Gindi family. The sale of this portfolio is being handled by Massey Knakal Realty Services.

"I can't recall anything this sizable in Brooklyn coming to market," said Robert Knakal, chairman of Massey Knakal.

420 86th Street is a two-story, 3,500 square-foot building that's situated near a Century 21 Department Store, Massey Knakal says in a press release.

502-512 86th Street is a three-story, 39,000-square-foot property that is currently being leased out by Citi Group and TJ Maxx. The building offers 125 feet of frontage on Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge, and can offer 100 feet of frontage on the 86th Street side of the property.

514 86th Street is a four-story, 6,300 square-foot property that consists of four units. Two of them are residential, the other two are commercial. A ground floor commercial space is currently being leased to Starbucks. That lease is not set to expire until February 2017.

The last property in the portfolio, 526-528 86th Street, is a four-story mixed-use building sized at 9,600 square feet. Mothers Work Inc. is currently leasing the first floor of the property until May 2014.

"We suspect that because of their close proximity to one another, this portolio will have a single buyer," said Mr. Knakal.

Daniel Edward Rosen is reachable at drosen@observer.com