James Patchett has left his post as the CEO of New York multifamily giant A&E Real Estate less than two years after joining the firm.

Patchett is now a partner at McKinsey after resigning at A&E in December and A&E co-founder Douglas Eisenberg has returned to running the business, The Real Deal reports.

Patchett left his role as CEO at the New York City Economic Development Corp., where he oversaw a 60M SF city-owned real estate portfolio, in April 2021. He had previously served as chief of staff for Alicia Glen when she was the deputy mayor for housing and economic development in the Bill de Blasio administration.

His hire at A&E was a move to “leverage” Patchett’s background in city government to assess other assets and make use of the company’s development rights. Eisenberg told Bloomberg at the time Patchett was the ideal choice to lead the firm at what he described as an "inflection point."

Patchett said he and A&E saw the “same opportunity in the city’s recovery” and both he and the firm wanted to be “part of investing in the future of the middle class and the neighborhoods in which they live and work.”

Patchett didn't update any of his social media, so his move to McKinsey went unnoticed for several months, TRD reported. A&E was formed in 2011 and is now one of the five biggest apartment owners in the city, with about 200 properties and 10,000 units. Last year, the company bought 160 Riverside Blvd. for $415M, one of the largest transactions in the city and its third investment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in a year.