12/03/08

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Porn star-broker comes out on top

Fredrik Eklund

It wasn't long ago that adult performer Fredrik Eklund was known for his physical, rather than real estate, prowess.

Now, the 29-year-old native of Sweden is moving up in the ranks at the residential real estate sales and marketing firm Core Group Marketing. He was recently promoted to senior vice president from vice president.

But his porn career has given him more notoriety as a top producer. Working under the pseudonym Tag Eriksson or Tag Ericsson, Eklund appeared in several movies, including 2004's "American Porn Star." He was on the March 2003 cover of gay skin magazines "Freshmen" and "Gay & Night."

Eklund started a less racy career in 2003 as well, when he took a job at JC DeNiro & Associates.

It didn't seem like a stretch. "I sold and bought a couple of apartments myself in Sweden," Eklund said. "I've been selling my whole life -- myself, my ideas."

He is now director of sales for the 52-unit Onyx Chelsea residence at 28th Street and Eighth Avenue, designed by FXFowle Architects. "We're 50 percent sold in three-and-a-half months," Eklund said. He is also marketing a 1,300-square-foot Chelsea penthouse for $7.4 million in the former McBurney YMCA on West 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, home to the three-story, 30,000-square-foot David Barton Gym.

Eklund, who represents more than $100 million in properties, has had other unlikely career directions -- he founded a technology company that grew to 50 employees; he ran the IT department at a Swedish financial newspaper; and he managed to write a novel in his native language as well. "Bananflugornas," meaning "The Lord of the Banana Flies," about his porn career, was released in Norway and Germany in 2005. Eklund's exploits have also been covered in publications including SAS Scandinavian Airlines' inflight magazine, which ran a cover story in October 2005 with the title "Restless in Manhattan."