commercial power 2013

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The Weekly NeWspaper of NeW york’s CommerCial real esTaTe iNdusTry • CommerCialobserver.Com $7.00april 30, 2013

2 | April 30, 2013 | THE COMMERCIAL OBSERVER

CommerCial Breaks Page 4

lease Beat 0

Columns Page 24

postings Page 26

poWer 100 Pages speCial seCtion 28-89

party CirCuit Page 90

loBBy Page 96

Calendar Page 96

lease Beat Chart Page 98

the plan Page 102

Jared C. Kushner

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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THE COMMERCIAL OBSERVER | APRIL 30, 2013 | 3


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BY GUS DELAPORTE

The Newmark Grubb Knight Frank team of Barry Gosin, Brian Waterman and Romel Canete was awarded the Real Es-tate Board of New York’s Henry Hart Rice Award for the Most Ingenious Deal of the Year at the trade association’s 69th annual cocktail reception.

The deal, which was a lease for Morgan Stanley at 1 New York Plaza, closed in April of last year.

The judging committee evaluated 37 deal-makers across sales, lease and finance transactions over the last year. So impres-sive were the submissions that a presenter at the event at the 101 Club wondered aloud whether their authors had advanced de-grees in creative writing.

Morgan Stanley’s 1.15-million-square-foot lease at 1 New York Plaza returned 2,300 back-office financial services jobs to New York City. Over the course of two years, the NGKF team created a long-term occu-pancy strategy for the investment bank’s back-office capabilities both in New York and New Jersey and also formed a unique transaction structure that enabled Morgan Stanley to renew its lease early.

“We applaud our commercial brokers for closing these clever and creative deals,” said Steven Spinola, REBNY president, in a prepared statement. “The year’s top prize

went to a truly significant deal that will help a major financial institution bring back thousands of jobs to New York City.”

REBNY’s second-place Robert T. Lawrence Award was presented to Helen Hwang and Nat Rockett of Cushman & Wakefield in

recognition of the sale of 88 Leonard Street in Tribeca. The C&W team was recognized for managing the varied interests of several stakeholders and creating solutions to as-sist Africa Israel in the development of the property.

Scott Singer and Jeffrey Morock of the Singer & Bassuk Organization received the third-place Edward S. Gordon Award for the $35 million construction financing of 50 Oceana Drive West in Brighton Beach. The financing for the Muss Development property was nearly scuttled by Hurricane Sandy and was in fact one of the first con-struction loans to be closed in an evacuated area following the storm, Mr. Singer told The Mortgage Observer.

“The winners of our second- and third-place prizes devised innovative solutions in the face of unique circumstances, includ-ing one that closed in the aftermath of Hur-ricane Sandy,” Mr. Spinola added. “Their hard work enabled successful transactions to be completed for two major residential properties.”

Last year, Tara Stacom and Michael Rotchford of Cushman & Wakefield took the Most Ingenious Deal of Year Award for representing the landlord at 1 World Trade Center in the lease negotiations with pub-lisher Condé Nast. The “incomparable” Mary Ann Tighe, as she was described at the event, took second place for represent-ing Condé Nast in the same deal.

“It took years of work to get the building to a point where a tenant like Condé Nast would even consider it,” Ms. Stacom said at the time.

[email protected]

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Stat of the Week

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5

0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8%

Fifth/Madison

Penn Plaza/Hudson Yards

City Hall/Insurance

Grand Central

Flatiron/Union Square

One New York Plaza.

In honor of this week’s Power 100 rankings of real estate professionals, I figured I would create the first annual Power 5 rankings of the top submarkets by year-to-date leasing activity. To make things even across all 17 submarkets, they are based on leases signed and renewed as a percentage of the submarket’s total inventory. So without further ado, here are the Power 5.

5. Flatiron/Union Square – 2.9 percent of its inventory was leased or renewed during the first four months of 2013, led by AppNexus’s 222,000-square-foot renewal and expansion at 28-40 West 23rd Street. Shockingly, this is the only Midtown South submarket represented in the Power 5.

4. Grand Central – 3.2 percent of its inventory was leased or renewed through April. This is so despite its current availability rate of 15.3 percent, as 750,000 square feet of renewals between Simpson Thacher and EisnerAmper skews its number. Then again, aren’t all polls skewed in some way?

3. City Hall/Insurance – With 4.6 percent of its inventory leased or renewed, City Hall comes in as the biggest surprise in this year’s Power 5. Being the smallest submarket in the poll does

help, but the uptick in demand for Downtown space also has a hand in this ranking. If this were the Power 7, all three Downtown submarkets would be accounted for, as the World Trade Center and Financial submarkets ranked sixth and seventh.

2. Penn Plaza/Hudson Yards – The soon-to-be hottest submarket on the planet witnessed the leasing of 5.5 percent of its inventory this year, and that does not include the leasing activity in buildings under construction. The Macy’s renewal at 11 Penn Plaza for 646,000 square feet assisted in getting this submarket into the top two.

1. Fifth/Madison – Is top-tier space making its comeback? A total of 6.3 percent of the inventory was leased or renewed through April. The Sony renewal of 798,000 square feet at 550 Madison and Jefferies Group’s 457,000-square-foot renewal at 520 Madison Avenue fueled this ranking, but it also ranked third in total leases signed, with 34.

Richard Persichetti is the vice president of research, marketing and consulting at Cassidy Turley, with 14 years of NYC research experience.

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Nabs REBNY’s Most Ingenious Deal


Midtown South Rents Fall for 1st Time in 2 Years

After two years of consecutive increases, rents in Midtown South dropped during the first quarter of 2013, according to Comp-Stak’s effective rent report for the Manhat-tan office market, provided exclusively to The Commercial Observer.

Effective rent, which includes landlord concessions, fell in Midtown South during the first quarter to $44.62 from $46.44 in the fourth quarter of 2012, a decrease of nearly 4 percent. Starting rent fell from $49.47 to $47.14 during the same period.

Despite the decrease in effective rent in Midtown South, it is too early to determine whether the Midtown South submarket’s run is coming to end, according to the re-port. “Over 70 percent of the leases signed in the market were new leases—the sign of a vibrant market,” the report noted.

As expected, tech dominated leasing during the first quarter in Midtown South, where the most significant deals were Shut-terstock’s 80,000-square-foot relocation to the Empire State Building and Google’s expansion in the Chelsea Market.

Midtown South’s performance was in-dicative of the entire Manhattan market, where effective rent fell across the board, with the notable exception of Midtown Class B.

The Downtown submarket experienced a slight decrease, with effective rents falling

from $34.64 in the fourth quarter of last year to $33.81. However, CompStak predicts future increases, as the submarket remains an affordable alternative to Midtown and

Midtown South, encouraging tech and me-dia tenants to relocate from those markets.

Major leases Downtown during the first quarter included HarperCollins’s 180,748-square-foot lease at 195 Broadway and WeWork’s 120,250-square-foot lease at 222 Broadway. —GD

Review for Midtown East Rezoning Begins

New York City is beginning the public review process for the proposed rezoning of Midtown East, it was announced last week.

“Our East Midtown plan provides zoning incentives for the development of a handful of new, state-of-the-art sustainable com-mercial buildings over the next 20 years,” said Amanda Burden, city planning com-missioner, in a prepared statement. “This will enable this iconic district to build on its distinguished building stock and main-tain a spectrum of commercial space for different business needs, including tenants seeking modern Class A offices.

As reported by The Commercial Observ-er, the Department of City Planning is proposing a zoning strategy for 78 blocks in Midtown East aimed at revitalizing the area’s office buildings, which are more than 70 years old on average,.

Long a sought-after area for office space, Midtown East has experienced very little Class A office development over the past 20

years. In the past decade, just two midsize office buildings have been developed under current zoning, according to the DCP.

According to proponents, office devel-opment in the Grand Central District is essential to remaining competitive amid new development at Hudson Yards and in lower Manhattan. However, preservation-ist groups have earmarked a number of buildings in the rezoning area for land-mark status, which could influence the re-zoning plans.

Among the buildings being recommend-ed for preservation are the Graybar Build-ing atop Grand Central Terminal, the Pershing Square Building at 125 Park Av-enue and the Yale Club. Preservationists insist the recommendations are mindful of the rezoning and redevelopment proposal.

The real estate industry is not convinced. Following a coalition review in February, Steven Spinola, president of REBY, told The Commercial Observer that all build-ings worthy of preservation had already been landmarked.

“The others are copies, and no way in the same level of quality,” he said. “[The coali-tion] concluded that there isn’t anything really worthy of designation.”

Under the city’s Uniform Land Use Re-view Procedure, Manhattan Community Boards 5 and 6 have 60 days to review the rezoning proposal, following which it will go before the borough president, the City Planning Commission and the City Council. —GD

Graybar Building.


Hudson Yards ground-breaking.

Judge Rules in Favor of Queens Landlord Who Used Surveillance

Big Brother is watching.Like something out of a spy movie, residential build-

ing owners are now using private investigators and hidden surveillance to track down absentee tenants in rent-stabilized buildings.

In a recent case, law firm Rosenberg & Estis rep-resented Blair Hall Inc., the owner of a 200-unit rent-stabilized building in Queens. Using surveillance techniques, the firm was able to ascertain that tenant Janina Vilcek’s primary residence was in the state of Florida.

In a decision dated February 13, Housing Court Judge Gilbert Badillo of the Civil Court of the City of New York in Queens, awarded possession of the apartment to Blair Hall Inc.

Via video surveillance using cameras hidden in exit signs and smoke detectors, it was learned that Ms. Vil-cek, who was also under investigation by the Secret Service on suspicion of partaking in multiple marriages to convey citizenship, was subletting her apartment to another building tenant while living in Florida.

Ms. Vilcek’s defense was hardly convincing, according to Judge Badillo. “To this Court’s observation, whenev-er [Ms. Vilcek] was confronted with the contradictions, she would no longer remember or understand the ques-tion or information,” he wrote in his decision.

“This signals a shift,” Bradley Silverbush, senior partner at Rosenberg & Estis, told The Commercial Observer. “In the old days, you relied on building staff or word of mouth to ascertain who was actually in the apartment.”

The law firm also subpoenaed Ms. Vilcek’s phone re-cords to ascertain her location and used Internet da-tabases to learn that the Polish-born woman was reg-istered to vote in Florida and had cars registered in multiple states.

Owners can spend up to $100,000 trying a non-prima-ry resident case, according to Mr. Silverbush. “I tell the clients: every dollar you spend on preparation and sur-veillance is worth $2 in litigation costs,” he said.—GD

Silverstein Properties to Add More Housing at Hudson Yards

At least one developer wants to build more housing at its Hudson Yards site.

With the No. 7 train extension set to welcome its first train at 34th Street and 11th Avenue next June, developers are rushing to line up financing and break ground on millions of square feet in new projects.

At least one landowner—Silverstein Properties, which owns a 90,000-square foot site at 41st Street and 11th Ave-nue—wants zoning rules changed to allow it to build more housing and less office space, according to The New York Times.

For an area with poor transit links, the desire to shift from commercial to residential is not surprising. Though there will be a new subway station at 34th Street and 11th Avenue, successful office locations generally require not only transit, but redundant transit.

There are seven different subway stations, for example, along 42nd Street between Fifth and Eighth Avenues. Grand Central has three plus a regional rail terminal, and the Plaza District has around half a dozen, depending on how you de-fine the ritzy submarket.

Hudson Yards, on the other hand, will have just one two-track subway, with Penn Station and the Eighth Avenue subway a few long avenue blocks away at best. Commuters from Queens may have it easy, but there will be no one-seat subway rides from Brooklyn or any of Manhattan’s residen-tial neighborhoods.

While the desirability of housing in New York is also driven by proximity to transit, it relies mainly on access to Midtown. Office tenants, by contrast, need transit links to the outer bor-oughs—a much taller order for out-of-the-way Hudson Yards.

And the market seems to be bearing this out: developers are in some stage of building or have already delivered 10,000 of the total 20,000 apartments that the city has planned for Hudson Yards since 2005, according to the Times, while only one office building has broken ground—Related’s tower at 10th Avenue and West 31st Street, where it has signed Coach, L’Oreal and SAP as tenants. Extell’s building on 11th Avenue is on hold for want of an anchor tenant, and Moin-ian’s mixed-use building doesn’t have one either.


And while developers in today’s market will throw up as many apartments as they can, builders have to work much harder to woo office tenants. The city has incentivized of-fice space at Hudson Yards through tax breaks and more liberal zoning allowances, but office space at the World Trade Center is even more subsidized and has better transit access. De-velopers at Hudson Yards are understandably reluctant to throw up new towers while those in more natural locations—say, Vornado at 15 Penn Plaza—are shelving their plans.

More office towers will eventually join Re-lated’s first in the lower 30s between Penn Station and the new No. 7 stop on 11th Avenue, with Related aggressively courting tenants for its second, larger building. But it remains to be seen if there will be demand for the string of commercial skyscrapers that the city envisioned rising along Hudson Boulevard, on sites like Silverstein’s, which lacks the re-deeming proximity to Penn Station. Could a potential request by Silverstein to build hous-ing instead of offices be the first of many?

The city goes to great length to stimulate commercial development—both where there is demand, and where there isn’t. At least for the moment, Hudson Yards seems to be a little bit of both. —Stephen Jacob Smith

Bronx to Get World’s Largest Ice Facility

Hockey players and ice skaters tired of playing third or fourth fiddle to the city’s other premier sports may rejoice—the

world’s largest indoor ice facility is coming to the Bronx.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans yesterday to transform the land-marked Kingsbridge Armory into a 750,000-square-foot ice sports facility with nine indoor year-round regulation-size hockey rinks, and athletes on hand for the announcement said the facility will change the face of ice sports in the city and provide hope for the dreams of future Olympians.

“The Kingsbridge National Ice Center

will change the sport in the metropolitan area,” said New York Rangers legend and National Hockey League Hall of Famer Mark Messier. “As a New Yorker, I know it will also change this city, providing invalu-able educational and athletic opportunity to thousands of young people and trans-forming the Bronx into the new center of ice sports in the United States.”

The facility’s feature rink will seat 5,000 people, host national and international ice hockey tournaments, figure and speed skat-

ing competitions, and ice shows. Five of the rinks will be located on the main floor and four will be constructed on two elevated platforms positioned 40 feet above it.

At least two rinks will be sled-hockey-compatible for people with disabilities, and KNIC Partners LLC—which won an RFP process to redevelop the site—plans to create a foundation to establish free after-school ice sports and academic tutoring programs for disadvantaged youth, with a goal of providing 12 hours of ice time each weekday during the school year and nine hours each weekday during the summer.

“The educational and fitness initiatives it will create represent new possibilities for so many children, including those who dream of one day becoming Olympic cham-pions,” said Olympic champion figure skat-er Sarah Hughes, who was on hand for the announcement. “This is the start of some-thing incredible for the Bronx.”

In addition to the ice rinks, the facility will feature a wellness center with off-ice training fitness, rehabilitation and sports therapy programs; dressing rooms and lockers with storage for individual hockey equipment; concession space; retail space for ice sport goods; and parking for approx-imately 480 cars.

KNIC Partners LLC was selected through a competitive RFP initiated by the NYC Eco-nomic Development Corporation in Janu-ary 2012. It entered into a 99-year lease for the property and will invest $275 million into the redevelopment, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.

Mark Messier, 1994.


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A public and environmental review is un-der way, with an anticipated groundbreak-ing in late 2014. The project will be built in two phases. The first will consist of five ice rinks, 50,000 square feet of community space, concessions and parking. It is slated for completion in September 2018, and the second phase is expected to open by Sep-tember 2019.

“Through this redevelopment, the Kings-bridge Armory will now have an interior program befitting its iconic exterior ar-chitecture,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “The construction of the world’s largest indoor ice rink facility will create recreational op-portunities for millions of visitors and lo-cal residents, and most importantly, create hundreds of jobs for the local community. This plan is proof that working together we can put aside our differences and do what’s best for the city.”

Built between 1912 and 1917, the Kings-bridge Armory was designed by the ar-chitecture firm of Pilcher and Tachau, a shining example of military architecture featuring Romanesque arches, vaulted ceil-ings, decorative brick and terra cotta, and large battlement towers. It has sat vacant since 1996. —Al Barbarino

‘Blue Collar’ Mets Settle for Less ‘Glitzy’ L.I.C.

The New York Post reports that mem-bers of the New York Mets have “forsaken Yankee-style Manhattan condos” by rent-ing units in two waterfront residential buildings in Long Island City.

The “blue collar” Mets have decided “against glitzy Manhattan digs,” with Jon Niese, Jordany Valdespin, John Buck and Justin Turner among the players renting at the Avalon Riverview build-ings, the Post stated.

But whether or not that was a choice is a toss-up, given the salary discrepan-cies between the two teams. The Post ar-ticle compares the $2,200- to $6,000-per-month rents at the buildings with the “white-shoe digs of their hated crosstown rivals, like Derek Jeter.” Mr. Jeter sold his Trump World Tower penthouse for $15.5 million, and Alex Rodriguez pays $18,900 per month for his apartment, the

Post noted.But those two players also pull in some

of the highest salaries in baseball, at $16 million and $29 million last year, re-spectively. By comparison, Mr. Neise, 26, young and early in his career, made a mea-sly $769,500 last year.

Thanks to Mr. Jeter and Mr. Rodriguez, the New York Yankees were the highest-paid team in baseball last year, with an average salary of $6.2 million, according to USA Today, compared with a Mets av-erage salary of $3.5 million.

Either way, the Long Island City digs are no dump, boasting panoramic Man-hattan views, a ninth-floor pool, a rooftop garden with barbecue grills, a 24-hour concierge and a gym. And the Mets’ stay in Long Island City is perhaps a testament to the quality of life that developers like Rockrose and TF Cornerstone have been preaching for years in a neighborhood that finds itself at the center of the city’s most promising building boom.

“Being in Long Island City is a lot easier because we’re not in Manhattan so it’s not crazy, but at the same time, we still have the city life one subway stop away,” Mr. Niese’s wife, Leah Niese, told the Post.

The neighborhood’s makeover from in-dustrial wasteland to a viable alternative to Manhattan was paved by a 2001 resi-dential rezoning that led the pioneering developers to build multiple residential towers along Long Island City’s water-front.

“The idea is that this is not West Queens—it’s the East Coast of Manhat-tan,” TF Cornerstone’s chairman, Tom El-ghanayan, told The Commercial Observer last month. “We appeal to the same mar-ket as the high-end clientele of Manhat-tan.”

Ms. Neise also told the Post that her “posse” includes the significant others of Dillon Gee, Bobby Parnell, Tori Murphy, Daniel Murphy, Frank Francisco, Mike Baxter and David Wright.

“To keep looking great,” Mets Manager Terry Collins, who also lives in one of the buildings, frequents Emily Salon and Spa—as do the players’ wives—where manicures are $15, a leg wax is $50 and a men’s haircut starts at $30, the Post said. —AB


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Billionaire Donates $133 M. to Cornell-Technion

Another billionaire has just chipped in on the Applied Sciences NYC project on Roosevelt Island.

Irwin Jacobs, founder of wireless tele-communications company Qualcomm, and his wife, Joan Klein Jacobs, are shelling out $133 million for a new center to be built on the highly anticipated engineering cam-pus.

“This transformative gift will support the distinctive international partnership between Cornell and the Technion that is already creating a new model of graduate tech education in New York City,” said Cor-nell President David Skorton in a prepared statement announcing the gift.

Dubbed the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute, the center will offer dual degrees in infor-mation sciences from Cornell and the Tech-nion-Israel Institute of Technology. It is set to launch in the fall of 2014.

Mr. Jacobs isn’t the first billionaire to chip in on the project. Applied Sciences NYC received a record-breaking gift of $350 million from DFS co-founder Chuck Feeney,last year.

Mr. Jacobs—who is worth $1.55 billion, according to Forbes—and his wife, both Cornell alumni, previously established the Irwin and Joan Jacobs Professorship and the Joan Klein Jacobs Cornell Tradition Fel-lowship at Cornell, among other contribu-tions.

Mr. Jacobs “has been giving away money at a steady pace,” Forbes noted, also having donated $185 million to the University of California at San Diego, where he taught computer science, and, along with his wife, $75 million to the UCSD health system, and pledged more than $100 million to the San Diego Symphony. —AB

Winick to Market Two Midtown Retail Assets

A team from Winick Realty Group is ex-clusively marketing two retail properties totaling 6,400 square feet on behalf of Abing-ton Holding, The Commercial Observer has learned.

Winick President Steven E. Baker, Direc-tor Michael Gleicher and David Lawford will market a built-out lounge at 125 East 54th Street with 400 square feet of ground-floor space and a 3,600-square-foot subterranean floor with 14-foot ceilings. The spot currently houses The Volstead, a nightspot named af-ter late congressman Andrew Volstead, the father of prohibition.

A lease here could include the transfer of the existing property’s liquor license, a cov-eted perk among restaurant and nightlife op-erators. “This is not typical of New York City retail,” Mr. Baker said in a prepared state-ment.

Messrs. Baker, Gleicher and Lawford are also marketing a retail space at 106 East 23rd Street. That property has 1,400 square feet of ground-floor and 1,000 square feet of basement space on a well-trafficked stretch of 23rd Street between Park Avenue South and Lexington Avenue.

Representatives from Winick could not provide immediate comment. —Billy Gray

Gowanus Party Spot Back for One More Summer

As Gowanus braces for long-simmering residential development along the banks of its notoriously filthy canal, local and roving party people can take heart that one neighborhood standby has, for now, been given a stay of execution. Alfresco dance music bash Mister Sunday will return this summer to its home in Gowanus Grove, a half-acre lot at 400 Carroll Street.

Mister Sunday (né Sunday Best) landed at the leafy canal-side oasis (formerly BKLYN Yard) in 2008, and seemingly each summer since has teetered on the verge of extinction. Deejays and proprietors Jus-tin Carter and Eamon Harkin have oc-casionally taken the party—a favorite of the Brooklyn underground scene—on the road, whether thanks to the Grove’s com-plicated real estate and operational histo-ry (it abruptly ceased operations in 2010) or due to issues stemming from nightlife’s bête noire: beer, wine and liquor licenses.

The announcement of Mister Sunday’s return emphasizes that the Messrs. Sun-day are back for “one more summer,” which could be a hedging of bets or may allude to the Grove’s imminent closing. “We think every summer is going to be our last,” Mr. Carter told The Commercial Observer. “Honestly, though, we’re never 100 percent sure, so [we] can’t comment definitively either way.”

Times are certainly changing in postin-dustrial Gowanus, which has recently wel-comed waves of scruffy young adults priced out of Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Last month, the City Planning Commission approved developer Lightstone Group’s contentious 700-unit apartment complex abutting the Gowanus Canal, a Superfund site. And a 52,000-square-foot Whole Foods should open in the next few months. —BG

Output Nightclub’s “Penthouse,” Roof Deck Opens in Williamsburg

On Sunday, just three months after its grand opening, the 11,424-square-foot Wil-liamsburg dance club Output officially opened its roughly 2,500-square-foot pent-house and rooftop bar. The underground party promoter ReSolute broke in the space atop 74 Wythe Avenue, with Kiwi house DJ Recloose providing the soundtrack along with resident talent.

“It’s in the heart of Williamsburg with an amazing skyline view, and we have a feeling that we’re all going to [be] spending lots of time there this summer,” reads the ReSo-lute announcement. Plans for a penthouse and roof deck were included in the original Department of Buildings application filed by David Cutler of Hustvedt Cutler Archi-tects in September of 2010.

Earlier this year, a source familiar with Output said that the rooftop area would op-erate under a separate lease than the main dance floor and an attached Communist-themed ground-level bar and restaurant, which soft-opened last week. Representa-tives from Output did not immediately re-ply to an email request for comment. —BG


Happy Birthday, I.M. Pei: Oldest Living Pritzker Prize Winner Turns 96

The oldest living Pritzker Prize winner turns 96 today.

Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei will celebrate his 96th birthday with a “small, intimate affair,” his family relayed to The Commercial Observer.

During his six-decade career, Mr. Pei created iconic structures across the world, including the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City and the pyramid entrance at the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

“Life is architecture. And architecture is a mirror of life,” Mr. Pei said in a video released last year that looked behind the scenes at one of his latest projects, The Centurion.

Mr. Pei moved to the United States from his native China nearly eight decades ago, ultimately finding his niche amid the buzz of bustling New York City.

“I know New York City better than I knew my mother country,” Mr. Pei said. “New York is the most exciting city in the world. It’s not the most beauti-ful. It’s the most exciting. Paris is more beautiful. London is more beautiful. But New York is exciting. It has life. It pulsates with life.”

Mr. Pei has been in semi-retirement since 1990, selectively taking on smaller-scale projects that interest him. The Cen-turion, the luxury residential condomin-ium he designed with his son, Li Chung (Sandi) Pei, is one of them—and the first condo building Mr. Pei designed out of 48 lifetime residential projects.

“The Centurion—it’s kind of a fun proj-ect for me,” he said. “It’s a small building, but because it is small ... the building has to speak, say, ‘I am here.’”

Mr. Pei is the brains behind the Guggen-heim Pavilion; the Mount Sinai Medi-cal Center Expansion & Modernization; the Bedford-Stuyvesant Superblock in Brooklyn; Columbia University’s Compre-hensive Master Plan; and the TWA Termi-nal Annex at JFK International Airport, among other New York City projects.

His international projects, in addition to the pyramid at the Louvre in Paris, in-clude the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong and the Macao Science Center.

Ieoh Ming Pei was born in China in 1917. The son of a prominent banker, he moved to the United States at age 18 to study architecture, receiving a bachelor of ar-chitecture degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1940.

In 1942, he enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he studied under Walter Gropius and, after a hiatus volunteering with the National Defense Research Committee in Princ-eton, he completed his master of architec-ture degree in 1946.

He was awarded the Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship by Harvard in 1951 and traveled extensively in England, France, Italy and Greece before becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1954.

Mr. Pei was unavailable for additional comment on this article and his family declined to elaborate on the special day.—AB

SALES BEAT

Upper West Side Residential Towers Sell for Record $400 M.

A joint venture led by The Carlyle Group has sold two newly developed residential towers on the Upper West Side to the Cali-fornia Public Employees’ Retirement System for a reported $400 million.

Completed in 2010, the The Aldyn and The Ashley, 38 and 23 stories high respec-tively, include a mix of rental and condo-miniums for a total of 345 studio, one-, two-, three-and four-bedroom units that average roughly 1,000 square feet.

The Sacramento-based pension fund, also known as CalPERS, made the purchase through Boston-based GID Investment Ad-visers LLC, its real estate manager for resi-dential transactions.

“The Ashley and Aldyn provide GID an opportunity to expand our exposure in New York City in a single transaction,” said Bill Chiasson, senior vice president and direc-tor of eastern-region acquisitions for GID, in a statement. “Manhattan is a market that has historically provided consistent reve-nue growth versus the national average and where valuations hold up better over time versus other core U.S. markets.”

At nearly $1.2 million per unit, the trans-action was the most expensive deal for more than 100 units on the Upper West Side since the 2007 purchase of The Apthorp, Bloomberg News noted.

Included in the deal is 12,000 square feet of retail space, a 230-car garage and La Pal-estra, a 40,000-square-foot athletic club and spa offering state-of-the-art fitness equipment, an indoor pool, a game room, a bowling alley, a rock climbing wall, a bas-ketball court, a golf simulator, a squash court and spa service rooms.

The buildings are part of Riverside Cen-ter, an eight-acre site developed by Carlyle, Extell Development and other developers over the past decade. It’s part of the 80-acre Riverside South development, which broke ground more than two decades ago.

An HFF team led by Andrew Scandalios, Jose Cruz, Jeff Julien, Kevin O’Hearn and Matthew Lawton represented the seller of the luxury apartment towers, which are located along Riverside Boulevard. The commercial real estate intermediary and consulting firm made the announcement on Friday. —AB

Vornado Sells Harlem Park Site for $62 million

Vornado Realty Trust has agreed to sell Harlem Park, a parcel of land located at 1800 Park Avenue at 125th Street, where the REIT had initially planned to develop an office tower, it was announced early last week.

Vornado will receive $65 million plus additional undisclosed brownfield credits, tax incentives provided to developers for cleanup and reuse of brownfield sites.

The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, is ex-pected to close in the second quarter of 2013. The Harlem Park deal will net Vorna-

do approximately $62 million in proceeds, with a net gain of $22 million, according to a statement.

As reported by The New York Observer, Vornado announced the end of its plans to develop Harlem Park in December 2008. Vornado had previously planned to devel-op a 630,000-square-foot office tower with MLB Network as an anchor tenant

“We were going to build the first office building in Harlem in 50 years on 125th Street and Park Avenue,” said Joseph Macnow, Vornado’s chief financial offi-cer, at an investor conference at the time. “We’ve shut that project down. The eco-nomics are not warranted today to do that job.”

Steven Roth, chief executive officer at the REIT, announced in a letter to share-holders filed with the Securities and Ex-change Commission earlier this month that 2013 would likely involve more selling than buying.

“My belly tells me that prices are now higher than future prospects,” Mr. Roth said in the letter. “It also feels to me like interest rates will stay lower for longer than the pundits expect and that we are near the tipping point where market par-ticipants will start to believe and act as if it’s their God-given right to zero-bound in-terest rates.” —GD

125 West 55th Fetches $470 M. Amid Push to Unload Class A Towers

In another whopping example of large real estate owners seeking to capitalize on current market conditions by unload-ing top-shelf inventory, Boston Proper-ties has reportedly sold its 23-story office building at 125 West 55th Street for $470 million to J.P. Morgan Asset Manage-ment.

The deal follows a string of other Class A building sales this year—550 Madison Avenue, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 237 Park Avenue and 75 Rockefeller Plaza—which accounted for $3.8 billion of the city’s first-quarter dollar volume and created a 46% year-over-year jump, according to data from Avison Young.

“We have started to see a notable uptick in the number of large, Class A buildings being put on the market,” said Avison Young’s Neil Helman in an analysis re-leased earlier this month. “The persis-tently low interest-rate environment, coupled with cap rates moving downward and improving rental rates have created a veritable ‘perfect storm’ for sellers.”

Other Class A properties on the market include 425 Lexington Avenue, 499 Park Avenue and 650 Madison Avenue.

“Many funds and REITs are now looking to sell as they feel the current environ-ment is such that the returns they were seeking have or could be met with a dis-position today,” he added.

The 552,000-square-foot, classic cur-tain-walled structure at 125 West 55th, known as Avenue of the Americas Plaza, was developed by Macklowe Properties, completed in 1990 and sold to Boston Properties in 2008. Its facade incorpo-rates blue-green glass within a steel and reinforced concrete structure, while its

interior features classical statues.Boston Properties owned a 60% stake

in the building, while the remaining stake was split between Meraas Capital and a fund run by Goldman Sachs, known as U.S. Real Estate Opportunities 1, ac-cording to Real Estate Alert, which first reported on the sale.

City records show that Boston Proper-ties and investors paid just under $444 million for the property in 2008 as part of a package that also included the GM Building, 540 Madison Avenue and Two Grand Central Tower—for $3.9 billion in total.

Earlier this month, Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth gave investors a heads up in a letter stating that “the fat lady” was “entering the building,” mean-ing that the year would be marked by care-ful buying, and more selling than buying.

“My belly tells me that prices are now higher than future prospects,” Mr. Roth said. “It also feels to me like interest rates will stay lower for longer than the pundits expect.”

Avenue of the Americas Plaza was 94% leased at year end, with major tenants in-cluding Macquarie Group, Clear Chan-nel Communications subsidiary Katz Media and Air France.

A representative for JPMorgan Chase declined comment on this story. Boston Properties did not return calls seeking comment in time for publication.—AB

Eichner Buys Vornado Harlem Park Site, Eyes Residential

Vornado Realty Trust has sold the Harlem Park site at 1800 Park Avenue to Bruce Eichner and Continuum Com-pany, the New York Post reported.

Mr. Eichner is planning to develop a 596,000-square-foot, 80/20 residential building at the site which would include street-level retail, a garage and 600 apartment units, 200 of which would be affordable housing, according to the re-port.

As reported by The Commercial Ob-server, Vornado announced last week it had agreed to sell the site for $65 million plus conditional brownfield credits.

The REIT had previously announced in 2008 that it had ended a plan to develop a 630,000-square-foot office tower at the site with MLB Network as an anchor tenant.

“We were going to build the first of-fice building in Harlem in 50 years on 125th Street and Park Avenue,” said Jo-seph Macnow, chief financial officer, at an investor conference at the time. “We’ve shut that project down. The eco-nomics are not warranted today to do that job.”

Mr. Eichner’s major developments in New York include 180 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, a 33-story luxury residential building, and One Broadway Place, a mixed-use building in Times Square. He has also developed The Cos-mopolitan Resort in Las Vegas and The Continuum on South Beach in Miami.

Neither Vornado nor Continuum could immediately be reached for comment.—GD


The CommerCial observer’s breakdown of lasT week’s 10 biggesT deals*LEASE BEAT

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* Square footage cited in headlines reflect total space occupied by tenant in building, including expansions and existing space. Leases reflect transactions closed, identified or publicly announced from April 22-26. »

BuzzFeed57,691 Square FeetSUBLEASE

Tiffany has subleased 57,691 square feet of space at Midtown South crown jewel 200 Fifth Ave-nue to buzzed-about digital media outlet and cat GIF purveyor Buzz-Feed. The two-year sublease covers the entire eighth floor of L&L Hold-ing Company’s 600,000-square-foot tower.

Steven Marvin of Olmstead Properties repre-sented the tenant. Studley’s Gregg Taubin repped Tif-fany.

The New York Post reports that asking rent on the eighth floor was $80 per square foot when it went on the market in January. BuzzFeed currently oc-cupies 24,000 square feet at Olm-stead’s nearby building 54 West 21st Street where asking rent for one available space is $49 a foot. Mr. Marvin has represented the ten-ant since it leased 3,500 square feet at the firm’s 113 Spring Street.

The eighth floor was the last available space at 200 Fifth Av-enue. Tiffany now leases 400,000 square feet on the ninth through 14th floors. A LEGO store will soon complement Eataly on the ground-floor retail block.

Founded by Jonah Peretti, one of the creative thinkers behind The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed launched in 2006 and has since transitioned from a generator of memes and slideshows to a news outlet boasting respected report-ers including Ben Smith and former Spin Editor-in-Chief Steve Kandell. The site welcomes approximately 25 million unique visitors each month.—Billy Gray

PromontoryFinancial Group49,541 Square FeetEXPANSION

Promontory Financial Group has renewed and expanded its lease at 280 Madison Avenue near Grand Central Terminal.

The strategy, risk management and regulatory compliance con-sulting firm will move from its 19,495-square-foot space on the 40th floor of the building to the 11th floor, where it will span the en-tire 49,541-square-foot floorplate.

Promontory Financial Group’s New York office is one of 15 branch-es around the world; the firm’s headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Opened in 2003, the New York office focuses on global banks, in-vestment houses and U.S. branches of overseas firms. The New York Times recently brought light to the firm’s role as “shadow regulator” in the past several years. The firm has reportedly been a major power broker through new regulatory and compliance scrutiny.

Promontory Financial Group did not have a broker representing it in the transaction. The landlord was represented by Mary Ann Tighe and Pete Turchin of CBRE.

Promontory Financial Group’s lease comes in the wake of Blue Mountain Capital signing 49,541 square feet on the 12th floor of the building. The building also renewed leases with Co-hen & Steers for nearly 90,000 square feet and Viking Global Investors for 40,399 square feet.

SL Green and Vornado have poured $125 million into a rede-velopment plan that will position the building as a “premier, state-of-the-art property strategically located in the desirable Grand Cen-tral Terminal submarket.”

The capital improvement pro-gram encompasses a world-class lobby spanning the entire block-front between 48th and 49th streets and an interior courtyard with a reflecting pool. There will also be new elevator cabs, bath-rooms and upgraded infrastruc-ture. The building will also improve its HVAC to enhance environmental sustainability. —Michael Ewing

Blue Mountain Capital49,541 Square FeetEXPANSION

Blue Mountain Capital has ex-tended its lease and will expand at 280 Park Avenue.

The firm had previously occu-pied a 22,250-square-foot office on the fifth floor of the building where it has been located since 2007. It will relocate to the 12th floor of the building, where employees will spread out across the entirety of a 49,541-square-foot floor plate.

“We certainly toured other buildings,” said AJ Camhi, a vice president of RFR Realty. “But at the end of the day, Blue Mountain Capital decided to stay at 280 Park Avenue because of the address, their desire to be on Park Avenue, and, most importantly, the ability to be on one floor.”

Mr. Camhi worked alongside his colleague Brad Siderow in repre-senting Blue Mountain Capital. The landlords, a venture between SL Green Realty Corp. and Vornado, were represented by an exclusive leasing team from CBRE headed by Pete Turchin.

Blue Mountain Capital will take possession before the end of this year and they will build out the space to specifications from there.

The renewal comes in light of the recent London Whale trade that cost JP Morgan’s London branch $6.2 billion in losses. A former ex-ecutive, James Staley, announced earlier this year that he will be leaving JP Morgan in favor of Blue Mountain Capital Management, one of the hedge funds that prof-ited by going against JP Morgan in the trade.

Mr. Staley’s addition comes in a sweep of others as the firm is in ex-pansion mode.

“Blue Mountain Capital has been rapidly hiring new employees and their assets under management continue to grow,” said Mr. Camhi. “As a result, they needed more ef-ficient space.”—ME

Citi Bike39,200 Square FeetNEW

The NYC Bike Share program, branded Citi Bike, has set up its headquarters in a 39,200-square-foot space at 53rd Street and Third Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, it was announced today. Asking rent was less than $20 per square foot.

“It was a fairly quick search,” Alec Monaghan, senior vice presi-dent at CBRE, who represented the tenant, told The Commercial Observer. “We looked in Manhat-tan, but it became pretty immedi-ate Brooklyn was going to be better in terms of price, product type and the acceptability of the road net-work.”

The 16,200-square-foot ground floor at the MWC Management Corp. property will be utilized as operational space to fix bicycles. The 8,000-square-foot second floor will house the program’s call center, and the 15,000-square-foot lower level will be used as parking space for vans that will transport bikes to stations around the city.

“It is unique that we were able to house that in one building,” Mr. Monaghan noted. Comparable space in Manhattan would have demanded rents double those of Brooklyn, he added.

The Department of Transpor-tation named Alta Bicycle Share as the operator for New York’s bike-share program in September 2011. In May of last year, the DOT announced the system would be branded Citi Bike, with Citibank serving as title sponsor. The pro-gram is expected to launch next month, and stations are currently being installed throughout the city.

“The building was chosen as the central location for this broad New York City initiative because it’s the best economical use of space,” Mr. Monaghan added in a prepared statement.

Mr. Monaghan and Bill Jordan, CBRE vice president, represented the tenant. Michael Coleman of MWC Management represented the owner. —Gus Delaporte

Borderfree.com22,226 Square FeetEXPANSION

E-commerce company Border-free.com (formerly Fifty-one Global E-Commerce) expanded and extended its lease for a total 22,226 square feet at 292 Madison Avenue, The Commercial Observer has learned.

David L. Hoffmann Jr. and Bryan Boisi of Cassidy Turley represented the tenant. William G. Cohen and Ryan Kass of New-mark Grubb Knight Frank repre-sented the owner, identified as 292 Madison Avenue Leasehold LLC. Asking rent was in the high-$40- to mid-$50-a-square-foot range, said Michael Reid, a principal at building manager Herald Square Properties.

The transaction comes just shy of a year after Borderfree moved into prebuilt offices on the full fifth and 17th floors of the Midtown tower, which Marciano Investment Group purchased in full in 2011.

“The company initially took the large fifth and smaller 17th floors,” Mr. Reid said of the “rapidly grow-ing” tenant. “Almost as soon as they moved in, the opportunity came for them to take the larger fourth floor, giving them contigu-ous floors.” This seven-year lease expands Borderfree’s footprint by about 5,100 square feet.

Since assuming full ownership, Marciano has focused on reeling in tech and new media firms to the building. “They’re dedicated to transforming an old, somewhat tired building into a trendy, cool, upbeat state-of-the-art building,” Mr. Reid said. “These tenants all seem to like the scarified concrete look and high ceilings, and they’re 11 feet and up here.”

Another of 292 Madison Av-enue’s strengths is its insistence on whole-floor leases. “We give our tenants a single-floor identity, which they like,” Mr. Reid said. “They’re not going to get lost on a big floor plate.”

He added that while the build-ing courts relatively young firms, tenants are on solid financial footing.—BG


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The CommerCial observer’s breakdown of lasT week’s 10 biggesT deals*LEASE BEAT

* Square footage cited in headlines reflect total space occupied by tenant in building, including expansions and existing space. Leases reflect transactions closed, identified or publicly announced from April 22-26

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CVS Caremark21,158 Square FeetNEW

Pharmacy CVS Caremark has signed a 15-year lease for 21,158 square feet at 3 Columbus Circle, it was announced last week. Ask-ing rents were not disclosed.

The lease is for the vacant part of the 768,565-square-foot build-ing’s ground floor and a portion of the second floor, according to a statement from SL Green Realty, the building’s landlord in partner-ship with The Moinian Group. The pharmacy is expected to oc-cupy the space beginning June 1.

“We’re delighted to welcome CVS, a widely respected national retailer, to 3 Columbus Circle,” said Steven Durels, director of leasing and real property at SL Green, in a prepared statement.

The building at 3 Columbus Circle, formerly known as 1775 Broadway, occupies the entire block between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. The property re-cently underwent a renovation that included a new glass façade, a relocated and expanded lobby, new elevators and other infra-structure upgrades.

The Winick Realty Group, which represents the landlord, is currently marketing the for-mer Daffy’s space at 3 Columbus Circle, according to Jeff Winick, chief executive officer. The space, which is in the process of being converted, offers an entrance on 57th street and 55 feet of front-age. Availability includes the 5,300-square-foot ground floor, a 19,000-square-foot lower level and 14,200 square feet on the sec-ond level, which will face the new Nordstrom entrance.

“We’re targeting clothing,” Mr. Winick told The Commercial Ob-server. “It’s going to be one of the big-box clothing guys.”

Jason Pruger of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the tenant in the deal. Mr. Winick and Kelly Gedinsky of Winick represented the landlord.

NGKF and SL Green did not immediately return requests for comment. —GD

Hart Howerton15,090 Square FeetRENEWAL

Global architecture firm Hart Howerton has renewed its 15,090-square-foot lease at 10 East 40th Street.

The firm already occupies the entire 39th and 41st floors in the tower of the 48-story Art Deco building, each floor spanning a little more than 7,000 square feet for a total 15,090 square feet. The building also houses the Morocco Consulate and Napa Group Inc., a longtime tenant.

“Hart Howerton was really happy, and they had their lease coming to an end in 2013,” said David Berke, an associate direc-tor at Cushman & Wakefield, who represented the tenant in the transaction. “[So] they wanted to renew and stay in the building. They’ve been there since 1983, and the floors worked for their operation.”

“They looked at alternatives in Grand Central and Midtown South,” added Mr. Berke. “But in the end, we decided that we were happy in 10 East 40th Street.”

Mr. Berke was joined by his col-league Stuart Romanoff in repre-senting the tenant. The landlord, Joseph P. Day, was represented by senior vice presidents Richard Brickell and Richard Teichman. Mr. Brickell and Mr. Teichman are also responsible for leasing out the remaining empty space, which ranges from 1,300-square-foot offices to 8,000-square-foot full floors throughout the building.

Hart Howerton has been his-torically based out of two head-quarters, one in San Fransico and one in New York City. The firm has expanded to offices in London and, as of late 2010, Shanghai. It has worked with corporations and institutions to design spaces all over the world, including Lulu Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and the Nashville International Airport. —ME

Metropolitan Real Estate11,289 Square FeetRELOCATION

International investment ad-visory firm Metropolitan Real Estate is moving its New York headquarters from 135 East 57th Street to 650 Fifth Avenue, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The firm signed an 11-year lease for 11,289 square feet, taking the entire 29th floor of the 36-story, 382,500-square-foot office build-ing, located in the Plaza District on 52nd Street, on the northern edge of Rockefeller Center.

“We are excited to add Metro-politan Real Estate to the grow-ing list of excellent tenants at 650 Fifth Avenue,” said Dr. Houshang Ahmadi, president of the nonprof-it Alavi Foundation, the majority owner and managing partner of 650 Fifth Avenue Company.

CBRE’s Robert Stillman, Paul Haskin and Zachary Freeman represented 650 Fifth Avenue in the transaction, while Paul Kotcher of Brickman & Associ-ates represented the tenant.

“650 Fifth Avenue offered what Metropolitan Real Estate was looking for, and we are pleased to have secured an entire-floor lease at the property,” Mr. Kotcher said.

CBRE is the exclusive office leasing agent and property man-ager of the building. The property recently underwent an $11 million lobby renovation, completed in July, and ownership is budgeting to improve the common areas on each of the floors and upgrade se-curity systems as leasing efforts ramp up.

“There has been strong inter-est in 650 Fifth Avenue due to the completion of our extensive capi-tal improvement program, the quality of our space” and the ex-cellent location, Mr. Haskin said.

Last month, TGM Associates, a New York-based investment advisory firm focused on multi-family properties, renewed its 11,280-square-foot lease on the 28th floor. —Al Barbarino

Kagan Productions10,000 Square FeetNEW

Anita Grossberg, a commer-cial broker on Douglas Elliman’s Sroka Worldwide team, coor-dinated a pop-up lease at 860 Washington Street for theater producers Howard and Janet Kagan, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The Kagans will bring their pro-duction Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 to a $2.5 mil-lion, 6,000-square-foot structure in what was a 10,000-square-foot vacant lot just off the High Line at Washington Street and West 13th Street. The performance space was built to resemble a Russian sup-per club, and will feature a czarist menu, cabaret singers and contor-tionists in addition to the main the-atrical event, which will run from May 1 through September 1.

Mr. Kagan had hoped to have the musical, a rock-opera riff on War and Peace born at Off Off Broadway theater Ars Nova, up and running by February. Ms. Grossberg set off last October to find a performance location in the Meatpacking District. “I called parking lots, looked at different vacant lots,” Ms. Grossberg said. “One day I had a meeting with Howard on 14th Street regarding a permanent location. It was during that wickedly cold spell in Janu-ary, and I couldn’t wait outside. As I walked past Diane von Fursten-berg on my way to The Standard, I saw the lot, and it clicked.”

Ms. Grossberg presented the idea of bringing Natasha, Pierre to the lot to aptly named building owners Romanoff Equities. “I had to sell it,” Ms. Grossberg said. “Last year they had a flea market there, and they told me they had other offers. We were willing to put the money down.”

Mr. Kagan, who partners with Randy Weiner (Sleep No More) and Simon Hammerstein (The Box) on the show, will pay $250,000 for the lease, which closed in late March. In Septem-ber, Romanoff will begin con-struction of a 10-story commer-cial building on the site. —BG

Mobotix Corp.7,840 Square FeetRELOCATION

German-based Mobotix Corp. will be leaving its office at 415 Madison Avenue and mov-ing Downtown to Savanna’s 80 Broad Street, officials told The Commercial Observer.

Enlisting CBRE’s David Young and Scott Sloves as brokers, the leading video security software company is taking a 7,840-square-foot space on the seventh floor of 80 Broad Street.

Savanna was represented in the transaction by an exclusive leas-ing team from Newmark Grubb Knight Frank consisting of Hal Stein, Adam Leshowitz and Todd Stracci. The team also negotiated a lease for the Foundation Fight-ing Blindness, which took 3,345 square feet on the 33rd floor of the building.

Both leases had seven-year terms.

“Savanna acquired 80 Broad Street in September of 2011 and immediately took the building off the market to implement a major capital improvement program, which includes a $19 million in-vestment in building improve-ments and renovations to tenant spaces,” Todd Korren, a princi-pal at Savanna, noted about the building in reference to an earlier lease deal.

“Savanna’s capital improve-ment plan also includes compre-hensive building upgrades with fully modernized elevators, a renovated lobby with enhanced lighting and restored stone de-tailing, refurbished common-area bathrooms and new common cor-ridors,” added Mr. Korren.

The building, located between Stone and Beaver Streets, spans 36 stories and 420,000 square feet. The property is one of many in Savanna’s Downtown-focused portfolio alongside 5 Hanover Street, 44 Wall Street, 110 Wil-liam Street and neighboring 90 Broad Street. —ME


The Manhattan investment sales market typically serves as a lead indicator for the sales market citywide, and in the first quar-ter of 2013, it was once again.

The Manhattan submarket (defined as south of 96th Street on the East Side and south of 110th Street on the West Side) led the way in the first quarter of 2013 with $5.5 billion in investment sales transac-tions. This represented 85 percent of the $6.5 billion citywide total.

As expected, the $5.5 billion was signifi-cantly lower than fourth-quarter 2012 to-tals, as the end-of-year rush to take advan-tage of lower capital gains rates created an epic quarter in which sales volume hit $14.6 billion, the second-highest quarterly total in history (The first quarter of 2007 was the peak, with $17.2 billion). The good news is that the $5.5 billion was much better than we anticipated.

In 2012, there was a total of $31.3 billion of investment sales activity in the Manhat-tan submarket. Annualizing the first quar-ter of 2013’s $5.5 billion, we are on pace for about $22 billion this year. However, we feel that the 2013 total will rival, if not exceed, the $31 billion seen in 2012 as activity picks

up throughout the year. As expected, 2012 was

a very active year, due to the impact an anticipat-ed increase in taxes had on seller behavior. An externality like the capi-tal gains tax increase has two tangible effects. First, it serves to cata-lyze some transactions that might not have oc-curred otherwise, as sellers realize that a window of opportunity

may be closing. Second, it pulls activity from future periods forward, as sellers who were anticipating selling in early 2013 accelerated their process to close be-fore the end of last year, achieving higher after-tax proceeds than they would have had they sold this year.

Tax policy transparently impacts market participant behavior. Last year we saw a record number of properties sold in Man-hattan as the turnover of the total stock of properties reached 4.3 percent, an all-time record. The previous high was achieved in

1998 when, under the Clinton administra-tion, capital gains taxes were reduced from 28 percent to 20 percent. Another spike in sales occurred in 1986, prior to tax policies of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 kicking in at the beginning of 1987.

In the first quarter of 2013, there were 130 properties sold in the Manhattan submar-ket. This was down significantly from the 484 properties sold in the fourth quarter of 2012. Again, this was not surprising, as the fourth-quarter 2012 total set an all-time record for Manhattan, as did 2012’s yearly total of 1,194, eclipsing the 999 properties sold in 2007.

Coming off this record year, we expected the number of properties sold to be down, and while it was, the 130 sales were more than we anticipated. We believe this is an-other positive sign for the balance of 2013.

While we expect the number of properties sold in the Manhattan submarket to drop by 20 to 25 percent this year from last year’s total, we fully expect the dollar volume to be about where it was last year if not higher, given what we expect will be a resurgence in large office building sales, which impact dollar volume greatly.

Perhaps one of the most surprising trends in the Manhattan submarket in the first quarter of 2013 has been the incred-ible run-up in land values over a relatively short period of time. According to the transactions we have been working on, we believe that land values have appreciated by as much as 30 percent in the past three months alone.

We are seeing tremendous demand from local developers, as well as from developers from around the country who do not own anything in New York yet but are looking to get into the mar-ket. Joining them are foreign developers who are looking to do their first projects in New York City. We expect that land values will continue to rise throughout the year and may end the year as much as 50 percent higher than the averages we saw in 2012.

[email protected]

Robert Knakal is the chairman and found-ing partner of Massey Knakal Realty Servic-es; in his career he has brokered the sale of more than 1,300 properties, with a market value in excess of $9 billion.

$5.5 billion in first-quarter transactions represented whopping 85 percent of all deals citywideManhattan Saves the Day

ConCrete thoughts

Robert Knakal

the lead indiCator

Sam Chandan

Speaking of power, the Austerians have lost one of their most powerful corrobora-tions. At least for political purposes, the oft-cited and rather particular relationship be-tween sovereign debt and growth has been sundered by a graduate student’s homework assignment. Never has so much of conse-quence turned on a spreadsheet error.

The Keynesians are euphoric. From their vantage point, the case against borrowing has collapsed like a house of cards. The head-line facts are compelling. Austerity in Europe has deepened the Continent’s economic mal-aise, affording unfavorable comparisons to the Great Depression. Just in time for the se-quester, the American economy is repeating its own pattern of springtime stumbling. The risks of expansionary monetary policy seem misplaced. Inflationary pressures are ebbing on both sides of the Atlantic. At the Bank of Japan, all vestiges of reserve in monetary policy have been cast aside.

From his bully pulpit at the Gray Lady, Professor Paul Krugman this weekend de-

clared victory over the Austerians and a puritan worldview of economic inequality. It seems that propo-nents of restraint dur-ing downturns are not only misguided in their thinking. At least a few of them fit convenient-ly into the larger nar-rative of class conflict. How consistent that we cannot disagree without our respective motives being ques-

tioned. There is a difference between fiscal expansion and structurally unsustainable deficits, but such nuance is tedious. So is the idea that we can have different solutions for different circumstances. Instead, some advo-cates of fiscal expansion are revealing them-selves as ideologues to rival fiscal conserva-tives. Maybe that brings things into balance.

On the political right, there seems no willing-ness to trade long-term structural solutions for short-term policies that will help lift em-ployment.

In other parts of the world, positions are not always as intractable as they are in the United States. In the countries where auster-ity has been pursued with the greatest zeal by external agents and where it may be prov-ing most self-defeating, that flexibility is fortuitous. This could prove another decisive week in Europe’s coquetry with fiscal disci-pline. At long last and after rejecting severe budget cuts, Italy will have a prime minis-ter less inclined to see unemployment rise unchecked. Germany’s finance minister will visit with his counterpart in Spain, where the official unemployment rate has surpassed 27 percent, to discuss an investment program that may signal a softening stance in Berlin.

There are holdouts who remain skepti-cal about the consequences of deficits, even if they are only incurred in the toughest of times. In Canada, the Tory government is

poised to balance the federal budget in 2015. To get there, spending growth has been lim-ited to 1 percent. Canadian conservatives, who are not conservative by American stan-dards, see it as targeted investment. Their even more liberal counterparts, mindful of inflation, point to a drop in real spending and rather severe cuts to direct expenditures.

If there is a country that can afford stimu-lus, it is Canada. The economy is slowing and household debt levels are elevated. There is a good argument that stimulus will lift the economy while delaying the return to sur-pluses only temporarily.

Of course, there is an election scheduled for 2015. And for all their liberalism, the Ca-nadians are far more budget-conscious than their southerly cousins.

[email protected]

Sam Chandan, Ph.D., is president and chief economist of Chandan Economics and an ad-junct professor at the Wharton School.

From one vantage point, the case against borrowing has collapsed like a house of cardsPower, This Time for the Keynesians


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F rom a Taconic Investment Partners project in Hunts Point to the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, power in New York real estate circles has increasingly expand-ed from the comfortable confines of Midtown Manhattan to the fringes of all

five boroughs. While large developments such as Related’s Hudson Yards often dominate the conversation, Brooklyn, Queens and even the Bronx contin-ue to grow in stature. Long Island City is fast becoming a focal point for the real estate industry as Rockrose and other residential developers tap into the growing Queens neighborhood. In the Bronx, Taconic Investment Partners, formerly the owners of 111 Eighth Avenue, is in the process of a significant capital improvement plan at the BankNote Building on Lafayette Avenue in Hunt’s Point. Below, a sampling of where power thrives in New York City in 2013.

A. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Chistian de Portzamparc, One57 is Gary Barnett and Extell Development’s flagship residential and hotel tower and, once completed, will be the tallest residential building in Manhattan.

B. In partnership with the elusive Joseph Chetrit of the Chetrit Group, David Bistricer acquired the Sony Building at 550 Madison Avenue late last year for $1.1 billion.

C. Jonathan Gray’s Blackstone real estate unit, the world’s largest hotel owner, acquired the Waldorf Astoria in 2007 as part of its Hilton Hotels acquisition.

D. Jeff Sutton of Wharton Properties controls much of Times Square’s re-tail space, and 1515 Broadway includes Aeropostale as a major tenant.

E. Stephen Ross and Related Companies broke ground on the first build-ing, a 47-story, 1.7-million-square-foot tower, at the Hudson Yards development on the Far West Side in December.

F. Edward Minskoff’s 430,000-square-foot, 13-story 51 Astor will open in May, but the developer has yet to announce a tenant. Expect the glass-façade building near Cooper Union to be a tech magnet later this year.

G. Tommy Craig and the Hines team in New York broke ground on 7 Bryant Park in February after receiving all-equity financing for the project last year.

H. With LinkedIn, Anthony Malkin lured a major tech tenant to the iconic Empire State, and Malkin Properties is in the process of listing the build-ing as part of a $1 billion IPO.

I. Rockrose, with its luxury real estate buildings in Battery Park City and the West Village, has been at the forefront of development in Queens, where Justin and Henry Elghanayan are building The Club, one of the most sought-after buildings in Long Island City.

J. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is getting set to leave office, but his influence on the real estate industry, and the city of New York, will be lasting.

K. Near completion, the Durst Organization’s One World Trade Center will wel-come publishing giant Conde Nast as a major tenant on floors 42, 43 and 44.

L. What once was the World Financial Center is being repositioned by Brookfield Office Properties’ Ric Clark and Mitch Rudin as a retail and dining destination dubbed Brookfield Place, aimed at attracting sophis-ticated residents of Battery Park City and Tribeca.

M. Not typically known for its investment in residential properties, TIAA-CREF, led by real estate head Philip McAndrews, acquired a stake in 8 Spruce Street last year, valuing the property more than any other residential building in the country.

N. David and Jed Walentas made their name in Dumbo more than a decade ago, but these days their company, Two Trees Management, is becoming increasingly synony-mous with the Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg.

O. Forest City Ratner’s management team of MaryAnne Gilmartin and Bruce Ratner have been receiving rave reviews for the Barclays Center, the Brooklyn arena that is home to the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and will welcome the NHL’s New York Islanders in two years.

Power 100 Heat Map

26 | APRIL 30, 2013 | THE COMMERCIAL OBSERVER


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BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM

I n 1881, the same year Billy the Kid died in a blaze of glory outside Fort Sumner following a national man-

hunt after he escaped from jail, Philip Hubert, the French architect, was finalizing what would become one of his last-ing accomplishments.

Just blocks south of Central Park, a grassy oasis then only 23 years old, Mr. Hubert and his partner Jared Flagg, a re-nowned painter, minister and real estate

developer, were topping off New York City’s first co-op building, a six-story property with one elevator and eight duplex units, according to published reports from the time.

The impetus for the idea was simple. Prior to the Civil War, many middle-class families shared space or took in board-ers, while those of wealthier means in New York continued to live in row houses, alone. By the war’s end, however, a leisure class had emerged, with some New York resi-dents dividing their time between the city and Europe and choosing luxury hotels over single-family homes. Messrs. Hubert and Flagg sought to change that by build-ing chic multifamily dwellings that at the time commanded $16,250—or about $2.5 million in today’s dollars—from railroad executives, well-known authors and, oc-casionally, the daughters of upper-class men.

As an investment, it was a risky propo-sition, but as architecture, the Rembrandt,

with its terra cotta trim and Gothic design, was a beacon of civility in a year that saw not only Billy the Kid’s demise but also the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Sitting Bull’s surrender and the assassination of President James Garfield.

“It was around this time that you saw kind of a flurry, over the next five years, of co-op construction in New York,” said Matthew Lasner, a professor of urban af-fairs and planning at Hunter College and the author of High Life: Condo Living in the Suburban Century. “In ways never seen be-fore, people were living close together.”

Until it was razed in 1963, the Rembrandt stood at 152 West 57th Street, just across from the site of One57, the 1,004-foot ode to opulence now being developed by Gary Barnett, president of the Extell Development Company and perhaps this century’s leading purveyor of over-the-top luxury in New York, if not the world.

“It sort of brings the history of multi-family home ownership full circle, because

the very first owner-occupied apartment house in the United States was on that block,” said Mr. Lasner. “It’s what set off the frenzy for condo construction at luxu-ry rates.”

At leAst since the RomAns built the vaunted Baths of Caracalla, a market for luxury living has persisted. Never before, however, has the price of entry seemed so steep.

The records began being shattered in 2011, when a then-unknown Russian fertil-izer magnate purchased a glitzy penthouse at 15 Central Park West for his college-age daughter for a stately $88 million, the highest price ever paid in New York City history. Not to be outdone, an unidenti-fied buyer—also of foreign origin—paid a whopping $95 million just four months later for the 89th and 90th floors at One57. Meanwhile, Steve Wynn, the casino ty-coon, laid down $70 million for a duplex above the Ritz-Carlton.


Today the concentration of wealth con-tinues to tighten. Since marketing started at Mr. Barnett’s palace in the sky, more than half of the building’s 92 condos have sold, for a total in excess of $1 billion. The most affordable of the remaining apart-ments clocks in at approximately $50 million, yet there’s very little doubt that they’ll all sell.

Elsewhere in Manhattan, prices contin-ue to soar. Last year, average sales for all sizes of co-ops and condos hovered around $1.45 million, just slightly below what up-per-crust buyers were paying immediately before the economy collapsed in 2008, ac-cording to data aggregated by the real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel Inc.

And on a smaller scale, those outsize sales figures are spilling into Brooklyn and Queens, where a mini development boom is being orchestrated by Rockrose Development and TF Cornerstone—two halves of the once-unified Elghanayan family that are both staking claims to almost-trendy Long Island City and its valuable virgin waterfront.

“There’s clearly a major shift in the mix toward the upper end of the market,” said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, who pointed to 56 Leonard Street, the affectionately named “Jenga Building” now in development, as yet another trophy residential asset on its way to the market. “And it’s much more globally oriented, be-cause we’re seeing such an influx of foreign demand for these types of projects.”

Mr. Barnett, he didn’t have to mention, played a significant hand in raising the bar.

John Kenneth Galbraith, the Keynesian economist, defined power as “the possibility of imposing one’s will upon the behavior of other persons.” From Stephen Ross and The Related Companies’ successful development of a new neighbor-hood along the Far West Side to Jeff Sutton of Wharton Properties setting records for retail in Times Square, power is an ingre-dient served boldly in real estate circles.

Since 2008, when The New York Observer launched its annual Power 100 rankings, influence has shifted from Mr. Ross, who

earned the coveted top position that year, to Douglas and Jody Durst, who earned the title in 2011, as much for their roles in shap-ing sustainable building practices as for wresting control of 1 World Trade and later luring Condé Nast to the building, which helped lend a fashionable sheen to lower Manhattan. It has included the aforemen-tioned Russian fertilizer magnate, Dmitry Rybolovlev, as well as politicians no less influential than President Barack Obama

and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for whom power is inarguably a way of life.

Of the 167 names on this year’s list—down just a single individual from last year’s rankings—squarely 40 percent come from the ownership and develop-ment sectors, an indication not only that real estate titans are on a buying spree, but that the value of land is bouncing back into vogue, as some, like Edward Minskoff, noted early on in the economic cycle. Elsewhere, brokerage firms like Avison Young and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, which took home the Real Estate Board of

New York’s coveted “Ingenious Deal of the Year” award last month, were firing on all cylinders, inking deals for powerhouse cli-ents in an otherwise frenetic 2012.

For Mr. Barnett, who was born Gershon Swiatycki in an Orthodox Jewish enclave on the Lower East Side far removed from the luster and glitz of One57, power has taken many forms, not least of all his suc-cess in creating a new plateau for luxury.

Since transitioning into real estate from

a career as a diamond trader, Mr. Barnett has displayed an unwavering willingness to butt heads, going to war with Bruce Ratner twice—first for control of the land under The New York Times’s Eighth Avenue headquarters and then with a last-min-ute bid for the rights to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority-owned Atlantic Rail Yards in Brooklyn.

Along the way, he’s drawn the ire of Donald Trump and The Related Companies, not to mention countless other real estate titans who he has refused to play nicely with. Indeed, while the savagery that took

the lives of Billy the Kid and James Garfield in 1881 has long since disappeared, Mr. Barnett shows no signs of giving up his own ruthless tendencies.

“He has a real strong stomach,” Corcoran Chief Executive Officer Pamela Liebman said of Mr. Barnett in a 2010 profile of the developer. “He shows no fear.”

But as in any conversation about intan-gibles, the question always dissolves into a chicken-or-egg debate. Is it Mr. Barnett wielding the power, what with his con-siderable ability to shoulder out the competition and lure in foreign investors for his $95 million palaces in the sky, or is it rather the foreign buyers themselves?

To wit: since March of last year, Massey Knakal Realty brokers have sealed high-profile deals with 14 buyers from China alone, including the $54 million sale of a 400,000-buildable-square-foot de-velopment site in Williamsburg to that country’s government. Meanwhile, bro-kers at the investment sales firm closed transactions with investors from Mexico, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Brazil, France, Taiwan, the Netherlands, India, Singapore and Venezuela, to name a few.

In other words, whose will is being im-posed upon whose?

“We’re still in this global credit crunch, and according to the Federal Reserve, cred-it, as far as residential mortgage lending is concerned, has not materially changed since Lehman fell,” said Mr. Miller. “So in-ternational consumers are paying cash, and while that isn’t a new concept for the high end of the market, it does give them significant buying power. They’re dic-tating more favorable terms than almost everybody else.

“So, yeah,” he continued, “the foreign buyer has a lot of power in this city right now.”

With that in mind, take stock and enjoy this year’s list, a purely subjective account-ing of relative power and those New York City real estate brokers, architects, devel-opers, attorneys, politicos, landlords and financiers who wield it oh so well.

[email protected]

Of the 167 names on this year’s list—down just a single individual from last year’s rankings—squarely 40 percent come from the ownership

and development sectors, an indication not only that real estate titans are on a buying spree, but that the value of land is bounc-ing back into vogue, as some, like Edward

Minskoff, noted early on in the economic cycle.


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1. Gary Barnett (2)President, Extell Development

The more-than-$90-million-but-not-quite-$100-million sale of the penthouse at One57 set tongues wagging all summer. Speculation continues to swirl about which billionaires and lowly multimillionaires are buying up real es-tate in that monument to international wealth, which is now 70 percent sold. But Mr. Barnett’s past 12 months in-cluded some slightly more earthbound accomplishments. Extell finalized a deal with Nordstrom for a seven-story, 285,000-square-foot store at 225 West 57th Street—the future tallest building in New York—that will be the retailer’s first New York City location. Mr. Barnett also launched The Carlton House at 680 Madison Avenue, a 68-unit condo conversion whose trophy dwellings—including a 10,000-square-foot town-house—should fetch $65 million. Thor Equities dropped $277 million on 35,000 square feet of Carlton House retail, among the highest prices ever paid for Madison Avenue re-tail space. (The figure exceeded by $85 million what Extell paid for all of 680 Madison Avenue in 2010.) Finally, Mr. Barnett got in on the buzzing Hudson Yards dance floor and announced One Hudson Yards, a 1.8-mil-lion-square-foot office tower on Eleventh Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets. All told, while the crane atop One57 dangled precariously after Sandy hit, Mr. Barnett touched the sky.

2. Stephen Ross, Jeff Blau and Bruce Beal (7)Chairman & Founder,

CEO, President, RelatedAt a moment in city history crowded

with developments poised to transform New York—1 World Trade Center, Midtown East rezoning, East Side Access—no proj-ect has more revolutionary potential than Related’s 15-million-square-foot Hudson Yards. In December, Related broke ground on the first of what will be a bustling hud-dle of buildings in the far west 30s, until very recently a bleakly nondescript no-man’s land. Coach has leased 750,000 square feet in the 47-story, 1.7-million-square-foot South Tower. This month, L’Oreal and SAP inked deals for 402,000 square feet and 115,000 square feet in the building. Related’s peripheral projects would be the center-pieces of most other developers. They include Willets Point, currently in the uniform land use review proce-dure, which will deliver 1 million square feet of re-tail, 2,500 housing units—one-third of them afford-able—and six acres of parkland to the historically contaminated slice of Queens bordering Citi Field. Affordable housing, always a stat-ed goal of Mr. Ross and his colleagues, will make up the majority of the 900 housing units at the Hunters Point development. And Gateway 2 will add 600,000 square feet of retail to Brooklyn, even if Wal-Mart doesn’t, as rumored, emerge as a tenant. Still, most eyes are glued to Hudson Yards, which Mr. Ross called “the most ambitious construction project in the history of New York.”

Ross, Blau and Beal.


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3. Marc Holliday and Andrew Mathias (1)CEO, President, SL Green

In March, SL Green, the largest landlord in New York City, announced it had inked 35 office leases across 457,677 square feet of its portfolio during the first two months of 2013, far surpassing the firm’s totals from the fourth quarter of last year. Across its Manhattan portfolio, SL Green boasts an occupancy rate of 93.8 percent. The REIT ended 2012 with the signifi-cant acquisition of 131-137 Spring Street in Soho for $122.3 million, which followed the earlier ac-quisitions of 304 Park Avenue South, and 635 and 641 Avenue of the Americas. Early this year, SL Green assembled the $925 million bridge financing for Joe Chetrit and David Bistricer’s ac-quisition of the Sony Building, the largest real estate deal in the United State since 2011.

4. Douglas and Jody Durst (5)Chairman and

President, The Durst Organization

The biggest lease of the past 12 months was consummated on July 18, when the General Services Administration took 270,000 square feet at The Durst Organization’s 1 World Trade Center. The GSA was the tow-er’s third tenant and vaulted it past 50 percent occupancy, a happy if belated mile-stone. The cousins Durst did not insert themselves into that prolix transaction in the style of Senator Chuck Schumer and his Beltway opponents. Still, they continued to lord over marquee properties like the Bank of America Tower and 4 Times Square. The latter will lose Conde Nast when it moves to 1 WTC, but the 1.8-mil-lion-square-foot property will gain a 43,000-square-foot H&M, which signed a lease last fall. Famously eco-friendly, Messrs. Durst will surely have an expanded platform on which to discuss ideas like co-generator power in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

5. Scott Rechler (4)Chairman and CEO, RXR Realty

RXR Realty, led by Mr. Rechler, has contin-ued the torrid acquisition pace it set in 2011 and early 2012. In September, the company completed the acquisition of 450 Lexington Avenue for close to $670 million in a net-lease deal. That deal was closely followed by a sim-ilar transaction in January, when the firm

acquired the 99-year triple-net lease at 75 Rockefeller Plaza, which will undergo

a nearly $100 million renovation. This year has featured more of the same, as the firm announced in February it had agreed to ac-quire 237 Park Avenue from Lehman Brothers Holdings for

close to $800 million. Mr. Rechler, who also serves as vice-chairman of the Port Authority, announced

in January that RXR Realty had leased 2 million square feet of office space across its proper-ties in 2012.

6. Jonathan Gray (9)Global Head of

Real Estate, Blackstone Group

When Blackstone’s Q1 2013 re-sults were announced April 18, the real estate results seemed to tell the continuing story of Mr. Gray’s success at the private equity giant. Including capital committed, but not yet invested by the end of the quarter, the firm’s 12-month total real estate invest-ments were at $10.5 billion. And fund performance over the quarter had pushed in-come to $353 million, up from $267 million the same quarter a year previous. Heading up the firm’s real estate group, Mr. Gray

has changed how private equity firms look at real estate, generating billions for the firm by using CMBS to buy up real estate properties all over the world. Highlights last year were numerous, but included the clos-ing, in October, of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII, which raised $13.3 billion for global real estate investments, thanks in large part to investments from U.S. public pension plans.

7. Steven Roth (6)President, Chairman and

CEO, Vornado Realty Trust

Despite losing his right-hand man, Mike Fascitelli, this year after a surprise announcement that the industry veteran would step down as

CEO, Mr. Roth remains one of the more intriguing figures on the New York

City real estate scene. Mr. Roth steps back into the CEO position, a title he previously held for 20 years, with-out a flinch. Though criticized in the past for investments seen as too diverse, and dips in net income

last year, Vornado remains one of the largest real estate businesses in

the nation, with over $17 billion of eq-uity and $30 billion in assets.

8. Anthony Malkin (12) President,

Malkin Holdings

Though Mr. Malkin is facing a web of investors and lawsuits op-posed to the controversial REIT that would include the Empire State Building, his determination is solid-ifying his reputation as an industry heavy hitter, as he and father Peter inch tantaliz-

ingly close to winning the bid to launch the IPO. Malkin Properties’ portfolio includes 11 million square feet of trophy office property in the greater New York City area, including W&H Properties, a port-folio of nine pre-war trophy buildings in midtown Manhattan, as well as 1.9 mil-lion square feet of retail space, 1.4 million square feet of warehouse/distribution space and 2,700 multi-family units.

Jody and Douglas Durst.

Rechler.

Roth.

Malkin.

Gray.

Mathias.

Holliday.


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9. Jerry and Rob Speyer (18)Co-CEO-Chairman and Co-CEO-President,

Tishman Speyer

Rob Speyer, 43, president and co-CEO of Tishman Speyer, succeeded Mary Ann Tighe to become the Real Estate Board of New York’s young-est chairman ever this year. Meanwhile, he’s the third suc-cessive generation of his family to hold the post—a first in the organization’s 117-year his-tory. Though media-shy, Mr. Speyer’s success in real estate is no secret—his company has completed $6 billion in new transactions and raised $4.5 billion of new equity since 2010. Tishman Speyer delves aggressive-ly into foreign markets, including India, Brazil and China, where Tishman Speyer has a development pipeline of 20 million square feet. Mr. Speyer plans to bring the global perspective to REBNY as New York begins to lag behind cities across the world, he said earlier this year.

10. Michael Bloomberg (10)Mayor, New York City

As Mr. Bloomberg prepares to vacate his post as the city’s chief execu-

tive, he is unlikely to remove himself completely from the

public sphere. The mayor will leave behind a lasting lega-cy in the real estate market, namely the Midtown East re-zoning plan. The effort to

revitalize the Grand Central district’s office space and pe-

destrian usage won’t yield results until well after Mr. Bloomberg leaves office, but it will bear his signature. Though preservationists are

not yet convinced—they’re still fighting to landmark many of

the area’s buildings—rezoning is sure to be more popular than the may-

or’s failed attempt to curb New Yorkers’ sugar intake.

11. Andrew Cuomo (3)Governor, New York state

Governor Cuomo has accom-plished the unthinkable by

shepherding three consec-utive state budgets to passage by deadline. And he’s put New York ahead of the curve on totemic progressive policies like gay mar-riage and gun control.

But his real estate track record took a major hit last

spring when a $4 billion plan to construct the nation’s biggest

convention center and casino at the Aqueduct racetrack in

Queens collapsed after

Genting company, the financier, balked at costs. Now Mr. Cuomo is rumored to be eyeing the Jacob J. Javits Convention Center as the site of a combination convention center and casino. That’s an inter-esting development seeing as how the Aqueduct was meant to ban-ish the reviled Javits Center from Manhattan’s collective memory. (It was revealed last June that a lob-bying group controlled by Genting and other gambling interests gave $2 million to a committee aligned with Governor Cuomo.) In cheerier news, the gov-ernor and Mayor Bloomberg buried the hatchet between the Port Authority and the 9/11 Memorial Foundation, which they respectively oversee, clearing the way for the 9/11 Museum’s completion.

12. Barry Sternlicht (15) Chairman and CEO,

Starwood Capital Group Apparently there are no limits to Mr.

Sternlicht’s expansion to every possi-ble branch of real estate. He moves from

hotels to office, from residential prop-erties to commercial real estate

lending. His next step is expected by mid-2013, when his Starwood Property Trust and Starwood Capital Group will finalize the $1.05 billion acquisition of LNR Property, the world’s

largest commercial mortgage special servicer. In another bold

move, the first phase of Hudson Yards will rise with $475 million in

construction financing led by Starwood Property Trust. Mr. Sternlicht is in-vesting in the heated market of the luxury residential condos, too. Starwood Capital Group has just kicked off the sales at the still-under-construc-tion Baccarat Hotel, where an apartment is currently on the market for $60 million.

13. Ric Clark and Mitch Rudin (22)

CEO and President, Brookfield Office Properties

Brookfield’s ambitious plan to reshape the World Financial Center into a re-tail and dining destination rebranded as Brookfield Place is beginning to take

shape. Plans have been an-nounced in the last year for a new marketplace, operated by Downtown restaurateur Peter

Poulakakous, as well as a fast casual dining area. Tenants in-cluding Michael Kors, Chop’t and the much-hyped Umami

Burger are signing up to be part of the repositioned Lower Manhattan property before it opens in 2014. Downtown isn’t the only place where Brookfield is exert-ing its influence, however. The developer broke ground on its Manhattan West proj-ect in January, which, once completed, will yield 5.4 million square feet of office, residential and retail space.

14. Donald Trump (14)CEO, Trump Organization

The bulk of Mr. Trump’s press last year arose from his entertainment ventures and outspoken political pursuits. But real estate remains the central pursuit of the Trump Organization. On that note, 40

Wall Street continued its dramatic comeback. After First Investors

Management Company ear-lier this month inked a deal

for 36,490 square feet at the Lower Manhattan tower, the 1.3-million-square-foot building was 92 percent leased. Leases for 600,000 square feet

expired there four years ago. The property also secured the K-through-8th Green Ivy Schools, which signed a 25-

year, 80,000-square-foot lease recently. Meanwhile, work pro-

ceeded on Mr. Trump’s golf course at Ferry Point in the Bronx,

and despite the discovery of methane at the site, locals were optimistic that the fairways would boost property values.

Trump.

Sternlicht.

Rudin.

Bloomberg.

Cuomo.

Rob Speyer.

JerrySpeyer.

Clark.


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Movers and MachersA look at the biggest ranking shifts

over the past three years

Who & Where 2011 2012 2013

Stephen Ross, Jeff Blau and Bruce Beal Jr., Related Companies 10 7 2

Jerry and Rob Speyer, Tishman Speyer 15 18 9

William Rudin, Rudin Management 32 26 15

Jeff Sutton, Wharton Properties 58 35 29

David Levinson and Robert Lapidus, L&L Holding Co. 49 61 43

Christopher Schlank and Nicholas Bienstock,

SavannaN/a 97 58

Doug Harmon and Adam Spies, Eastdil Secured 36 44 35

Joe Chetrit, The Chetrit Group 0 40 24

Tobin Cobb and Justin Kennedy, LNR Property 41 36 61

Andrew Cuomo, New York State Governor 2 3 11

15. William Rudin (32)Vice Chairman and CEO, Rudin

ManagementAt the helm of one of the largest private-

ly owned real estate companies in NYC, comprising 15 million square feet of commercial and residential space, Mr. Rudin was among the headline grabbers during the city’s recov-ery from Hurricane Sandy. He is chairman of the Association for a Better New York, which helped raise more than $5 mil-lion in private donations to aid victims and has advocated for sustainable rebuilding through-out the region. Mr. Rudin also serves as president of Governor Cuomo’s Empire State Relief Fund, which raised more than $15 million to support residential rebuild-ing throughout New York state following the monster storm. In addition, this year he oversaw the successful launch and sell-out of 130 West 12th Street, a 43-unit, pre-war condo in the West Village as he reimagines the site of the now-va-cant Saint Vincent’s Hospital in the West Village.

16. Richard LeFrak (20)Chairman, President and CEO, LeFrak

OrganizationMr. LeFrak joined the family business in the

1970s and became chairman after his father, Sam, died in 2003. Perhaps best known for

the 5,000-unit LeFrak City apartment complex in Queens, the firm also

owns roughly 16 million square feet of commercial, residential and re-tail properties in the Newport community in Jersey City, N.J., with a recent push toward diversi-

fying beyond the tri-state area with investments in Oregon, California,

Washington and Florida. The compa-ny is over a century old and owns more

than 400 buildings, most of which were self-developed. In addition to extensive real estate holdings, the firm has actively invested in en-ergy since the 1970s, with current interests in more than 800 on-shore oil and gas wells.

17. Andrew Farkas (16)Chairman and CEO, Island Capital Group

Mr. Farkas’s lengthy business affiliations can seem like a matryoshka doll. He’s chair-man and CEO of Island Capital Group, the firm he founded in 2003, but also chairman and CEO of C-III

Capital Partners, one of sever-al controlled affiliates of Island

Capital Group. C-III, in turn, has a 40 percent ownership of real

estate investment man-ager Centerline Capital

Group. The range of ser-vices offered across these is equally diverse and includes special servicing, the manage-ment of $2 billion of invested capital across four debt funds, affordable and conventional multi-family lending services and loan origination. Last year in particular was big for Mr. Farkas’s C-III Capital Partners, which has over $180 billion in assets under management. In January 2012, the firm com-pleted its acquisition of NAI Global, which gave it access to an additional 5,000 real estate professionals. Shortly afterward, it placed toward the top of several of the lists from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s year-end sur-vey of commercial and multi-family servicing vol-umes for 2012.

Lefrak.

Rudin.

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18. Howard Lutnick and Michael Lehrman (13)Chairman and CEO of

BGC Partners and Chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald; and Global Head of Real Estate, BGC Partners

Over the course of its lifetime, Mr. Lutnick’s two firms—Cantor Fitzgerald and the financial brokerage firm BGC Partners—have completed numerous real estate capital markets transactions. Another Cantor Fitzgerald affiliate, Cantor Commercial Real Estate, has origi-nated over $5 billion in commercial real estate loans since its inception in 2010. Collectively, the BGC and CCRE teams have originated and securitized over $150 billion in com-mercial loans across 5,000 properties and raised approximately $30 billion in equity capital over 90 transactions. As if that weren’t enough, in March 2013,

CCRE announced that it was expanding into the investment management business. Mr. Lehrman oversees the real estate business at BGC, which acquired the commercial real estate advisory firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. Additionally, in his role with Cantor Fitzgerald’s commercial real estate business, CCRE, Mr. Lehrman, together with Anthony Orso, has presided over the first new CMBS platform in a decade to

originate, securitize and lead man-

age its own deal—with

an initial securiti-zation of $635 million.

19. Mary Ann Tighe (8)Regional CEO, CBRE

Ms. Tighe became the Real Estate Board of New York’s first female chairman in January 2010, high-lighting decades of hard work that helped shatter the industry’s glass ceiling. She handed the throne to Rob Speyer, but it remains nearly impossible to have a conversation about the city’s greatest commercial brokers without mentioning Ms. Tighe. She is a seven-time winner of the REBNY Deal of the Year award, along with REBNY’s Louis Smadbeck Memorial Broker Recognition Award and the Schack Institute of Real Estate’s Urban Leadership Award—which she was the first woman to receive. Her representa-tion of Condé Nast in its move to 1 World Trade Center and retailer Coach as an-chor-tenant at Hudson Yards are among the pinnacle deals that solidify her posi-tion among the city’s elite brokers.

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20. Charles Garner, Shaul Kuba, Avi Shemesh and

Richard Ressler (21)Principal and Founder-Principals, CIM Group

Los Angeles-based CIM Group has contin-ued to make its mark in the New York area with deals such as its recent $78 mil-lion purchase of the retail portion at 225 Fifth Avenue, which now joins a stable of properties that includes 200 Lafayette Street, 72 Sullivan Street, 303 East 51st Street and 737 Park Avenue, all ei-ther completed or in various stages of devel-opment. Then there’s 432 Park Avenue—the former Drake Hotel site—which is being developed by CIM Group and partner Harry Macklowe into a 1,396-foot residential tower, the city’s tallest. Founded in 1994 by Messrs. Kuba, Ressler and Shemesh, CIM Group is poised to make a literal and figurative mark on New York City when the tower is complet-ed in the next several years.

21. Jeffrey Gural, Jimmy Kuhn and Barry Gosin (25)

Chairman, President, CEO, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank

Mr. Gosin and Mr. Kuhn doubled the size of NGKF over the past year through the acquisitions of the former Grubb & Ellis, Frederick Ross and Smith Mack, strengthening the capital mar-kets group with an additional 60 brokers. As if to prove that quantity sometimes leads to quality, the firm this year also produced five finalists for the Real Estate Board of New York “Ingenious Deal of the Year” award, an industry high. Mr. Gosin led the team that rep-resented Morgan Stanley in its 1.15-million-square-foot renew-al and expansion at One New York Plaza. Meanwhile, Mr. Kuhn, who runs the national NGKF capital markets platform, oversaw a majority of the Malkin Holdings portfolio, much of which is expected to be included as part of a highly anticipated real estate invest-ment trust that includes the Empire State Building.

22. Christine Quinn (17)New York City

Council Speaker, New York CityThe Democrat and putative front-runner

in the race for mayor has handled the spot-light’s glare in recent months. And while Mayor Bloomberg is reportedly less fond of his onetime protégé than in the past,

the real estate industry has show-ered Ms. Quinn with campaign

contributions—over $1 mil-lion worth of them as of last

month, a figure well above her rivals’. Speaker Quinn has opposed a commer-cial property tax hike and supported the Willets Point and 15 Penn Plaza development projects.

She also favors a 30-year cap on real estate taxes for

landlords who comply with the embattled 421a program,

which ostensibly incentivizes de-velopers to carve out 20 percent of their properties for affordable housing. But it’s not all smooth sailing for Speaker Quinn, who, among other critical reports, reput-edly curses like a sailor. She’s tussled with Joe Chetrit over his Chelsea Hotel renova-tions and been targeted by her constituents in Hell’s Kitchen for cozying up to Hudson Yards developer Stephen Ross. Mr. Ross praised the Real Estate Board of New York’s affordable housing plan, which, The New York Observer pointed out, bears a similar-ity to Speaker Quinn’s.

23. Keith Gelb and Tom Gilbane (28) Managing Members,

RockpointThis has been another year of intense

buying and selling for the Boston-based private equity firm, which in March had closed on a nearly $2 billion real estate fund—one of the largest since the finan-cial crisis. In Midtown, Rockpoint bought an 80 percent stake in 1440 Broadway for $280 million, and partnered with Highgate Holdings for the $275 million purchase of Manhattan at Times Square. Rockpoint and Highgate have also decid-ed to split in three parts their ownership of the Milford Plaza Hotel. They have al-ready sold the land for $325 million, but are expected to raise more than $650 million with the sales of the hotel and the retail portions, over three times what they paid in 2010. In another rewarding deal, Rockpoint and Stellar Management sold the Milk Studios building in the Meatpacking District for $295 million. In 2008, they bought it for $161 million.

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24. Joe Chetrit (40)President, Chetrit Group

While the media-shy Mr. Chetrit con-tinues to hide in the shadows cast by his towering deals, his $1.1 billion purchase of the Sony Building at 560 Madison Avenue with David Bistricer made him a standout among in-dustry elite, outbidding heavyweights like Joseph Sitt and Harry Macklowe. Mr. Chetrit’s buying spree was not slowed by a spat with tenants at the Chelsea Hotel, which he is renovat-ing. Along with Mr. Bistricer, he purchased the Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn Heights for $81 mil-lion, with plans to convert it into a boutique luxury hotel with about 300 rooms. The city is also selling two Civic Center buildings at 49-51 Chambers Street and 346 Broadway to Chetrit

Group and The Peebles Corporation for nearly $250 million; and Mr. Chetrit is in contract to purchase the 1.5-acre former Cabrini Medical Center site at Second Avenue and East 19th Street.

25. Mort Zuckerman (11) and

Owen Thomas Executive Chairman and CEO, Boston Properties

The year so far in real es-tate news has perhaps been

dominated by nearly daily announcements of succes-

sion changes at the top of the industry’s marquee institutions.

Boston Properties is among the A-list firms undergoing leadership changes, with Mr. Thomas on April 2 replacing Mr. Zuckerman as chief executive. (Mr. Zuckerman remains executive chair-

man of the real estate investment trust.) Mr. Thomas joins Boston Properties from Lehman Brothers Holdings, mak-ing him something of a rarity among recent executive successors, many of whom were promoted in-house. At LBH, he presided over transactions includ-ing the $15 billion sale of Archstone Enterprise LP to Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities. Previous to the executive transition, Boston Properties’ year was marred by Superstorm Sandy, which, in Mr. Zuckerman’s words, “wiped out” the Daily News ’ 4 New York Plaza headquarters. The News continues to publish out of temporary spaces, and should return home this fall. In other dispiriting news, Microsoft signed a 230,000-square-foot lease at SPJ Properties’ 11 Times Square after eyeing Mr. Zuckerman’s 250 West 55th Street.

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26. Christoph Kahl, Matt Bronfman and Michael

Phillips (29)Principal, CEO and COO, Jamestown Properties

Jamestown Properties was vic-torious in its quest to develop a nine-story office tower on top of Chelsea Market when the City Council unanimously approved the plan last year, but not with-out concessions. The developer had to give up its plans to build a hotel at the former biscuit fac-tory and was also asked by the City Planning Commission to give over $12 million to the High Line and to add plans for affordable housing. Before construction begins, the interior of the property will undergo a renovation, making room for more retail tenants. Earlier this year, Jamestown acquired Milk Studios, strategically located across the street from Chelsea Market at 450 West 15th Street, in a $284 million deal.

27. Leonard Litwin and Gary Jacob (19)Chairman and

Executive Vice President, Glenwood Management

At 98 years of age, Mr. Litwin is the old-est member of the Power 100 list and is best known outside of real estate circles for his massive political contributions, which to-taled nearly $1 million for New York State Senate candidates in the last election cycle alone. Mr. Jacob, who oversees much of the day-to-day operations at the development company, closed the sale of a site on the West Side for $111 million to Riu Hotels and

Resorts last summer. Mr. Litwin, for his part,

was named as the Real Estate Board

of New York’s first-ever lifetime honorary chair-man last year.

28. Larry Silverstein and Martin Burger (34)

President and Co-CEOs, Silverstein Properties

After six decades in the develop-ment business, Mr. Silverstein is stepping down as chief executive officer of Silverstein Properties, and the co-chief executive at the firm, Mr. Burger, will succeed him. Mr. Silverstein stays on as chair-man, and his influence on his company and the real es-tate industry at large will undoubtedly continue. Mr. Silverstein is perhaps best known for taking over the 99-year lease on the World Trade Center just weeks before the 9/11 ter-rorist attacks and vowing to rebuild the site, patiently and meticulously leading the efforts for its rehabilitation. He said last month that 4 World Trade Center, scheduled to open this year, is about 50 percent leased and that he is negotiating deals that will be sufficient to trigger fi-nancing for the completion of towers 2 and 3, under an agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey—a testament to the vow he made more than a decade ago.

29. Jeff Sutton (31)President, Wharton Properties

The highlight of Mr. Sutton’s past year came at the tail end of 2012: on December 20, Mr. Sutton, with partners Joe Sitt, Bobby Cayre and the Adjmi family, closed on the $150 million purchase of 529 Broadway,

at the super-prime Soho intersection of Broadway and Spring Street. Mr.

Sutton first approached owner-ship in 2005, and continued to voice interest in the building’s 26,500 square feet of commer-cial space and 44,000 square feet of development rights. It

was another notch in the belt of Mr. Sutton, whose retail in-

vestments have been reported to total $2 billion, and his first partner-

ship with Mr. Sitt. Wharton Properties also continued to do well on its own. Shortly after the Soho deal, Mr. Sutton added the 5,159-square-foot Times Square center-piece 1565 Broadway to his portfolio. Just down the block at 1552 Broadway, which Mr. Sutton and SL Green purchased for $136.5 million in 2011, preparations contin-ued for the arrival of a 30,000-square-foot Express store. Other apparel giants that made strides at Mr. Sutton’s properties in-cluded Alexander McQueen, which signed at 747 Madison Avenue; American Eagle, which is headed to 100 West 125th Street,

Mr. Sutton’s 180,000-square-foot Harlem project; and Urban Outfitters, which leased 21,000 square feet at 180 Broadway.

30. David and Jed Walentas (47)Principals, Two

Trees Management

Having made its name in Dumbo, Two Trees Management spread its influ-ence in Brooklyn to Williamsburg, where the firm’s plans for the Domino Sugar Factory site were met with widespread approval. Released in March, the plans, which were designed by SHoP Architects, will triple the amount of office space in Williamsburg. The site, acquired by Two Trees for $185 million in 2012, will also increase the amount of outdoor space, in-cluding Domino Square, a high-quality piece of parkland. Two Trees’ influence is not confined to Brooklyn, however, and the firm capital-ized on interest in Mercedes House on the Far West Side, where a block of con-dos was sold to Invesco for $170 million in October.

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Silverstein.

Jacob.

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31. Mitch Steir and Michael Colacino (31)

Chairman-CEO and President, Studley

Although Mr. Steir likes to say that Studley is quiet about its accomplishments, the firm made quite a racket in 2012. Studley shattered its record for office leasing transactions, sur-passing the benchmark set in 2011 by 15 percent. All told, the tenants it represented closed on over 5 million square feet of transactions in the calen-dar year. Monstrous tenants currently on the hunt for space augur another rewriting of the record board. Mr. Steir is guiding Time Warner as it scours the city for 3.5 million square feet of office space, the biggest office lease as-signment in history. On a smaller but still significant scale, brokers from Studley rep-resented Spotify as it leased 63,285 feet at 620 Sixth Avenue. Mr. Steir brought Tiffany to an additional 58,000 square feet at 200 Fifth Avenue. And assignments with hefty tenants like Jones Day and Wylie Publishing should culminate in major deals in the near future.

32. Robert Stuckey, Mark Schoenfeld, Andrew Chung (24)

Managing Directors, The Carlyle Group

After The Carlyle Group raised a massive $2.35 billion real estate fund—its sixth—last year, all eyes turned to the private eq-uity firm’s $671 million IPO, which priced at $22 per share, below bankers’ initial range. Nearly a year later, Carlyle shares are trading above $31, an increase of over 40 percent. The second-largest U.S. private equity firm by assets behind the Blackstone Group report-ed a 1 percent gain for its real estate funds at the end of 2012. In March, Carlyle’s real estate unit elected to list its holding at 650 Madison Avenue for $1.3 billion, according to published reports, a building it had ac-quired in a partnership for $695 million in 2008.

33. Jeffrey Feil and Jay Anderson (32)CEO and Executive

Vice President, Feil OrganizationAfter managing to convince Omnicom

subsidiary TBWA Worldwide to renew its lease at 488 Madison Avenue last

year, the Feil Organization has maintained a brisk

pace of leasing activ-ity in the Midtown market. On the retail front, Feil welcomed the opening of the

Tommy Bahama store, restaurant and

bar at 551 Fifth Avenue and also signed up Schnipper’s

Quality Kitchen at 570 Lexington Avenue, with the restaurant set to open later this year. Feil was also active with profession-al leasing, signing Schoeman, Updike & Kaufman to a lease for 16,000 square feet at 551 Fifth Avenue and closing an expansion and renewal for Fabiani Cohen & Hall at 570 Lexington.

34. Adam Schwartz (37)Head of Real

Estate, Angelo Gordon

Mr. Schwartz, an expert in ac-quisition and repositioning, is the master behind the profit-able transformations of the buildings in which Angelo

Gordon invests. In a part-nership with Extell, the

private equity group is converting the Helmsley Carlton House, at 680 Madison Avenue, into a condo building. The joint ven-ture bought the property for

$150 million and has already sold the retail part for $280 mil-lion. In partnership with Alchemy

Properties, Angelo Gordon is de-veloping the condo 35 XV at 35 West 15 Street, a glassy tower sitting atop Xavier High School. With Metropolitan Realty

Associates, the firm bought the former Stella D’oro cookie factory

in the Bronx to build a shopping center. Angelo Gordon is raising two new investment funds for $2.5 billion and is actively mar-keting condo apartments for

approximately $1.2 billion.

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35. Doug Harmon and Adam Spies (44)

Senior Managing Directors, Eastdil Secured (44)

In 2012, Eastdil Secured was involved in some of the year’s largest investment sales deals. For starters, in January 2012, Mr. Harmon represented the sellers of Columbus Square, a group of high-rise apartment buildings on the Upper West Side. They sold for $630 million to a joint venture of UDR and MetLife. Most notably in 2013, Messrs. Harmon and Spies sold the Sony Building at 550 Madison Avenue in Midtown—bought by Joe Chetrit’s Chetrit Group for a whopping $1.1 billion. Delving further back yields even more impressive deals, many of which have left an indelible mark on New York’s buildings and the make-

up of their occupants. The pair’s sales, after all, include The Starrett-Lehigh

Building, Google’s headquarters at 111 Eighth Avenue, and 620

Avenue of the Americas—the retail mecca that T.J. Maxx and Bed Bath & Beyond call home and where Spotify decamped from the aforementioned 111

Eighth Avenue.

36. Douglas Shorenstein and Mark

Portner (38)Directors, Shorenstein Company

Shorenstein’s portfo-lio covers 11 markets in and between every cor-ner of the country. But the San Francisco-based behemoth has made the big-

gest waves in the City by the Bay. Last year, Twitter relo-cated to 215,000 square feet at 1355 Market Street in Mid-Market, a down-at-heel part of town. Yammer, a social networking site, followed with a 79,000-square-foot lease in the Market Square building, paying $48 per square foot, or 60 per-cent more than Twitter’s $30 a foot. More recently, Shorenstein’s rebranding of Market Square—it also includes 875 Stevenson Street—is bringing 131,000 square feet of retail space, including

a grocery store and restaurants, to a neighborhood whose map

Shorenstein helped redraw. Elsewhere, Shorenstein

completed the purchase of a 461,046-square-foot building on the Boston waterfront with fi-nancing from the $1.23 billion Shorenstein Realty

Investors Ten, LP.

37. Stanley and Haim Chera (41)

Principals, Crown Acquisition

Moving from its roots in Brooklyn re-tail, the Chera family has left its marks on some of Manhattan’s most famous shop-ping streets. In the last year alone, in a joint venture with Oxford Properties, Crown Acquisition has closed deals to purchase a 49.9 percentage stake in the Olympic Tower, at 641 Fifth Avenue, along with the Cartier mansion and the Versace building. The Cheras were previously involved in the re-positioning of the retail portion of 666 Fifth Avenue, which Vornado bought for $707 million. Most recently, Crown Acquisition has turned its attention from Fifth Avenue to Soho. It purchased 120 Prince Street in the same partnership with Centurion Realty and Imperium Capital, which was behind the acquisition of the nearby Apple Store at 103 Prince Street.

Spies.

Haim.

Shorenstein.

52 | APRIL 30, 2013 | THE COMMERCIAL OBSERVER THE COMMERCIAL OBSERVER | APRIL 30, 2013 | 53


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Determining the 100 most power-ful, influential and

successful real estate professionals in a given year inevitably leads to some close calls and painful omissions. Here are five hopefuls for next year’s ranking.

Paul Amrich Vice Chairman, CBREAs new media and tech start-ups con-tinue to make Midtown South and Lower Manhattan home, increasingly they call on Mr. Amrich to navigate choppy waters. In August, he and his CBRE colleagues represented building owner TIAA-CREF when Salesforce.com inked a 10-year, 74,349-square-foot lease at 685 Third Avenue. He also had a hand in technology firm Epiq Systems’ 100,000-square-foot lease at that 650,000-square-foot building, which as of late December was said to be nearing completion. Last sum-mer, the fashion tenant Collection 18 took 32,000 square feet at 1370 Broadway, another of Mr. Amrich’s assignments. More recently, the broker worked with ownership to bring the digital advertising provider Videology Inc. to 16,600 square feet at 1500 Broadway in the heart of Times Square.

Ben Bernstein and Ben Stokes Co-Founders and Principals, Red Sky CapitalMessrs. Bernstein and Stokes graduated from Cornell, where they were squash teammates, in 2006, and wasted little time in building a Kings County portfolio at Red Sky that includes 170 apartments and over 100,000 square feet of re-tail. Last year, Red Sky bought Triangle Sports, a 97-year-old Park Slope stand-by just steps from the newly installed Barclays Center, for $4.1 million, or $900 a foot—an exceptional figure for a va-cant retail property in the borough. In another white-hot Brooklyn neighbor-hood, Red Sky dropped $66 million to acquire the “Bedford Portfolio,” a 55,000-square-foot retail cluster across from an imminent Whole Foods on Williamsburg’s main drag that, accord-ing to persistent rumors, could house a future J. Crew store in the heart of the neighborhood. Brooklyn, it turns out, is their oyster, and it’s ready to shuck.

Robert Duncan and Larry Heard Chairman and President/CEO, Transwestern

After just a little over two years in the city, the Texas-based com-mercial real estate firm this month was hired by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to man-age a 2-million-square-foot portfolio. The major league assignment with one of the New York-iest of tenants capped a whirlwind month in which Transwestern also earned its first local leasing assignment (at Brause Realty’s 254 West 31st Street) and represented Mandell School in its 10,000-square-foot lease at 154 Christopher Street in the Village. Other developments last year included the hiring of erstwhile Durst Organization leasing execu-tive John Grotto and the opening of a Greenwich, Connecticut, office.

Ziel Feldman Founder and Managing Principal, HFZ Capital GroupHFZ, with partner BSG Real Estate, closed on a $150 million purchase of The Chatsworth just before the New Year. The Beaux Arts Upper West Side rental building had not been on the market for 70 years. The firm sold the site of 20 West 40th Street for $83 million, although

Mr. Feldman will remain involved in that 186,940-square-foot con-do-hotel’s development. That sale spurred two lawsuits pertaining to commissions. Less acrimonious-ly, Mr. Feldman entered talks with Collegiate Church to form a joint ven-ture that would demolish buildings the church owns in NoMad and develop a 350,000-square-foot mixed-use tower.

Brian Waterman Vice Chairman, NGKF The NGKF lifer represented 229 West 43rd Street (formerly The New York Times Building) in a lease with 10Gen that brought the tech firm to 29,400 square feet in the proper-ty. The 747,845-square-foot Times Square tower continues to seek an anchor tenant, and has stoked inter-est among fashion companies and Al Jazeera, which recently passed on a lease. Mr. Waterman, whom REBNY crowned Young Real Estate Man of the Year in 2001, for the second time won the board’s Henry Hart Rice Award for most ingenious deal of 2012, sharing it with colleagues Barry Gosin and Romel Canete for signing Morgan Stanley to 1.15 million square feet at One New York Plaza.

THE FUTURE 100


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38. Steve Spinola (49)President, Real Estate

Board of New YorkThe Real Estate Board’s longest-serv-

ing president, Mr. Spinola has continued his vocal opposition to landmark pres-ervation in many Manhattan neighborhoods, particularly surrounding the Midtown East rezoning area. Mr. Spinola, who has also been outspo-ken on real estate tax issues, has objected to the number of buildings being consid-ered for landmark status in Midtown East, labeling many “copies” of other landmarked buildings in the city. Mr. Spinola is working with the New York’s mayor-al candidates to gauge their stance on key issues including taxes, job creation and affordable housing. The president will be working alongside the trade as-sociation’s youngest-ever chairman, Rob Speyer, 43, who was an-nounced as Mary Ann Tighe’s re-placement in July of last year.

39. Ofer Yardeni and Joel Seiden (59)Co-Chairman-CEO

and Co-Chairman, Stonehenge Partners

At the beginning of 2013, in anticipa-tion of growth for Stonehenge Partners,

co-founders and former managing partners Mr. Yardeni and Mr.

Seiden were named co-chair-men of the company, while Mr. Yardeni earned a chief execu-tive officer title. Among the 23-year-old company’s most notable recent moves, last year

Stonehenge teamed up with SL Green Realty to buy eight re-

tail and multi-family Upper East Side properties for $416 million. Still

shopping for properties on the Upper East Side, Stonehenge partnered with Invesco Real Estate and a Canadian in-stitutional investor to buy a 13-story rental building

at 103 East 86th Street late last year.

40. Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan (45)

Vice Chairmen, CBREMs. Stacom and Mr. Shanahan were at the top of the investment brokerage industry during the height of the mar-ket, when they brokered some of the largest deals in New York—and United States—history, including the $5.4 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village to Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Realty. With the market ap-proaching the heady days of the last decade, Ms. Stacom and Mr. Shanahan are back in action, marketing such properties as 425 Lexington Avenue and 499 Park Avenue for Hines along-side rivals Eastdil Secured, a firm which marketed four of last year’s 10 largest real estate investment deals, trumping CBRE’s one.

41. Constantine Dakolias, Anthony Tufariello and

Chris Linkas (67)Managing Directors, Fortress Investment Group

In January, a partnership including Fortress acquired the remaining 50.1 per-cent share of the St. John’s Terminal Building in Soho from Eugene Grant for $250 million, alongside Atlas Capital Group and Westbrook Partners. The partner-ship had initially acquired a 49.9 percent stake in the property at 550 Washington Street for $207 million in 2006. The part-nership plans to spend up to $100 million upgrad-ing the property, including install-

Spinola.

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Yardeni.

Linkas.

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ing new elevators, windows, roofing and HVAC systems. The real estate team has rallied together and maintained a solid presence in the market, despite upheaval at Fortress, where Daniel Mudd, the fund’s for-mer chief executive officer, resigned in 2012 in the wake of SEC allegations surrounding his time at lender Fannie Mae.

42. Edward Minskoff (23)President, Edward

J. Minskoff Equities

Mr. Minskoff has developed close to 37 million square feet of property in 10 cit-ies around the country. More than three decades ago, he started construction on the sprawling, 7.5-million-square-foot World Financial Center without a single tenant in contract, patiently securing gi-ants like American Express, Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer and Dow Jones. It’s no wonder he had no fear at 51 Astor Place in Midtown South, where a 13-story, 430,000-square-foot glass building now stands fully vacant. Known for his love of art, philanthropy, squash and golf, Mr. Minskoff has no plans to slow down anytime soon. “As long as it remains fun, I’ll continue to do it,” he said last month.

43. David Levinson and Robert Lapidus (61)CEO-Chairman and President-CIO, L&L Holding Company

L&L Holding’s portfolio includes prop-erties at the vanguard of Manhattan’s three essential submarkets. WeWork and Condé Nast inked major deals at 222 Broadway, while HarperCollins signed for 180,000 square feet at 195 Broadway. All three transactions signaled Lower Manhattan’s emergence as a media and tech hub and a shift in the center of those sectors’ gravity from more established points north. Meanwhile, in Midtown South, a 58,000-square-foot Tiffany ex-pansion at 200 Fifth Avenue gave that 800,000-square-foot building 100 percent occupancy. The Flatiron District’s over-achieving oldest child will also welcome a 7,703-square-foot Lego store early next year, bringing yet more foot traffic to a proper-ty already gridlocked with Eataly grazers. Messrs. Lapidus and Levinson hope to du-plicate 200 Fifth Avenue’s success with 114 Fifth Avenue, which they should start mar-keting in the coming weeks. Up in Midtown, L&L selected Foster + Partners to design the 41-story 425 Park Avenue, which will be the first new full-block tower on that storied artery in a half-century. Finally, when this

issue went to print, the New York Yankees, of which Mr. Levinson owns a share,

were 11-6 despite a slew of injured all-stars.

44. Robert Tierney (48)Chairman, Landmarks Preservation

CommissionLast fall, the Landmarks

Commission was thrust onto cen-ter stage by the Department of City

Planning’s proposal to rezone east Midtown. The area around Grand Central is at the heart of the plan, which would inject the neighborhood’s aging building stock with new blood by way of, in some cases, a 60 per-cent rise in allowable building density. For Mr. Tierney and the LPC, Grand

Central represents a defining legacy of the agency’s sway. A 1978 Supreme Court case ruled that the terminal’s historic des-ignation did not infringe on the

rights of developers. As the re-zoning winds its way through

the approval process, the LPC has determined that 32 sites may quali-

fy for local landmark designation, and has sent letters to eight owners of those

significant properties. City Hall hopes to win approval for the rezoning by October, before Mayor Bloomberg leaves office. In the meantime, the LPC has also busied itself with a spate of smaller development mat-ters, from a controversial proposed hotel next to the East Village’s Merchant’s House to the landmarking of the Rainbow Room. Beyond Manhattan, the LPC won a major victory this month when it tripled the size of the Bedford-Stuyvesant historic district.

45. Seth Pinsky (30)President, Economic

Development Corporation

As head of the city’s fiscal de-velopment agency, Mr. Pinsky was charged with diversifying New York’s economy following the Lehman Brothers collapse and since then has pushed to create less dependency on the fi-nancial sector. In addition to the EDC’s role in the creation of Cornell’s Roosevelt Island tech campus, Mr. Pinsky has launched more than 60 programs to nurture businesses in arts, bioscience, fash-ion, green services, manufacturing, media

and technology. He oversees $2.5 bil-lion of capital investments in parks

and public spaces. He also took a pivotal role in the city’s creation of a LEED-certified develop-ment in Willets Point, Queens, and the transformation occur-ring at Hudson Yards.

46. John Sexton and

Alicia Hurley (43)President and Vice President for Government Affairs and Community Engagement, NYU

School was out for the sum-mer when New York University won the critical support of the City Council for its per-

petually contentious Greenwich Village expansion plan. But even Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who brokered a compro-mise in which NYU shrank its goal for growth by 20 percent, admitted that “no one got everything they wanted.” Still, the university will be adding 1.9 mil-lion square feet to its already sizable Village footprint, despite the vociferous objections of locals including Matthew Broderick to the $6 billion plan. Faculty also blanched at the proposal—many live in the area that will be significantly, and noisily, rearranged—and last month handed Dr. Sexton an embarrassing vote of “no confidence.” Yet Dr. Sexton and Ms. Hurley continue to lead NYU into new communities—and attempt to as-suage local fears—even as they weather resistance in the university’s spiritual home. The school looks to add six million square feet of campus space throughout New York, including an applied-sciences institute in Downtown Brooklyn’s bur-geoning tech hotbed.

47. Peter Riguardi (58)

President, Jones Lang LaSalle

Jones Lang LaSalle em-ploys 40,000 people in 1,000

locations across the nation and 70 countries. Peter Riguardi, the

company’s tri-state region pres-ident, has changed the perception of the company, traditionally viewed as a consulting firm, in New York City. By re-cruiting top talent like Mitch Konsker, Paul Glickman, Scott Panzer and Richard Baxter, the firm now keeps pace with the Cushman & Wakefields and CBREs of the world, as it increasingly handles big deals and top-agency assignments. Most recently, Mr. Riguardi completed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 1.6-million-square-foot lease at 2 Broadway, among the largest leasing transac-tions in the city’s

history.

Julie and Edward Minskoff.

Lapidus and Levinson.

Pinsky.

Riguardi.

Sexton.

Tierney.


The Power 100, 100 Years AgoSince 2008, the Power 100 list has been about defining who is shaping the real es-tate world of today. But contemporary machers would do well to revisit the tri-umphs and missteps of their predecessors, five of whom—all Real Estate Board of New York members in 1913—are listed below. Here’s how we would have reported on them and ranked them, had we been pub-lishing The Commercial Observer’s Power 100 issue one hundred years ago.

1. E.A. Tredwell (9)

The Real Estate Board of New York appointed E.A. Tredwell to a special com-mittee that will examine and analyze city budget estimates with the Budget Committee. The board be-

lieves that certain cumbersome real estate assessed valuations must be reduced, among them the ratification of heights-of-buildings restrictions. Mr. Tredwell, President of the Real Estate Board, said he “felt pretty badly” about the way members of the Committee on Safety unduly assailed him with regard to the fireproofing of factory buildings.

2. Joseph P. Day (3)

Mr. Day sold at auction the Dickey Estate in the Hunt’s Point section of the Bronx. The auctioneer also offered a bounty of large waterfront and acreage es-tates in the Westhampton,

Easthampton and Good Ground enclaves of Suffolk County, Long Island. The Westhampton property includes 166 acres. At another auc-tion, Mr. Day established a new record at a government sale, a $3,822,000 auction for the village of “Fairview” in Camden, New Jersey. The United States Shipping Board created the village during the war to provide roofs and shelter for overtaxed shipyard workers. Mr. Day also broached a curious question by asking whether secrecy in realty prices was disadvan-tageous to fixing accurate valuations. Mr. Day posited that greater publicity was warranted.

3. Francis E. Ward (14)

Mr. Ward, President of the Brokers, presid-ed over a meeting which pledged reform in con-demnation matters. Noted men including

Mr. Ward and fellow members in society (Henry Morgenthau, Gustav H. Schwab, Goodhue Livingston, Ralph Pulitzer) formed a permanent organization that pledged to preserve the city’s exist-ing park spaces and enlarge the park system. Of utmost importance to the or-ganization is the determination of which restaurants to do away with in Central Park and other green spaces, thus per-mitting desirable buildings for rest rooms and shelters for mothers with children in their care.

4. Albert B. Ashforth (5)

Albert B. Ashforth represented Phoebe S. Sinclair in her sale of 14 and 16 East Thirty-Third Street. A 10,000-square-foot mercantile building is due to rise on the site,

which is a short promenade to the thriv-ing Garment District, where two-thirds of the nation’s feminine apparel is man-ufactured. Mr. Ashforth also sold his three-floor, twenty-seven-room resi-dence at the cooperative apartment house 666 Park Avenue to Virginia Vanderbilt for $195,000. Mrs. Vanderbilt’s hus-band’s apartment is across the street, at 651 Park Avenue. Mr. Vanderbilt is now in Europe.

5. Irving Ruland (1)

Irving Ruland & Co. is assembling a site on a lower west side plot in the name of Katherine J. Brower. The group has bought three Lilliputian structures at 215-219

West Seventeenth Street and a row of eight houses on White Place. Mr. Ruland was recently fined $25 for violation of tenement laws. Mrs. Irving Ruland will appear in a gavotte at “Une Heure de Danse,” an entertainment benefit for factory girls arranged by Mrs. Pearce Bailey. The Misses Leonie Alexandra and Flournoy Hopkins, and other women in society, will be in attendance.


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48. Harry Macklowe (50)Founder and

Chairman, Macklowe PropertiesJust over a year ago, Mr. Macklowe sub-

mitted plans for what would be the city’s tallest residential tower, an 84-story, 1,395-foot building at 432 Park Avenue. Since then, the papers have devoted as much ink to the developer’s family melo-drama (involving an alleged “vendetta” against his es-tranged son-in-law, Kent Swig, at 740 Park Avenue) as his condo conversions and soaring new properties. Mr. Macklowe’s professional endeavors have caused their own share of controversy. Earlier this month, he filed a lawsuit regarding Brown Harris Stevens broker Carol Cohen’s quali-fications for a rent-stabilized apartment at 737 Park Avenue, which Mr. Macklowe is converting to condos. That same conver-sion spawned another suit claiming that a bed and breakfast was operating illegal-ly in the building. Still, good news about the splashy 432 Park Avenue—its 126 units should have a total asking price nearing $3 billion, a record—outweighed the bad, like an injured construction worker. And if Mr. Macklowe lost out (to Joe Chetrit and David Bistricer) on a much-discussed billion-dol-lar bid for the Sony Building, at least the residences at 150 East 72nd Street hit the market with prices between $6 million and $14 million.

49. Dottie Herman and Howard Lorber (51)

President-CEO and Chairman, Douglas Elliman

Over the course of 2012, Ms. Herman mulled over whether to drop Prudential from the firm’s name, and in November, she and Mr. Lorber made it official. The pair, unable to successful-ly negotiate a new licensing agreement for the Prudential name, took the brand back to its 1911 roots, when Douglas Elliman was founded. The firm, which counts Robert De Niro’s son Raphael among its most successful brokers, made headlines when it listed the coun-try’s most expensive apartment last year. The penthouse triplex at the CitySpire building, which has since been delisted, hit the market for a mind-blowing $100 million.

50. Pamela Liebman (52)CEO and President,

Corcoran GroupMs. Liebman has said that billionaire

stacking block One57 is her favorite building in New York. Given the $90-million-

plus sale last spring of the 90-story building’s penthouse and what

it says about (the stratospher-ic upper limits of) Manhattan’s residential market, that’s no surprise. Still, Ms. Liebman has also struck a note of caution

amid the ongoing din of almost-nine-figure luxury condo deals.

Corcoran’s fourth-quarter report posted just 6,514 available listings,

down 16 percent from 2011 and a seven-year low. The median price rose to $827,000, and scarcity should continue to push prices up. But buyers, or at least the type of buyer un-able to drop $6.5 million on a One57 pad for his 2-year-old child, will remain frustrat-ed. Luckily, Corcoran’s recently redesigned website is here to quell apartment hunters’ anxiety. The brokerage firm claims that the immersive site mimics the more advanced dating portals by cutting through the bro-kerbabble and guiding buyers to the best dining and nightlife in a given neighbor-

hood. But with 30 percent of Corcoran’s clients being

foreigners, how much, if any, time they’ll be spending on their New York block is a

big ques-tion.

51. Tommy CraigSenior Managing

Director, HinesHines has presence in more

than 100 cities around the globe, investor relationships with many

of the world’s largest financial in-stitutions and offices in 18 countries and nearly 60 U.S. cities. Its portfolio of projects—those under way, completed, acquired or managed for third parties—consists of more than 1,205 properties, and the firm controls assets valued at roughly $23.8 billion. As partner of Hines’ Metropolitan New York area, Mr. Craig aggregated roughly 16 mil-lion square feet in development projects and transactions, making a mark on such addresses as 30 Hudson, the MoMA site at 53 West 53rd Street and the 470,000-square-foot 7 Bryant Park, where Hines celebrated a groundbreak-ing in April. The firm recently put 425 Lexington and 499 Park Avenue up for sale.

52. Paul Pariser and Charles Bendit (54)

Co-CEOs, Taconic Investment Partners

Taconic is perhaps best known for its in-vestment in Google’s 111 Eighth Avenue, a building it sold to the tech giant for a whop-ping $2 billion in 2011, and that capital has not gone to waste. The investment firm currently has a number of development projects in the pipeline, including a condo project at 71 Laight Street in Tribeca, where construction has recently commenced. The investment firm has also begun marketing space at 837 Washington Street, its joint venture with Thor Equities. Taconic is en-tertaining proposals from major tenants who would potentially take up to half the space at the office and retail building. An additional residential project in the West 50s is in the planning stages and is cur-rently going through the rezoning process. These plans are in addition to Taconic’s New York investment portfolio, which in-cludes 401 West 14th Street, where Apple is a major tenant.

Macklowe.

Bendit and Pariser.

Liebman.

Herman.


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53. Burton and Jonathan Resnick (55)

CEO and President, Jack Resnick & Sons

Resnick & Sons stands out as a leader in the sustainable retrofitting of build-ings, and the company put their skills to work following the dev-astation wrought by Hurricane Sandy at 199 Water Street. The firm reopened the heavi-ly damaged building less than six weeks after the storm filled its basement with eight million gallons of seawater. Critical infra-structure was moved, the electrical system was replaced and the firm cre-ated a new lobby with energy-efficient LED lighting, creating a blueprint for other buildings affected by the storm. The compa-ny owns more than a dozen buildings across Midtown, Midtown South and Downtown. Among them are 110 East 59th Street, 880 Third Avenue, 485 Madison Avenue, 1755 Broadway and 315 Hudson Street.

54. Paul Massey and Robert Knakal (60)

CEO and Chairman, Massey Knakal Realty Services

Massey Knakal grew from a two-man operation founded in the mid-1980s into one of the city’s largest and most visible real estate sales brokerages, outpacing its ri-vals in transactional volume with an approach that relies on a unique system of plac-ing expert brokers within set geographic boundaries. Mr. Knakal, an industry mainstay, is the company’s highest-producing broker, often the face of the compa-ny at events and in the media. Mr. Knakal alone recorded more than $1 billion of the firm’s $2.6 billion in sales last year, though he would tell you his golf game suffered because of it. Mr. Massey, meanwhile, has pushed to build the firm’s infra-structure and service lines, adding retail brokerage, mortgage financ-ing and investment fund businesses, among others.

55. Rev. Dr. James Cooper and Jason Pizer (63)

Rector and President, Trinity Real Estate

With a real estate tradition stretching back to the early 1700s, Trinity Church

continues to boost its reputation by reshaping the Hudson Square

submarket. A vacancy rate of just 3 percent across the firm’s portfolio is an example of the area’s increasing popularity with creative tenants. Pepsi, iN

DEMAND and Adidas are just a few names which have signed

leases this year at Trinity prop-erties. The owner has also played a

leading role in the Hudson Square rezon-ing plan, which stands to revitalize the neighborhood by increasing residential op-portunities and adding amenities. Though Trinity does not have plans to act as a manager of residential units, it should have a signif-icant role in approving the design and function of res-

idential properties in the area.

Resnick.

Pizer.

Massey and Knakal.


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56. Jeff Citrin and Craig Solomon (62)

Principals, Square Mile CapitalSquare Mile Capital’s year in 2012 was

highlighted by USAA Real Estate’s acqui-sition of an interest in the business, but Messrs. Citrin and Solomon continue to oversee the day-to-day operations of the in-vestment firm with over $2 billion deployed across 80 investments. In October, a joint venture involving Square Mile recapitalized a 31-property office portfolio in Southern California. The venture, which includes majority owner Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII, extended a $678.8 million mortgage refinancing for the 4.5-million-square-foot portfolio.

57. John Rhea and Frederick Harris (56)

Chairman and Executive Vice President, NYCHA

Since the summer of 2009, Mr. Rhea has been at the helm of the largest pub-lic housing authority in North America, which provides affordable housing for over 630,000 low- and moderate-income New Yorkers throughout the five boroughs. With such a monumental responsibility, it’s hardly a surprise that, in late 2012 and earlier this year, he came under pressure

following reports that the backlog of re-quests for repairs among more than 2,500 residential buildings had ballooned to a whopping 420,000 tickets, nearly as many residents as NYCHA houses. Still, with 20 years of corporate experience, Mr. Rhea, previously a managing director at Barclays Center, weathered the storm, resolving to eliminate the backlog of delayed repair re-quests at some 334 developments, 3,597 residential buildings and 178,895 apart-ments across the five boroughs. No doubt he’ll benefit from the experiences of Mr. Harris, an executive vice president hired early last year. He was previously a senior vice president of development at AvalonBay Communities, where he oversaw the devel-opment of 5,330 apartments with a total cost of $1.89 billion.

58. Christopher Schlank and Nicholas

Bienstock (97)Managing Partners and Founders, Savanna

Investing across the New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., markets, Savanna experi-enced a marked uptick in activity in 2012. The real estate fund, over the course of its lifetime, has invested more than $2.6 billion in more than 17 million square feet of property over its

portfolio. In May of last year, Savanna ac-quired 576 Fifth Avenue after purchasing the 72,000-square-foot property’s de-faulted first mortgage earlier in the year. In October, the fund acquired a controlling interest in 2 Rector Street after having previously purchased a portion of the property’s first mortgage in 2007 and providing a mezzanine loan in 2010. Savanna closed out the year by acquiring two adjacent office buildings in Chelsea at 245 and 249 West 17th Street for $75.8 million.

59. Ron Kravit (57)Senior Managing

Director and Head of Real Estate, Cerberus Capital

ManagementOne of the country’s larg-

est private equity firms, with more than $20 billion in assets under management, Cerberus has a presence across multi-

ple sectors and made headlines late last year for its decision to

sell off its firearms investments, a move applauded by many gun control advocates for the empathy that Cerberus executives showed

in the face of tragedy. In March, mean-while, it was reported that the firm would

begin to provide financing to small in-vestment firms buying foreclosed homes. The goal of the small financings would be to target niche U.S. housing markets. Mr. Kravit, who before joining Cerberus was a managing director at rival Apollo Real Estate Advisors, in recent years has overseen retail acquisitions and financ-ings for both residential and commercial developments.

60. Joe Sitt (70) Chairman

and CEO, Thor Equities

Mr. Sitt ended 2012 on a re-cord high note. He partnered

with Jeff Sutton, Bobby Cayre and the Adjmi family to pur-

chase 529 Broadway, a property at the golden corner pocket of Broadway

and Spring Street in Soho. The team paid $150 million for 43,888 square feet of development rights; the $3,418-per-de-velopable-square-foot price tag set a new neighborhood benchmark. Mr. Sitt again paired up with Mr. Sutton a month later to buy out a minority stake in 560 Broadway, a six-story building whose retail ten-ants are Converse and Dean & Deluca. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Chief Executive Officer Barry Gosin was said to have orchestrated that move. Another master of the universe, Ron Burkle, also boosted Mr. Sitt’s fortunes when he sold

430 West 14th Street to the Thor CEO for $100 million, reportedly bypassing

Peter Duncan of George Comfort & Sons, who was in the final stages of negotiations.

61. Tobin Cobb and Justin

Kennedy (36) Co-CEOs, LNR Property

Special servicer LNR works through commercial loans threatened with de-fault, standing as the largest manager of troubled U.S. commercial real estate loans. Mr. Cobb and Mr. Kennedy assumed their roles as co-chief executive officers in October 2010, both hailing from Deutsche Bank, where they were managing direc-tors. The firm’s Commercial Property Group has developed, repositioned, man-aged or owned in excess of 40 million square feet of commercial real estate and more than 50,000 acres of commercial land across the United States. Vornado Realty Trust recently sold the 26.2 per-cent stake it purchased for $1.053 billion in 2010.

Rhea.

Sitt.

Cobb.

Shaun Osher with Schlank.


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62. Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf (83)

Principals, Terra Holdings

The brothers Zeckendorf made big ce-lestial news in February when they paid $600 per square foot for air rights they purchased from Christ Church. The $40

million deal clears the way for additional floors at the 51-story, 30-unit apartment building the Zeckendorfs are bringing to 60th Street near Park Avenue. (Broker Robert Shapiro has called it a “Viagra building: tall and slender, with great views.”) The tower is expected to fetch rents of $8,000 per square foot, or nearly $50 million for a 6,000-square-foot pad. Last fall, the developers hosted the of-ficial coming out party for 18 Gramercy

Park, a 16-unit building whose early list-ings asked for between $14.8 million and $42 million. That building’s new resi-dents will be awarded keys to Gramercy Park, a near-mythical Manhattan real estate perk. With Russian, Chinese and South American buyers flooding the tro-phy apartment market, the Zeckendorfs should not require divine intervention to find deep-pocketed buyers for their two newest properties.

63. Peter Hauspurg and Daun Paris (74)

Chairman-CEO and President, Eastern Consolidated

Amid a flurry of sales and big league properties brought to market by the real estate in-vestment firm founded by this husband-and-wife duo, Mr. Hauspurg worked di-rectly on two standouts. He spearheaded a team market-ing The Chatsworth on behalf of the seller. That 200,000-square-foot rental property at 344 West 72nd Street had not hit the sale block in 70 years and, just before the New Year, sold to HFZ Capital Group for $150 mil-lion. Mr. Hauspurg and his colleagues also represented the sellers of 311-319 West 43rd Street. Atlas Capital in January snagged that Hell’s Kitchen property and its (fully occupied) 171,465 square feet of office space for $62.4 million. Ms. Paris was as aggressive with new hires as she was with deal-making: George F. Moss and Nicole Rabinowitsch were just two standout arriv-als. Eastern Consolidated also launched a retail sales team and grew its Not-for-Profit Advisory and Transaction Group during the firm’s whirlwind year of activity.

64. Steven WitkoffCEO, The

Witkoff Group

Real estate attorney-turned-real-estate developer Steven Witkoff of The Witkoff Group has been turning around un-derutilized properties and repositioning them for de-cades. The firm is building a 340,000-square-foot, 36-story, multiuse complex at 701 Seventh Avenue in Times Square after paying $430 million for the prop-erty. The developer is also converting the International Toy Building at 1107

Broadway as its high-profile luxury con-dominium project at 150 Charles Street is selling out briskly, with 91 units in contract since sales started in February. Projects at 220 East 42nd Street (the for-mer New York Daily News building) and Ten Hanover Square are among the firm’s previous undertakings.

65. Albert Behler (68)President and CEO, Paramount Group

Paramount Group made a bit of history last fall when it start-

ed marketing a block of floors totaling 130,000 square feet at 60 Wall Street, a 50-story office tower it owns that tech-nically had never before been

on the market. Adding to its allure was the fact that many

surrounding buildings had over the years undergone condo conversions. Other signifi-cant developments included Chadbourne & Parke’s reloca-tion of its headquarters from

30 Rock to more than 200,000 square feet at Paramount’s 1301

Avenue of the Americas. Also at that property, law firm Wilson

Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati renewed a 40,000-square-foot lease. Finally, the financial firm Centerview Partners ex-panded at Paramount’s 31 West 52nd Street in a lease with rents pegged at $95 a square foot, a figure seldom met in the past year.

William and Arthur Zeckendorf.

Witkoff.

Paris.

Hauspurg.


445 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022 • 212-906-9200

is successful at all levels of the marketplace and also dominates the high-end

In 2012 of the top New York City residential sales,representing the seller, or the buyer, or both,

and also by co-broking with our industry colleagues,

We sold

In the market over $10 million

In the market over $20 million

On average each Brown Harris Stevens agenthad annual sales of 12,178,083

of all Co-ops of all Condos of all Townhouses

4 of the top 5 8 of the top 10 16 of the top 25

of all Co-ops of all Condos of all Townhouses

Hall F. Willkie, President

www.BrownHarrisStevens.com


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66. Hall Willkie and Paula

Del Nunzio (79)President and Senior Vice President, Brown Harris Stevens

In a year when the trophy apartment market sizzled, Brown Harris Stevens was on fire. The firm’s internal numbers show that BHS sold over a third of all co-ops and condos priced above $10 million and well over half of those properties

priced above $20 million. Ms. Del Nunzio logged six transactions that

topped $20 million, including the $42 million sale in June of the Stanford White mansion at 973 Fifth Avenue, the year’s biggest townhouse deal. In all, BHS claimed four of the year’s top five and eight of its top 10 residential deals, including jaw-droppers at 15 Central Park West and 998 Fifth Avenue. Mr. Willkie voiced confidence in the residen-tial market’s resiliency after Hurricane Sandy, a prophecy that so far seems on point.

67. Greg Kraut and Arthur Mirante (92)Principal and Tristate

President, Avison YoungFirst, in July, the Canadian real estate

services firm Avison Young leased its first Manhattan headquarters: 15,000 square feet constituting the entire second floor of 623 Fifth Avenue. Then came the hiring spree. In short order, Avison Young poached Michael Leff (from Newmark), Adam Rappaport (from Cushman & Wakefield), John Ryan III (from Jones Lang LaSalle) and Walter Blyzniuk and Anthony LoPresti (both from CBRE). The firm’s first Manhattan leasing assignment followed in December, when it was tapped to market the 690,000-square-foot Paramount Building in Times Square. Given the new kid on the block’s banner year, Mr. Mirante’s explanation for the two-and-a-half-year headquarters lease seems like an understatement. “We’re growing so fast,” he said, “we didn’t want to commit to anything for more than three years.”

68. Robert Alexander and Stephen Siegel (69)

Principals and Tristate President, CBRE

Some time ago, The New York Times noted that, in real estate circles, there had never been “a phenomenon quite like Bob Alexander.” Years later, the statement still rings true. As chair-men of CBRE’s New York tristate region and global brokerage, respec-tively, Mr. Alexander and Mr. Siegel have had a hand in the firm’s highest-profile New York City deals for as long as anyone can remember. In recent months, those big deals have continued to pile up, with Mr. Siegel recently leading the team that inked L’Oréal USA’s 402,000-square-foot lease at the South Tower of Hudson Yards, a process that he said took nearly two-and-a-half years. Mr. Alexander, meanwhile, helped arranged more than 50 million square feet of real estate leases and sales transactions for a long list of financial firms including Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank AG, JP Morgan Chase, Fleet Bank, KPMG and Bank of America.

69. Peter DuncanPresident and CEO, George

Comfort & Sons In August, George Comfort & Sons was

rumored to be in negotiations to buy 75 Rockefeller Plaza, a property that eventual-ly went to RXR Realty in a 99-year triple-net lease deal. Later in the month, the invest-ment firm took its Worldwide Plaza property to market, three years after acquiring it for around $600 million. After offers came in around $1.5 billion short of initial expecta-tions, George Comfort & Sons announced plans to recapitalize the property, which was being marketed by Easdil Secured. In short, it’s been a busy year for the family-owned firm.

70. Diane Ramirez (77)President,

Halstead Properties

Halstead had its best year ever in 2012, with sales eclipsing by 20 percent the pre-vious record, set in 2011. (Halstead, which is privately owned, did not disclose num-bers.) That spike was driven in part by the

brokerage’s continued rapid-fire expansion throughout

the five boroughs and metropolitan area. In

the past two months alone, Halstead opened offic-es in Park Slope and Washington Heights, a neigh-borhood on few

top-tier residen-tial firms’ radars.

All told, Halstead under Ms.

Ramirez has

Del Nunzio.

Willkie.

Kraut.


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new offices also springing up in Cobble Hill and Southampton over the past 12 months for a total of 27 outposts. Expansion being a key goal of Ms. Ramirez’s presidency, the brokerage continues to attract top-tier tal-ent, like the team of Michael Hennessy, Chris Halliburton and Brandon Himmel. And growth has not been confined to brick-and-mortar outposts: the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World named Halstead’s website the best among 600 contenders.

71. Howard and Edward Milstein (78)Principals,

Milstein PropertiesThe Milstein real estate dy-

nasty has, over the course of four generations, developed and acquired over 50,000 apart-ments, 20 million square feet of office space and 8,000 hotel rooms. While activity has slowed in recent years, the Milsteins have had signif-

icant influence on residential development Downtown, especially in Battery Park City, where the developer’s Liberty Green and Liberty Luxe properties—where rents range from $3,995 for a studio apartment to $12,000 for a two-bedroom—sit west of the West Side Highway on North End Avenue.

72. Charles CohenCEO, Cohen Brothers Realty

Mr. Cohen was dealt a big personal blow in January when his father, Sherman Cohen, died at 91. Yet Cohen Brothers Realty, the development, management and design firm that Sherman founded with his brothers, continued to bolster his considerable leg-acy. Last November, Nest Fragrances and Verigold Jewelry inked deals for a total 27,000 square feet at 3 East 54th Street. The Cohen family put Third Avenue on the re-tail and commercial map. And last fall Mr. Cohen tapped the Cushman & Wakefield team that in 2010 plugged major holes at 805 Third Avenue to do the same at 622 Third Avenue as a gaggle of leases neared expiration. In a more recent triumph, Mr. Cohen, who produces indie films in his spare time, correctly predicted five of the six major Oscar winners in an interview with The Commercial Observer. In other words, if his day job doesn’t pan out, there’s always Hollywood.

73. Richard Baxter, Yoron Cohen, Scott Latham and

Jonathan CaplanVice Chairmen, Jones Lang LaSalle

This lineup of Jones Lang LaSalle brokers are among the commercial real estate indus-try’s most accomplished capital markets and investment sales practitioners. The firm con-sistently ranks among the top investment sales firms in New York City in terms of dol-lar volume, with more than $2 billion in sales across approximately 24 deals in 2012, ac-cording to data compiled by The Real Deal. Among the most notable deals so far this year was the sale of the 24-story, 394,000-square-

foot Class A building at 350 Madison Avenue,

sold by a team led by Mr. Baxter on be-half of Kensico Properties to RFR Holdings

for $261.5 million.

ThePOWER 100

Index10 random points of interest

Number of public housing units under the control of NYCHA

Chairman John Rhea:178,000

Most Likely to Hoist a World Series Trophy:

David Levinson

Most Likely to Win an Oscar in 2014:Charles Cohen

Amount real estate industry has given to Christine Quinn’s mayoral

campaign:$1.3 million

Only Jay-Z song recognized by Mary Ann Tighe at the Barclays Center opening:

“That New York song”

Net worth of Michael Bloomberg, the wealthiest person on the list:

$27 billion

Most Eco-Friendly:Douglas and Jody Durst

Number of Power 100 listers in the house for the Barclays Center opening night:

5

Number of husband and wife duos on the Power 100:

1

Number of confirmed billionaire buyers at Gary Barnett’s One57:

9

Number of confirmed buyers at One57 in total:

50Edward and Howard Milstein.

Cohen.


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74. Aaron JungreisPresident,

Rosewood Realty Group

Rosewood Realty Group ranked among the city’s premier investment sales

firms last year—and Mr. Jungreis is a big

reason why. A break-through 2012 brought

$1.4 billion in sales, a 164 per-cent leap from the previous year, which put Rosewood next in line to investment sales powerhouse Massey Knakal. The firm completed 124 deals last year, and this year, Mr. Jungreis has said, he is on track to personally hit 130 toward a 170 goal for the firm. The firm’s deals, many off market, are split roughly 30-30-30 percent between Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, with the remainder in Queens. Expect another big year for Mr. Jungreis and his brokers at Rosewood Realty Group.

75. Glenn Rufrano (73) and

Bruce Mosler (81)CEO-President and Global Chair of Brokerage, Cushman &

WakefieldMr. Mosler’s deci-

sion to step down as CEO of Cushman & Wakefield in 2010 and hire Mr. Rufrano

as CEO is produc-ing serious dividends.

Mr. Mosler became one of the firm’s top brokers

and—driven by internal initia-tives and a rising commercial real estate market—the world’s largest private-ly held commercial real estate services firm reported the second-highest annu-al revenue in its 95-year history under Mr. Rufrano in 2012, at $2.05 billion. The firm continues to invest in key growth areas and seek new talent, most recently hiring 38-year-old Ronald Lo Russo as its new tristate president.

Even during the worst of times, real estate is a big business.

Money is rapidly chang-ing hands for the owners, developers, brokers, private eq-uity giants and others who make

up The Commercial Observer’s 2013 Power 100 list. But as in years past, precious few on the list can be categorized as minorities. On the heels of an election cycle that underscored the country’s shifting demographics, and in a city that boasts diversity of all sorts as a major selling point, New York’s commercial real estate world has re-mained intractable on this front.

A few facts gleaned from a quick perusal of the 2013 Power 100 list are worth mentioning.

The top 10 slots on the list are all male, all white. The first woman—CBRE’s Mary Ann Tighe—appears in at No. 19. In all, out of some 167 people on the list, two are African-American men and a handful are Latino. There were no African-American or Asian women. As for white women, there are 13 on this year’s list, three more than in last year’s rankings.

According to The Commercial Observer’s own assessment, at the highest levels in New York City, no Asian or African-American women are directly influencing power in real estate.

Don Peebles, the African-American devel-oper and entrepreneur who made a splash in the New York market with The Peebles Corporation’s agreement to purchase 346 Broadway, said several factors are to blame for the city’s real estate industry not being re-flective of its diversity.

“There are a lot of entrepreneurs and real estate businesspeople who have been in the business for a very long time and so have a head start and an advantage,” said Mr. Peebles, who himself has an impressive track record in cities like Miami and Washington, D.C. “And real estate is a capital-intensive business.”

The Peebles Corporation’s $160 million ac-quisition of 346 Broadway—which is expected to be redeveloped into residential, hotel, re-tail and public space—was made possible following a competitive RFP process. Such pub-lic-private partnerships, Mr. Peebles said, are a potential way for minorities and women—at least well-funded and well-proven ones—to gain a foothold in New York’s commercial real estate market.

“One of the important roles that government can serve is to be transformational,” Mr. Peebles said. He added that exposure to the industry was a key factor, since not all young people real-ize that it’s a viable, potentially lucrative career path.

Finally, The Commercial Observer asked Mr. Peebles to guess how many African-Americans were on the list. He guessed 10 out of the more than 100.

When told that there were only two, he said, “That’s unfortunate.” —Carl Gaines

Few Minorities, Women in PowerPower 100 Demographics

White Men

White Women

African—American Men

Latino Men

Latina Women

Asian Men

Jungreis.

Rufrano.

Mosler.


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76. Arnold, Kenneth, Steven and Winston Fisher (75)

Principals, Fisher BrothersThough at times press-shy,

the family-owned company has a firm stable of Manhattan of-fice towers in its portfolio and has managed to keep sever-al blue-chip tenants in them. The firm, which started devel-oping in the outer boroughs in 1915—before eventually working its way to Midtown Manhattan—is hold-ing steady after consolidating some of its trophy properties in 2010. Its 5.5-million-square-foot portfolio of Midtown office properties includes 299 Park Avenue, Park Avenue Plaza, 1345 Avenue of the Americas and 605 Third Avenue, which it owns and manages. Late last year, the firm announced that Marc Packman, formerly of Trinity Real Estate, would take over as its director of leasing. Mr. Packman began in January.

77. Elizabeth Stribling and Kirk Henckels (80)

President and Director, Stribling & Associates

Cut from the cloth of the Upper East Side, Ms. Stribling shocked the real estate world in 2009 when she moved to, of all places, Brooklyn. The move was indica-

tive of a larger change happening at her over 30-year-old residential

brokerage. After a bold move to up-date branding and the firm’s website,

Stribling & Associates was nominated for a Webby Award for best real estate website in 2012. While Ms. Stribling may have opted for Brooklyn, business is still dominated by the Upper East Side, where 950 Fifth Avenue is currently the firm’s most expensive list-ing: $26 million for 4 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms.

78. Laurence GluckPrincipal, Stellar Management

Mr. Gluck’s Stellar Management closed 2012 by selling the Milk Studios build-ing at 250 West 15th Street to Jamestown Properties for more than $284 million. Stellar, which acquired the building in 2008 for $161 million, provided a $150 million loan to Jamestown for the purchase. Earlier in 2012, Stellar purchased an apartment building at 26 Vandam Street for $6.1 mil-lion in a move to add 15,625 feet of air rights to its One SoHo Square development. One SoHo Square, which was acquired by Stellar for $200 million last year, will combine 161 Sixth Avenue and 233 Spring Street.

79. Norman Sturner and David Greene (86)

President-CEO and President of Brokerage, Murray Hill Properties

During one week in January, bro-kers from Murray Hill Properties closed two major leases: Gander & White’s

60,000-square-foot deal at 45-11 West 33rd Street in Long Island City—Jesse Rubens represented the landlord—and HP Girlswear/BB Active’s 61,916-square-foot lease at 100 West 33rd Street. The Moinian Group tapped MHP as the leasing agent at 200 Madison Avenue, a 200,000-square-foot property in Midtown South not yet saturated with tech tenants. But the of-fice space specialist firm also made a significant step into retail waters by poach-ing Christine Emery, Yair Staav, Barrett Friedman and Maël Mitterand from The Lansco Corporation to form MHP’s first re-tail team in four years. The group brings blockbuster tenants like Uniqlo and Hermes into the firm’s fold, and puts MHP in the po-sition to make major moves in Soho and the Financial District that will complement its institutional portfolios.

80. MaryAnne Gilmartin and Bruce Ratner (72)

CEO and Chairman, Forest City Ratner Companies

It had been rumored for months, but just two weeks ago it was finally confirmed: Ms. Gilmartin, the heir apparent, would take over as chief executive officer of Forest City Ratner Companies. At the forefront of FCRC’s activity at Atlantic Yards, Barclays Center, MetroTech and The New York Times building, Ms. Gilmartin will now take control of the developer’s day-to-day op-erations. Mr. Ratner, for his part, will stay involved in the business, which was a con-dition of taking the reins, according to Ms. Gilmartin. “We finish each others’ sentenc-es; we have spirited debates,” Ms. Gilmartin told The Commercial Observer of her rela-tionship with Mr. Ratner earlier this month. “We often have better results because of the way we can argue back and forth, and I expect all of that will continue.”

Stribling.

Fisher.

Henckels.

Ratner.


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81. Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs (71)Co-CEOs, RFR

HoldingsIn the waning days of 2012, RFR

Holdings closed on its $190 million pur-chase from Y&R of 285 Madison Avenue, a troubled property and site of a horrif-ic elevator accident in 2011. Mr. Rosen said the property would “benefit from RFR’s long history of retrofitting of-fice properties,” and embarked on a $50 million capital improvement cam-paign aimed at luring institutional tenants. There have been some whispers of a hotel conversion. And last month, the company closed on 350 Madison Avenue for $261.5million. It shed prop-erties at 90 Fifth Avenue and 608 Fifth Avenue. Meanwhile, dependably com-bustible tempers at the Gramercy Park Hotel seemed to have momentari-ly cooled. (Hotelier Ian Schrager sued his partners, Messrs. Rosen and Fuchs, in early 2012 over a $1.15 million loan that he claimed they did not repay.) In more tabloid-worthy personal news, Mr. Rosen sold his townhouse (and noted pleasure palace) at 22 East 71st Street for $47 million to the prime minister of Qatar, whom multiple co-op boards re-jected on account of his two wives, 15 children and well-armed security detail.

82. Jonathan Mechanic and Steven

Lefkowitz (84)Chairman of Real Estate Department and Partner, Fried Frank

Mr. Mechanic and Mr. Lefkowitz, part-ners in Fried Frank’s real estate practice, have doubled down on a long list of the city’s most high-profile commercial real estate deals and an even greater list of real estate’s elite as clients. The duo negotiated deals on behalf of some of New York’s biggest names, including Condé Nast’s 1 World Trade Center lease, SL Green’s $416 million joint venture with Jeff Sutton to acquire eight East Side properties, and Forest City Ratner in its Atlantic Yards project. CBRE’s Mary Ann

Tighe, Silverstein Properties’ Larry Silverstein and

Tishman Speyer’s Rob Speyer were among

attendees at the firm’s 2012 hol-

iday party.

Rosen. Fuchs.

Lefkowitz and Mechanic.

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THE BROKERAGESBroker representation, by firm

COMMERCIAL: 2012 2013

cBre

newmark grubb Knight

jones lang lasalle

cushman & Wakefield

studley

eastdil secured

Massey Knakal

eastern consolidated

Murray hill properties nA

Avison young

rosewood realty nA

Winick realty group nA

RESIDENTIAL: 2012 2013

douglas elliman

stribling & Associates nA

Brown harris stevens

corcoran group

sotheby’s international nA

town residential


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83. Ralph Herzka (87)Chairman and

CEO, Meridian Capital GroupFrom humble beginnings in Brooklyn

over 20 years ago, Mr. Herzka has lifted Meridian Capital to a position as one of the largest commercial mortgage brokers in the region. Meridian closed close to 3,300 deals with a total volume of $20 billion in 2012,

up from $17.3 billion across 2,800 deals in 2011. Last year, Meridian closed a $50

million permanent financ-ing for Harrison Station, a

luxury multi-family build-ing in Harrison, N.J. In addition

to his work at Meridian, Mr. Herzka co-founded mortgage banking firm Beech Street Capital and serves on the board of di-rectors at Ladder Capital.

84. Stephen Meringoff and Leslie

Wohlman Himmel (89)Principals, Himmel + Meringoff Properties

In early March, Mr. Meringoff and Ms. Wohlman held a reception at 401 Park Avenue South to showcase the 252,000-square-foot property’s refur-bished charms. Later that month, software solutions provider Vitech Corporation re-newed its 42,200-square-foot lease at the Midtown South building. It was a boon for Himmel + Meringoff Properties, which is marketing five full 21,000-square-foot floors—four of them contiguous—at 401 Park Avenue South with asking rent in the high $50-per-square-foot range. Mr. Meringoff told The Commercial Observer that in addition to the usual tech suspects, blue-chip tenants including Time Warner have shown interest in the property. But the most interesting prospective tenant was one whose name he couldn’t reveal: a “very large” ad agency looking to relocate from north of Grand Central Terminal to thriving, relatively funky Midtown South. Elsewhere in the district, Mr. Meringoff and Ms. Wohlman unloaded 158 West 27th Street for $57.5 million, more than dou-bling their money on a 2010 purchase.

85. Henry and Justin Elghanayan (95)Principals,

Rockrose Development

Rockrose purchased a 40-acre site along the waterfront in Long Island City in 2003, setting off a massive wave of the soaring glass and concrete towers that are now synonymous with the neighborhood’s water-front. When Henry Elghanayan split up the family’s real es-tate business from brothers Tom and Fred (who started TF Cornerstone), he handed his siblings some of Rockrose’s best-known assets, such as Carnegie Hall Tower. Mr. Elghanayan and his son Justin instead took many of the development sites in the firm’s port-folio and have steadily moved to build on them. The duo is spearhead-ing development in Court Square, with more than 2,500 residential units planned over the next several years. Linc LIC will boast panoramic Manhattan views and a long list of upscale amenities.

86. David FalkPresident of Brokerage,

Newmark Grubb Knight FrankMr. Falk found himself at the inter-

section of two of the year’s biggest real estate stories—the tech boom and the changing Chelsea Market—when tech titan Google last month expanded its lease at the Meatpacking District prop-erty by 90,000 square feet. Mr. Falk represented building owner Jamestown Properties as it saw Google grow to occu-py a hefty 250,000 square feet. Farther downtown, Mr. Falk worked with Pace University to continue something of a Financial District leasing spree: in the past 18 months, the erstwhile commut-er school has gobbled up nearly 400,000 square feet of Lower Manhattan real estate as it draws—and sleeps—an in-creasingly national and global student body. Last spring, he represented 200 Lafayette Street in a 200,000-square-foot deal with the troubled J.C. Penney, which might be forced to sell some real

estate holdings. But Mr. Falk’s big-gest lease came on behalf of

client Havas Worldwide Health, which in July leased 170,000 square feet at 200 Madison Avenue.

87. Kathryn KortePresident

and CEO, Sotheby’s International Realty

Sotheby’s was one of sev-eral residential brokerages

to have its best year in 2012, a sign of the market’s post-re-

cession resiliency and especially, in Manhattan, of the ultra-luxu-ry tier. Ms. Korte, who began her career at Sotheby’s in 1984 as an administrative assistant, has been

critical in growing the luxury-mind-ed international firm. In the past two years, Sotheby’s has expanded by 500 agents. Last year those agents closed over $1 billion in sales.

Falk.

Henry and Justin

Elghanayan.


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88. Douglas YearleyCEO, Toll Brothers

Best known for subur-ban residential developments, Toll Brothers has been ramping up activity in New York City. A Gramercy condo at 160 22nd Street recently hit the market with prices rang-ing from $800,000 to more than $5 million. Nearby, 400 Park Avenue South will open in fall 2013, and across the East River, the Pier House at Brooklyn Bridge Park will open in spring 2014. Earlier this year, the build-er acquired another potential development site in the city at 953, 957, 959 and 961 First Avenue in Midtown East. Toll Brothers pur-chased the property from Alexico Group for $64 million.

89. Christopher Sharples, Coren Sharples, William

Sharples, Kimberly Holden, Gregg Pasquarelli Co-Founders, SHoP Architects

In only a few short years, SHoP Architects has become the architect of record for de-velopers looking for flourishes and willing to take risks. Best known as the designer of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center arena, SHoP Architects will expand its presence across the East River as designer of Two Trees’ Domino Sugar Factory development in Williamsburg. New plans call for tripling

the amount of office space in the sparse commercial district and increasing the amount of outdoor space. Moving north to Queens, SHoP has partnered with Related Companies at the Hunters Point South development in Long Island City. The part-nership, which also includes Philips Houses and Monadnock Construction, is building the first two towers of a seven-tower resi-dential complex.

90. Earle Altman (99)

Chairman and Founder, ABS Partners

As an alumnus of Helmsley-Spear, where he worked for 40 years, Mr. Altman has amassed a leasing and management firm with 11 million square feet under its control since he founded it in 2000, with dozens of properties scattered throughout Midtown

and Downtown. Headquartered at 200 Park Avenue South, ABS is the owner of 915 Broadway, home to General Assembly & Union Square Ventures. The firm’s creative arm, TechStarter, aims to help start-ups bet-ter understand the real estate industry and their real estate footprint. The firm merged with PBS Real Estate this month following the announcement that Laura Pomerantz, founding partner of PBS Real Estate, would launch her own eponymous firm.

91. David BistricerPrincipal, Clipper Equities

Mr. Bistricer came onto the real estate scene many years ago with a number

of Brooklyn residential conversion projects, but it was his $1.1 billion

purchase of the Sony Building at 560 Madison Avenue with Joe Chetrit that put him in the limelight. The deal pitted Mr.

Bistricer and Mr. Chetrit against industry heavyweights like

Joseph Sitt and Harry Macklowe, winning a competitive bid by slap-

ping down a jaw-dropping $600 million letter of credit with plans to turn the tower into residential condominiums and a hotel. Among other deals, the duo also purchased the Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn Heights for $81 million, with plans to convert it into a boutique luxury hotel.

Christopher Sharples, Coren Sharples, William Sharples, Kimberly Holden, Gregg Pasquarelli.

Altman.

The Industry The Power 100, by profession

Landlords Developers Brokerage Real Estate Services, Resi-

dential

Investors

23

24 14

15

14

258

713

15

17

26

Profession 2011 2012 2013

Landlords 23 24 26

Developers 14 15 14

Brokerage 21 20 25

Investors 13 15 17

Public Servants 6 3 3

Elected Officials 6 3 3

Financial Services 2 3 0

Attorneys 2 2 2


Lenders 1 5 0

Entrepreneurs 1 0 0

Unions 1 1 2

Lobbyists 1 1 0

Real Estate Investment Trusts

2 2 0

Publishers 1 0 0

Academics 1 2 2

Journalists 1 0 0

Restaurateurs 1 0 0

Public Relations 1 0 0


Aprraisers 1 0 0

Nonprofit 0 1 0

Fertilizer Magnate 0 1 0

Construction 0 1 0

Venture Capitalist 0 1 0

REBNY 1 1 1

Archetecture 0 0 1

Management 0 0 1

REIT 0 0 3

2013 2012 2011

Key: the top 5

professions by year


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92. Andrew Heiberger (96)Founder-CEO,

Town Residential

Just this month, Town Residential re-newed its 17,000-square-foot office lease at 100 Fifth Avenue and opened its eighth New York City location at 530 LaGuardia Place in the Village. The newest office will bulk up Town’s downtown presence, which also emanates from a Thompson Street loca-tion featuring an “international water bar.” In other words, 2013 so far has been good to the fast-ascending Town, which toasted its second anniversary at a swanky party at the Dream Downtown last December. Joe Sitt, whose Thor Equities helped Town get off the ground financially, shared in the revelry emceed by Mr. Heiberger. Having es-tablished an Upper East Side office just last year, Town is prepared to tap into the rich vein of sky-high residential transactions in Manhattan’s primo neighborhoods.

93. Mitchell Hochberg & David Lichtenstein

President and Chairman-CEO, The Lightstone Group

In 1986, David Lichtenstein made his first investment—an $89,000 down payment from his savings and his credit cards on a two-family house. Two years later he would launch The Lightstone Group, having accu-mulated three apartment buildings. And two decades later, his firm debuted its non-traded Lightstone Value Plus REIT for $300 million, which invests in a mix of office, re-tail and other commercial properties. The firm was among those to go above and be-yond in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, offering free office space to displaced ten-ants. The firm continues to invest and develop heavily throughout the boroughs, most recently winning approval from the city to build a 700-unit rental development on the banks of Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal.

94. Robert Verrone (93)Founder, Iron

Hound Management

After leaving Wachovia in 2008, Mr. Verrone, known in some circles as “Large Loan” for his lending during the bubble years, founded Iron Hound. Since its found-ing, the firm, with offices in New York and Short Hills, N.J., has closed $9 billion in deals between its restructuring and broker-age businesses. Iron Hound has completed

another $2 billion in recapitalizations, as well as an additional $1.5 billion in debt deals. The brokerage business continues to grow, with a number of deals currently in the pipeline. Some of Mr. Verrone’s past deals have included 14 Wall Street, 666 Fifth Avenue and 3 Columbus Circle.

95. Robert Ivanhoe (98)Chairman of

Global Real Estate Practice, Greenberg Traurig

By Mr. Ivanhoe’s own admission, business was slow during the down-turn, but Greenberg Traurig’s New York office has been at the forefront of the recovery of the firm’s real es-tate practice. Having worked with a number of big real estate names, including representing MetLife in the infamous sale of Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town to Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Realty for $5.4 billion, Mr. Ivanhoe is among the first names on the call list for complex real estate transactions.

96. Thomas and Frederick Elghanayan

Chairman and President, TF Cornerstone

When the Elghanayan brothers split Rockrose into two separate

companies in 2009, TF Cornerstone retained most of the water-

front properties they had erected in Long Island City. TF Cornerstone owns five residential buildings along Center Boulevard—including one condo building, The View. Sales at The View have topped $1,000 per square foot, and rental rates at TF Cornerstone’s other buildings have aver-aged around $50 per square foot, which are well above the

neighborhood average but still well below their

Manhattan counterparts. When two other buildings in the pipeline hit the market, it will bring the number of units the firm owns along its “East Coast” waterfront community to approximately 3,500.

97. Philip McAndrewsHead of Real Estate Transactions, TIAA-CREF

Asset management firm TIAA-CREF has de-veloped a sophisticated real estate platform in recent years and activity in the New York mar-ket has been heating up. The firm, commonly known as a teachers’ pension fund, turned heads in December last year when it acquired a 49 percent stake in New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Street for a reported $250 million. That deal valued the property at $1.05 billion, the largest-ever valuation for a residential property in the United States. At the same time, the asset manager was striking a deal for a 70 percent stake in MiMA, a mixed-use building, for close to $550 million. While residential investment has not been a traditional focus, it is one that continues to intrigue TIAA-CREF. “We’ve had an interest in the apartment sector, but the op-portunity is infrequent,” Mr. McAndrews told The Commercial Observer earlier this year.

Thomas and Frederick Elghanayan.

Ivanhoe.


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98. Hector FigueroaPresident, 32BJ SEIU

Mr. Figueroa oversees the largest union of property service workers in the U.S., with over 120,000 members. The union has been an active participant in discussions on a number of impor-tant real estate issues, not the least of which have been Midtown East rezoning and the renewal of Madison Square Garden’s spe-cial permit. Earlier this year, a coalition calling itself Midtown 21C, which includes 32BJ, released a study on structures targeted by pres-ervationists for landmark status in the Midtown East rezoning area. The conclusion of the study was that building preservation could impede the re-zoning proposal. 32BJ was also one of three major unions to voice its sup-port for a proposed major league soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens, which could create up to 2,300 construc-tion jobs.

99. Jeff WinickCEO, Winick Realty Group

Mr. Winick built Winick Realty Group into a recognized forerunner in the city’s retail real estate market, with clients that include Duane Reade, AT&T and Starbucks. The firm works with standout real estate companies

including The Moinian Group, Tishman Speyer, Chetrit

Group, The Kaufman Organization and The

Related Companies. With the aid of executive vice president Lori Shabtai, the firm populated the 350,000-square-foot

Upper West Side retail development Columbus

Square with tenants in-cluding Verizon Wireless,

Starbucks, Sephora, Whole Foods and T.J. Maxx. Late last

year, the firm was selected by Brookfield Office Properties to exclusively market 40,000 square feet of vacant sub-level retail space at One New York Plaza.

100. Jonathan RoseJonathan

Rose Companies Since our last Power 100 issue, Mr.

Rose opened Via Verde in the Bronx and broke ground on Harlem RBI on East 104th Street. The former project, a 222-unit affordable housing com-plex, came out on top in New York’s first juried sustainable housing de-sign competition. Jonathan Rose Companies reported that all of the 151 affordable apartments had been leased by the opening, which was attended by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Harlem RBI is a $78.5 million hybrid project combining a K-8 charter school and 89 affordable hous-ing units in the 143,000-square-foot East Harlem Center for Living and Learning. The U.S. Department of Education and New York City School Construction Authority gave a total $32.5 million to the develop-ment. But its best-known backer may be the (currently injured) Yankees first base-man Mark Teixeira.

Figueroa.

Winick.

Rose.


The Power 100At a glance

Gary Barnett 1.

Stephen Ross, Jeff Blau and 2. Bruce Beal

Marc Holliday and Andrew 3. Mathias

Douglas and Jody Durst4.

Scott Rechler5.

Jonathan Gray6.

Steven Roth7.

Anthony Malkin8.

Jerry and Rob Speyer9.

Michael Bloomberg 10.

Andrew Cuomo 11.

Barry Sternlicht 12.

Ric Clark and Mitch Rudin 13.

Donald Trump 14.

William Rudin 15.

Richard LeFrak 16.

Andrew Farkas 17.

Howard Lutnick and Michael 18. Lehrman

Mary Ann Tighe 19.

Charles Garner, Shaul Kuba, Avi 20. Shemesh and Richard Ressler

Jeffrey Gural, Jimmy Kuhn and 21. Barry Gosin

Christine Quinn 22.

Keith Gelb and Tom Gilbane 23.

Joe Chetrit24.

Mort Zuckerman and Owen 25. Thomas

Christoph Kahl, Matt Bronfman 26. and Michael Phillips

Leonard Litwin and Gary Jacob 27.

Larry Silverstein and Martin 28. Burger

Jeff Sutton 29.

David and Jed Walentas 30.

Mitch Steir and Michael Colacino 31.

Robert Stuckey, Mark 32. Schoenfeld, Andrew Chung

Jeffrey Feil and Jay Anderson 33.

Adam Schwartz 34.

Doug Harmon and Adam Spies 35.

Douglas Shorenstein and Mark 36. Portner

Stanley and Haim Chera 37.

Steve Spinola 38.

Ofer Yardeni and Joel Seiden 39.

Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan 40.

Constantine Dakolias, Anthony 41. Tufariello and Chris Linkas

Edward Minskoff 42.

David Levinson and Robert 43. Lapidus

Robert Tierney 44.

Seth Pinsky 45.

John Sexton and Alicia Hurley 46.

Peter Riguardi 47.

Harry Macklowe 48.

Dottie Herman and Howard 49. Lorber

Pamela Liebman 50.

Tommy Craig51.

Paul Pariser and Charles Bendit 52.

Burton and Jonathan Resnick 53.

Paul Massey and Robert Knakal 54.

Rev. Dr. James Cooper and Jason 55. Pizer

Jeff Citrin and Craig Solomon 56.

John Rhea and Frederick Harris57.

Christopher Schlank and 58. Nicholas Bienstock

Ron Kravit59.

Joe Sitt 60.

Tobin Cobb and Justin Kennedy 61.

Arthur and William Lie 62. Zeckendorf

Peter Hauspurg and Daun Paris 63.

Steven Witkoff64.

Albert Behler65.

Hall Willkie and Paula Del 66. Nunzio

Greg Kraut and Arthur Mirante 67.

Robert Alexander and Stephen 68. Siegel

Peter Duncan69.

Diane Ramirez 70.

Howard and Edward Milstein 71.

Charles Cohen72.

Richard Baxter, Yoron Cohen, 73. Scott Latham and Jonathan Caplan

Aaron Jungreis74.

Glenn Rufrano and Bruce Mosler 75.

Arnold, Kenneth, Steven and 76. Winston Fisher

Elizabeth Stribling and Kirk 77. Henckels

Laurence Gluck78.

Norman Sturner and David 79. Greene

MaryAnne Gilmartin and Bruce 80. Ratner

Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs81.

Jonathan Mechanic and Steven 82. Lefkowitz

Ralph Herzka83.

Stephen Meringoff and Leslie 84. Wohlman Himmel

Henry and Justin Elghanayan 85.

David Falk86.

Kathryn Korte87.

Douglas Yearley88.

Christopher Sharples, Coren 89. Sharples, William Sharples, Kimberly Holden, Gregg Pasquarelli

Earle Altman90.

David Bistricer91.

Andrew Heiberger 92.

Mitchell Hochberg & David 93. Lichtenstein

Robert Verrone 94.

Robert Ivanhoe 95.

Thomas and Frederick 96. Elghanayan

Philip McAndrews97.

Hector Figueroa98.

Jeff Winick99.

Jonathan Rose100.


thepartycircuit

Real estate BoaRd of New YoRk luNcheoNApril 25, The Hilton Midtown

S tephen Winter of CBRE was bestowed with the coveted “Most Promising Commercial Salesperson of the Year” award at the Real Estate Board of New York’s annual members’ luncheon. The event was moderated by Robert

Knakal of Massey Knakal Realty Services and included as panel-ists Christopher Schlank of Savanna, Michael Stern of JDS Devel-opment Group and Kenneth Bernstein of Acadia Realty Trust.

CLOCkwISE fROM TOp: REBNY’S 2012 MOST pROMISINg SALESpERSON Of THE YEAR AwARd wINNER STEpHEN wINTER Of CBRE; pANELISTS CHRISTOpHER SCHLANk Of SAVANNA, MICHAEL STERN Of JdS dEVELOpMENT gROup, kENNETH f. BERNSTEIN Of ACAdIA REALTY TRuST ANd MOdERATOR ROBERT A. kNAkAL Of MASSEY kNAkAL REALTY SERVICES; MITCHELL A. kORBEY Of HERRICk fEINSTEIN LLp ANd JEffREY S. MITzNER Of fIRST AMERICAN TITLE; pAM LIEBMAN Of THE CORCORAN gROup, AdRIAN zuCkERMAN Of SEYfARTH SHAw ANd MILES BORdEN Of SEYfARTH SHAw; AdELAIdE pOLSINELLI ANd ROBERT kHOdAdAdIAN Of EASTERN CONSOLIdATEd, A fINALIST fOR THE MOST pROMISINg COMMERCIAL SALESpERSON AwARd; JOéL MOSS ANd dEBORAH dEMARIA Of wARBuRg REALTY pARTNERSHIp; HOwARd gILBERT Of ROBERT k. fuTTERMAN & ASSOCIATES ANd MARk S. STEIN Of MERINgOff pROpERTIES.


thepartycircuit

Real estate BoaRd of New YoRk INgeNIous deal of the YeaR awaRdsApril 23, the 101 Club

R eal estate’s top honors were bestowed to seven lead-ing dealmakers as The Real Estate Board of New York announced the winners of its highly coveted Most Ingenious Deal of the Year Awards. Barry Gosin, Bri-an Waterman and Romel Canete of Newmark Grubb

Knight Frank nabbed the Henry Hart Rice award at 69th annual cocktail reception at the 101 Club for the team’s Morgan Stanley lease at One New York Plaza. Brokers from Cushman & Wakefield and The Singer & Bassuk Organization took home honors as well during a night of prestige at the 101 Club.

CLOCkwISE fROM TOp: wOOdy HELLER wITH 2nd pLACE wInnERS: nAT ROCkETT And HELEn HwAng; COnTEST JudgES; JAy AndERSOn Of THE fEIL ORgAnIzATIOn, AndREw ALBSTEIn, ESq. Of gOLdBERg wEpRIn & uSTIn, dAVId LEBEnSTEIn Of CASSIdy TuRLEy, wOOdy HELLER, pETER HAuSpuRg And STEVEn SpInOLA; nICOLA HERyET Of CASSIdy TuRLEy And TOdd kORREn; LIndA BARR O’fLAnAgAn Of REAL ESTATE wEEkLy, STEVEn HORnSTOCk Of ABS pARTnERS REAL ESTATE, LLC, AdELAIdE pOLSInELLI Of EASTERn COnSOLIdATEd, ALAn COHEn Of ABS pARTnERS And SARA TREfETHEn Of REAL ESTATE wEEkLy; MARy Ann TIgHE And JOnATHAn MECHAnIC.


CLOCkwISE fROM TOp LEfT: pETER HAuSpuRg And dAun pARIS Of EASTERn COnSOLIdATEd; ALExAndRE VIAL And ERIC wEInBERg Of BROOkfIELd fInAnCIAL And ALAn MILLER Of EASTERn COnSOLIdATEd; RICk MAREk Of THE VORTEx gROup, wOOdy HELLER Of STudLEy And dOnALd ZuCkER Of THE dOnALd ZuCkER COMpAny; AdAM fRAZIER & dAnIEL BIRnEy Of BOSTOn pROpERTIES And MICHAEL gLAVAn Of STudLEy; THOMAS kEATIng Of RudIn MAnAgEMEnT COMpAny, BILL MOnTAnA Of STudLEy, THOMAS BOw Of THE duRST ORgAnIZATIOn And IRA SCHuMAn; ROSS JACOBS Of COgSwELL, pAuL MASSEy And TOdd kORREn Of MASSEy knAkAL REALTy SERVICES.


New York BuildiNg CoNgress Breakfast forumApril 16, Hilton New York

N ew York City Economic Development Corporation President Seth Pinsky spoke at a power-studded New York Building congress breakfast that included his thoughts

on recovery in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. As head of Mayor Bloomberg’s Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency task force, he signaled that future commercial and residential projects would not be retreating from the water’s edge. Attendees, unsur-prisingly, lauded the decision

CLOCkwISE fROM TOP: RICHARd T. AndERSOn And STudEnTS fROM THE uRBAn ASSEMBLy SCHOOL fOR dESIgn And COnSTRuCTIOn; LISA LIndEn, LAk PuBLIC RELATIOnS; SETH HOROwITz Of MCgRAw-HILL, MICHAEL zETLIn Of zETLIn & dE CHIARA And gARy MCquEEn Of MCgRAw-HILL; SETH PInSky, nEw yORk CITy ECOnOMIC dEVELOPMEnT CORPORATIOn; dEAn AngELAkOS Of PAR SOnS, SETH PInSky, dEnISE RICHARdSOn Of THE gEnERAL COnTRACTORS ASSOCIATIOn Of nEw yORk And MILO RIVERSO, STV gROuP; Judy COOPER Of PARSOnS BRInCkERHOff wITH RICHARd RAVITCH, fORMER LIEuTEnAnT gOVERnOR Of nEw yORk; MAnfREd OHREnSTEIn Of OHREnSTEIn & BROwn LLP, ROBERT STROMSTEd Of PARSOnS BRInCkERHOff And ELLIOTT g. SAndER Of HAkS.

thepartycircuit


Eastern Consolidated has hired Nicole Rabinowitsch as associ-ate director, it was announced last week. Ms. Rabinowitsch will spe-cialize in the sale and acquisition of commercial properties in Brooklyn and Queens with the firm’s Gabriel

Saffioti. “ G i v e n

the tre-m e n d o u s commercial real estate activity oc-curring in n e i g h b o r -hoods like W i l l i a m s -burg and Long Island City, we are delighted to

have Nicole on our team as we con-tinue to push into these exciting emerging markets,” Daun Paris, president of Eastern Consolidated, said in a prepared statement.

“She brings a proven business track record to Eastern with expe-rience in sales and management, and a wide range of clients and a keen understanding of the Brook-lyn market,” added Ms. Paris.

Ms. Rabinowitsch has experience as a real estate salesperson for Corcoran Group in Brooklyn. Her focus now will be on larger residen-tial elevator buildings, mixed-use and development sites.

•••••Madison Realty Capital has hired

Philip Schanzer as managing direc-tor, it was announced last week.

Mr. Schanzer, who previously served as vice president of con-struction and development at Marx Realty & Improvement Co., will now manage and execute con-struction and development activi-ties for the company.

“Phil’s strong background in con-struction and development makes him the ideal candidate for this position and is consistent with our strategy of recruiting top talent to Madison Realty Capital,” said Joshua Zegen, co-founder and managing member of MRC.

“His expertise will enable us to further expand the reach and en-hance the capabilities of our ver-tically integrated platform,” Mr. Zegen added.

•••••CoStar has named Adams & Co.

among the top five commercial leasing companies in New York, it was announced in an Adams & Co. press release issued last week.

Among the recipients of the award was Adams & Co. real estate profes-sional David Levy, who was named one of 2012’s Top Office Leasing Brokers as well.

“Our team is made up of knowl-edgeable and skilled brokers who have a true passion for the indus-try; this award continues to en-courage our team to perform at the highest level,” said Mr. Levy.

The award is determined by the amount of transaction volumes in commercial property sales and leases in each respective market.

“Being named one of CoStar’s 2012 Power Brokers confirms Adams and Co.’s long-standing dedication to the commercial real estate mar-ket and our clients, which allows us to excel within the industry,” said James Buslik, another principal of Adams & Co.

•••••Douglas Elliman Development

Marketing has hired Reid Price as executive vice president, it was an-nounced last week.

Mr. Price, who previously served

as a managing director of Town Residential’s new development and marketing sales division, will begin working on several proj-ects like the Sterling Mason at 71 Laight Street.

“Reid has exceptional talent and will bring a great deal to our highly successful formula pairing top agents with top developers to mar-ket and sell some of the city’s most coveted properties,” said Susan de França, president and chief ex-ecutive officer of Douglas Elliman Development Marketing. “We look forward to sharing his expertise, which we strongly believe will sig-nificantly enhance our team and add value for our clients.”

Mr. Price brings nearly two de-cades of experience to Douglas El-liman having marketed over two dozen properties and achieved $1.5 billion in property sales.

•••••Global Gateway Alliances, a non-

profit organization dedicated to improving New York metropolitan regional airports and related infra-structure, has named Stephen Sig-mund as executive director of the group, it was announced last week.

Mr. Sigmund will lead the alli-ance’s efforts to turn around the region’s airports.

“When we formed this organiza-tion we were clear that it would first and foremost rely on advo-cacy to advance our goal of initi-ating a wholesale improvement of the New York metropolitan re-gion’s major airports—and there is no better advocate for this change than Steve,” said Joe Sitt, chairman of the Global Gateway Alliance and chief executive offi-cer of Thor Equities.

“From his experience and under-standing of the aviation issues we face to his ability to aggressively,

but strategically, craft and deliver the right message to reach our goals, Steve’s vast experience both inside and outside the airports makes him a natural for this position,” Mr. Sitt added in a prepared statement.

•••••The international engineering

firm Thornton Tomasetti has named Kambiz Nassiri as vice president in the New York office, it was announced.

Mr. Nassiri, who previously served as vice president of Cosentini Asso-ciates, will join Thorton Tomasetti with more than 30 years of expe-rience in mechanical engineering, project management, sustainable design and construction of multi-disciplinary projects.

“In my role as vice president in New York, I look forward to new experiences with my peers and cli-ents,” Mr. Nassiri said in a prepared statement issued last week.

“Thornton Tomasetti has a very active and well-respected MEP team, and it will be great to work closely with other individuals who have a passion for this work,” Mr. Nassiri added.

Mr. Nassiri is also a member of the Association of Energy Engineers, ASHRAE and the US Green Build-ing Council.

•••••Massey Knakal Realty Services

has brought on David Simon to join the firm as executive manag-ing director, it was announced last week.

Mr. Simon, who boasts more than 25 years of real estate experience, including as chief operating officer of Colliers Houston & Co., will now be responsible for overseeing day-

to-day operations, recruiting and expanding service lines throughout New Jersey.

“David’s the perfect guy to fulfill our vision in New Jersey,” said Paul

Massey Jr., chief execu-tive officer of Massey Knakal.

“He be-lieves in our unique, highly dis-c i p l i n e d model with all divisions focusing in geographic t e r r i t o -

ries,” added Mr. Massey. “New Jersey is a $4 billion market in annualized sales with over 700 in-vestment sales. Commercial leas-ing and mortgages have similar dollar velocity.”

•••••Murray Hill Properties has hired

Darilynne Saunders as a manag-ing director, it was announced last week.

Ms. Saun-ders had previously worked as a principal at S a u n d e r s R e a l t y A d v i s o r s LLC and p r o v i d e d consulting services to established clients in all aspects

of real estate acquisition and dis-position requirements.

lobby

calendar

TUESDAY, APRIL 30

NYU’s Stern Center for Real Es-tate Finance Research is hosting its second annual spring sympo-sium. The forum features panel dis-cussions with Wall Street analysts, leading policymakers and Stern’s real estate experts and will examine the critical role of real estate in our economy and financial markets. NYU Stern, Second Annual Spring Sympo-sium, Kaufman Management Cen-ter, Room 2-60, 44 West 4th Street, 8:45am-5pm; visit www.stern.nyu.edu for more information.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1

Join Scott Alper, principal of the Witkoff Group, for a luncheon and discussion on a developer’s perspec-tive on New York’s future. Admis-sion is $70 in advance and $80 at the door. A Developer’s Perspective on New York’s Future, Cornell Club, 6 East 44th Street, Ivy Room, 12:30-2pm; contact Aracelis Kuilan at (212) 885-7239 for more information.

CoreNet is hosting a panel on the ins and outs of benchmarking. The panel will include Pat Pryor of UBS, Gagan Singh of Goldman Sachs and CoreNet Global’s Peter Holland. CoreNet Workshop: Do You Measure Up? A Panel on the Ins and Outs of Benchmarking, Steel-

case, 4 Columbus Circle, 11:30am-1:30pm; visit www.corenetglobal.org for more information.

Join Women’s eNews for its 12th Annual Gala honoring its 21 Lead-ers for the 21st Century, a list of individuals dedicated to improv-ing the lives of women around the world. 12th Annual Gala benefitting Women’s eNews, JW Marriot Es-sex House, 160 Central Park South, 6pm; call (212) 244-1720 or email [email protected] for more information.

THURSDAY, MAY 2

REBNY is hosting a panel on the

thinking behind some of New York’s most active real estate investors and the future of New York. Peter Kozel, chief economist of Colliers International, will moderate the panel. REBNY Crossfire Event 2013: Today’s Money, Investing, in New York’s Future, REBNY Mendik Edu-cation Center, 570 Lexington Avenue, Lower Level, 5:30-7pm; visit www.rebny.com for more information.

The Metropolitan New York Chap-ter of the Appraisal Institute is host-ing a luncheon, entitled “Toll Broth-ers Take Manhattan... and Other Boroughs. David Von Spreckelsen, a vice president and division president of Toll Brothers, will serve as a guest speaker. Metro New York Chapter

of the Appraisal Institute Luncheon: Toll Brothers Take Manhattan... and Other Boroughs, Club 101, 101 Park Avenue, 11:30 am to 2pm; For more information, call 866-966-3710.

MONDAY, MAY 6

Join Related and Oxford Proper-ties for a discussion on the recent transformation of Manhattan’s West Side at Hudson Yards at the Center of Architecture. Related and Oxford: Design in the New Heart of New York, New York City for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, 7-9pm; contact [email protected] for more infor-mation.


Sq. Feet tenant LandLord BroKerSOFFICE

ChartWeekLease Beat reflects deals closed or announced from April 22 to April 26.

Information on leases, sales and financing deals can be sent to Michael Ewing at [email protected]

200 Fifth Avenue 68,791 BuzzFeed Tiffany Greg Taubin of Studley represented Tiffany.

280 Park Avenue 49,541 Blue Mountain Capital SL Green Realty Corp and Vornado

AJ Camhi and Brad Siderow of RFR Realty represented the tenant. A team from CBRE represented the landlord. The lease was set for 10 years.

280 Park Avenue 49,541 Promontory Financial Group LLC

SL Green Realty Corp.

Promontory Financial Group did not have a broker represent the firm. Mary Ann Tighe and Peter Turchin of CBRE represented the landlord. The lease was set for 10 years.

53rd Street and Third Avenue

39,200 Citi Bike MWC Management Corp.

Alec Monaghan and Bill Jordan of CBRE represented the tenant. Michael Coleman of MWC Man-agement represented the landlord.

292 Madison 22,226 Borderfree.com292 Madison Av-enue Leasehold, LLC

William Cohen and Ryan Kass of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the landlord while Da-vid Hoffman Jr. and Bryan Boisi of Cassidy Turley represented the tenant.

10 East 40th Street 15,090 Hart HowertonJoseph P. Day Re-alty Corp.

Jeff Cushman, Stuart Romanoff and David Berke of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant. In-house brokers Richard Brickell and Richard Teichman represented the landlord. The lease was set for 10 years and six months.

650 Fifth Avenue 11,289 Metropolitan Real Estate 650 Fifth Avenue Company

Robert Stillman, Paul Haskin and Zachary Freeman of CBRE represented the landlord. Paul Kotcher of Brickman & Associates represented the tenant.

80 Broad Street 7,840 Mobotix Corp. Savanna Hal Stein, Adam Leshowitz and Todd Stracci of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the land-lord while David Young and Scott Sloves of CBRE represented the tenant.

655 Third Avenue 7,340 Marathon Ventures Durst Organization In-house broker Karen Kuznick represented the landlord. The lease was set for two years and the asking rent was $56 per square foot.

100 Wall Street 4,366 Risk Placement Services Inc.

Savanna Scott Cahaly and Mitchell Konsker of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the landlord. Alex Jinshian of Colliers International represented the tenant.

118-35 Queens Boulevard 4,150 Central Medical Services of Westrock

Muss Development Nicholas Forelli of Muss Development represented the landlord. Noel Caban of Winick Realty Group represented the tenant.

237 West 37th Street 3,779 Creare MTS Real Estate Owner

Brett Maslin of Adams & Co. represented the tenant. In-house broker Chedvach Rabinovich repre-sented the landlord.

80 Broad Street 3,345 Foundation Fighting Blind-ness

Savanna Hal Stein, Adam Leshowitz and Todd Stracci of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the land-lord while Ben Nottingham of Studley represented the tenant.

463 Seventh Avenue 2,904 Caruana Group Ltd. The Arsenal Com-pany

David Levy of Adams & Co. represented both parties.

112 West 34th Street 1,800 Swatch W&H Properties Brad Mendelson and Alan Schmerzler of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant. Joanne Podell and Ian Larner of the same firm represented the landlord.

463 Seventh Avenue 1,799 Score Inc.The Arsenal Com-pany David Levy of Adams & Co. represented both parties.

463 Seventh Avenue 1,284 Diana Imports Inc.The Arsenal Com-pany David Levy of Adams & Co. represented both parties.

463 Seventh Avenue 1,269Antares Continental Cor-poration

The Arsenal Com-pany David Levy of Adams & Co. represented both parties.

463 Seventh Avenue 1,247 AISAM Inc. The Arsenal Com-pany


463 Seventh Avenue 305 Larry Macari The Arsenal Com-pany



ChartWeekLease Beat reflects deals closed or announced from April 22 to April 26.

Information on leases, sales and financing deals can be sent to Michael Ewing at [email protected]

Buyer Seller Sq. Footage amount BrokerSSaleS

265-267 South 2nd Street Private investor Private investor 22,800 $9,700,000 Mark Lively and Brendan Maddigan of Massey Knakal represented both parties.

14-26 Broadway Terrace BTH Holdings BGB Associates LLC 48,640 $9,000,000Jake Blatter of Rosewood Realty Group represented the seller. Ryan Perkoski of the same firm represented the buyer.

567 Seventh Avenue Private investor Private investor 4,149 $7,250,000 Paul Massey, Bob Knakal and Ryan Horvath of Massey Knakal represented both parties.

126 and 139 East 53rd Street

Private investor 126 Realty NY LLC and 139 Realty NY LLC

81,305 $6,650,000 Aaron Jungreis of Rosewood Realty Group represented both parties.

542 Cathedral Parkway Private investor Private investor 5,065 $3,400,000 Hall Oster of Massey Knakal represented both parties.

6914 Sixth Avenue Private investor 6914 Sixth Associates 12,659 $1,900,000David Scheer of Rosewood Realty Group represented the seller. Aaron Jungreis of the same firm represented the buyer.

684-686 Willoughby Av-enue

Private investor Private investor 12,480 $1,800,000 Michael Amirkhanian of Massey Knakal represented both parties.

363 South 4th Street Private investor Private investor N/a $1,225,000 Erik Lundberg and Shaun Riney of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller and the buyer.

90-07 Jamaica Avenue Private investor Private investor 2,696 $910,000 Stephen Preuss and Brian Sarat of Massey Knakal repre-sented both parties.

42 Howard Avenue Private investor 42 Howard Owner LLC 4,032 $575,000David Scheer of Rosewood Realty Group represented the seller. Mike Kerwin of the same firm represented the buyer.

3 Columbus Circle 21,159 CVS SL Green Realty Corp.

Jason Pruger of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the tenant. Jeff Winick of Winick Realty represented the landlord.

860 Washington Street 6,000Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 pop opera

Romanoff EquitiesAnita Grossberg of Douglas Elliman’s Sroka Worldwide team represented the tenant in negotiations for a temporary lease for a theater space.

1400 Broadway 4,691 Tossed W&H Properties Lee Block and Hal Shapiro of Winick Realty represented the tenant while Jared Lack of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the landlord.

180 Broadway 2,752 TD Bank SL Green Realty Corp.

N/a

334 First Avenue 1,213 Second Time Around ST Owner LPScott Galin and Darell Handler of Handler Real Estate Organization represented the tenant while Bruce Spiegel and William Bergman of Rose Associates represented the landlord. Asking rent was $120 per square foot.

Sq. Feet tenant landlord BrokerSReTaIl

To purchase a subscription to The Commercial Observer, please call 212.407.9331


THE PLAN 145 West 57th street

Originally on the hunt for an office space between 2,200 and 2,500 square feet, real estate investment firm Malone looked at available space at 145 West 57th Street. Not satisfied with the original 2,271-square-foot portion of the ninth floor it was shown, Malone instead opted to take the entire 4,368-square-foot floor plate, combining two separate spaces that, once reconfigured, will include two conference rooms, two pantries and a number of perimeter offices, including an executive corner suite. Abe Labaton, managing director at Murray Hill Properties, who represented the tenant, spoke with The Commercial Observer last week about the lay-out and the process of combining spaces.

The wall facing the floor’s eleva-tor bay was taken down to create a large reception area for the space. “There’s a nice, big recep-tion area with chairs and couches and a bunch of artwork,” Mr. Labaton said.

In the southern area of the space, a wall separating two offices was demolished to create a larger office for Malone’s chief executive officer.

The pantry area in the southern portion was kept intact for the executive group, while the pantry in the northern space will be used by the rest of the employees. “They’re keeping two separate pantries,” Mr. Labaton noted.

The northern portion, which gets a great deal of light, will house the tenant’s legal and accounting offices as well as a conference room. “The natural light is great,” Mr. Labaton said. “You have light on both sides on the front and back, and opening up the space to the elevator creates a lot of open area, which makes the space seem bigger.”

The office has no dedicated stor-age space, but room in some of the offices will be used for filing needs. “The offices, I’d say they’re generous sizes, so they plan on using some [space] there,” Mr. Labaton noted. “Generally speak-ing, they’re trying to do away with it and they’re trying to go paperless.”

A pocket door was created to fa-cilitate access between the north-ern and southern areas. “The pocket door was put close to the conference room,” Mr. Labaton noted. “Like a foot away.”

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