News
BIGGEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR
January 23, 2012
| That is, the biggest night of the year until the Giants win the Super Bowl in two weeks. It's hard to believe anyone from New York's CRE crowd wasn't at the REBNY's 116th annual banquet Thursday night with over 2,200 attendees making deals (and making merry) in the Hilton's grand ballroom. Bisnow was on the scene. |
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| This is probably only half of the crowd (the rest of you were too busy with your deals or filet mignon to notice us snapping away). Not only were New York’s biggest names in real estate on the dais and the floor, but the night included special appearances by Mayor Mike, Council speaker Christine Quinn, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, AG Eric Schneiderman, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, and Manhattan borough prez Scott Stringer, among plenty of other public officials and dignitaries. |
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| Himmel & Meringoff Properties principal Leslie Himmel (with CBRE Tri-State CEO and REBNY chairm Mary Ann Tighe) says NYC is on fire, in a good way, but her smoke detector is monitoring the eurozone and US deficit. (We're glad she didn't sound the alarm during the banquet, because that would have been an interesting evacuation.) |
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| Warburg Realty prez Fred Peters (right, with REBNY's Kenneth R. Gerrety Humanitarian Award recipient and Corcoran CEO Pam Liebman and her husband Dr. Michael Krouse) predicts that 2012 will resemble 2011 in Manhattan, with the same highly stratified and uncertain behavior. |
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| And here's REBNY's Louis Smadbeck Broker Recognition Award winner and Ackman-Ziff president Simon Ziff (right, with ABR Partners managing partner Brian Ray). Brian tells us his firm has several development deals in the works, adding up to a busy 2012. Simon says his team continues to find capital by turning over every stone. "It's real basic." |
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| We should've gotten into the boutonniere business. Cushman & Wakefield chair of global brokerage Bruce Mosler, Tishman Construction chairman and AECOM Technology vice chair Dan Tishman, and Fried Frank real estate chairman Jonathan Mechanic joined the crowd in celebrating the night's other honorees: The Durst Org's Douglas Durst (Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership in Real Estate Award), Rubenstein Associates’ Howard Rubenstein (Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award); RFR Realty's Gerard Schumm (George M. Brooker Management Executive of the Year Award); and Cushman & Wakefield's David Green (Young Real Estate Man of the Year Award). Congrats! |
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| Vornado leasing director Glen Weiss with colleague Tom Costanzo tells us their team leased 3.2M SF last year. If Bruce Mosler's recap of marketwide figures for 2011 is right (see Friday's national edition), that means Vornado did 10% of NYC's leases! |
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| And Trinity Real Estate signed over 1M SF of leases in Midtown South alone in 2011, prez Jason Pizer (with Cushman & Wakefield New York metro COO Joe Harbert) tells us—expect this year to be just as good. And half of the submarket’s 4.4M SF of leases were from info and media companies, Joe adds. |
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| Plaza Construction’s Jennifer Murphy, ACC Construction’s Iva Kravitz, HJ Kalikow’s Dorothy Vermeer, Stribling & Associates’Rebecca Mason, and Appraisers and Planners prez Ruth Agnese. It’s been quite the exciting past month for Plaza—not only did it top off on the 180k SF, $176M Fulton Street Transit Center in its JV with Schiavone Construction, but it was program manager for the renovation of JPMorgan Chase’s global HQ at 270 Park Ave, which announced its LEED Platinum cert last week (the world’s largest renovation to reach this status). Plaza also just celebrated its 25th anniversary. |
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| Brand-new Lee & Associates NYC vice chairmen Howard Rosen and John Cannon (who come from Grubb & Ellis and will be spearheading the firm's office leasing program) flank COO Joel Herskowitz and president Jim Wacht. Inset are Jim's cowboy boots; he tells us he has pair of red ones arriving next week. Check back for more party pics this week. |
