News
LAST NIGHT AT REBNY!
January 22, 2010
| There was no bitter cold, no biting wind, and no planes steering into the Hudson yesterday. We only hope this portends a better year for the real estate industry, which was all about survival in ’09. What we heard from many of the 2,000 attendees at REBNY’s 114th annual banquet last night were glimmers of hope in an uncertain market. |
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| The packed—and quite noisy—Grand Ballroom. Last night’s honorees were Kramer Levin’s Sandy Lindenbaum (The Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award); Vornado’s David Greenbaum (The Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership in Real Estate Award); Massey Knakal’s Bob Knakal (The Louis Smadbeck Broker Recognition Award); Paramount Group’s Ralph DiRuggiero(The George M. Brooker Management Executive of the Year Award); Warburg Realty Partnership’s Frederick Peters (The Kenneth R. Gerrety Humanitarian Award); and Swig Equities’ Todd Korren (The Young Real Estate Man of the Year Award). |
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| We snapped this of Governor Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg coming by the VIP reception, here sandwiched in among REBNY president Steven Spinola (in his 24th year) and new REBNY chairman (and CBRE Tri-State CEO) Mary Ann Tighe. |
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| Look who we found at prestigious Table 35, next to the dais: the newly minted Cassidy Turley folks, already integrating the Washingtonians (standing, Joe Stettinius, Art Santry, and Bill Collins) and New Yorkers (principal Joe Grotto, vice chair Richard Bernstein, and investment sales guru Mark Boisi). |
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| Newlyweds New York Observer owner Jared Kushner and The Trump Org.’s Ivanka Trump, with Newmark Knight Frank’s Billy Cohen. Ivanka will again join father Donald, brother Donald Jr. and colleague George Ross for the third installment of The Celebrity Apprentice, which premieres March 14—we’ll be setting our TiVo to record the motley crew, which includes Darryl Strawberry, Cyndi Lauper, Rod Blagojevich, and Sharon Osbourne. |
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| Tishman Speyer’s Rob Speyer, right, had an great December; his firm inked a record 1M SF in deals, including Simon & Schuster’s 292k-SF extension at 1230 Avenue of the Americas and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher’s 260k-SF renewal and expansion at 200 Park. Joining him are Edison Properties’ Steve Nislick and Gary DeBode, and Stroock’s Claude Szyfer. Retail maven Faith Hope Consolo of Prudential Douglas Elliman told us ’09 was marked by so many people who were struggling and couldn’t cope with the market—but last night’s turnout showed that the last four weeks of Q4 turned everything around. |
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| We also bumped into Monday Properties chief investment officer Bill Helmig, CEO Anthony Westreich, CBRE superbroker Paul Amrich, and Colliers ABR founder (now Cassidy Turley vice chair) Steve Riker. Its 230 Park building—also known as the Crown Jewel—has been on a leasing spree; the firm announced yesterday that Six Flags inked a new 10-year, 22k-SF deal, while Lathrop & Gage signed a 20.4k-SF renewal and expansion. Does Six Flags come with an in-house roller coaster? |
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| Cushman & Wakefield co-chairman of the board Bruce Mosler, NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, and Rudin Management president Bill Rudin. |
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| Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Seyfarth Shaw’s Stephen Epstein, and Fried Frank’s Jonathan Mechanic. Yesterday, Scott released “Falling Apart At the Seams,” a report documenting what he says is a complete system-wide breakdown in NYC’s enforcement efforts aimed at protecting the city’s buildings. Last fall, his office discovered nearly 250k open building violations in Manhattan, 33% which are classified as “hazardous” or “Class-1,” which means they post a severe threat. His recommendations include creating a NYC Office of Inspection, which would be responsible for building inspection and remediation. If anything, we know two good real estate attorneys. |
