News
WELCOME BACK
September 2, 2008
| Happy September! We thought we'd make our rounds to see if the real estate profession is still in business after the long hot summer. Of course it is; just a little more time on our hands to patronize the Open. |
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| We had 7:30 AM breakfast at Brasserie on 53rd with NY Jones Lang prez Peter Riguardi. That was late for him. He gets into his office at6:45 AM each morning, coming by high-speed ferry from Rumson, NJ., also known as home to Bruce Springsteen. (Does he see him? Just occasionally at the Chapel Beach Club.) Peter predicts a 10 to 15 point economic correction in the NY market with a comeback in the fall of '09: "I'm not in the camp that everything's going to fall off the edge." He saw an hour-long line of happy consumers (not all with foreign accents) at the Apple store when he went to get an iPhone for his 19 year-old son. But it's also been a busy time on the leasing front with clients like Merrill, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC (even if some of the work is finding subleases for downsizing); and he just put Legg Mason's Royce Funds in 44k SF at 745 Fifth. |
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| Of course Peter's also busy integrating 50 professionals fromStaubach, and plans to start the process in the fall of looking for100k SF for JLL's own office, up from its current 70k—unless landlordBoston Properties can find expansion space in their current building down the block in the picture above. Peter's multiplied office earningssix times to around $100M/yr. since being recruited in 2002 fromColliers ABR, in part by bringing in high profile local clients the Port Authority and World Trade Center owner Larry Silverstein, so it's his own fault they need the space. |
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| We also stopped by CBRE at 200 Park to see EVP Paul Amrich, who's busy finding tenants for 510 Madison Avenue that's the single current ground-up development of the Macklowes. Of course it will be LEED Gold with column-free windows and 13.5 feet slab-to-slab, but how's this for a trophy amenity: a 50 foot lap pool. Paul saysHarry and Billy were extremely hands-on in the design, arraying blueprints around their conference table and insisting on only the classiest features. |
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| We snapped this of progress on the 30-story, 350k SF buidling. The Macklowes assembled half a dozen small buildings over the last decade to create the site for it. The sixth floor is set back as a furnished and planted terrace for all tenants. Why was Paul working so hard in August? Because he and his wife were smart enough to visit China in July, as well as Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Maldives. But Paul found time to play golf the other day at Friar's Head on Long Island (Exit 71) with Monday Properties head Anthony Westreich. Paul was a competitive golfer in college and shot an impressive 78 "from the tips," but we heard it might still not not have been enough to win. |
