News
WHAT MAKES NORMAN TICK
October 20, 2011
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| Yesterday, Murray Hill Properties CEO Norman Sturner (flanked by Grubb & Ellis Landauer's Robert Von Ancken, Meister Seelig & Fein partner Matthew Kasindorf, Metropolitan Valuation Services' Steven Schneider, and Grubb & Ellis' John Farrell) said 530 Fifth Avewould soon be added to his firm's 3.5M SF portfolio. He told attendees at the Appraisal Institute lunch at Club 101 that he and Neil Siderow started the company in '71 in multifamily but got out of that biz when they realized it was a 600 tenants versus two owners proposition. His biz may have changed, but Norman's sticking by wife of 51 years, Harriet (or maybe she's actually doing the sticking). He recalls a time when his accounting firm boss advised client Eddie Fisher, who wanted to ditch Debbie Reynolds for Liz Taylor, that Eddie couldn't afford to get divorced. But it's not just the money—turns out Norman likes Harriet a whole lot, too. |
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| We also snapped Brown Harris Stevens Appraisal & Consulting exec director Alice Palmisano and KTL Valuation and Consulting senior managing director Theresa Nygard, who's next year's Metro NY Appraisal Institute prez. Norman's a bricks-and-mortar guy. In a 17-square-mile island built out with 500M SF of office, location matters more than a particular building's tenant base, he cajoled the appraisers to remember. Imagine if De Beers said there were no more diamonds, he says—the value would skyrocket. So when you see a property you like, "Put your teeth into somebody's tush and don't let go until they say, 'Yes.'" (Good advice for property acquisition; bad advice for holiday shopping.) |
