The Net Worth of Sam Zell's Jeans
Equity Group Investments chairman Sam Zell, whom we snapped yesterday, expects a lot more from the REIT industry, despite the fact that it's worth more than $1 trillion for the first time. That's nothing, he says, adding that here's probably $1 trillion worth of estate within three blocks of The Pierre Hotel at 61st and Fifth, where Sam spoke at NYU’s REIT Symposium (we also suspect there's $1 trillion worth of denim in his closet). And yet, he expects more consolidation among the 203 REITs. The REIT structure’s purpose is liquidity, he says, and for that, companies need to be large.