“We’re in the early stages of this marketing campaign,” said Mr. Doyle, who added that several trading proposals have already begun to trickle in. “We certainly aren’t going to lease to partial-floor users, and I think this is going to make sense for a larger user. But it’s not realistic to think we can find another single tenant who’s going to take over all the space.”
MR. DOYLE WAS RAISED in South Boston, though he’s the first to point out that his New England roots have all but vanished. Indeed, as a young professional intent on pursuing a career in business, Mr. Doyle moved to New York and soon began work at investment banking firm Drexel Burnham Lambert, the entity that would later be mired in the junk bond scandals of the early 1990s.
It was there he met his future wife, Stacey Lauren, but it was before the romance bloomed that the firm first embezzled a bit of Boston pride from Mr. Doyle.
“I was at a training program there, and the first day I showed up, they had me meet with a language specialist,” said Mr. Doyle, who describes himself not as a Red Sox fan but a Mets follower, in part to play foil to his three daughters, Yankees diehards all. “During the interview process, they identified that I had this Boston accent that had to be addressed. So five days a week, for an hour a day, I was going in with a language specialist, who had me doing muscle-strengthening exercises for my tongue so I could work on my Rs.”
With his business desires still percolating but his accent behind him, Mr. Doyle dug into a career at LaSalle Partners that had him investing all his energy into market analysis at the former Daily News building at 220 East 42nd Street and at 745 Fifth Avenue. Six months later, the firm won an assignment to lease the formerly named Citicorp Center at 601 Lexington Avenue, where Jones Lang LaSalle’s New York offices operate.
The plan, recalled Mr. Doyle, was to capitalize on LaSalle Partners’ reputation as a training ground for business school hopefuls. That path swerved to real estate, however, after the thrill of being awarded leasing duties at 601 Lexington fully kicked in. Twenty-three years later, he still heads up leasing at the building.
To be sure, Mr. Doyle just inked two separate financial-services deals at 601 Lexington last week. Details, he promised, would come this month.
“We know this building pretty well because our occupancy has been here for 10 years,” said a modest Mr. Doyle, who, almost as an afterthought, added, “By the way, I’ve been here longer.”
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