Reeling in the Years With the Real Estate Board of New York: In their own words, brokers and owners tell the tale of REBNY’s past half century

reprints


1970s: Oil Prices Soar and Reciting the Declaration of Independence

The 1970s proved to be a financially challenging decade for REBNY and the real estate industry. Middle East “oil shocks” sent heating oil prices soaring, affecting several buildings. The city and the industry were faced with other financial perils, including a near-bankruptcy for the city and stubborn stagflation.

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Peter DiCapua (chief operating officer of ATCO Properties & Management Inc.): If I recall, everything was about inflation and I think we were all concerned about was whether the assets of specifically the commercial real estate industry were going to keep up with inflation. And I think the mood was everybody had their own opinion about that. It’s a diverse group, I tend to be on the optimist’s side. I always say, “We’ll do OK …” Other people like to say the glass is half empty and it’s draining. I don’t think the mood was totally negative. I think it was balanced but concerned.

Mr. Speyer: Real estate’s problems started in 1972, and they got worse as the city’s problems got worse. At that point the real estate markets went down radically, and stagflation was definitely having a big affect on the Real Estate Board dinners.

People felt pretty down. There was not much renting going on, there was a lot of empty space, space downtown was going begging because the World Trade Center had been built and didn’t get rented until the late ’70s, space in Midtown was going begging. There was a lot of stuff going on that wasn’t pretty, to say the least.

Jeffrey Lichtenberg (executive vice president, Cushman & Wakefield (CWK)): Originally when I started [in 1977] I thought this was a huge big-deal issue and you had to be there. I remember a company called Swig Wyler & Arnell invited me. I remember talking [with Norman Jacobson, then the head of leasing for Swig Wyler] about East 42nd Street and how I thought that … Donald Trump redeveloping the Commodore Hotel into the Hyatt was going to change East 42nd Street for the better. This is not a bullshit story.

Mr. Silverstein: Seymour Durst was chairman of the board and when he got up, he started speaking, and he started reciting the Declaration of Independence. Nobody, absolutely nobody, cared about what he said, because who’s paying attention? He just rambled on and on, everybody was going about their business like he didn’t exist. The funny thing is he told me the next day he met some people and they said, “Hey did you make the ball last night? We didn’t see you.”

Mr. Speyer: The markets really began to turn in 1977. Then in ’78 and ’79, they really got better. Buildings went up, buildings were being renovated, there were a lot of good things going on.