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
By Jotham Sederstrom January 17, 2012 10:30 am
reprints1980s: The Rise of Manhattan
With the growing pangs of the 1970s long behind them, REBNY members welcomed an explosion of bigger buildings and bigger deals, perking up the moods of the REBNY gala … that is, until 1986 arrived.
Peter Hauspurg (chairman and chief executive officer, Eastern Consolidated): From 1981 to 1986 was really one of the great rises of Manhattan real estate in terms of activity and prices and people who are making a lot of money. So the mood during those times was buoyant, and then they changed the tax law at the end of 1986 [Tax Reform Act of 1986] to discourage syndication and the tax aspects of investing in real estate and activity plunged, for a while at least.
Mr. DiCapua: Through 1986, before everybody realized we had too much money and we were building foolishly, anybody who rubbed two sticks together got the financing and started a 40-story building. It was just too much and we oversaturated the market. We paid for it.
Mr. Speyer: In 1986 there was a big tax rehaul, and the real estate industry took a big hit in 1986, and that affected the industry in a significant way. And that combined with the changes in the economy in the next couple of years, the real estate business was really in tough shape by the end of the ’80s, and during the next five, six years, the industry was in a very difficult position to say the least.
While the economy rebounded—only to stumble once again—one thing was certain: REBNY attendees still would not stop talking for anyone, no matter who the speakers were. And one formerly fail-proof trick did not stand the test of time.
Fred Wilpon (co-founder and chairman, Sterling Equities): No one sits at the table all the time. Everybody is standing and schmoozing and talking, and one year I was to start the [gala]. I tried to get their attention and I couldn’t get their attention. It was impossible. The roar of the crowd—of them all talking to each other. And finally I [started] going, “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers …” A couple people in the front heard it and they were hysterical. The rest of them, they didn’t hear it, until they decided to say “OK, now we’ll go down to a minor roar rather than a large roar.”
Around that same time, several of real estate’s brightest female stars—including a future REBNY chairwoman—started attending the galas.
Mary Ann Tighe (chief executive officer, CBRE (CBRE), current REBNY chairman): I remember it being a terrifying event for someone who was new to the industry. I remember thousands of men in black tie, and a tiny sprinkling of women in the mix. I remember the shock of [seeing people speak] through the invocation back in the day.
Leslie Himmel (managing partner, Himmel + Meringoff Properties): I will be embarrassed to say, and I’m not sure you should print this, is that I came to meet some friends who had tickets, and they just like walked me in. I sat all the way up in the mezzanine, so I didn’t even have a ticket for downstairs. I was way up in the mezzanine looking at everybody down below.
I can remember looking at the people who were then, I guess, on the executive committee and the powers that be, and you had people like Larry Silverstein and Bernie Mendick, and I think even Harry Helmsley.
It was my dream to one day be an owner, never mind a significant owner. So now it’s 30 years later and not only am I an owner of a few million square feet, but I am on that stage. I even was lucky enough to get the Bernie Mendrick Award, so it marvels me. When I got that award last year I can remember sitting up in the mezzanine and just saying “one day, I just want to own a few buildings.
Faith Hope Consolo (chairman retail leasing, Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate): I was at my old firm, which was Garrick-Aug [Associates] at the time [1985]. I felt like a little bit of a lost little girl. I mean, there weren’t a dozen women in the whole room out of 1,000 people.
Ms. Himmel: It was a great place to meet new people, but it was way smaller so it was easier. You could walk around and you could meet for the first time people who were very significant.
Ms. Tighe: One of the things I often joke about is after you’ve had the experience of going, how particular you become about the dress. Because you’re so densely packed, you can’t have a dress that drags on the floor, because people will step on you all night long.
Perhaps most impressive to newcomers was the universal respect held for Harry and Leona Helmsley throughout the entire REBNY gala.
Ms. Consolo: Oh, gosh, they held court. They had a table right in the front, front and center. And of course, she was, you know, very over the top. I got along with her very well. But Harry was very well respected because many of the men in that room he made very rich. I mean, he was like a dean and people liked him personally and professionally. And they would all come over and pay homage.
Mr. Silverstein: Truth of the matter is I’m a legend, but only in my own mind am I a legend, so I don’t consider myself kind of a luminary. I think of Harry, he was just a remarkable guy in his day. It’s amazing the swiftness with which legendary characters become a matter of past interest and very little relevance to today. Quite something. But it’s testimony that we are all here for a very fleeting time, and the world does not revolve around us and we’re not the masters of the universe we like to think we are or are not the legends we like to think we are. In a sense, when you think about it, it’s humbling.
