Walking the REBNY Ballroom: Hungry Brokers, Angry Lapidus
By Daniel Edward Rosen January 24, 2012 11:08 am
reprints7:16 “Do I like this party? It’s OK,” Kathryn Wylde, head of the Partnership for New York City, says. “I go to a lot of parties.”
7:25 The CO bumps into Woody Heller in the men’s room and mentions to him a rumor that Will Silverman, Mr. Heller’s colleague at Studley, doesn’t sit at a desk but stands. “It’s true,” Mr. Heller says. “He has a swivel desk that can be lifted and he stands at it rather than sits. He says it’s more comfortable.”
Does Mr. Heller do the same thing? “I pace,” Mr. Heller says.
7:40 The crowd, now dense, is heading into the main ballroom.
7:41 Bruce Mosler, a top leasing executive at Cushman & Wakefield (CWK), chats with friends outside the ballroom. “A lot of my good friends are in real estate, so this is a fun night for me, I get to see them all,” Mr. Mosler says.
7:42 Paul Pariser, a chief executive of the real estate investment company Taconic, stands nearby. Known as an avid skier, The CO asks him if he’s been to Colorado yet this season. “There’s no snow!” Mr. Pariser replies.
7:50 Howard Michaels, of the financing firm Carlton, is making his way into the ballroom. “If you’re in the real estate business and you’re not at this party, you have to have your head examined,” Mr. Michaels says. “Want to know something? I almost didn’t come. That was the pep talk I gave myself.”
8:00 Already murmurs are going around about where the after-parties are going to be. “I’m not going to an after-party,” says Bob Knakal, chairman of the brokerage firm Massey Knakal, which during the boom years threw epic REBNY parties. “I have dinner plans with my wife.”
8:05 Steve Berliner, an executive at the brokerage company Studley, flashes The CO a stack of his business cards, which he plans to hand out. “Tonight is the best recruiting night of the year,” he says. “I started getting recruited to Studley six years ago at this party.”
8:20 The CO tells Amira Yunis, a retail leasing executive at CBRE (CBRE), that she looks stunning in her black dress. It’s true, the former model does. Asked what her plans for the year are, she jokingly grabs The CO by the shoulders and shakes, “Make millions and millions and millions of dollars!”
9:00 The ballroom is full. But few people are eating. In the center of the room, Mitch Arkin, an executive at C&W, is chatting. “I haven’t eaten yet,” Mr. Arkin says. “I’m not going to eat.” What is he using for fuel, a hungry CO asks. “Adrenaline.”
9:10 “After-party is at Nobu,” Matt Astrachan, an executive at Jones Lang LaSalle, tells his colleague Mitch Konsker and C&W retail executive Brad Mendelson. “JLL (JLL) party at 10!” Mr. Mendelson booms.
9:15 Dessert is being served. Some kind of chocolate-coated-ball concoction. The CO is still looking for dinner, finds a steak and eats it. It’s not as rubbery as rumored, though it’s certainly overdone.
9:45 Steve Durels, SL Green (SLG) leasing chief, and Paul Glickman, an agency leasing specialist at JLL, walk out chatting. The banquet is winding down.
10:00 Kent Swig, with a closely cropped beard and carrying a few extra pounds, makes his way out. “I’m having a beer,” he says.
dgeiger@observer.com
