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The Sit-Down

By Billy Gray 6/18 10:00am

Scott Panzer: Jones Lang LaSalle’s Triple Digit Threat

Scott Panzer no longer wears a tie to the office. But despite his nod to Gen Y’s watering down of the workplace dress code, the Jones Lang LaSalle vice chairman shows up to our interview in a snazzy pair of suspenders and a starched white button-down. A 26-year veteran of the real estate industry, Mr. Panzer is at a stage of his career when he doesn’t sweat the small stuff, like neckwear. Instead, he focuses on matching elite tenants (like Interpublic Group of Companies) with A-list landlords (including Sheldon Solow) and their trophy properties (e.g. 9 West 57th Street). Mr. Panzer spoke to The Commercial Observer about his real estate salad days, the comeback of triple-digit rents and the negotiating power of cowboy boots. Read More

By Al Barbarino 6/11 8:00am

The Sit-Down

What About Bob: CBRE’s Robert Alexander on Hudson Yards

In 2005, CBRE broker Mary Ann Tighe told The New York Times that there had never been a “phenomenon quite like Bob Alexander.” What’s more phenomenal is that the 58-year-old chairman of the firm’s tristate region still ranks among its top brokers, having landed some of the city’s highest-profile deals this year as a lead broker representing Read More

By Billy Gray 6/04 10:00am

The Sit-Down

Jamestown Properties’ Michael Phillips on Feeding Chelsea

As chief operating officer of Jamestown Properties, Michael Phillips has helped create and oversee a portfolio of more than 80 properties across nine states, totaling over 25 million square feet. But the jewel in his and Jamestown’s crown may well be Chelsea Market, the wildly popular foodie mecca in the Meatpacking District. Jamestown is currently working on a contentious expansion of that Ninth Avenue destination that will result in an additional 330,000 square feet of office space (an earlier plan for a 90,000-square-foot hotel was scrapped).

The Commercial Observer grabbed a few minutes with Mr. Phillips inside Jamestown’s swank, canopied, free-crepe-dispensing booth at ICSC’s RECon global retail real estate summit in Las Vegas. There, the James Beard Foundation vice chair and Real Estate Board of New York governor shared some morsels about Jamestown’s unannounced plans for a second sit-down restaurant at Chelsea Market, its imminent foray into the Brooklyn culinary world, and marquee projects in Georgia and California. Read More

By Billy Gray 5/28 9:00am

The Sit-Down

Cushman’s Matt Winn on the Wide World of Retail and the Death of Mass Luxury

As a senior managing director and head of retail services in the Americas at Cushman & Wakefield, Matt Winn oversees 325 brokers making deals from Canada to Brazil. In previous roles at C&W, the Atlanta-based Mr. Winn handled the expansion efforts of tenants including Nike, Abercrombie & Fitch and Ann Taylor. The Commercial Observer caught up with Mr. Winn at his company’s booth on Monday morning at the International Council of Shopping Centers’ RECon real estate summit in Las Vegas to discuss the return of “true luxury” and strategies for walking the convention floor. Read More

By Al Barbarino 5/14 9:00am

The Sit-Down

The Prodigy: Ronald Lo Russo Takes Over at Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield reported the second-highest annual revenue in its 95-year history in 2012, so its new tristate president, Ronald Lo Russo, was unabashed to admit that the firm’s metered first-quarter performance was “probably a little slower” than he would have liked. But the 38-year-old is no stranger to adversity, having shaped his career by Read More

By Gus Delaporte 5/07 9:00am

The Sit-Down

Catching Up With Hines

Hines has been busy on the investment and development side over the past few months. After breaking ground at 7 Bryant Park in February, officials at the 56-year-old firm announced in March that they would put up for sale its properties at 499 Park Avenue and 425 Lexington, both part of the Hines Core Fund. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 4/23 8:00am

The Sit-Down

Our Lady of the Forest: MaryAnne Gilmartin On Taking Charge at FCRC

Last week, Forest City Enterprises confirmed what had become an open secret in New York real estate circles: MaryAnne Gilmartin would succeed Bruce Ratner as president and chief executive of the company’s New York subsidiary, Forest City Ratner Companies. Ms Gilmartin spoke with The Commercial Observer on the day of the announcement last week about the process of deciding on a succession plan, what she will bring to the table and how her ascension to the top of FCRC will impact the way women are viewed in the real estate industry.

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By Gus Delaporte 4/16 10:00am

The Sit-Down

Heralded: Joseph Jerome on Daffy’s and the Herald Center’s Retail Renaissance

In August of last year, JEMB Realty Corporation acquired the leasehold interests of Daffy’s, the now-defunct Secaucus, N.J.-based discount retail chain, for $43 million. The acquisition allowed the company, which had owned the Herald Center office and retail property for a quarter-century, to reposition its asset. In a rare interview, Joseph Jerome, president at JEMB, spoke with The Commercial Observer last week about the Daffy’s deal and his plans for Herald Center and Herald Towers, the firm’s nearby residential property. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 4/09 10:00am

The Sit-Down

Let There Be Real Estate: Trinity Real Estate President Jason Pizer on tending Queen Anne’s Assets

Trinity Church boasts over three centuries of landownership in New York City, dating back to 1705, when Queen Anne gave a 250-acre land grant in what is now Hudson Square to the parish. Bounded by Greenwich Street to the west, Avenue of the Americas to the east, Houston Street to the north and Canal Street to the south, Hudson Square has more recently benefited from Midtown South’s increasing popularity with the creative class. Jason Pizer, president of Trinity Real Estate, spoke with The Commercial Observer last week about Trinity’s presence in the market, the evolution of Midtown South and the future of Hudson Square as rezoning stands to revitalize the neighborhood once again.

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By Billy Gray 4/09 9:00am

The Sit-Down

Bombs, Bullion and the Bronx: David Levinson of L&L Holdings

L&L Holding Company’s development of 425 Park Avenue may be the company’s current marquee project, but the firm, which chairman and CEO David Levinson co-founded with Robert Lapidus in 2000, continues to make a mark on Midtown South. In January, L&L purchased 114 Fifth Avenue in a $165 million joint venture, planning to model it after 200 Fifth Avenue, a thriving symbol of Midtown South’s bull real estate market. Mr. Levinson, 64, who owns a stake in the New York Yankees, spoke with The Commercial Observer about Midtown South, the threat of bomb attacks and the Bronx Bombers. Read More

By Al Barbarino 4/09 8:00am

The Sit-Down

Master of His Domain: Edward Minskoff on 51 Astor

Edward Minskoff has developed close to 37 million square feet of property in 10 cities around the country. His latest dive into Midtown South comes at 51 Astor Place, where a 13-story, 430,000-square-foot dark glass building will open next month, fueled by a red-hot office market and Mr. Minskoff’s personal faith that the neighborhood will Read More

By Billy Gray 4/02 10:00am

The Sit-Down

Preserving Manhattan: Municipal Art Society’s Vin Cipolla

Before becoming president of the Municipal Art Society in 2009, Vin Cipolla had founded three companies, presided over the National Park Foundation and been the executive vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. His ability to move between the corporate and public sectors prepared him well for his role at MAS, which is among the city’s most prominent civic preservation groups. Between the proposed rezoning of Midtown East and the sea change under way in Midtown West, the MAS has a full plate. Mr. Cipolla, 56, still had time to talk to The Commercial Observer about those two issues, as well as Mayor Bloomberg’s legacy and the future of Manhattan’s center. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 4/02 9:00am

The Sit-Down

Boston Legal: Andrew Levin On 250 West 55th Street

With eight buildings totaling close to nine million square feet across a number of submarkets, Boston Properties is one of the largest owners of real estate in Midtown. Andrew Levin, senior vice president of leasing in the real estate investment trust’s New York office, has his finger on the pulse of the market. He spoke with The Commercial Observer last week about leasing trends in Midtown and Boston Properties’ development of 250 West 55th Street, which will open in fall 2013. Read More

By Al Barbarino 4/02 8:00am

The Sit-Down

King of the Yard: Related’s Jay Cross on Reimagining the Far West Side

As president of the New York Jets, Jay Cross spent the first half of the 2000s immersed in the plans for the New York Sports and Convention Center on the Far West Side. The plan collapsed and the Jets’ focus shifted to the Meadowlands, but Mr. Cross kept eager watch on the Mass Transit Authority’s bid to find a new developer.

After Stephen Ross purchased the Miami Dolphins in 2008, Mr. Cross found himself fatefully reacquainted with Related’s founder and chairman through an assigned seating arrangement at an NFL owners’ meeting, setting the stage for Mr. Cross’s eventual role as president of Related Hudson Yards.

“The Jets always sat beside the Dolphins at these meetings, so I was sitting beside Stephen,” Mr. Cross said. “He asked me how I was getting home. He flew me home and said, ‘You should come and run this project for us.’”

Here’s what Mr. Cross had to say about the 26-acre, 15-million-square-foot mixed-use project that he began orchestrating on Manhattan’s Far West Side in the summer of 2008. Read More

By Billy Gray 3/28 7:00pm

The Sit-Down

ABS Partners’ Ashkán Zandieh on the Sociology of Tech and NYC’s Race Against San Francisco

“The ability to socialize and collaborate is one of the founding blocks of creating a tech community,” writes Ashkán Zandieh, director of the creative and start-up advisory division at ABS Partners Real Estate, in the latest edition of his quarter TechStarter report. Mr. Zandieh has been involved with the technology sector for seven years. He created and sold a start-up, has advised several fledgling companies and tracked the field’s real estate activity for the past year. From ABS Partner’s Union Square area office, Mr. Zandieh is well-positioned to observe and dissect the red hot Midtown South tech real estate market and, if he looks south, the growth of the Financial District as a tech and new media contender.

Mr Zandieh spoke by phone with The Commercial Observer.

The Commercial Observer: How is the tech-fueled Midtown South commercial real estate market holding up?

Mr. Zandieh: The average asking rental price per square foot increased from an estimated $38 per-square-foot in 2011 and 2012 to nearly $60 per square foot for Class B buildings in Midtown South in the first quarter of 2013. What’s pretty interesting is that we’re seeing a Class B transition–there’s a fuzzy line between Class B and Class C.

So young companies are still drawn to, and able to afford, the neighborhood?

A lot of the start-ups I’m working with now are down in Soho and expanding by 20 or 30 employees. They’re moving out of Soho and to NoMad, where they can get larger floor plates. By NoMad, I mean 23rd Street to 28th Street between Park and Seventh Avenues. Read More

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