The Trophy Agent: RFR’s Steve Morrows
By Gus Delaporte July 30, 2013 9:00 am
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Mr. Morrows began his commercial brokerage career at Abramson Brothers and Newmark, before becoming an owner’s representative for JMB Realty and then for Rockrose. At Rockrose, he was responsible for leasing at Carnegie Hall Tower. Over time, his responsibilities there grew to acquisitions, including at 300 Park Avenue South and 90 Broad Street, before he joined RFR in 2002.
Having spent time both at brokerages and as an in-house leasing agent, Mr. Morrows offers a unique perspective on the industry. At RFR, instead of being commission-motivated, as some brokers are, Mr. Morrows claims he is building-motivated.
“When we, as a group, lease our properties, we look at the impact of every deal,” he said. “It’s not just about the deal—we are tenant ambassadors, and the tenant must feel that they are being serviced.”
While the majority of RFR’s leasing is done in-house, some projects necessitate the outside help of brokerage firms. In the case of recent acquisitions at 285 and 350 Madison Avenue, that meant enlisting the help of CBRE’s Mary Ann Tighe and Peter Turchin, respectively.
The building at 285 Madison Avenue will be completely rebuilt and repositioned. As reported by The Commercial Observer, prior to RFR’s acquisition of the property, the building experienced a fatal elevator failure.
An example of what may be expected at 285 Madison Avenue can be seen farther Downtown at 160 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District, where a completely renovated building has been repositioned to attract the tech and media tenants flocking to Midtown South. The submarket’s emergence has not been lost on Mr. Morrows.
“Ten years ago, I was doing deals in the West 20s and the West teens for $10 and $12 per square foot, while buildings on Fifth Avenue were $18 per square foot,” he recalled. “Now they’re going to $80 and climbing.”
The change, Mr. Morrows contends, is attributable to the changing desires of creative tenants, who once clambered for glass-and-steel buildings and are now pursuing older brick properties.
Downtown and its burgeoning residential community have also seen a significant shift during Mr. Morrows’s time in real estate. Once a stronghold of the financial services industry, lower Manhattan has emerged as a destination for media and technology companies.
“Downtown has a much broader tenant base than it had in the past,” he said.
Farther north, change is less apparent. Despite triple-digit rents, Mr. Morrows is confident that Class A buildings in Midtown, many in RFR’s portfolio, will remain desirable.
“Those buildings always maintain their appeal for traditional types of tenants such as finance, banking and law,” he noted, adding that he expects rents at the Seagram Building to surpass $200 per square foot in the near future.
Mr. Morrows’s introduction to real estate came as an accountant at Schroeder Real Estate, which he joined from a public accounting firm. Shortly after joining, he realized that his career lay elsewhere.
“After about a year or so of being an accountant, I realized I was not the accountant personality type, and I moved to real estate on the transactional side,” he said.
Mr. Morrows’s career shift is, in part, influenced by his upbringing. The Jersey City native, who now lives in New York, credits childhood visits to the city as an early introduction to the ins and outs of the Big Apple.
“Whenever you live in an environment, you feel it—it’s inside of you,” he said.
Outside of the office, Mr. Morrows is involved in charity work, largely in support of enhanced senior living. He serves as president of the board of directors at Carnegie East House as well as on the board of the James Lenox House Association.
“I have an elderly mother that lives in a facility that needs care, and as a result of that, I have chosen to given back in that arena,” Mr. Morrows said of his charitable work.
The father of a 5½-year-old son, Mr. Morrows is also busy on the weekends.
“The last thing I did was I went to a water park,” said Mr. Morrows of his off time with his son. “He’s bringing me back to my youth, that’s for sure.”
