Craig Panzirer, Rudin’s Head of Leasing, Leans Into His Hard-Won Reputation

When the New York Yankees ask you to join the starting lineup, you say yes. 

To Craig Panzirer, getting offered a chance to work as senior vice president and head of leasing at Rudin was that kind of opportunity. 

Panzirer joined Rudin in July 2026 after more than nine years as senior vice president and director of leasing at Global Holdings Management Group. Before that, he spent seven and a half years at Vornado Realty Trust as senior vice president of leasing where, among other efforts, he led the leasing for the firm’s 10.5 million-square-foot Penn District portfolio. 

Panzirer, 58, is now in charge of leading the leasing strategy for Rudin’s entire 8.6 million-square-foot portfolio, which includes properties such as Brooklyn’s Dock 72, 560 Lexington Avenue, 41 Madison Avenue and 3 Times Square. In that last property, Panzirer said the firm is in advanced discussions with a few tenants to fill the approximately 200,000 square feet of vacant space there. 

“I’ve been doing what I’m doing now for almost 39 years — I love what I do,” said Panzirer, a Staten Island native and College of Staten Island alumnus with two adult daughters, a passion
for poker, and avidities for golf and travel. “I get up in the morning for the people, for the deals, for the deal flow, for the action, for the satisfaction of completing deals and completing a repositioning program. When you work hard and you come to the fruition, those moments when something closes is a great feeling.”

Now residing on the Upper West Side, Panzirer — who says that when he is not traveling or dining out he is most often found on the couch next to his girlfriend enjoying a show — began his career with Helmsley Spear, following some family encouragement to join the firm. It’s there he said he received a fundamental education in all facets of commercial real estate. 

“Initially, I was working for John Trainor, who at the time oversaw the Helmsley portfolio,” he said. “I learned how buildings operate, how systems work and how construction projects got done. Once I had a strong foundation on the operations side, I was able to learn about leasing, how buildings are marketed and how we find tenants for them. Much of that education came from Steve Durels, who is now at SL Green.”  

The “it moment” for Panzirer came in 1998, while he was working for Colliers ABR, which is now part of Cushman & Wakefield through a variety of acquisitions. 

“I had already been in the business for a decade and was still trying to find my way,” he said. “I was a broker and able to arrange the sale of 1440 Broadway, an 800,000-square-foot building, for $158 million to Max Capital Management. I then went on to lead the building’s lease-up efforts totaling over 450,000 square feet. It was then that I said, ‘I can do this.’ ”

Since then, Panzirer has added many feathers to his cap — so many that he probably lost count — but there are a few notable projects that stand out to him.

“Going back to my time with Vornado, doing the Macy’s renewal and expansion lease at 11 Penn Plaza — a 646,000-square-foot lease that at the time was the largest deal in New York City that year — it was a major commitment by Macy’s to stay at 11 Penn Plaza,” Panzirer said. “And this is all way before the Vornado renovation and everything that happened there.”

Macy’s renewed its lease at 11 Penn Plaza in February of 2013, committing to stay in the building until 2035. While with Vornado — his tenure with the firm running from 2009 to 2016 — Panzirer also worked on Amazon’s lease at 7 West 34th Street, which was signed in 2014 for 17 years and 470,000 square feet. 

While with Global Holdings Management Group, Panzirer worked on several repositionings, including the repositioning of NoMad Tower at 1250 Broadway and the $30 million strategic repositioning and amenitizing of 99 Park Avenue. 

Another lease Panzirer did while with Vornado was the Dell Computers deal at 1 Penn Plaza. It was on this deal that Ben Shapiro — now vice chairman at Newmark, but then a broker with just a few years under his belt — met Panzirer, whom he described as a kind of a big brother-type mentor for him and others within the industry. 

“Craig and I have only ever worked together on opposite sides,” Shapiro said. “We negotiated against each other in the Dell deal, and it was an important deal for my career at the time. Craig was amazing in that he was tough, but never made me look foolish. It was a point in my career where I knew nothing and thought I knew everything. He was a great person. He didn’t embarrass me when he probably could have, and he still negotiated a great deal for both parties.”

After that, the pair became friendly, Shapiro said. Since that first meeting across the table about 18 years ago, they have — according to Shapiro — negotiated hundreds of thousands of square feet of leases together on opposite sides of the deal.  

“He’s just a highly respected older brother to a lot of the industry,” Shapiro said. “He treats the industry with such an immense amount of respect, and he values the relationships he builds.”

The reputation he has cultivated within the real estate industry is what Panzirer said he is most proud of — and he does not take that reputation lightly. 

“The deals I have done over the years have been with brokers whom I have dealt with many, many times,” Panzirer said. “The brokerage community trusts me, the owners I work for trust we’re going to execute on what we say we’re going to do. We will build out space for their client, and deliver it on time and on budget, and get the broker paid on time. Everything that we say we’re going to do, we do. And that I’m proud of. That’s my legacy.” 

When you’ve built up a career that spans almost four decades, you become attuned to the way the market shifts, the trends, and all the peaks and valleys. Panzirer has seen the real estate sector evolve on several occasions. Most recently, the shift has come in what office workers are expecting employers to provide, especially in the post-pandemic return-to-
office era. 

“Tenant expectations have changed tremendously,” he said. “Tenants now want to have experiences — whether that’s a gym, whether that’s a conference center, whether that’s a game room, whether that’s an amenity space offering coffee and food. All these things help the tenant keep their employees in the building and in the space, but not necessarily in their offices all the time. Studies show that when the tenants interact with the amenities, they tend to stay in the office later, which leads to more production.”

Over the course of his career, Panzirer has helped clients establish a presence in buildings with significant amenities, and the things that are always a client’s first ask are a gym, third-place conferencing and outdoor space. He’s also worked on repositionings where owners added some wild amenities. 

“You don’t have to be at your desk for 14 hours a day,” he said. “Things have changed a lot over the years. When I was at Global Holdings, we did things like a two-floor amphitheater that can seat 80 people. We did a game room, a gym with showers and golf simulators. Then you’ve seen them evolve, and now there are basketball courts and pickleball courts. I’ve seen a Formula One simulator, which I actually thought was really cool. The last building I did at Global Holdings was 99 Park Avenue, and we put in a duckpin bowling alley.” 

One area where Panzirer has noticed a significant evolution in the office environment is Midtown Manhattan. It’s had an interesting post-pandemic journey as a lot of renovation and new construction has been happening, along Park Avenue in particular.  

“When J.P. Morgan announced that they were going to knock down and rebuild 270 Park, and that it was going to be their world headquarters, that changed the mentality of what was going to happen in Midtown and specifically on Park Avenue,” he said. “I think it gave the market a very big jolt when it needed it in a big way. That type of commitment from that type of company to stay on Park Avenue and do what they did — the building is spectacular — was a major, major push for the Midtown market and for the city that needed it at that time.” 

Now, as Panzirer further establishes himself in his new role with Rudin, he said his goals are to expand the firm’s portfolio, lead his team well, and maintain those strong relationships he’s so meticulously cultivated. His presence has already been felt the past three months. 

“Craig stepped in and made an immediate impact at Rudin, which is not surprising given his three decades of New York City leasing experience and deep industry relationships,” said Michael Rudin, co-CEO at Rudin. “We’re excited about what’s ahead as Craig and our leasing team work to keep Rudin’s office buildings filled with the world’s most innovative and successful companies.”  

As grateful as he is to have worked for the companies he has in the past, for Panzirer Rudin is a career capstone. 

“When the New York Yankees ask you to come play, you say yes,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for me at this point in my career, and it’s just a very exciting time. This is a fourth
generation-run, 100-year-old firm, and that’s got me energized for the future.”  

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.