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Power 100 2022.

Sometimes when glancing at the news in the last couple of years — as we saw inflation rising, wars overseas, mounting fears of recession and political dysfunction at home — it was as if we were all suddenly cast back in time to the 1970s.

Just as the ’70s had its lows, there were Studio 54-level highs as well. Indeed, this current era has certainly felt its share of headiness and exuberance, as far as real estate is concerned.

While we still find ourselves under the cloud of the pestilence that has depressed so much economic activity (as well as so much else) over the last two-plus years, a lot of real estate owners and investors have been able to keep things in perspective and think long term.

Yes, office attendance remains dismal, but it’s improving. Yes, a lot of tenants might have had second thoughts about shelling out rent for property that they’re indifferent to, but quality product has been achieving top dollar. SL Green’s
One Vanderbilt is one of those unvarnished success stories, for instance: 97 percent leased and commanding rents that would have seemed optimistic in the best of times.

The smart real estate players — those we honor in this year’s Power 100 — are the ones who have been able to pivot and evolve. On the office front, they’re not the ones who sat back during the pandemic and waded through their Netflix queue. Instead, they did the hard, expensive labor of starting to make their buildings carbon neutral.

They’re the ones who saw the long runway for e-commerce, and invested in logistics and industrial space.

They’re the ones who saw the need for life science space and began building accordingly.

They’re the ones who saw an underserved housing market and began putting their money behind multifamily and single-family rental.

They’re the ones who realized that it’s not just a Warner Bros. / Metro Goldwyn Mayer world, but one in which content is big business and is everywhere, and began looking for studio space.

To paraphrase the immortal words of the Bee Gees, they’re the ones who might feel the city breaking and everybody shaking, but they’re staying alive.

81
82

Jeffrey Levine

Douglaston Development

83 -1

Joanna Frank

Center for Active Design and Active Design Advisors

84 +1

James Whelan

Real Estate Board of New York

85 -1

Leslie Himmel and Stephen Meringoff

Himmel + Meringoff Properties

86

David Messner

Costco

88

Laurie Grasso

Hunton Andrews Kurth

89 -16

Gary LaBarbera

Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York

90

Pete Buttigieg and Polly Trottenberg

U.S. Department of Transportation

91
92

Craig Robins

Dacra

95

Sonia Kaur Bain

Blank Rome LLP

97 -1

Jonathan L. Mechanic and Melanie Meyers

Fried Frank’s Real Estate Department

98

Kyle Bragg

32BJ SEIU

99

Rich Maroko

New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council

100

Jeff Zalaznick

Major Food Group