Kenneth and Winston Fisher

Kenneth and Winston Fisher.

#29

Kenneth and Winston Fisher

Partners at Fisher Brothers

Last year's rank: 79

Kenneth and Winston Fisher
By May 10, 2024 8:01 AM

Cousins Kenneth and Winston Fisher will tell you corporate tenants are still the bread and butter of the family firm founded in 1915 by brothers Martin, Larry and Zachary Fisher.

For confirmation, look no further than the 20-year lease law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison signed for 765,000 square feet at 1345 Avenue of the Americas in December — the single largest office lease in the United States last year.

That deal would likely never have happened if the third generation of the Fisher family hadn’t poured $100 million worth of renovations into the 50-story office tower between 54th and 55th streets in Midtown, restoring it to its former glory and maintaining it as the anchor in the company’s commercial portfolio in New York, along with 299 Park Avenue and Park Avenue Plaza.

But upgrades alone aren’t enough to attract big-name office tenants, according to Winston Fisher, a partner at the firm overseeing finance, acquisitions and new development. Kenneth Fisher heads the property management and leasing side of things.

“We’re a family business at the end of the day, and so I’m personally involved, you know, there at the doors, through the tough moments, being transparent, being honest,” Winston Fisher said. “I think that is the difference. Because that kind of tenant can go anywhere.”

Outside of Manhattan’s gilded avenues, the younger generation is affixing the family brand to something altogether new.

They call it Area15 — a sprawling 80-acre entertainment zone and tourist magnet off the Las Vegas Strip, though that hardly does it justice. So far, Fisher Brothers has handed over 50,000 square feet to the immersive art project Meow Wolf and opened Museum Fiasco, an audiovisual simulation that promises to take you to “the outskirts of reality,” according to its website, though it all takes place inside a warehouse just off Interstate 15 directly across from the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas.

“We’re really actually building the world’s largest immersive entertainment district all under our brand, which is fun,” Winston Fisher said.

The next phase of the development is a 21.7-acre, mixed-use residential community containing up to 1,341 housing units, which got underway last year, Fisher Brothers announced.

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