Kevin Chisholm

A consummate deal-maker in the secondary debt market, Kevin Chisholm jokes about his “sharp elbows” and the “carrot-and-stick” approach to buying other people’s debt at a discount.

Since buying 1 million square feet of Class B office space, it has been springtime for the construction management team at 60 Guilders, a vertically integrated company.

The subsidiary business earned fees in the last year on $75 million of tenant buildouts and building renovations, Chisholm said. The construction part of its business was formed in 2024, the year 60 Guilders partnered to buy 292 Madison Avenue, and the business line has benefited from lease-ups and glow-ups at 1370 and 1375 Broadway, too, which he partnered to buy in 2025.

Occupancy at each of the three towers has climbed to above 80 percent since Chisholm acquired the combined 1 million square feet of office space when each tower was about half-empty.

“I buy debt, and I try to take your building,” he cheerfully summarized. “That’s how I feed my family. That’s not for everyone.” Chisholm’s preferred outcome is a “cash and carry” deal where he cuts a check in exchange for the fee-simple interest of an indebted building.

“The stick approach is: I go spend less money than I am willing to pay you to walk away, and I spend a lot of time going through a legal process exercising my right as lender.” The method may not win him friends, but it has bolstered business for the firm.

Last year, when vacancy spiked to more than 10 percent at 180 Water Street, Chisholm’s leasing subsidiary decided to push rents at the office-to-residential conversion. “I’m doing it in-house,” he said, encapsulating his own vertically integrated fee-for-service model.

Across subsidiaries handling property management, construction, graphic design and marketing, Chisholm counts 26 people at 60 Guilders since its creation 13 years ago.

Since refinancing 1375 Broadway earlier this year, Chisholm is hungry for more.

“I want to step up to the buffet and eat all I can eat,” he said. With a portfolio of 27 buildings that span more than 5 million square feet, 60 Guilders is already very much at the table.