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Robert Shapiro
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obert Shapiro is one of New York’s preeminent experts in the byzantine business of air rights and land assemblage. His firm, City Center Real Estate, a commercial brokerage founded in 1964, has been involved in the sale of more than 2 million square feet of tradable development rights valued at $500 million, much of it in the last decade. And with just one other associate, he does around 20 transactions valued at more than $5 million annually or, as he says, “probably equal to a 15-person organization.” Throughout his career, Shapiro has worked with some of the most prominent names in the business: Tishman Speyer, Rose Associates, Rudin Management, Jack Resnick & Sons and the Zeckendorfs. And, at 78, he’s still at it. From the rooftop deck outside his office, Shapiro can see where CIM Group and Macklowe Properties’ 432 Park Avenue — which he assembled 88,000 square feet of property for — is rising. But Shapiro’s interest and hobbies are more far reaching than just his real estate conquests. His office is filled with souvenirs from the South Pacific to the French Riviera. Just hours before jetting off to Europe for a month, the avid traveler showed The Real Deal around his Upper East Side office. B y T om D i C hristopher
PICASSO VASE Shapiro bought several ceramic pieces crafted by Pablo Picasso for just a few hundred dollars apiece during a vacation in Vallauris on the French Riviera in 1969. This Picasso vase takes center stage in his office.
SOLOMON ISLANDS To celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, Shapiro and his wife took a cruise aboard the Sea Cloud, a vessel once owned by American socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post. The ship sailed through the Solomon Islands, along the Calvados Chain and to the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
C-47 PLANE WEST POINT
In 1949, O. Roy Chalk, the founder of Trans Caribbean Airways
Shapiro, who grew up in New York City,
and Nancy Shapiro’s uncle, provided the C-47 planes that the
graduated from the prestigious West
Israeli Air Force used to fly Jews out of Yemen to Israel. The
Point military academy. As a cadet, he
mission, dubbed Operation Magic Carpet, took place against a
said, he unearthed a little known provision
broader wave of immigration to the newly formed Jewish state.
that let him charter the school superintendent’s
Shapiro has a plaque and booklet commemorating Chalk’s service.
yacht and crew for $8.25 an hour.
Shapiro travels internationally on a regular basis. On a recent trip, he spent five weeks in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. He said interacting with the locals was the highlight. “The people in Indochina were fabulous,” he said.
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL RESTAURANT THALIA Shapiro has been a partner in Restaurant Thalia at 828 Eighth Avenue for 15 years. The Theater District restaurant
In 1986, Shapiro won second place in the Real Estate Board of New York’s “Most Ingenious Deal of the Year” for his part in assembling the rights that paved the way for William Zeckendorf Jr.’s Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square. Shapiro says the Crowne deal established City Center as one of New York’s leading assemblage firms.
serves New-American food and sushi and, according to Shapiro, has been a profitable venture. Plus, he’s fond of the oysters, shrimp and lobster.
GEORGE W. BUSH Three years ago, former President George W. Bush spoke at the Pierre Hotel at an event
“NANCy TOO”SAILBOAT
hosted by Shapiro’s investment manager
The Nancy Too, this 42-foot sailboat
Golden Tree Asset Management. Jerry
named for his wife, is the last boat
Seinfeld was the guest of honor the
Shapiro owned. Nancy wasn’t as
year before, but Shapiro said Bush
sold on the sailing life and put a two-
was the better stand-up comic. The
decade “moratorium” on owning
ex commander-in-chief quipped
boats. That time is now up. “We’re still
about life after the presidency,
at the negotiating stage,” Shapiro said
namely no longer having the Secret
in reference to getting a new boat.
Service around to clean up after his dogs. 22 August 2014 www.TheRealDeal.com
PHOTOGRAPH OF Robert Shapiro FOR THE REAL DEAL BY max dworkin