18
Developers drool over Bushwick
20
Too much NYC landmarking?
28
A return of ‘hidden’ loans for luxe co-ops
32
Brokering in your own building
108
Real estate players party
THEREALDEAL
www.TheRealDeal.com
Life after Dewey Where real estate lawyers landed as firm crumbled
BY DAVID JONES By the time Dewey & LeBoeuf filed for bankruptcy late last month, nearly every attorney from its onceformidable SPECIAL REPORT real estate practice, including hotshots like Stuart Saft, had jumped to new firms. In doing so, they scattered a roster of impressive industry clients. Inside: a look behind the meltdown and who landed where.
N EW YO RK R E AL E S TAT E N E W S
Vol. 10 No. 6 June 2012 $3.00
Manhattan’s top firms Annual ranking finds more agents, pricier listings and a new boutique king
Benefiting from Facebook’s flop Some NYC residential brokers are taking comfort in Facebook’s flopped IPO last month. They say real estate will get a boost from investors looking for a Wall Street respite. But is the optimism warranted, or is it just Facebook-style hype? See page 16.
Cash cows NYC landlords with the most profitable portfolios
BY ADAM PINCUS How lucrative is it to own a NYC skyscraper? This month, TRD undertook a first-ever analysis of which firms generate the most income from their office portfolios. Top finisher Vornado rakes in a staggering $918 million a year.
Midtown South lifts rest of office market The tech craze in Midtown South is helping fuel office space absorption in Manhattan overall, with Midtown and Downtown lagging. See page 24.
See story on page 52
A look at the complex web of players needed to close a deal BY LEIGH KAMPING-CARDER NYC’s residential market is a web of interconnected players relying on each other to get deals done. This month, we untangle that web. See story on page 50
Men on the move: Town Residential founder Andrew Heiberger (left) and Core founder Shaun Osher (right)
BY LEIGH KAMPING-CARDER listings has shot up. Meanwhile, Andrew Heiberger’s Manhattan’s residential brokerage heavyweights, al- one-and-a-half-year-old company, Town Residenmost across the board, have retained agents or added tial, cracked the list for the first time with nearly 270 to their ranks since last year, according agents. And on the boutique firm front, F EATURE S TORY to TRD’s annual ranking of ManhatShaun Osher’s Core knocked Upper East tan’s largest firms. And while the number of listings Side stalwart Leslie J. Garfield from its top perch. they’re marketing is down, the dollar value of those See story on page 36
Paycheck confidential TRD breaks down industry salaries to see which real
Barbara Fox on cold-calling celebrities See page 110
MetLife announced plans 107 years ago this month to build what’s now called the Clock Tower. For a short period it was the tallest building on Earth. See page 58.
AT A GLANCE
See story on page 30
The real estate system
FACT
After a few years of relative quiet, the East End has seen a flurry of commercial activity. This month, TRD delved into the deals behind a slew of Hamptons’ hotels and clubs, including Montauk’s Surf Lodge, which just changed hands. See page 46.
‘Ringing’ in a
brand new era
estate pros get the biggest (and smallest) pieces of the pie
Will a legal battle unravel the coveted Ring portfolio?
BY C.J. HUGHES The subject of salaries may be the last holdout in today’s share-everything society. Even more reason to shine a light on who makes what in the real estate industry. So this month, TRD took inventory of compensation in a broad cross-section of real estate jobs, from CEOs to social media directors. What we found is that while there are plenty of execs and superbrokers who make seven-figure salaries, not everyone in the industry can afford a private jet.
BY ADAM PINCUS Michael Ring has been locked in litigation with the Tabak family for a year, trying to keep his full stake in the prime (but largely empty) 14-building portfolio he owns with his brother, Frank. This month, TRD sifted through court documents to piece together how Ring ended up in this spot and what the Tabaks might do if they win.
See story on page 60
Behind the deals for Hamptons hot spots
See story on page 42
The Surf Lodge in Montauk
Bidding up rentals Brokers say they are starting to see more bidding wars —which are normally associated with sales — for pricey rentals. See page 44.
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HEIBERGER-OSHER AND FOX PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARC SCRIVO; ILLUSTRATION BY DEREK ZAHEDI