Rob Speyer will be just 43 years old when he takes over as chair of the Real Estate Board of New York in January. That will make him the board’s youngest-ever chair. Impressive though that achievement is, even more noteworthy is Mr. Speyer’s pedigree. He will become a third member of his family to serve as the board’s leader. Read More
Since it started with a roll call of 27 members in 1896 with the goal of “facilitating transactions in real estate,” the Real Estate Board of New York has indisputably been the city’s most influential real estate organization, with its annual gala being to brokers what the Vanity Fair Oscar party is for Hollywood: If you’re there, it means you’re somebody.
Sure, some may lovingly write it off as a veritable men’s club (men are thought to outnumber women five to one), chide it as “The Liar’s Ball” (each year is a broker’s best year, no matter how wretched the marketplace) and speak ill of the food (nearly everyone avoids the chicken and filet mignon).
But the REBNY gala is as essential to a real estate person’s reputation and status as the buildings and bricks he works with. A dozen of the city’s most legendary players spoke to The Commercial Observer about the blurry nights and boom years that helped make the event what it is today.
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As recently as March, Steven Rattner, the former private equity kingpin and Obama administration car czar, was having an unpleasant time with Overhaul, his book on the emergency auto rescue. “Writing books is a bear. It’s just really hard work. And he hasn’t done it before,” Mark Green, who’d talked to him about the struggle, Read More
The breakneck rise and fall of New York developer Shaya Boymelgreen unfolds like a Gilded Age novel of social ascendance: young man immigrates to ethnic neighborhood in big city; accidentally takes part in Crown Heights riot of historic importance; strikes up fortuitous friendship with Uzbek diamond billionaire who agrees to bankroll his projects; Read More
To flip through the pages of the 2006 offering book for potential buyers of the 11,200-apartment Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village-a deal that has devolved into the largest individual property default in modern history-is to immerse oneself in an historical delusion, one that, from today’s privileged vantage point, appears as likely as Read More
Andrew Cuomo’s $16 million filing is online, and, presumably, being combed over by operatives and reporters throughout New York.
Here’s a few tidbits I found:
Jerry Speyer donated $50,000; half on July 17, the other half on October 13.
Wendy Neu, a major Democratic donor, also gave $25,000.
Peter Kalikow gave $10,000.
Donald Read More
When Tishman Speyer and BlackRock assembled $6.29 billion from a long roster of investors and lenders to bid on Stuveysant Town in late 2006, their prize was the biggest sale ever by price of an individual property. (The complex was sold for $5.4 billion, and another $900 million was rounded up for reserves and capital Read More
About five years ago, the real estate mogul Jerry Speyer, whose favorite artists include Jeff Koons and Frank Stella, approached the London gallerist Victoria Miro at the annual Armory show and asked, “What’s good?” Ms. Miro, pointing to a booth nearby, replied, “If I were you, I’d go over there and buy that Les Rogers.” Read More
After crippling court decision, Fitch downgrades Stuy Town loans; values at $1.8 Read More
In a decision with seismic implications for Stuyvesant Town and property owners throughout the city, the state’s top court has ruled against real estate giant Tishman Speyer on a far-reaching rent regulation lawsuit, declaring the landlord had no right to deregulate some 4,440 apartments.
In a 4-2 decision, the Court of Appeals upheld an appellate Read More
