Accordingly, The Commercial Observer set out to speak with the real estate industry's most accomplished capital markets and sales practitioners to learn what's in store for 2012. Over the next several days, we'll post interviews with heavy hitters like Darcy Stacom and William Shanahan of CBRE, J.D. Parker of Marcus & Millichap, Woody Heller of Studley and Peter Hausperg of Eastern Consolidated. But, first, after the jump, none other than Richard Baxter of Jones Lang LaSalle.

Richard Baxter. (Illustration by Joao Maio Pinto)

The Commercial Observer: How would you describe the investment sales market now?
Mr. Baxter: I would say it’s a product-constrained market. There’s great demand and little available for sale.

Sounds like a description that has been used for months now.
No, it’s been this way for a year. There are lots of individuals, both domestic and international, looking for all asset classes in Manhattan and that demand is driving pricing.

Seventy-five Rockefeller Plaza just came on the market and it looks like it will be fully vacant in 2014. Are investors willing to take on that kind of vacancy?
Seventy-five Rock is looking to sell a leasehold interest in the building. There’s repositioning opportunities with that asset. Right now we’re handling the sale of 350 Madison Avenue. It’s 70 percent occupied and we have 30 percent vacancy there. It’s going through a renovation and the space is now coming on at a great time to capture peak rents.

Peak rents? Isn’t the leasing market right now in kind of a lull?
Seventy percent of Midtown leasing velocity is deals in the 5,000-to-20,000-square-foot range. They’re leases that don’t make the headlines, but those are the kind of deals that 350 Madison caters to. I don’t think that anyone is looking at that building as a leasing liability.

What about 75 Rock? How will investors look at the 600,000 square feet there?
I think that the quality of the location and repositioning opportunities there are so great, it will be like 10 East 53rd Street.

What happened with 10 East 53rd Street?
SL Green bought it at the end of the year. It also has a great deal of vacancy but it also has a huge repositioning potential and that’s what drew them to the deal.

What’s your outlook for 2012?
It will continue to be supply constrained. We’re hoping that volume will match or exceed ’11, which was $26 billion. It’s tough to judge at this point.

Will the prospect of capital gains tax increases next year drive sellers into the market?
It certainly is a motivation for some family-owned properties. I think that in reality only a small portion of the market is driven by capital gains tax decisions. A lot of properties are institutionally owned and they tend not to base sales decisions on that kind of thing. We’ve thought capital gains were going up in the past and they didn’t prompt sales increases.

What about the big end of the market? Deals like 1211 Avenue of the Americas?
That’s a very large equity check. Look, if something is priced right, it’s going to trade. The equity will come, no matter how big. It comes down to a pricing decision at the end of the day.

You’re selling 350 Madison Avenue. What’s going on with it?
It’s a 394,000-square-foot building on the corner of 45th and Madison. We’re expecting it’s going to trade in the $330 million-to-$350 million range, about $850 a foot. You’re buying into a building that is completely renovated. It’s basically a brand-new building in the Grand Central submarket with 70,000 square feet of retail that Paul Stewart has a long-term lease on. Kenseco Properties is selling. At the price we’re projecting, the buyer would be getting a roughly 6 percent stabilized yield after they lease the vacancy.

Dgeiger@observer.com

Robert Kunikoff, a retail leasing executive at Grubb & Ellis, will be moving over to Lee & Associates starting this week the executives said.

James Wacht, Lee & Associates.

Mr. Kunikoff is the latest Grubb & Ellis hire at the company, which last month recruited the Grubb & Ellis office leasing executives Howard Rosen and John Cannon.

In addition to Mr. Kunikoff, Lee & Associates, is bringing on two leasing brokers who formerly worked for the real estate investment company George Comfort & Sons, Dennis Someck and Mitchell Kunikoff, who is Robert Kunikoff’s brother. A broker from Jones Lang LaSalle has also been hired but the identity of that executive could not be learned by press time.

“I’m just blown away with the level of response from the brokerage community, it’s just been phenomenal,” Jim Wacht, president of Lee & Associates told The Commercial Observer. “Months ago I really expected to get five or six brokers but we’ve been open about two months and have been able to recruit about 12 guys, which has exceeded where our goals were.”

Mr. Wacht confirmed that Robert Kunikoff had joined the firm but would not comment on Mr. Kunikoff’s brother Mitch or Mr. Someck or the JLL broker. He said that announcements would be forthcoming.

Grubb & Ellis declared bankruptcy on Monday and announced that it intended to sell its assets to BGC Partners, the senior holder of debt on the company and the parent of the major New York brokerage company Newmark Knight Frank.

Questions have since swirled at Grubb & Ellis, which had been in financial trouble for months before the bankruptcy, what will happen to the company’s personnel and whether BGC intends to acquire all or just parts of the company’s operations. The uncertainty has prompted some brokers to contemplate exit strategies according to a number of off the record interviews The Commercial Observer has had in recent days with several executives at the firm.

Dgeiger@observer.com

Next week 19,000 guests from 90 countries will descend on Cannes, France, for MIPIM, a four-day event that roughly translates as "International Market for Real Estate Professionals" featuring speaking panels and networking opportunities that allow developers to shop major new projects to prospective tenants and investors.

Greetings from Cannes.

The conference is considered the biggest of the year on the global real estate event schedule. But in Manhattan’s tight knit, somewhat-insular real estate community, few know of it.

“I am not familiar with Mipim???” One developer with a major new speculative office building rising out of the ground emailed The Commercial Observer when questioned whether he was going.

The developer wasn’t the only one in the dark. Several prominent real estate executives interviewed by The Commercial Observer either weren’t familiar with the conference or weren’t planning to go.

Of course not everyone was taking a pass. The Related Companies and Oxford Properties, partners in the massive development project planned for the West Side rail yards, is setting up a booth at MIPIM, a source at the partnership said. Brookfield Properties, the real estate investment trust that has a competing large-scale development known as Manhattan West nearby is going to have executives attend. A person at the REIT said that it will be sending the company’s head of development based out of Britain, not New York executives like Related and Oxford are sending to represent the rail yards.

My-Lan Cao, MIPIM’s director of press said that the large real estate services companies Jones Lang LaSalle, Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE would all have professionals at the event. She ceded that the list of New York names was short, but that a few high profile companies would be there, revealing that Thor Equities, the real estate investment company run by Joseph Sitt will be at the conference to give presentations on the Takashimaya Building, the roughly 100,000-square-foot Fifth Avenue retail and office building Mr. Sitt bought in 2010 for $140 million and has been trying to lease for near record breaking numbers.

Ms. Cao said that owners - like Mr. Sitt - in search of filling space can tap a global pool of tenants at the event.

The rail yards and Manhattan West will not be alone. Ms. Cao said that several large scale development projects from around the world will be represented at the conference. A proposed $4 billion development outside of Moscow envisioned by the Russian agency, the Skolkovo Foundation, that is being billed as Russia's Silicon Valley for instance will be on display. Skolkovo is seeking partners, capital and developers.

“A number of cities will be there as well, including Paris, London and Berlin,” Ms. Cao added.

Ms. Cao, who is based in Paris, said that city was sending officials to solicit partners in major infrastructure and development projects it is seeking to plan and build in order to improve transit, create business districts and build new housing.

The Middle Eastern country Qatar, which has poured state resources into a large development outside the Olympic Village being built in London for the 2012 Summer Games, is also going to be at MIPIM to show off its project.

Some of the world’s largest capital sources will also be there. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, one of the largest investment pools, which famously pumped in nearly $7 billion into Citibank during the scary depths of the credit crisis, will be at the show Ms. Cao said.

So will some American money sources such as Lone Star Funds and TPG Capital. Ms. Cao said that the New York real estate financing consultant and equity placement firm Carlton Advisors was also scheduled to attend.

"About six of us are going," said Howard Michaels, chief executive of Carlton Advisors.

Dgeiger@observer.com

Knewton Inc., a provider of sophisticated online-based learning and education programs for students and test takers, has signed a 16,000-square-foot lease at 100-104 Fifth Avenue, an office building owned by the Kaufman Organization. The term of the deal, which is for the 20-story building’s entire eighth floor, stretches ten years. Asking rents for the space were $55 per square foot.
The lease is the latest company in the tech industry to come to the property. Last year, Apple signed a deal for about 40,000 square feet at the building, taking the 14th floor, part of 15 and a pre-built space on the sixth floor. The user review website Yelp, meanwhile, recently came to the building as well, signing a 9,505-square-foot lease for a portion of a floor last year.

Grant Greenspan, an executive at the Kaufman Organization who handles leasing at the roughly 275,000-square-foot property, said that Knewton was drawn to the building by its tenancy in the sector and also because the space on eight came with an outdoor balcony area.

“The space has a unique quality to it with a roof deck,” Mr. Greenspan said. “These types of companies make it a priority to create the right work environment for employees.”

In addition to Apple, Yelp and others, Mr. Greenspan said he and the Kaufman Organization have tried to recruit tenants in related fields that would create a kind of synergy among tenants. The firm recently signed a 10,600-square-foot deal for a portion of the third floor with FirstMark Capital, a venture fund that has been a seed investor in a number of prominent tech companies, including Knewton Inc.

“What I’m trying to create is a diverse tenant base, but also a community,” Mr. Greenspan said. “The fact that you have tenants in these different facets of business validates the environment and creates a need and desire to be there. When a CEO is making a decision, if it’s good enough for Yelp, they might look at it a different way.” The Kaufman Organization purchased 100-104 Fifth Avenue at the end of 2010 after the building had fallen into foreclosure and has embarked on a successful leasing campaign. Mr. Greenspan estimates that over the 14 months the company has owned the property, which is a block west of Union Square, he and his leasing team have filled 120,000 square feet of space. Only a few pockets of vacancy now remain, about 9,500 square on the seventh floor and a 10,000-square-foot space on five.

“I have had offers and a lot of lookers,” Mr. Greenspan said. “We are trying to be selective. We want the right fit and I think, especially at this point, we have the luxury to be choosey.”

Brokers Aaron Ellison and Jim Wenk of Jones Lang LaSalle represented Knewton in the deal.

Dgeiger@observer.com

New developments like 1 World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center, and Edward Minskoff's 51 Astor Place, are all slated to hit the market in 2013. The last time NYC had this much new space becoming available was in 1989, said Cassidy Turley's Robert Sammons.

But this isn't giving developers like Mr. Minskoff a roaring case of agita and insomnia.

"I sleep well at night," Mr. Minskoff told The WSJ . 

Mr. Minskoff not pictured.

As WSJ (and Commercial Observer alumni Laura Kusisto) points out:

"... the bulge in the delivery pipeline comes at a time when demand in the New York office market is showing signs of flagging because of the contraction in the financial-services industry. Tenants with more than 5,000 square feet leased 5.9 million square feet in the fourth quarter, compared with 6 million square feet in the third quarter and 6.2 million square feet in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to Colliers International.

Also, financial-services firms are likely to pull back from more than 2 million square feet of space requirements in the next couple of years. That's going to put pressure on owners to possibly cut rents to fill space in their towers."

In short, there's going to be a whole lotta inventory, but not too many takers, some fear. Unveiling new space at a painful time in the market, much like the struggling 11 Times Square building (which was built during the downturn and is now roughly 60 percent vacant), can spell restless nights for owners, Ms. Kusisto reports.

"Manhattan development tends to run in cycles. There was an enormous surge of new construction in the late 1980s as developers scrambled to take advantage of expiring tax breaks.

The result: Many speculative buildings hit the market just as the national economy went into the recession of the early 1990s. Many of the developers wound up losing their buildings to banks and some of the projects sat empty for years."

Other possible concerns are tenants who are becoming more hip to smaller and more efficient office spaces. When the leases for these tenants come up, they are taking less, not more, space.

And if firms flock for the newer buildings, it will come at the expense of older ones.

"'What you end up with is a segmented marketplace, where certain buildings are going to lease and other buildings might just languish with empty space,'" says Paul Glickman, of Jones Lang LaSalle, who is on the team leasing 51 Astor."

But such concerns are not keeping Mr. Minskoff and World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein up at night... at least, not in 2012.

drosen@observer.com 

One Penn Plaza. (Courtesy Property Shark)

The firm signed a deal for 20,599 square feet on the 51st floor of the soaring 57-story office building, which is owned by the office REIT Vornado and is one of the largest and most prominent towers in the direct vicinity of the city’s busiest transit hub Penn Station.

Penson is nearly doubling in the size in the deal. Previously it had occupied about 12,000 square feet on the floor, which is about 36,000 square feet in size. Asking rents for the space are in the high $60s per square foot but those involved in the deal said they could not divulge the economics of the lease, which through negotiations is likely to be lower than the ask.

Sean Black and Bill Peters, executives at the real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, represented Penson in the 10-year deal. Both said that expansion would allow Penson to grow as well as potentially consolidate other office locations it has in the city.

Vornado is represented in house by a leasing team led by its director of leasing Glen Weiss. Mr. Weiss wasn’t available for comment.

“This deal is a little contrary to the market right now,” Mr. Black said, noting Penson’s strong growth at a time when the financial sector’s normally voracious appetite for office space has appeared sated by the uncertain impact of of government regulations that have yet to take effect, an ongoing Euro debt crisis, as well as general concerns about the health of the economy overall.

Penson provides clearing and settlement services and technology for financial clients as well as securities, futures and derivatives processing products and services.

Mr. Black said that he had scoured the market for space in case the company decided to relocate but eventually found that staying put was the best option.

“We ended up doubling back to the building largely because this is where most of their employees came in from, it matched the commute patterns,” Mr. Black said. “And with this deal they got incentives from the landlord that will allow them to upgrade the space.”

Dgeiger@Observer.com

330 Hudson Street.

The media and publishing company, which owns the Financial Times and the Penguin Group, is adding 330 Hudson Street’s entire fourth floor, a roughly 38,000-square-foot space, to the 271,000 square feet it agreed to lease there last summer. Pearson added the floor-through expansion options it had negotiated in its deal at the property and will now occupy floors 4-13, about 309,000 square feet, in the 16-story building.

Last week, Pearson announced that it had taken 206,000 square feet at Waterfront Corporate Center III, a 500,000-square-foot office building that developer SJP Properties is planning to soon start building in Hoboken, New Jersey now that it has Pearson’s commitment as anchor tenant.

Robert Berzine, principal of the real estate services Richard Berzine & Company who represented Pearson in the deals, said that 330 Hudson Street would be used to consolidate some staff from Pearson’s Upper Saddle River location but that it would mainly house facilities that will be relocated from midtown and other locations around the city.

“We have space at 1330 Sixth Avenue that expires in December 2013 and we have another six small Pearson leases scattered around Manhattan all of which are expiring around that time as well,” Mr. Berzine said.

330 Hudson Street is being redeveloped by the investment firm Beacon Capital Partners and will be ready for occupancy by the fourth quarter of 2013 according to Mr. Berzine. Waterfront Corporate Center III, the building Pearson will occupy in New Jersey, will be finished in 2014.

The expansion at 330 Hudson Street adds to Pearson’s sizable presence in the Hudson Square neighborhood where the building is located. According to Mr. Berzine, Pearson has substantial space at both 345 and 375 Hudson Street, two nearby buildings. He said the company has about 300,000 square feet at 375 Hudson Street and 140,000 square feet at 345 Hudson Street.

“We we will have about three quarters of a million feet, which makes us the largest tenant in the area,” Mr. Berzine said.

Mr. Berzine worked with colleague Robert DeAngelis in the deal. Jones Lang LaSalle managing director Dan Loughlin, executive vice president James Montanari and vice president Aaron Ellison, also assisted in repping Pearson in the lease in Hoboken.

Dgeiger@Observer.com

COpostings013012

Aliza Avital.

Mr. Lieberman, who joined Eastern Consolidated in 2009, was bestowed the firm’s “Rising Star” merit last year, in part for his representation of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in its $20.1 million sale, at auction, of 114 West 86th Street, the sought-after prewar apartment asset featuring a stalking horse bid from Bernstein Real Estate.

Originally hailing from Israel, Ms. Avital, meanwhile, served in the Israeli army and speaks fluent Hebrew. A member of the Real Estate Board of New York, the 34-year-old broker has arranged more than 25 deals valued in excess of $650 million since she joined Eastern Consolidated in 2003. As a senior director, she will continue to focus on investor clients that include institutional and private buyers and sellers.

“Aliza and Lipa have distinguished themselves respectively during the past few years by having successfully closed several complex transactions in a recessionary real estate marketplace,” said Ms. Paris. “Both possess the drive, dedication and work ethic necessary to rapidly advance their careers, and we are pleased to recognize their achievements with these promotions.”

­­­­­­**

Lipa Lieberman.

Cassidy Turley, the commercial real estate services provider with more than 60 offices nationwide, has hired Bruce Weinberg as an executive managing director.

Mr. Weinberg, a 25-year brokerage veteran who served as first vice president at CBRE and in a similar leadership position at the Ginsberg Organization, will be based out of Cassidy Turley’s New York office, where he will act as a tenant and agency rep. In his career, Mr. Weinberg has represented Mitsui & Company, Brooks Brothers and Bergdorf Goodman, as well as the owners of 380 Madison Avenue, 335 Madison Avenue and 192 Lexington Avenue, among other agency assignments.

“Bruce Weinberg is an exceptional addition to our New York brokerage services team,” said Peter Hennessy, the New York tristate regional president for Cassidy Turley. “As part of our strategic growth plan, Cassidy Turley continues to expand its talent-recruitment efforts of notable leadership, and Mr. Weinberg brings impressive New York market knowledge and strong business acumen to our firm.”

­­­­­­**

Bruce Weinberg.

Brown Rudnick, an AMLaw 200 law firm with offices in the United State and Europe, has tapped attorney Mark Fawer to expand its real estate practice in New York City.

Mr. Fawer, the former deputy practice leader in Dickstein Shapiro’s corporate and finance group, will employ his wide range of legal experiences to better compete in the city’s real estate distressed market.

Previously, he has represented real estate developers, funds, real estate investment trusts and investors. He is also versed in financing, recapitalization, single-asset and portfolio sales and originations.

“Mark brings a marquee stable of funds clients to our real estate practice, which will integrate well with our firm’s focus,” said chief executive Joseph Ryan.

“A large and growing portion of Mark’s practice is working with nonbank lenders and others to both resolve their distressed legacy real estate and CMBS assets as well as to take advantage of distressed real estate investment opportunities, all of which will help us better position the firm to successfully compete in the real estate distressed market,” added Mr. Ryan. ”We welcome Mark to the firm.”

­­­­­­**

Massey Knakal Realty Services has hired Justin Boruchov as a director of the firm’s capital services division, it was announced last week.

Mr. Boruchov, who comes to Massey Knakal with a financial industry background, most recently worked at Guardhill Financial Corp., where he began as a mortgage banking analyst and assistant to the firm’s chief executive before being promoted to vice president and loan originator at the company. During his six years at the firm, he managed more than $90 million annually in commercial and residential. In his new role, Mr. Boruchov will tap Massey Knakal’s connections with lenders to procure financing in the commercial real estate debt markets for assets throughout the New York metropolitan area. He will focus on the Upper West Side.

­­­­­­**

Robert Rizzi.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, a commercial real estate and capital markets services provider that operates 20 offices across the country and that is more commonly known as HFF, has hired Robert Rizzi as a managing director at its New York office, it was announced last week.

Mr. Rizzi, who most recently served as a managing partner at Broad Street Advisors, will now focus on equity and joint venture capital as well as investment sales transactions throughout the New York metropolitan area. At Broad Street, which he cofounded in 2000, Mr. Rizzi closed more than $4 billion in sales transactions.

“Rob has a diverse background executing a wide range of investment sales, debt and equity transactions, not only in the New York metropolitan area but on a nationwide basis, and we are looking forward to having him as a member of the team,” said Michael Tepedino, a senior managing director at HFF.

­­­­­­**

Cassidy Turley has hired Jones Lang LaSalle’s Theodora Livadiotis as an associate vice president in the real estate services firm’s New York office.

Ms. Livadiotis, who had also worked as a client relationship manager and valuer at Foxtons in the United Kingdom, will work in Cassidy Turley’s Brokerage Division. There, she will be focused in tenant representation and new business development, especially in cultivating new opportunities in the midtown south submarket, the firm said.

“Theodora Livadiotis is an impressive addition to our New York brokerage services team,” said Peter Hennessy, New York Tri-State region president of Cassidy & Turley. “Given her international experience with Foxtons, Inc., and her expertise in tenant representation and negotiation, we’re thrilled to add this young talent to our growing team of New York market experts,” he added.

Ms. Livadiotis had most recently served as an associate in Jones Lang LaSalle’s New York Brokerage group.

During her time at Foxtons, Ms. Livadiotis managed and trained a team of fifteen negotiations servicing more than 70 clients. She also ranked first in the company on a 12-month average out of 118 negotiators in 2007, according to a release.

jsederstrom@observer.com

Freshly tanned from a recent visit to Mexico, where he was overseeing a new project, the slicked-back scion grew steadily more enthusiastic as he discussed 40 Wall Street, an office tower that, with its rising and falling tenant roster, has contributed to the Trump Organization executive vice president’s growing reputation as a competent steward of the family name, a reliable fixer and successful dealmaker in his own right.

Donald Trump Jr. (photo credit: Hannah Mattix)

“When I took over the building, there was a lull in the market,” recalled Mr. Trump, who said the address remains one of his well-known father’s favorite properties. “By the time we fixed everything up and got it going, there was a high. It was certainly a unique experience. My focus had been on residential development as well as some resort hotel development, so to learn that part of the business and to spend time with that part of the business was fascinating to me. So I got involved and made it a big part of my day-to-day life.”

Indeed, 40 Wall Street had languished in the Trump portfolio since the mid-’90s, when family paterfamilias Donald Trump purchased the building from Kinson Properties, a Hong Kong-based company. Back then, internal discussions raged on whether to convert the office tower into residential property or to keep it as offices, according to insiders. The senior Trump eventually settled on keeping it as an office tower, and nearly 20 years after that decision, 40 Wall Street’s fortunes fell on his oldest son, who until then had never managed an office building.

(Disclaimer: Mr. Trump is the brother-in-law of Observer Media Group owner Jared Kushner.)

The junior Trump had spent much of his career overseeing a stretch of luxury developments along the West Side rail yards. He then jumped from project to project, working on construction of Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago and handling Trump licensing deals across the world.

But managing an office building as storied as 40 Wall Street, until recently known among tenant brokers as a difficult place to do business in part because of at least one Trump executive’s heavy involvement with leasing at the address, was entirely new to Mr. Trump.  

Now faced with his first-ever office-building management assignment, Mr. Trump made a strategic play to woo brokers, who, perhaps more than anyone else, had the leverage to sell 40 Wall Street to potential office tenants. “I look at the brokerage world as your unpaid sales force until they perform,” he said. “What I wanted to do was befriend those people, get to know the players.”

He reached out to Jeffrey Lichtenberg, an executive vice president at Cushman & Wakefield who had worked with the Trump Organization in the past. Mr. Lichtenberg and his team were eventually brought on as the exclusive leasing agents for 40 Wall Street, and from there, they courted other big brokerage firms to rouse up business.

“What we did was, instead of having one big party, we had a series of lunches with each firm,” said Mr. Lichtenberg. The message, brokers on both sides of the table said, was simple: 40 Wall Street was open for business. It wanted to work with brokers and it wanted new tenants.

“Because Don was cooperative and helpful to me and then we were cooperative to the brokers, the brokers realized that the best place for them to bring a tenant to get a deal done was 40 Wall,” added Mr. Lichtenberg. “Don helped turn around the image of the building.”

What also helped spur leasing activity was Mr. Trump’s willingness to sweeten the deal by offering incentive packages. He also kept a simple pledge: if a broker brings in business to 40 Wall Street, he would make honoring that broker’s commission a top priority.

“If I tell them I am going to do something, I am going to do it,” said Mr. Trump. “If I tell them that they’re going to get their commission check on this moment, they are going to get it on or before this moment,” he added, hitting the table with an index finger for emphasis.

That pledge worked. Jones Lang LaSalle broker Dan Suozzi, who had lunch with Mr. Lichtenberg and his team at Bobby Van’s during that recruitment period, estimates he has brought four tenants to 40 Wall Street in the past two and a half years, the most recent being John Carris Investments for roughly 13,000 square feet. (Former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine was rumored to be subleasing space from John Carris.)

“Don Jr. was a pleasure to work with and he does the right thing and is very personable,” said Mr. Suozzi. “It makes a difference when you’re bringing a tenant through the building.”

Once they had the ears of intrigued brokers, Mr. Trump and his team focused on redefining 40 Wall Street’s image as a financial services asset. “With the Wall Street address 10 years ago, it was all financial industry,” said Mr. Trump. “Today, in the digital age, the street location is less critical.”

Mr. Trump also honed in on what his family’s building could offer that his competitors couldn’t. He targeted a crowd that didn’t fit the traditional mold of a Wall Street tenant, selling them on 40 Wall Street’s “impeccable” management services and attractive deal incentives. The Trump Organization has a “fungible” balance sheet that enabled it to offer value propositions, he added.

Wall Street address aside, 40 Wall Street had the charm of a Midtown South building with Midtown South amenities. It had recently renovated tons of turn-key space, and it had a Duane Reade megastore, the first of its kind that, with its sushi bar and a hair salon, could give the average customer a new ’do with her bottle of Kaopectate.

“With the Condé [Nast] deal and with everything that is going on downtown, I think it’s an opportunity for buildings to have boutique space they can do something with and offer that value proposition to tenants that are going to be the guys who are going to feed off those megadeals,” said Mr. Trump.

The offer worked. Midtown mainstays like the Harry Fox Agency and Duane Reade committed to the building for substantial office space, each with square footages in the five figures. Wiedlinger Associates and Leslie E. Robertson Associates also moved into the building.

“I had never done a deal with the Trumps in my 18-year career,” said Greg Taubin, a senior managing director at Studley who represented the Harry Fox Agency in its 47,144-square-foot sublease on the fifth floor. “You would always hear different things about having to deal with the organization, but those days are over. The reason is because of Donny Jr. getting involved and making decisions.”

Now faced with tenable vacancies in the base of the building, nearing a total of 100,000 square feet, Mr. Trump is enjoying his time at 40 Wall Street while also working on the development of Trump International Golf Links in Scotland.

“What makes my job interesting is that on any given day I can work on something that’s totally different,” he said. “It keeps things very interesting and fluid.”

drosen@observer.com