By Jotham Sederstrom 11/08/11 9:27am

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Fresh Eyes on Manhattan

A political activist who during his youth worked under Reps. Charles Rangel and John Conyers, Peebles Corp. chief executive and chair of Peebles Corp. Don Peebles has risen to become one of the 10 wealthiest black entrepreneurs in the country and among the nation’s most successful real estate developers, with projects in Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and Miami, among other markets. The college dropout, 51, spoke with The Commercial Observer about his recent shift to New York City’s commercial market, the deals that lie ahead on the Lower East Side, and his racial-barrier-busting real estate moves in Miami.

The Commercial Observer: You dropped out of college but have since established yourself as one of the most successful real estate developers in the country—albeit lesser known here in the New York City market. How did you initially get into commercial real estate?
Mr. Peebles: I attended Rutgers University with the expectation of going into medicine. I was going to emulate my uncle, who was kind of a role model for me and an inspiration for me. But after my first year, I realized that medicine really wasn’t where I wanted to go. It was a bit more confining and I was more entrepreneurial, and my mother had been in the real estate business. She’d been head of a real estate brokerage company in Detroit.

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By Jotham Sederstrom 9/13/11 12:53pm

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Mitch Rudin’s Quarterly Report

In June, Mitch Rudin took the reins as Brookfield Office Properties’s president and C.E.O. of U.S. Commercial Operations following news that Ric Clark would relinquish his role as president of the Canadian firm, which controls downtown’s World Financial Center, while remaining on as C.E.O. of corporate operations. Last week, Mr. Rudin, 58, assessed his progress.

The Commercial Observer: So, why don’t you assess your progress over your first 60 days at Brookfield?

Mr. Rudin: It’s been terrific. I wouldn’t quite call this my midterm report card, but I’ve been here for two months, and to the extent that there have been any surprises they’ve all been pleasant.

What kind of surprises? Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 9/06/11 11:55am

the sit-down

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Trumpeting Change on Third

Since 2009, Gerard Nocera, Michael Reid and John Monaco have helmed Herald Square Properties, an investment and operating company that has, since launching, provided asset management services for more than 800,000 square feet of office properties in Manhattan. The former COO of SL Green, Mr. Nocera, 54, spoke about the revitalization program at the Lipstick Building at 885 Third Avenue and the company’s efforts to acquire new property. Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 8/23/11 10:40am

the sit-down

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Matt Van Buren, CBRE’s New Top Guy for the Tristate

Earlier this month, Matt Van Buren stepped into his role as CB Richard Ellis’s president of the tristate region. With the new title, Mr. Van Buren’s oversight duties have grown from operations at the firm’s midtown headquarters to its activities across Long Island, Connecticut, upstate New York and Northern Jersey. The former executive managing director, 52, interrupted his vacation to talk shop. Read More

By Tom Acitelli 8/09/11 1:27pm

the sit-down

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A Verdict on the Recovery

As chair of law firm Greenberg Traurig’s Global Real Estate Practice and its New York office—not to mention co-chair of its national Real Estate Investment Trust group—veteran attorney Robert Ivanhoe has, for more than 30 years, represented most of the city’s heaviest real estate hitters. Mr. Ivanhoe, 58, talked about the still-changing face of commercial real estate in the aftermath of the economic collapse, the re-emergence of C.M.B.S., and his relationship with Jonathan Mechanic. Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 8/02/11 8:55am

the sit-down

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Notes From the A Train

Since departing Massey Knakal as one of its principals earlier this year, Shimon Shkury has been president of Ariel Property Advisors, where he has aggressively focused on Upper Manhattan properties. Mr. Shkury, 40, spoke to The Observer about the neighborhood’s umpteenth renaissance, an uptick in development sales and multifamily financing.

The Observer: You’re doing an enormous number of residential and mixed-use deals in Harlem. What’s drawing you to that particular neighborhood?

Mr. Shkury: In general, we’ve been doing a lot of work in our backyard, which is Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, in the multifamily arena mostly, but development as well. We’ve seen some uptick in activity in the past year, clearly in 2010 and the first half of this year. Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 8:36am

the sit-down

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(Clear)Rock Stars Doug Winshall and Steve Grant

ClearRock Properties was launched in 2009 as a real estate investment, development and operating company. As managing principals, Doug Winshall, 50 (left), and Steve Grant, 47, have already hit the ground running with a series of large property acquisitions in Boston and Connecticut. In a recent interview, however, the pair said that several property buys in Manhattan are only months away, and even more are yet to come. Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 1/04/11 3:42am

the sit-down

Peter Hennessy Has a Busy Winter Ahead

Since being named president of the New York tristate region for Cassidy Turley in August, real estate veteran Peter Hennessy has had his hands full-primarily with realigning the firm’s services platform and its national entities under a single umbrella, but also with his continued role as a broker. Mr. Hennessy, 50, talked about Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 9/28/10 12:46pm

The Fashions Change, the Fundamentals Don’t: Steven Kaufman on His Firm’s Evolving Relationship With Gotham

Last year, the Kaufman Organization celebrated its 100th anniversary. As was the case in 1909, the family-owned concern leases much of its space to garment and fashion industry tenants, including trophy showrooms at 1407 Broadway. But, as times change, so, too, do tenants. Kaufman President Steven Kaufman, 61, sat down to discuss his firm’s evolving Read More