Taking a job at Corcoran in 1995, Mr. Reuveni soon found himself working on new developments catering to the dot-com-era clientele. The newly monied classes had little interest in the aging Park Avenue progenitors of New York’s luxury real estate market, and were looking instead for gleaming new establishments to complement their gleaming new social standing. It was a new generation of buyers, less interested in a building’s pedigree than its amenities and family friendliness.
After 12 years at Corcoran, Mr. Reuveni was offered the helm of Brown Harris Stevens Select, a full-service marketing and sales division focusing entirely on new developments and conversions. Mr. Reuveni and his team help developers select sites for new buildings, work with architects to design layouts, select interior designers to outfit the luxury spaces, and aggressively market the properties—ultimately selling the condos to buyers flush with ambition, assets and that new-money smell.
Mr. Reuveni’s group is behind buzzy buildings like 15 Union Square West, Reade57 in Tribeca and the Merritt House on East 82nd Street. Mr. Reuveni’s star began to rise in 2008 with the completion of 15 USW, the former Tiffany’s building that has been reclad entirely in black metal and glass. Despite some initial hiccups, the project is now 82 percent sold out. Among its residents is Caroline Wozniacki, the No. 1 ranked women’s tennis player in the world, who took a pied-à-terre there. But it was the Laureate’s blow-out sales in a tough economic climate that solidified Mr. Reuveni as one of New York’s topmost brokers.
When asked about the perceived mystery of his persona, Mr. Reuveni seemed surprised. He preferred to describe himself as a perfectionist professional who works hard to keep his private life private. “I’m very businesslike,” Mr. Reuveni said. “I associate with many brokers, but I do keep my personal life separate from my business.”
But why the bifurcation in such a clubby profession? “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll talk to a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and they’ll tell me. It’s always been the way that I do business,” he explained. “I’m here as a professional, not necessarily to make friends.”
If Mr. Reuveni is mysterious, so are his buyers. Of those whose identities are known, the Laureate’s newest residents include financiers, horse-breeders, Southerners and cartoon creators. The Plaza had Eloise, the Laureate has Dora the Explorer.
Yet the vast majority have purchased anonymously, dropping millions of dollars through limited liability corporations hidden under reams of legal and financial documents. Although Mr. Reuveni categorically refuses to share any details about his buyers—he considers his discretion a hallmark of the firm—he frequently alludes to foreign investors when discussing the luxury real estate market, and it seems safe to assume that some out-of-towners are behind the recent sales. What does this seemingly disparate group have in common? Cash, and lots of it.
Mr. Reuveni constantly and seemingly unconsciously oscillates from the use of the first person singular to the first person plural when referring to his work at BHS Select. Although the group consists of brokers, a marketing team, a project team and an economist, it is clear that Mr. Reuveni has assumed an acute sense of responsibility for the division, seeing it in some ways as an extension of himself.
“I think that if we take on a project, if we take on a challenge, my relationship with developers, I think, I would like to think, goes beyond a business relationship,” Mr. Reuveni said. “You know if they call at 3:00 in the morning I’m going to pick up the phone. If there’s an issue, if there’s a problem, I’m the one who resolves it. So I’d like to think that every project that we take on, every challenge we take on, we give it 100 percent.”
