Halstead Property

Diane M. Ramirez
President
dramirez@halstead.com
(212) 381-3203

2008 Rebny Awards They Won Through Service And Inspiration And Deals Big Deals

By Lauren Price

The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) will honor six industry leaders of great infuence at its 113th Annual Banquet tomorrow evening at the New York Hilton. “All of our honorees have accomplished great things in their careers and they have demonstrated the highest professional and ethical standards,” said REBNY president Steven Spinola. “These industry veterans are not only professionally successful,
but each contributes signifcantly to strengthening the communities they serve. We commend each individual for their hard work and dedication to the industry and the City.”

They are Diane M. Ramirez of Halstead Property, Mary Ann Tighe of CB Richard Ellis, Earle S. Altman of ABS Partners, Joseph A. Grotto Jr. of Colliers ABR, James H. Farley of Stahl Real Estate and Leonard Litwin of Glenwood Management.

Interviewed recently, some honorees conveyed their opinions and forecasts for New York’s real estate markets, not just through 2009, but 2010 and beyond.

Halstead Property’s president, Diane Ramirez, will receive the Kenneth R. Gerrety Humanitarian Award for her meritorious service to the community. In 1988, she was the frst recipient of REBNY’s Deal of the Year Award and in 2007, received its Henry Forster Award for lifetime achievements.

Together with Clark Halstead, the company was founded in 1984 because they shared a vision for creating a high-end, tech-savvy brokerage frm without sacrifcing Old World graciousness. Climbing the corporate ladder solely based on her ongoing exemplary performances, she was named president, partner and board member until Terra Holdings acquired the frm in 2001.

Halstead now boasts 600 agents and 11 offices. Ms. Ramirez serves on REBNY’s Board of Governors, co-chairs the Board of Directors of the Residential Division and serves on the Deal of the Year Committee, the Admissions Committee and the Investment Advisory sub-committee. She is a voting member of the Residential Brokerage Division, Interfrm Forum, which she co-chaired from 1996 to 1998—and was the co-chair of the Ethics Committee and Education Committee from 1994 to 1996. Additionally, she serves on the board of ResidentialNYC, is a member of the Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers Council (a not-for-proft afliate of the National Association of Realtors) from which she earned CRB designation in 1996. On top of all that, Ms. Ramirez is an accredited continuing education teacher for New York State.

Deeply involved in philanthropy, both in and out of the real estate community, she, and often with her husband Sam Ramirez, has been frequently honored for her outstanding commitment and involvement by organizations such as the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter and New Jersey’s centers for the Valerie Fund (which supports children with blood and cancer disorders).

Asked for her take on the New York’s residential market for 2009 and beyond, Ms. Ramirez said, “Right now we’re doing a lot of business for homes priced under $2 million. “It goes without saying that there is no question of it being a buyer’s market for the frst time in a long time. And, first-time buyers are particularly golden because they don’t have to worry about selling their current homes. According to the Wall Street Journal, mortgage rates are at a 37-year low, but it still remains a more cautious, more hesitant market. I would imagine a few years from now, quite a lot of people will look back on all this and wonder why they didn’t buy now.”

Mary Ann Tighe, CB Richard Ellis’ chief executive officer of the New York Tri-State Region since 2002, will receive the Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership in Real Estate Award for her exceptional lifetime accomplishments and invaluable contributions to New York’s real estate industry. A six-time winner of REBNY’s Deal of the Year Awards, Tighe has also been the recipient of the 2007 Henry Hart Rice
Achievement Award and the 2004 Louis Smadbeck Memorial Broker Recognition Award.

Overseeing 10 offices and annual revenues exceeding half a billion dollars, the Wall Street Journal appropriately once wrote, “(There is) an exceedingly small club of women who have managed to move to the top of the brokerage business. That club’s most prominent member is Mary Ann Tighe.” As well, Ms. Tighe took fourth place on Crain’s New York Business’ 100 Most Infuential Women in Business list in 2007 and took the same spot on the New York Post’s 50 Most Powerful Women in
NYC list in 2008.

From the revitalization of Times Square to Downtown’s rebirth, Tighe has been at the forefront these transformations of our skyline for 24 years. She has been responsible for leasing over 70 million square feet of commercial transactions, and her record deals have anchored more than 5.5 million square feet of new construction in the region.

Most signifcantly, Ms. Tighe has enjoyed long-term relationships with numerous public and private companies and non-proft organizations—shaping, strategizing
and implementing their real estate projects, both large and small, including the Archdiocese of New York, CIT, Condé Nast, Crain’s, Limited Brands, Medco, The New York Times Company, The Conference Board and WPP Group. Recently, she represented WestLB, a leading German fnancial institution, in its 15-year lease for approximately 129,000 square feet of ofce space on the top three foors of 7 World Financial Center. Beginning as a broker at the Edward S. Gordon Company, she was
ultimately named of vice chairman of Insignia/ESG. Prior to real estate, Tighe served as a vice president ABC-Television, where she launched the A&E channel.

Recognized nationally for her expertise in the arts, Ms. Tighe is a former Deputy Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Advisor to Vice President Walter Mondale, and a Smithsonian Institution staf member. On REBNY’s Executive Committee of the Board of Governors since 2001, she is currently vice president of the Executive Committee. Her board memberships include the Inner-City Scholarship Fund, the Partnership for New York City, Joan’s Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer and the Chairman’s Council and Business Committee and the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.

“I see a period of time in which we will look to reestablish confdence…not just in pricing, but in the viability of our fnancial markets,” she said. “Many believe the commercial market is frozen, but I believe it is alive and well. Our renewals constituted 37 to 40 percent of the leasing market in 2008, which is about 20 percent higher than usual and I see 2009 as a “moment of opportunity” for favorable rents, in fact the lowest we’ve seen in a long time. Over the next fve years, 2009 will represent the bottom of the market."

Earle Altman, chairman of ABS Partners Real Estate, will receive the Louis Smadbeck Broker Recognition Award, which honors an executive who exemplifes the characteristics of a successful commercial broker. Highly respected, Mr. Altman
spent over 40 years at Helmsley-Spear, Inc., one of our nation’s most renowned real estate frms, rising to the position of senior vice president in charge of the Sales and Leasing Divisions. Together with Steven Hornstock and Peter Burack, ABS was founded in 2000 and specializes in real estate investment, brokerage, management and consulting, specializing in the acquisition, repositioning and
development of commercial and residential properties. Altman works in acquisitions, sales, management, leasing, and advisory groups.

Mr. Altman and his team have managed, leased and sold commercial and residential buildings well in excess of a billion dollars. And years before loft and commercial building conversions became popular, he helped pioneer their conversions into residential co-ops and condominiums by consistently citing the fundamental land, building, and conversion values versus groundup construction. Mr. Altman is on the New York City Advisory Board of M&T Bank and a Real Estate Loan Committee member since 1989. He was honored asboth Young Man of the Year in 1971, and in
1982, its Senior Man of the Year by the Young Men’s/Women’s Real Estate Association of New York, an honor society of young real estate professionals, of which he was in 1964, chairman of its Board of Governors.He is also on the Board of Directors of The Realty Foundation of New York and has served as a REBNY Board of Governors member and three-time chair of its Sales Broker Committee. Along with Linda, his wife of more than 50 years, Mr. Altman is an active and strong supporter of numerous charities. He was cochair of the Real Estate Council of Carnegie Hall, as well as a benefactor of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where Linda
serves as a member of its Board and Executive Committee. A guest lecturer at both Cornell University and New York University, Mr. Altman was also president of the Real Estate Society of Baruch College and recently honored as an Alumni of Distinction, where he presently serves as a member of the Advisory Board of its Newman Real Estate Institute.

Currently, Mr. Altman is working to help create a program to build 3,000 middleincome cooperative and condominium apartments for New York City teachers,
nurses, frefghters, and police ofcers on well over two square blocks of land on Queens Boulevard, to include municipal garages and around-the-clock drive-in supermarkets.

Joseph Grotto Jr, senior managing director and partner at Colliers ABR has been chosen as the Young Real Estate Man of the Year—the very same honor bestowed upon his father and mentor, Joseph senior, in 1970. He was selected by the Young Men’s/Women’s Real Estate Association of New York on the basis of integrity, professional and personal ethics and knowledge, ability and accomplishments in the feld of real estate, contribution of time and efort to the Association and REBNY and
constructive participation in community life.

Mr. Grotto has been active in the real estate industry for over 25 years, since
graduating from Ohio’s Denison University, where he won the Economics Award for his graduating class. Beginning at the early age of 16, he interned at Brown, Harris, Stevens Inc. in the Appraisals Department. He then moved into commercial leasing after graduation. In 1986, Mr. Grotto co-founded J. Grotto & Associates with his father, before merging with Colliers ABR in 2003. Before forming their company, Joe senior was president of Brown Harris Stevens.

Mr. Grotto’s accomplishments encompass commercial leasing transactions in excess
of one million square feet and over $300 million in sales, and takes on numerous consulting projects for both corporations and institutions. Mr. Grotto was awarded the 1994 Robert T. Lawrence Memorial Award by the Sales Brokers Committee of REBNY and is currently on REBNY’s Board of Governors. He is also part of the Midtown West Rental Conditions and General Meetings Committees and served on the Board of Directors for the Commercial Brokerage Division. Mr. Grotto currently
serves as the assistant treasurer of the Realty Foundation of New York and is past chairman and vice chairman of the Young Men’s/Women’s Real Estate Association (YMWREA) of New York and served on the Board of Governors. [Younger brother John, a Durst Organization leasing representative, was also YMWREA chairman.]
“Unlike other downturns, this time around there’s now an opportunity to go from a B
building to an A building and fexible leases, though I think there will be an abundance of renewals moving forward,” Mr. Grotto said. “People are certainly playing it more conservatively… closer to the vest. But many are staying put for many reasons… as it is a given that these companies are so hi-tech, that it simply comes down to it being cheaper to stay than to incur the cost of having to invest in duplicating that infrastructure elsewhere. Looking at 2009 and beyond, it’s important to note that by nature, landlords and developers are an optimistic group, but 2008, between record lending and acting like there was no risk involved, there was what I call the “perfect storm” for creating this downturn.”

James Farley, a senior vice president responsible for construction, development and management for the Stahl Organization, will receive the George M. Brooker Management Executive of the Year Award, which recognizes individuals of superior
accomplishment from the management area, based on outstanding professionalism, civic achievements and contributions to the real estate industry.

A diversifed company, Stahl is an owner, developer and investor in more than 4,000,000 square feet of commercial space and 3,000 apartments. With Stahl since 1990, Mr. Farley’s career began in 1980, when he went to work for Muirfeld Contracting, where he ran its feld operations. Next, he worked for Williams Real Estate, managing a substantial portfolio of buildings—then ArDe Realty Corp in Nevada just prior to joining Stahl.

Mr. Farley is director of REBNY’s Management Division and is a member of he Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations’ Negotiating Committee, as well as the Building and Managers’ Association International. He has an MBA from Columbia University,
a BS in Civil Engineering from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and a Diploma in Construction Management from New York University. Other standout accomplishments for Mr. Farley include overseeing the renovations of both 277 Park Avenue and the Lunt Fontaine Theater, the residential condominium conversion of the landmarked Apple Bank for Savings building at 73rd Street and Broadway, and the construction of L haus, a luxury residential condominium in Long Island City. Mr.
Farley also oversaw the restoration of the Chanin Building on East 42nd Street, following the summer 2007 Con Edison steam pipe explosion near Grand Central Station.

Leonard Litwin, the owner of Glenwood Management, will receive the Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award, which is presented for a lifetime of exceptional accomplishment in the profession and invaluable contributions to New
York’s civic welfare.

One of the city’s most esteemed residential owners and management companies—Glenwood’s frst building was the Pavilion on East 77th Street, one of the largest luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan. Today Glenwood owns and rents 4,200
high-end units.

The Litmans have been nurserymen for over 70 years, maintaining the 200-acre
Woodbourne Cultural Nurseries, which is being converted to the Woodbourne Arboretum in Melville, NY, so no surprise that Glenwood buildings are built with substantial amounts of beautifully landscaped areas that certainly contribute to
the overall beauty of Manhattan. Mr. Litwin is actively promoting Mayor Bloomberg’s new plan to “green” New York City and with Cornell University’s, established the Cornell Quarantine Center, which is used to help eradicate invasive pests.

Mr. Litwin is the vice chair of the Rent Stabilization Association of New York, a governor and secretary of REBNY, and co-chair of the Board of Governors of the Associated Builders and Owners of Greater New York. He is also actively involved
in numerous charities such as the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, for which he recently gave a large gift to create the frst initiative into juvenile Crohn’s research—and founded the New York Crohn’s Foundation and co-founded the
Litwin Zucker Alzheimer’s Research Center at North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System. Mr. Litwin has substantially supported Alzheimer’s disease research at number of prominent hospitals. He also funds research to fnd treatments for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other maladies—and is a major benefactor of Temple Beth-el in Great Neck on Long Island—and he has established the Litwin Foundation to ensure that these endeavors last well beyond his lifetime.

Glenwood’s Liberty Plaza on Liberty Street, the frst building to rise after September 11, received special recognition from the both the New York and Federal Register’s Historic Places as a shining example of what should be built in historic districts and stands as an example of Mr. Litwin’s dedication to the city.

Monday, January 19, 2009