News
LEE & ASSOCIATES' NYC EXPANSION
November 16, 2011
| Sierra Realty's 34 staffers are ordering new business cards now that the firm has become Lee & Associates' 44th office and its second in the Northeast (the other is in NJ). NYC could see as many as six more before Elvis leaves the building. |
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| We snapped the King (left behind by a tenant in one of Sierra's property acquisitions) with Lee CEO Ed Indvik, Lee & Associates NYC prez Jim Wacht, NYC COO Joel Herskowitz (previous Grubb & Ellis president and CEO), and NYC managing principal Peter Braus at their 12 E 46th St office. Jim tells us he'd been the lawyer for Sierra (founded in 1953 by Peter's father Jay and John Samuelson) and then bought the firm in 2000, let go of the staff, and started over with Peter. Jim has hired 12 brokers in the past two years and hopes to add 10 more by year's end. Lee & Associates NYC (and Elvis) has outgrown its 40k SF digs (next door to the Colombian Embassy and owned by Jim) and is searching for new space. |
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| Ed (whom we snapped at Junior's in July) says though Lee is a brokerage firm, member offices are encouraged to maintain their unique business models, and thus Jim's taste for acquisitions, along with his office's property and construction management, will remain. Jim says its sweet spot (going for a solid batting average rather than home runs) will be 5,000 to 25k SF office leases. Its retail work, Peter's specialty, will concentrate on local operators between 2,500 SF and 4,000 SF, with cross-over opportunities to help those retailers find office space. And property management will focus on rent-regulated apartments between four and 200 units. The office is active in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. |
