Broadway Partners CEO looks to Florida, avoids NY in aftermath of market collapse

Scott Lawlor, founder and CEO of Broadway Partners, a private real estate investment firm, sat down with the New York Times this weekend to discuss his new market strategy following a rough few years in the wake of the market collapse. In 2006 and 2007, his company bought 28 office properties. Many of those properties have since been lost, though some Manhattan buildings, including 280 Park Avenue, remain in its 15-property portfolio. Lawlor said the company lost 30 to 40 percent of its property values over three or four months after Lehman Brothers shuttered, coinciding with debt maturities. “It’s tempting to hang on to assets no matter what, but throwing good money after bad is not a good business strategy,” he said. Looking forward, he added, “we’re going to diversify a bit. We have spent some time studying up on and getting organized around the apartment sector, and so we’re going to be rolling out an investment strategy imminently — probably in early ’10.” Lawlor said the Florida and Las Vegas markets are looking good, but New York is not. “There’s not a tremendous amount of trading there,” he said. [NYT]