Gary Jacob, who oversees site acquisition, financing, leasing and financial projections for Glenwood
From the April issue: At 90-something years old, Leonard Litwin has outlasted most of his real estate rivals. He builds his high-end rental towers to do the same.
The soft-spoken chairman of Glenwood Management has been constructing and operating luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan for almost 50 years, and he hasn’t sold one yet.
Glenwood’s focus exclusively on rentals might have looked myopically old-school during the recent real estate boom, when new development condos and condo conversions drove sales prices into the stratosphere.
But it looks pretty wise in this down market.
“Glenwood is a quintessential New York builder that has always very conservatively leveraged their investments,” said Robert Knakal, chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services. “If there’s one lesson to come out of this downturn — every downturn — it’s that when times are good, leverage enhances return, but when times are bad, leverage can be very punishing. And if you don’t have excessive leverage you are in a great position to take advantage of the marketplace.”
That’s just what Glenwood appears poised to do. [more]
