The Real Deal

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How they got to the top: Andrew Heiberger

Andrew Heiberger, president and CEO, Buttonwood Real Estate

As told to Melissa Dehncke-McGill

I grew up in an upper-middle-class family in Dix Hills, Long Island. My mother is a top real estate broker, and my father is a homebuilder who had an affinity for landscaping. My parents instilled in me generosity, focus and an unrelenting work ethic. They also taught me how to evaluate and analyze properties.

My dream job was to be a professional football player, but more realistically, I wanted to be an attorney when I grew up. The first job I ever had was selling pencils to kids at my elementary school. I made a few bucks at it and figured out that I was into entrepreneurial stuff. During my teen years, I decided I wanted to get into real estate. I was always fairly confident that I could succeed at anything I put my mind to, so I truly believed I would be on top of the game somewhere. But I never fully understood the magnitude of what it means to be on top of the game in Manhattan compared to in the suburbs.

After law school, I started working for a real estate broker in Manhattan who was also a developer. Soon
after, however, I realized that brokerage was something I could be doing on my own, and I set out to start my own company, Citi Habitats.

We quickly began growing the company, and about 10 years later, I had more than 1,000 licensed professionals and staff working in 20 offices throughout Manhattan. I surrounded myself with really good people.

When I had my first few offices, I did not focus on growing the company so quickly because I was not thinking big in the macro sense. In fact, I was a micromanager. It was not until roughly three or four years into it, when we had about five offices, that I realized I was sitting on top of a monster that could grow citywide with offices in every neighborhood. We were fortunate that the company's growth was enhanced by the strength of the real estate market.

In the last few years prior to selling the company, it started to become very stressful. There were a lot of bumps along the way, such as when the bubble burst in the dot-com era, and of course the aftermath of Sept. 11. I felt it was very important not to carry my anxiety into the workplace.

There was one instance when a key employee was stealing from the corporate accounts, which left me in a financial bind. Even after being robbed by someone in a position of trust, I tried very hard not to become overly cynical, because I do not believe that one rotten apple should spoil the bunch.

My wife Robyn has been a very significant factor in my success. Aside from being a great wife, spectacular mother and best friend, she has been a sounding board for me as well as a counselor and an escape from the working world.

In 2004 I sold the company, and in 2005 I started Buttonwood Real Estate, which specializes in residential development in Manhattan. One of the benefits of running a large brokerage is that I was able to become close friends with dozens of large developers who helped me learn a lot about the Manhattan real estate market, which helped smooth my transition from brokerage to development.

Aside from the sale of Citi Habitats, my proudest professional accomplishment would be the acquisition and development of 88 Greenwich Street, now known as Greenwich Club Residences, because it marked the beginning of my new career and so far has turned out to be a successful endeavor.

Successful developers in Manhattan have to be creative and think out of the box. Developers who have pushed the envelope in the last 10 years have been rewarded for it, while developers who have been complacent and overly conservative sometimes have ended up with tire marks on their backs. New York is a city for forward-thinking people who are willing to take risks, to think big and to put their money and their time where their mouth is.

The main piece of advice I would give someone just starting out would be to learn the market. Without market knowledge, you are useless as a real estate professional. To truly understand a specific market, you need to learn every corner of every neighborhood, from every residential building to store to school to park. Additionally, you need to be able to understand market value andécorrelative pricing.

The easiest thing has been to remain inspired and focused, because I am passionate about what I do. Every day I wake up with the desire to surpass my achievements. I have never let myself get overly impressed with what I achieved at Citi Habitats. I feel that if I am successful as a developer at Buttonwood, I will establish myself as a well-rounded industry expert.

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