Holliday talks shop on office rebound, Aqueduct

Marc Holliday, the CEO of real estate investment trust SL Green, which, with 23 million square feet under its belt, is one of the largest commercial office building landlords in Manhattan, sat down with the New York Times to discuss his predictions for the Manhattan office sector and his group’s bid for the aqueduct race track project. Holliday said that SL Green hasn’t seen its occupancy levels drop much from the company’s 2005-2006 peak, and that many of its tenants are beginning to rebound. “We’re starting to see signs of improvement in our tenants’ businesses: they’re beginning to hire again; they’re making more money; they seem to be more optimistic,” Holliday said. As for the long-awaited decision on the winning bidder for the Aqueduct race track project, Holliday isn’t holding his breath for an announcement any time soon. “The state has indicated that a selection will be made shortly, but I think the evidence is such that that’s been the case for many months now, so you really can’t point to [an announcement] date,” Holliday said.