SL Green, New York City’s largest office landlord, keeps growing — and it has made changes at the top to help handle the expansion.
While buying and selling at a furious clip, the commercial building giant, which is organized as a real estate investment trust, reorganized its upper ranks in April. It named a new president and a new chief operating officer, according to CEO Marc Holliday. It also promoted other executives, he said (see Broker Exchange).
Andrew Mathias was named president, taking over the job from Holliday, who retains the post of CEO. Mathias was previously the chief investment officer. Also promoted was chief financial officer Gregory Hughes, now chief operating officer. Hughes will also keep his title of CFO. “Our organizational structure needs to keep pace with our growth as a company, Holliday said. “SL Green has been on a steep growth trajectory and it’s essential that we have the executive and management structures that can accommodate that growth.”
Both Hughes and Mathias worked with Gramercy Capital, a commercial real estate finance REIT affiliated with SL Green. Hughes was the chief credit officer for the company, while Mathias served as chief investment officer.
In a new hire, Isaac Zion took on the managing director job in SL Green’s investment group, coming from a similar position at Tishman Speyer Properties.
SL Green owns approximately 24 million square feet in Manhattan office properties and approximately 300,000 square feet in retail properties. It is the fourth most active property buyer in the past 12 months in Manhattan, with acquisitions totaling more than $3 billion (see Manhattan’s biggest building buyers).
In its most recent deal, SL Green sold the 41-story Clock Tower at Five Madison Avenue to Africa Israel Investments for $200 million. SL Green’s biggest transaction in the past year — and biggest deal for the company — was its $6 billion buyout of Reckson Associates Realty Corp., which closed in late January. The deal gave SL Green control of six city buildings — including 919 Third Avenue, 810 Seventh Avenue and 1185 Avenue of the Americas — totaling 5.6 million square feet.