New York City’s real estate elite rubbed shoulders with the tennis elite at the U.S. Open men’s finals last month. On hand to watch Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic were top retail investor Jeff Sutton, Thor Equities’ Joseph Sitt, developer Joseph Moinian and son Matthew, SL Green Realty CEO Marc Holliday, and real estate power lawyer Jonathan Mechanic.
Earlier that day Sitt had upped his offer to buy the Empire State Building fee position for $1.4 billion. When The Real Deal asked him about the bid, he smiled knowingly but declined to comment, making a zipper motion to indicate that his lips were sealed. (As of press-time, Empire State Building co-owner Malkin Holdings said it was moving forward with a $1 billion IPO plan, having rejected all bids to buy the tower.)
During the third set, TRD spotted Holliday and Mechanic — the chairman of the real estate department at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson — chatting at one of the stadium’s watering holes. A few feet away, Moinian and his son were grabbing a beer before the final stretch of the match. It’s a good thing they did, since it ended up going five sets.