The Cushman and Wakefield brokers who spent six years working to land a tenant for the Wildenstein townhouse on the Upper East Side earned themselves an award for their efforts.
“This transaction began as a seemingly straightforward leasing assignment. Four days later, Lehman Brothers collapsed,” Ripco Real Estate’s Andrew Mandell, chair of the Real Estate Board of New York’s retail committee, explained Tuesday evening at the trade group’s annual retail award ceremony.
REBNY awarded CushWake brokers James Downey, Eric Le Goff, Frank Liantonio and Michael Rotchford the Most Ingenious Retail Deal of the Year honor for their deal to put luxury-handbag purveyor Bottega Veneta on five floors across three different buildings at Madison Avenue and East 64th Street owned by different partnerships among the Wildenstein Family.
“A brokerage team of retail, commercial and finance were necessary to help guide this ownership group through landmarks, construction, financing and ultimately leasing of this newly created space for the appropriate tenant, Bottega Vendetta,” Mandell said.
The Most Significant Retail Deal of the Year went to SRS Real Estate Partners’ Patrick Smith, Mark Kapnick, Corey Zolcinski and Matt Ogle for landing a string of tenants for 160,000 square feet of retail across a trio of Equity Office Properties buildings near Bryant Park.
“The brokers used their ingenuity and created a marketing strategy using Byrant Park as an anchor to secure a deal with Whole Foods,” Mandell explained. “This was followed by SoulCycle, ASICS athletic footwear and apparel, Tourneau watches, Coffee Mania, Academia Barilla and Citibank, thus changing the retail landscape on Sixth Avenue, 41st street and 42nd Streets forever.”