‘Dirt lawyer’ Jonathan Mechanic: New York’s real estate fixer

Leave it to a man with the last name Mechanic to be an influential New York real estate fixer.

Jonathan Mechanic, 71, has been involved in scores of deals in his 40-plus years as a real estate attorney at Fried Frank, and his expertise is increasingly needed post-pandemic, according to a flattering 4,300-word profile in the Financial Times.

Some of the takeaways from the profile include:

• He built a real estate group at Fried Frank into what one executive likened to the 1927 Yankees. “They just have a murderers’ row of lawyers over there,” the executive told the Times. Another executive, CBRE CEO Mary Ann Tighe called it “an empire.”
• Mechanic’s ability to navigate complex negotiations and bring together disparate parties earned him the reputation of a master dealmaker and “fixer.” “He knows who holds the debt and who the silent partner is,” Tighe told the outlet. “He’ll say: ‘Let me call them and see what the issue is.’ Jon can do that everywhere.”
• The journey has been personal for Mechanic. He counts his parents’ influences — his father’s sociable nature and his mother’s resilience — as anchors to his approach to work and relationships. His mother, Bernadine, was the manager of an auto parts business. When a rival was going to move in, saying it was just business and necessary for “market penetration,” Bernadine replied,  “All I know is whenever there’s penetration, somebody’s getting fucked. And it won’t be me,” the Times said.
• He’s a central and, according to the article, nearly universally beloved figure in New York Real estate. “You couldn’t do real estate in New York without running into Jon Mechanic,” Jonathan Gray, president of the Blackstone Group, told the outlet. “He has just built up this reservoir of goodwill that is very special and unique.”
• He does have his detractors. Some critics argue that Mechanic has a penchant for magnifying issues to showcase his problem-solving skills. “Is he the biggest guy? Yes,”an executive told the outlet. “Is he the only guy? No.”

— Ted Glanzer