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Tuesday, May 22, 2012 Five Questions With...
CREF: How did you get into the real estate business? JP: I studied bacteriology and public health at Wagner College in New York City but after working 12-hour days in labs and research, I decided it wasn't going to be my M.O. for the rest of my life. So I took a year off and worked for Northwest Orient Airlines and became one of the largest salespeople for their flights and packages. After speaking to someone I knew in the industry, I decided that I might want to take on a sales position in real estate and get paid not on a salary basis but on a commission basis. I then interviewed with 10 or 12 different companies and was hired by Mary Salerno at Berley & Co. At the beginning of my career and up until 15 years ago, I was noticing more and more that I was the only female sitting in a room of negotiation. So in 1996, I formed my own company, JRT Realty. It's the largest full-service commercial real estate firm in the country that is minority and woman-owned and we've been growing by enormous proportions since then. CREF: What notable deals have you been involved with? JP: Recently we negotiated the acquisition of a property in Long Island City on behalf of the United Nations Federal Credit Union. We found a warehouse property that had been knocked down and developed it into a 270,000 square foot/17-story Class A office tower. It serves as the United Nations Federal Credit Union Headquarters and they occupy over 150,000 square feet of space. JRT is now the leasing management agents for the property. We have leases out for the rest of the property and spearhead the leasing and management teams in the project. In the past 12 to 15 years, we have had over 200 asset management assignments on behalf of Teachers Insurance Annuity (TIAA-CREF) and we also represented the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on 92 office locations across the country. CREF: In what commercial real estate industry do you specialize? JP: We do everything from strategic planning to leasing, property marketing, tenant and landlord representation and facilities. Being the largest minority/woman-owned firm has distinguished us very much with the business we have been getting. What has helped with the growth of the business is a strategic alliance I formed with Cushman & Wakefield, which is a company that has a very important program for working with minority and women's businesses. JRT does not have over 200 locations throughout the world so we use C&W to help us with some of the resources we don't have. This allows JRT to grow in that we can give our very qualified minorities and women a chance through the strategic alliance with C&W. CREF: How has the industry changed since you've been involved? JP: I think JRT has paved the way for other minority/women business firms. The overall participation in the industry of minority/women businesses has seen dramatic change. Corporate America has made great strides and they're improving almost on a daily basis on expanding what the role is of minority/women businesses in real estate. The Fortune 100 corporations now require their businesses to collaborate with suppliers who reflect their own consumer and employee population. I would imagine the industry has changed in that women and minorities are now actively participating in the roles of professionals in real estate. CREF: How does the market look over the next 12 months? JP: Despite the economic and credit issues, the market is pretty healthy. Change could always occur, but I don't see anything dramatic taking place. The New York City market is an unbelievable market - financial firms and insurance companies are driving the market in an unbelievable manner. I think rents will continue to rise substantially. Also, there is not enough space for the financial firms and there will be spillover into downtown and the outer boroughs like Long Island City. The submarkets will definitely be strong and as far as I'm concerned, it won't go up as dramatically as it has, but it will still go up. Filed Under: Five Questions With... E-mail this article to a friend | Printer friendly format| DIGG this| Post to del.icio.us Comments on this article
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