Pinnacle Awards Shared by Newcomers, Industry Leaders

Newcomers and veterans from across the spectrum of commercial real estate shared the honors at the 45th Annual BOMA/NY Pinnacle Awards Ceremony last night, Feb. 7, 2013, with Paramount Group, Inc. capturing three of the industry’s most prized award statuettes, followed by SL Green Realty Corp., taking home two, and Hearst Tower making history as the most-decorated Pinnacle winner ever.

The Chelsea Piers ceremony, which played to an audience of 500, gave out 11 awards in all. Here are the highlights:

Outstanding Local Member of the Year-Ronald S. Zeccardi,

Vice President, The Moinian Group

BOMA/NY Secretary Ron Zeccardi was hailed as one of the industry’s prime movers for getting things done. Joining BOMA/NY in 2005, he became a key committee contributor to the Preparedness, Energy & Sustainability and Codes & Regulations/Government Affair committees, among others. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 2010, now serves as Secretary and was fundamental to creating the Advocacy Response Committee (ARC) to dig deeper into issues requiring outreach. ARC has tackled FDNY personnel awareness of LL26, prevented the Bad Actors Bill and is advocating the industry’s practical needs regarding the new Fire Code. Most recently, Ron helped create BOMA/NY’s Superstorm Sandy Lessons Learned initiative.

Historical—745 Fifth Avenue Owned/managed by Paramount Group Inc.; Manager: Michael Versace

This hotly contested category went to Paramount’s 745 Fifth Avenue, which edged out 595 Madison and 2 Park Avenue with its overall management program of best practices. 745 Fifth was first acclaimed as the headquarters of The Squibb Corporation, which opened its doors in 1930 and gave the masterpiece its name. Today as an extensively renovated structure with LEED certification pending, 745 Fifth is a modern office tower competing with great success in Midtown’s prestigious Plaza District. Renovation heightened the building’s curb appeal by cladding the first six stories in marble and granite and recreated the exquisite nickel and bronze entrance of the original building—carelessly removed several decades ago—in exact detail.

Earth – Hearst Tower Owner: Hearst Corporation: Management Firm: Tishman Speyer; Property Manager: Siro Gonzalez

Not content for this modern landmark to remain LEED Gold-NC/CI/EBOM, the team of managing agent Tishman Speyer and Hearst Corporation real estate set about to obtain LEED Platinum for Hearst Tower several years ago. In 2012, the tower achieved that distinction and was the city’s first existing building to do so. The 46-story tower—built to use 2,000,000 fewer kWh annually—lowered annual usage an additional 1,600,000 kWh through re-commissioning, upgrades, and other innovations. Sustainability features are evident on entering the lobby, where thousands of gallons of harvested rainwater cascade over the 3,000-sf stepped glass sculpture, cooling the lobby in summer and humidifying it in winter. The mezzanine houses the organic-composting, 340-seat Café 57. Office floors exemplify sustainability with floor-to-ceiling, low-E-glass windows, sensor-controlled lighting, LEED furnishings and Energy Star® equipment.

Corporate –IAC Building Owner: IAC Corporation; Managing Agent: Jones Lang LaSalle; Property Manager: Thomas R. Panissidi, RPA

IAC’s iconic HQ at 555 West 18th Street was recognized for management leadership, problem-solving ability and overall management excellence. When new media giant IAC chose West Chelsea as the nerve center of its 20,000-employee global network, it also chose to make one of urban architecture’s most dramatic statements to date with a façade often likened to billowing sails. Unique in every way on the exterior, the IAC headquarters has equally radical interiors. The underlying skeleton uses reinforced concrete ribs and columns that slope in every direction, defining workspaces that appear random. Yet these free-flowing, modular spaces support IAC’s creative employees and draw natural light inside. A work of art in its conception, the IAC Building in its execution has, in a few short years, become a public favorite and a masterpiece of new generation architecture.

Renovated—330 Madison Avenue Owner: Vornado Realty Trust; Manager: Vornado Office Management LLC; Property Manager: Nichole M. O'Connell

Vornado took home the honors for 330 Madison Avenue in a three-way competition pitting it against RXR Realty LLC’s 1330 Avenue of the Americas and Mitsui Fudosan America’s 100 William Street. 330 Madison was cited for the comprehensiveness of the team effort behind a renovation re-establishing the building as a major presence on Madison Avenue. Dramatically repositioned, this 39-story modernist tower circa 1962 is now a gleaming LEED-EB, Energy Star® building that replaced the exterior with a sophisticated new glass curtain wall. Other renovation highlights include a full reconfiguration and renovation of the lobby, and new double-height glass entrance and storefronts. Strategically timed to coincide with the peak revitalization period of the Grand Central District, the redevelopment today enjoys more than 95 percent occupancy.

Manager of the Year 3-10 Years - Michael Aisner, RPA/LEED AP, RXR Realty LLC

Pinnacle newcomer RXR Realty LLC took home its first Pinnacle with a win by Michael Aisner, manager of the firm’s 1330 Avenue of the Americas. He was cited for his outstanding team leadership and service commitment, superb communication skills and ability to anticipate problems before they arise. His enthusiasm about his building’s renovation is shared by the tenants and built a large surplus of goodwill. Of his technical and communications acumen regarding the renovation, his supervisor, Executive Vice President Frank Pusinelli stated, "I could not have asked for a better outcome."

Manager of the Year Over 10 Years of Experience - Patricia Revellese, SL Green Realty Corp.

Manager of the Pinnacle Award winning 609 Fifth Avenue, Pat Revellese began her career as a secretary at 90 Park, cajoled the engineers into teaching her the technical side of the business and rose through the ranks to a full managerial position only five years later. Today, the industry veteran is as well known for delivering multi-million build-outs on time and budget, as she is for her unmatched personal service. At 609 Fifth Avenue, Pat has brought the building up to its highest and best use technologically while maintaining a hotel-like atmosphere where she knows every tenant by name and they consider her to be family. Called the building’s "best asset" by Director Emile Kattan of anchor tenant DZ Bank because of her "warm character, combined with operational knowledge," she expects the same of her team and the results speak for themselves: 609 Fifth repeatedly achieves the highest Kingsley scores in the SL Green Portfolio, including seven scores of 100 percent.

Operating Office Building 100,000 - 249,9999 Sq. Ft. - 110 East 42nd Street Owner/manager: SL Green Realty Corp.; Property Manager: Paul Palagian

Created as the Midtown headquarters of the once thriving Bowery Savings Bank, the now landmarked 110 East 42nd Street presented a startling diversion from bank architecture when it opened in 1923, rewriting the rules by being located mid-block and built in the Italian Renaissance style. Today, the 18-story tower’s lavish façade has been artfully restored by owner SL Green Realty Corp. in coordination with the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Tenants enjoy the benefits of 12-foot ceilings, operable steel and bronze windows, newly-renovated restrooms and multi-tenant corridors, high-speed telecommunications and more, as management introduces SL Green’s signature sustainability, energy conservation, community impact and tenant relations programs to the tenants.

Operating Office Building 250,000 - 499,9999 Sq. Ft. -1333 Broadway Owner: W&H Properties; Management Firm: Newmark Grubb Knight Frank; Property Manager: Diane Fields, RPA/FMA/LEED AP BD C

1333 Broadway has found its niche today as an outstanding example of operational excellence, complete with a high Energy Star® score and a repositioned stature that defines this 358,000-sf denizen of Manhattan’s Herald Square as a master of market transformation. The building is now 100 percent occupied and presents its revived Broadway neighborhood with a restored façade. Blending Neo-Classical and early Art Deco design, its dark brown brick is accented by limestone banding and a castellated crown roofline. Completing the façade enhancements are 1,100 new energy efficient windows; a completely new, bronze-detailed entrance, and new sidewalk paving. Investments continue as ownership enhances this almost 100-year-old building with a 21st Century legacy.

Operating Office Building 500,000 - 1,000,000 Sq. Ft. -1325 Avenue of the Americas Owner/manager: Paramount Group, Inc.; Property Manager: Daniel P. Breslin

Management at this highly stylized, 35-story granite and glass tower was cited for its well-rounded operations, training programs, and innovative community and tenant relations programs. When developed in the 1980's, the Post Modern building at 1325 Avenue of the Americas was hailed by critics as a "surprisingly fine addition" to the West Midtown skyline. Twenty years later, the building achieved its first Energy Star® rating, and in 2012, the management team not only increased that rating to 86, but added LEED-EB Silver to its credentials. Design features include two lobbies with intricate marble detailing, stainless steel and brass trim, 27-foot coffered ceilings and dramatically patterned granite and terrazzo floors. A stunning four-story, vaulted glass galleria runs the length of the building’s east side and provides both seating and shelter for pedestrians amid lavish landscaping and skylit daylighting.

Operating Office Building Over 1,000,000 Sq. Ft. - 1633 Broadway Owner/manager: Paramount Group, Inc.; Property General Manager: Jeffrey Caimi, LEED AP

As one of Paramount’s earliest acquisitions in New York and its local headquarters, this win had particular meaning for the Paramount management team. Broadway’s largest office tower, 1633 Broadway pioneered office development in the Theater District in the early 1970’s with a 2.5 million-sf International style office skyscraper. It was the only building of its stature in the neighborhood for years. Paramount has upgraded the building repeatedly, including achieving Energy Star® status, so that 1633 is now at its most prestigious—a highly sought-after international headquarters center with Allianz Global Investors as lead tenant. The building team recently completed a major lobby and elevator system renovation and are about to embark on an upgrade to its massive plaza, which includes more than a dozen stores, public seating and landscaping. Home to the Gershwin and Circle in the Square theaters, the building that once stood alone as a vote of confidence for Broadway now offers tenants stunning views of that boulevard’s spectacular ambiance and the thriving corridor of new office towers it helped inspire.