Throughout the past year, Insignia/ESG, the U.S. commercial real estate subsidiary
of Insignia Financial Group Inc., has stayed strong and clear on the industry
radar, steadily landing lease deal after lease deal in some of the nation's
crippled real estate markets.
Most notably, according to Realty IQ's annual ranking of top Big Apple office
deals, Insignia/ESG negotiated nearly half (24) of the top 50 deals transacted
in Manhattan last year.
Serving as either a tenant or landlord's representative, Insignia/ESG was involved
in most of the city's high-profile deals including the three largest: the 710,040-square-foot
Lehman Brothers lease at One World Financial Center; the 650,852-square-foot
lease for Arthur Andersen at One Times Square Tower now under construction;
and, acting on behalf of The Related Cos., the 879,000-square-foot lease with
AOL Time Warner at the new mixed-use office/retail/hotel/residential/ entertainment
development in Columbus Circle.
Insignia/ESG's 24 deals totaling almost 6.95 million square feet equate to
over half the square footage (55.63 percent) of all the top 50 deals combined,
namely 12.491 million square feet. Three out of the top three deals were attributed
to Insignia/ESG, as were six out of the top 10.
"We broke our own record in 2000," says Joseph Harbert, chief operating
officer for the New York region of Insignia/ESG. "Four years ago, we closed
23 of Manhattan's top 50 deals, just short of last year's 24."
At Insignia/ESG, Y2K revenue grew 43 percent over 1999 year-end totals to reach
$557 million. The company has kept up this trend, contributing to robust first-quarter
2001 earnings for its parent company. Insignia Financial Group generated $145.7
million of service revenues, up 19 percent from $122.6 million in first-quarter
2000.
Results, according to company analysts, were boosted by Insignia/ESG's solid
showings in New York and the western United States, where the company has landed
a number of lease and management deals.
In 2000, the company sold or financed $5 billion in commercial properties,
including a $68.5 million, nine-complex, 2,439-unit multi-family portfolio in
greater Phoenix. It also brokered the high- profile $368 million sale of the
Seagram Building at 375 Park Ave. in New York City by Teachers Insurance and
Annuity Association to RFR Holdings KKC.
Insignia/ESG provides comprehensive brokerage, property management, facilities
management, consulting, investment sales, and debt placement operations in 48
premier U.S. markets. It also delivers advanced commercial real estate services
in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Holland, and Japan.
In the United States, Insignia/ESG provides services for a property portfolio
spanning more than 230 million square feet of space.
