Gaudi - by Shaun Osher

I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to architecture, I believe that there is a guideline of common sensibility that is universal. Beyond interpretation and individual artistic license,  there is fundamental good design and bad design. If you are a modernist and love the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, you

can still appreciate the integrity of the Pantheon. Much in the same way that scholars of Gaudi can appreciate the beauty of Phillip Johnson’s body of work.

But, over the past decade, in New York City, and from some of the pipeline of buildings being designed,  it seems to me that we have lost the barometer of common sense(ibility). We are witnessing some of the worlds ugliest buildings being built. Yes, there have been some gems, but in large part, our social artistic cultural conscience seems to have disappeared.

We have the landmarks preservation commission which oversees the design of new buildings being built, but this is reserved for the select neighborhoods that have historical significance. (There also seem to be some political loopholes when it comes to certain “situations”).  Where is the zoning board that oversees the design of the new skyscrapers (and low rise buildings)? Where is our social conscience? Where is the inspiration? The driving force behind most of these buildings seem to be driven by value engineering and one goal of achieving the highest dollar return on investment.

It is high time that we start to acknowledge that what we build today will become a reflection of our culture and create a fingerprint for future generations to be inspired by.

Shaun Osher is the CEO and Founder of CORE.

The success of a business depends primarily on the people who run it. And in the case of real estate sales, even more so, because it is such a service-oriented business with many intangibles. The culture of a company starts at the top and then works its way through the people who make up the fabric of the brand. One of the most important positions in any brokerage company is the person who mentors and guides the agents. This person has to be well-respected, have a high level of integrity synonymous with the brand, understand the business model with the ability to navigate the intricacies of any deal. Ryan Fitzpatrick is a person who exemplifies all of these attributes and is an ambassador of our CORE brand and culture. As mentioned in The Real Deal, today, he is stepping into his new role as Director of Sales for our Chelsea office and this will mark a significant step in our commitment to build our company as the leader in the industry.

Shaun Osher is the CEO and Founder of CORE. Learn more about Ryan in his “TEN” interview here.

HGTV’s “Selling New York” follows CORE agents as they navigate the country’s most competitive—and compelling—real estate market. Here’s our behind-the-scenes look at Episode #612, which first aired on February 21, 2013. For more SNY recaps, click here.

In this episode, CORE’s Michael Graves is looking to outdo himself by breaking his own high sales record in the same building, 240 Park Avenue South. But CORE’s CEO Shaun Osher is skeptical Michael will be able to outdo the price of the penthouse apartment, which sold at the height of the real estate market. Keep on reading for some exclusive behind-the-scenes information on what didn’t make it into last night’s episode of “Selling New York” and what happened after the cameras stopped rolling!

• 240 Park Ave South and its warm community of residents hold a special place in Michael’s heart.  As fate would have, it his first real estate transaction was Penthouse 15A in the building – a direct deal that broke all price-per-square-footage records in the building which set him on a course of success that he could never have imagined.
• Since that time, Michael has become friends with many residents and has worked hard to increase their property value by swiftly selling more units at record breaking prices, such as 9A seen in tonight’s episode.
• Michael wishes we had more time to show the inner workings of these deals and the wonderful people who were involved along the way. What can he say is that Susan Kennedy is one of the most professional and pleasurable brokers in the industry. It was a total joy to work with her and her clients and they had a lot of laughs and fun along the way. Michael is certain that 240 Park Avenue South will continue to prove itself as one of the best buildings downtown and he is looking forward to his next deal there soon.

The riskiest thing you can do is to play it safe.
Especially in a heated market.
But, for some reason many people seem to do this.
Brokers, developers, architects, designers…..

Playing it safe is mediocre
Playing it safe is lazy
Generic
A strong market disguises mediocrity with the illusion of innovation And blurs the core reason for success!

No matter how many times you look at them, the iconic buildings shaping the New York skyline never lose their magic. CORE’s CEO Shaun Osher, snapped this striking photo of the Chrysler Building while out in Manhattan this week. Once the world’s tallest building, this skyscraper, as seen from 42nd Street, displays the beautiful ornamentation and details of the classic Art Deco architecture.

Welcome to Ten, CORE founder and CEO Shaun Osher’s rapid-fire interview series with prominent CORE figures. Read on to find out how this week’s subject deals with being on the hot seat.

Adrian Noriega has been with CORE only two years, but has quickly become one of our top agents. He is known for his strong client referral business – time and time again, Adrian is able to forge such strong relationships that the majority of his business is from his clients telling their friends they should work with him which is a true formula for success in the real estate industry. Here are his answers to Ten questions:

1) How long have you been selling real estate?

I began my real estate career 13 years ago.

2) How did you get into the business?        

I moved to NYC right out of high school to attend college at Marymount Manhattan while attempting to pursue acting. I quickly realized acting wasn’t going to work for me and I was getting a lot out of the marketing courses in my college curriculum. An acquaintance at the time, now friend and former colleague at Elliman, approached me about getting into the real estate business. Given my love for NYC, my intrigue for the real estate industry and my passion for marketing, I thought I’d give it a go. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

3) You’ve been incredibly successful in a short time, what do you attribute your success to?

I would attribute it to two things: my knowledge of the market, and equally as important, if not more so, my ability to listen to my clients. By fully understanding my clients’ needs – what they like and don’t like – I am able to successfully deliver. It is critical that my clients are always 100% satisfied, and that is the cornerstone for how I run my business. I believe this is largely the reason why my clients remain loyal and consistently refer new business to me.

4) What was your favorite or most challenging deal?

My most challenging deal was helping my client, a Russian investor, buy an entire floor at 15 Broad Street. Interestingly, this building was especially important to her because of a dream she had before even knowing about 15 Broad. She dreamt that she bought into JP Morgan and owned the whole floor. Ironically 15 Broad was the former JP Morgan Chase building, so upon learning this, she was intent on buying in this building.  There was only one floor that met all of her needs, but unfortunately one of the apartments on that floor already had a contract out. I knew how important this was to my client, so I had to strategically plan and negotiate with the developer so that she could buy the entire floor.  After several meetings, I helped the developer recognize the long-term value of winning my client’s business. Consequently, she purchased the entire floor consisting of multiple units. Since then, I have successfully rented out all of these units for the past seven years, which has resulted in a very happy client and a new stream of incoming business for me, ultimately translating to new clients.

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In 2008, I predicted that West Chelsea would be one of the hottest new neighborhoods in the city. With the development of The High Line and all the construction activity – this was a no brainer. I also felt that West 19th Street would eventually become one of the most architecturally significant streets in Manhattan. Lined with residential buildings by Frank Gehry, Jeanne Nouvelle, Suga Ruban and Annabelle Selldorf, this prediction has become a reality. There was very little residential housing in the area and when I first met Annabelle Selldorf, she was not well known to the public. She was introduced to me in 2006 by John Jacobson, who, with his brother Keith and the City Investment Fund, developed 520 West 19th Street. This was the first residential condo project in West Chelsea and it was a huge success. Today, Annabelle is one of the most prolific and successful architects in New York and a household name. She was my first interview, and I thought it appropriate to review her interview for #throwbackthurdsay. I hope you enjoy it the second time around.

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Produced by Inman News^®, Real Estate Connect^® is the preeminent event for everyone who cares about the real estate industry and where it is going. Each year, thousands of influential real estate leaders gather at Real Estate Connect to network, make deals, explore current trends and technology, and to learn how to embrace and leverage the change that surrounds our industry.

This morning, our CEO, Shaun Osher sat on a panel produced by The Wall Street Journal dedicated to The Globalization of Real Estate. Seated next to other industry bigwigs including Douglas Elliman President and CEO, Dottie Herman, Coldwell Banker President and CEO, Budge Huskey, and Philip White, President and COO of Sotheby’s International Realty, the group discussed “How to Attract Global Buyers”.

Ever wonder what it’s really like to run a real estate brokerage in New York City? Our fearless CEO was the subject of The Real Deal’s “Day in the Life” profile in their January issue:

A Day in the Life of: Shaun Osher

The CORE CEO walks TRD through a typical day, as he bikes up to 75 miles, juggles pricey listings and plays the sax

6:30 a.m. I usually wake up at 6:30. Half the week I stay in Port Washington, on Long Island. That’s where my two beautiful daughters live. The days when I don’t have my girls, I’m on West 9th Street, where I share a townhouse with my girlfriend, Brittley Jarrell, who is the chief operating officer of Core. I’ve always been very active — I work out about four or five times a week. It’s usually a bike ride, between 20 to 75 miles [before work], and it’s usually loops in Central Park. Today, I ran seven miles along the Hudson. I also try to meet with my trainer once a week, to do push-ups, pull-ups, the rowing machine and rope-climbing, like back in my army days in South Africa. I was in the army for two years. There was six months of basic training, which was brutal. I was living in the bush, crazy stuff.          

7:30 a.m. When I stay on Long Island, I take my daughters to school. Then I go home and start checking emails on my iPhone. There’s a 9:11 train that I usually take into the city. When I’m here, I will help Brittley take her boys to school. Then I will hop in the shower and do my emails from the apartment.

10:00 a.m. to noon Most mornings, I’m in the office by 10. Today, I had a conference call with the sales team at 93 Worth, a 92-unit condo conversion in Tribeca. Sales started in early December, and more than a dozen contracts have been signed already. Whenever you open a building, you have nearly constant engagement with the sales team and the developer. The first two weeks are very intense.

But it’s a good problem to have. I spend about 15 to 20 percent of my time working on new business, which means meeting with new agents. We have about 70 employees, and we have two offices. We’re opening a third one, on the Upper East Side [at 673 Madison Avenue], in mid-February. It will be a showroom and will house 30 agents.

Noon I don’t really do lunch meetings because they’re long, and I only have so many hours in the day. So, I usually eat on the run or get something in the office. A turkey sandwich, that’s usually my go-to, but I pretty much eat anything. Last Wednesday I had a meeting at noon with Michael Stern, managing partner of JDS Development Group, which is building Walker Tower, a 53-unit condo. We met at the sales office in Chelsea. The project is going well. We’ve sold a significant amount. [StreetEasy shows that 40 percent of the building has sold.]

2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sometimes I will drop by our office on Seventh Avenue to check in, and an agent will pull me aside to ask about a deal. For example, Emily Beare needed advice on a $95 million listing she has at 15 Central Park West. We have property lists of people who are really affluent, so we reach out and let them know the unit is available. Emily also represented the seller, Leroy Schecter, in his purchase of the Rothschild Mansion on the Upper East Side for $25 million. I pulled some comps together and helped with the negotiation.

5:00 p.m. If I have my girls, I’m heading home to be with them. I am very involved with their after-school activities, so I will take Ava [who is 11] to tennis and pick up Ella [who is 6] from dancing. I love to cook — maybe some chicken, or pasta, though my recipes are expanding. And Ava likes to bake, so once a week after dinner, we’re baking.

6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. If I’m in the city, I will go home and play sax for a while. I keep a tenor sax in Manhattan; my two altos are on Long Island. I keep my soprano sax here [at Core’s headquarters, at Fifth Avenue and 16th Street] and sometimes I play at night when nobody is around. The acoustics are really good in here. I played the sax in jazz bands — I played at the Blue Note, the Cupping Room Café and the Village Gate before it became a CVS. Every once in a while I will still go to see jazz, like at the Village Vanguard.

8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. I skip the charity events; I usually just write a check. So we will have dinner in the apartment or go out to Tertulia, on Sixth Avenue, or Alta, on 10th Street. I don’t watch much TV — maybe Monday Night Football, or the Tour de France, or some cricket if it’s on. I also read a lot. I just finished “King Leopold’s Ghost,” about North Africa and the Belgian Congo. I also like GQ and Vanity Fair. And Seth Godin’s blog, about marketing, but I don’t really focus on real estate too much.

10 p.m. onward I’m in bed between 11:30 and 1, depending on how many emails I have. I like to start my day with a clean slate.

As reported by C.J. Hughes

A sampling of last week’s press coverage of CORE and CORE properties.
“Predicting the 2013 Market”
The Real Deal

Industry professionals, including CORE Executive Vice President Michael Graves, reflect on 2012 and weigh in on what’s ahead in 2013.

“The Naming Process: How City Buildings Get Their Monikers”
AM NY

One Museum Mile at 1280 Fifth Avenue is featured in a piece that dissects how and why buildings are given their names. CORE Managing Director, Tom Postilio, explains the marketing efforts behind our new development which will soon be home to the Museum for African Art.

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