What do you do when you run into Al Roker in an elevator at 250 W. 57th St.? Why, ask him about the weather, of course.
Everyone has to have office space, and in a town filled with celebrities who get their 15 minutes of fame on a 24/7 basis, buildings see plenty of ’em.
Walk through some lobbies and watch heads turn as a celebrity bounds in and out as fast as a gust of wind. But at the Dylan Hotel, where Snoop Dogg is about to make an entrance into the lobby with his entourage, it becomes a grand entrance – the background music even turns into his rapping.
Other guests, owner Morris Moinian says, want to be below the radar and go out of their way with made up names and a friend’s credit card. Moinian helps sneak people in through kitchen doors, too.
“The Dylan hotel is a pleasure and a hideaway and that’s why we agree to such demands,” Moinian said.
Talking heads, financiers and business moguls who show up on the covers of business magazines can be just as much of an attraction to tourists as to jaded New Yorkers. While their offices may not attract teenagers, they nevertheless could be a target for disgruntled shareholders.
“You don’t put their name or the company’s name on the listing board,” said Marcus Rayner of CRESA Partners. “You are discreet and you make sure the landlord understands the extreme sensitivity so there is no publicity.”
Using the freight elevator for their comings and goings or exiting through a garage may not exactly be elegant, but it suits the tenant’s penchant for low-key travels.
“Celebs don’t want their profile highlighted in the building,” said Brian Waterman, vice chairman of Newmark Knight Frank (NKF).
George Fabian, leasing director of 250 W. 57th St., added, “You know who you are talking to and have to respect who they are, but you can joke with them and treat them like a normal person.”
“You soon find out that the tenant that comes to you in jeans and a sweatshirt is a member of the Forbes 400,” said Richard Farley of RFR Realty who works with such star clients at the Seagram Building.
Waterman’s partner, Lance Korman a managing director at NKF, added that celebrities and high net worth people want their privacy and are willing to negotiate for it.
If a business mogul like S.I. Newhouse, for instance, wants his toy poodle in the office, then some building owners will allow him that privilege. But typically it is discussed and negotiated before the lease is signed.
Korman and Waterman’s practice is chocked full of hedge funds, entertainment companies and celebs like Jay-Z and Beyonce who have camera crews follow them into elevators, or film interviews conducted in their offices. The brokers make sure this – along with the attendant insurance issues – are dealt with in the leases.
At the Time Warner Center, Ken Himmel, president and chief executive of Related Urban, not only leases to star chefs but in some instances has become partners with them in these multistarred multimillion-dollar restaurants.
“It’s like marriage – the chemistry has to be right and you have to work very hard to deliver in the end,” said Himmel.