Changing Presence
Winick Realty Group is making itself known in New York — and beyond.
Randall Shearin

Left to right: Steven Baker, Zach Mishaan, Benjamin Fox, Darrell Rubens, Lori Shabtai and Frank Terzulli.

Winick Realty has historically relied on the charismatic personality of Jeff Winick, the company’s CEO, to make waves. That’s changing as the company has increased the volume of its business and added new professionals and leadership over the last few years. Ben Fox, formerly of Newmark Knight Frank, has joined the company in the last year as president, and Lori Shabtai joined 2 years ago as director of luxury and brand retail. With Steven Baker, Darrell Rubens, Frank Terzulli, Zach Mishaan and many others joining the company, Winick has been growing since its establishment in 1982.

Winick has steadily made its presence known in New York retail. The company finishes 2007 as one of the leading retail brokerage houses in New York City. Shopping Center Business recently met with Jeff Winick, Ben Fox, Lori Shabtai and Steven Baker at the company’s offices in Midtown Manhattan.

Left to right: Steven Baker, Benjamin Fox, Zach Mishaan and Darrell Rubens.

Thirty years ago, Jeff Winick was a residential broker in Manhattan. A landlord approached him about leasing his commercial space and he agreed to lease the client’s very large portfolio. That’s how his commercial business started, and he hasn’t looked back. Today, the company represents some of the largest tenants and landlords in the New York market.

Winick has many retailers that it represents exclusively in the New York market. One of the most well known is Duane Reade drug stores. The retailer has over 250 stores in Manhattan. And thanks to Winick, Duane Reade is also one of the most visible retailers in greater New York. Winick has run the real estate department in-house for Duane Reade for the past 15 years, handling everything from site selection to lease administration. Other large tenants for Winick include Chase bank and AT&T Wireless. The company also exclusively represents Starbucks Coffee in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Since retail real estate is so unique in New York City, Winick essentially acts as a real estate department for its retail clients.

One of the biggest landlord assignments that Winick currently has is 855 Avenue of Americas, a full block development with 240,000 square feet of retail.

“We are often involved in the design of a particular retail projects from storefronts and signage, to the best use of the space,” says Winick. “There’s much more to the equation than meets the eye — particularly with today’s rent,” says Shabtai.

On the landlord side, Winick is involved in every aspect necessary to create added value to the property from design to marketing and leasing. Over the past 18 months, the company has been hired to lease many major assignments that rank among the largest retail developments being marketed in New York City and the boroughs.

One of the biggest landlord assignments that Winick currently has is 855 Avenue of Americas, a full block development between 30th and 31st Streets, with 240,000 square feet of retail. Other large assignments include the 40,000-square-foot retail portion of a new high-rise building opposite the new JC Penney store at 32nd Street and 6th Avenue.  In both cases, the properties are new, and with build-to-suit retail space coveted in New York City, Winick has no shortage of interest.

Winick is leasing one of the largest retail projects underway in New York City, Columbus Village. Located at 808 Columbus Avenue, Columbus Village is effectively a large neighborhood and lifestyle center in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

In addition, the company is leasing one of the largest retail projects underway in the city, Columbus Village. Located at 808 Columbus Avenue, stretched from 97th to 100th Streets, Columbus Village is effectively a large neighborhood and lifestyle center in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Whole Foods has signed on as the anchor to that project with a 57,000-square-foot store; other names include Duane Reade, Chase, Models, and Bank of America. In all, Columbus Village will have more than 320,000 square feet of retail space.

“This is new construction in an already established, thriving neighborhood,” says Shabtai. “The Upper West Side has a dense population with a high household income. We’re helping to create a village within that neighborhood that is incomparable to anything that has been developed in New York City before.”

A few of the markets in New York City that are currently enjoying most favored status are the areas around Lincoln Center,  Wall Street, Herald Square, and Union Square. Winick represents many properties in each of the areas. One of the properties is the Virgin Records location at Union Square along 14th Street. The landmark 60,000-square-foot property is currently on the market as Virgin plans to close the location in February 2009. The property is one of the most well known and distinctive pieces of retail real estate on the market in the city.

Brooklyn, New York, is another area where Winick is thriving in landlord and tenant representation. Pictured here is 162 Myrtle Ave., which is a 650,000-square-foot development with 240,000 square feet of retail space.

Brooklyn is another area where Winick is thriving in landlord and tenant representation. Near the intersection of Myrtle Street and Flatbush Avenue — what’s considered “downtown Brooklyn” — Winick is leasing the 250,000-square-foot retail space in a three-block project.  The company has over 400,000 square feet of other space it is leasing in downtown Brooklyn, and over 800,000 square feet in the whole borough.

Winick has had a foothold in Brooklyn for more than 10 years. The company began its practice in the boroughs a long time ago, leasing a few thousand square feet here and there, and then ramped up when the market heated up.

“I always told our brokers that you may not make $1 million today in these neighborhoods, but if you know about everything there is to know, like the opportunity to build the market, everyone is going to come to you — the landlords, the retailers and the other brokers. I told them to become experts in their neighborhoods, and eventually it will pay off. We did that on Wall Street and now we’re doing it in downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg,” says Winick.

In the Wall Street area the company has closed numerous prestigious deals involving such names as Thomas Pink, Canali, Tumi and BMW.

The one unique underpinning of Winick Realty Group is that the brokers operate with a team mentality, rather than as individuals working separate deals. 

885 Sixth Ave. in New York City will contain 40,000 square feet of retail space.

“This company is run very much like a family,” says Shabtai. “There are disagreements from time to time, but at the end of the day we are all here to work together and be professional and successful on every level. Every individual has very different areas of expertise, which when combined has an amazing outcome. With our team, there is a lot of sharing and a lot of learning. Our clients know that it is heartfelt, and a job well done — not just another deal.”

Winick not only hires traditional brokers, but talented individuals who don’t necessarily come from a brokerage background. For example, Shabtai has previous experience in marketing/branding and retail. Other brokers come from financial backgrounds. 

“There are brokers out there who just see a space and see a tenant and do nothing more than that,” says Baker. “What I’ve learned from being here for 7 years is that you see the deal from its conception to its end. If there are problems, you learn how to solve them. You learn to read a lease and commission agreements. Every deal you work on has a different issue that arises. You have to be full service in this business.”

Fox, a 30-year veteran of New York’s retail brokerage community, joined Winick about a year ago because he saw the growth the company was experiencing from the outside.

Moving beyond New York City, Winick is leasing the retail for the Blake Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Not only is the company’s volume in Manhattan going up, but the opportunity for work outside Manhattan is exciting,” he says. “The Winick brand is also well recognized. Professional salesmanship is also heavily promoted here; we don’t just offer space. We offer solutions to retail clients and landlords.”

Outside New York, Winick is leasing an urban retail project in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. Winick has done a lot of work for the developer in New York, and thought it was the right fit to lease the Charlotte project. The project will contain several high-rise apartment buildings with 200,000 square feet of retail. The first phase, currently under construction, consists of a high-end hotel with a 25,000-square-foot restaurant space that Winick is in charge of leasing.

Winick is leasing about 8,000 square feet to boutiques and restaurants in Miami Beach, Florida.

“A project like this is fun for us,” says Winick. “This will be creating a place for the city in Charlotte’s growing market.”

In addition to Charlotte, Winick has done a number of deals in Miami and Los Angeles. Current projects in Miami include 1444 Drexel Avenue in Miami Beach, where it is leasing about 8,000 square feet to boutiques and restaurants. Winick also continues to represent developers in the Los Angeles market as well. It is currently leasing several restaurant and retail opportunities at The Clark Hotel, a revitalized building in downtown Los Angeles.