By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
The bidding process to earn a license to build one of the upcoming New York City casino’s is in full swing.
SL Green has submitted its bid to open a high-end casino in Manhattan’s Times Square. Lawmakers previously approved three downstate casino, leading dozens of high-powered developers to offer their bids for various locations. Many of the NYC developers have partnered with big-time casino companies to add their expertise in the field. The SL Green bid is being led by the NYC real estate giant’s Executive Vice President of “Retail and Opportunistic”, Brett Herschenfeld. The 40-year-old has dedicated his whole 18-year career at this real estate investment trust, with his focus on spotting hidden opportunities.
“For my deals, you have to go out, make a deal with the tenants, the owner, buy tenants out of their space. You have to do 10 or 20 deals along the way,” Herschenfeld said, regarding his multi-step transactions. “If one of those fails, the whole thing falls apart.” In an interview with Crain’s, he described his position at work, saying, “When I come in every day, there’s no agenda. It’s like, ‘Go figure something out.’ ”
Herschenfeld started at the company in 2004 as an analyst, but just months later he was asked to fill in for his sick supervisor. As reported by Crain’s, he started searching for and buying retail properties with real estate investor Jeff Sutton, in joint ventures between Wharton and SL Green. “At that time he was just a guy named Jeff Sutton,” Herschenfeld said. Sutton is currently the president of Wharton Properties– one of the biggest private owners of retail space in Manhattan.
From 2004 till 2011, the two men worked as a duo finding and buying deals, and then SL Green expected Herschenfeld to make the deals on his own. He didn’t disappoint. In 2012, Herschenfeld convinced Pace University to bolster its campus in the Financial District by building three dormitories. After that, he spearheaded the construction of luxury homes on top of the Giorgio Armani store in Madison Avenue. Now, he has secured a partnership with Caesar’s Palace gaming company to present a bid to convert SL Green’s iconic 54-story office building at 1515 Broadway into a hotspot for gambling, restaurants and a hotel.
As reported by Crain’s, before the October deal was announced, Herschenfeld had tried to forge partnerships with several of the largest gaming and hospitality companies —including Wynn, Hard Rock and Sands. He faced rejections, but it didn’t stop him from pushing forward. “I would have called Caesar’s a long time ago, but word on the street was they weren’t going to participate,” Herschenfeld said. “If this thing comes together, it’s because we made 200 individual deals to make this one big deal.”
It’s pretty much a given that two of the three NYC casino spots will be given to the existing racetracks with slot machines— in Yonkers and at Aqueduct in Queens, so that they can add full service casino with table games. The remaining spot is what the real estate titans are bidding for. As per Crain’s, other prominent bidders, include The Related Cos. submitting a bid for the right to build a casino in Hudson Yards, and Vornado Realty Trust with a bid for Herald Square. Billionaire Mets owner Steve Cohen is also bidding for a casino near Citi Field, while Joe Sitt of Thor Equities wants a license for land he owns on Coney Island.