Company Spotlight: Vornado Realty Trust

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The Merchandise Mart, in the River North submarket of Chicago

Vornado Realty Trust is a preeminent owner, manager, and developer of New York City office space and is the largest owner and manager of Manhattan street retail space. The firm also holds premier assets in Chicago and San Francisco.

Vornado is an S&P 500 company and has been publicly listed for 50 years on the New York Stock Exchange.

From Two Guys to $2 Billion in Revenue

While the name Vornado comes from the electric fan manufacturer, Vornado Realty Trust was founded in 1982 by Steven Roth, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, based on discount store chain Two Guys and Alexander’s, a struggling retailer that owned a store covering the entire block between East 58th and 59th Streets and Lexington and Third Avenues in Central Midtown Manhattan.

In 1993 Vornado was converted into a REIT, and now employs about 4,000 people who help manage the nearly 20 million square feet of prime office properties and over 2.5 million square feet of street retail that the firm owns in Manhattan. Vornado Realty Trust reported revenues of over $2 billion in 2017, putting the company ahead of SL Green Realty and just behind AvalonBay Communities.

Vornado Realty Trust Commercial Real Estate Portfolio

Bank of America Tower, 555 California Street, San Francisco

The portfolio of Vornado Realty Trust is highly concentrated in two asset classes: office in the nation’s leading urban market of New York City, and street retail in Manhattan. The firm also owns or controls property in San Francisco and Chicago.

The firm focuses on owning and managing irreplaceable properties whose buildings are home to some of the most esteemed companies in the world. Six of the most nationally recognized properties held by Vornado are:

731 Lexington Avenue, home to the global headquarters of Bloomberg, LP,
1290 Avenue of the Americas, home to the headquarters of Neuberger Berman,
PENN1 and PENN2 in the Penn Plaza District,
7 West 34^th Street, home to Amazon’s inaugural headquarters in Koreatown,
555 California Street, also known as the Bank of American Tower. Vornado holds a 70% controlling interest in the building in the Barbary Coast office submarket of San Francisco,
theMART – formerly known as the Merchandise Mart in Chicago’s River North office submarket. The property encompasses 3.7 million square feet of commercial space.

Leadership Team at Vornado Realty Trust

Vornado Realty Trust boasts a superior team of about 4,000 people with entrepreneurial spirit. The firm understands that its properties are made world-class every day by the people who manage them. The staff and key management team at Vornado work tirelessly to serve the company’s tenants and maintain each asset to the highest possible standards.

The executive leadership team at Vornado Realty Trust consists of:

Steven Roth – Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
David R. Greenbaum – President, New York Division
Michael J. Franco – Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer
Joseph Macnow – Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer

Sustainability at Vornado Realty Trust

Vornado Realty Trust owns and manages over 26 million square feet of LEED-certified buildings. The firm’s expertise in all aspects of sustainability – including design and build, retrofitting and maintenance, and operations management – is unmatched by any other company in the commercial real estate industry:

ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award, Sustained Excellence 2018 with more than 14 million square feet of Vornado office space awarded the prestigious ENERGY STAR label,
Vornado is the largest owner of LEED-certified property in the U.S., with over 22 million square feet being awarded a LEED Gold certification
Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark, Green Star ranking since 2013 – in 2018 Vornado ranked in the top 6% of over 800 worldwide respondents
NAREIT Leader in the Light Award 2018 for the ninth year in a row, recognized by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts as the highest ranked diversified REIT

Vornado Realty Trust at a glance

Website: https://www.vno.com/

NYSE: VNO

Core Business Strategy and Values: Growing its dominant positions in New York City office and Manhattan high street retail through its commitment to excellence, honesty, integrity, and teamwork

Founded: 1982, launched as a Real Estate Investment Trust on the New York Stock Exchange in 1993

Markets: New York, San Francisco, and Chicago

Chicago CRE resources New York New York City San Francisco

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About the Author / Jeff Rohde

Jeff specializes in content creation, editing and proofreading in the real estate, finance and investment, and general business sectors for clients around the globe. My +25 years of extensive experience include actively working in and writing about all aspects of the real estate industry: Residential, multi family, commercial, leasing, renting, selling, group investing, business brokerage and property management. He has also written and published several very popular real estate books under the pen name Jeffrey Roark - The Basic Property Management Guide, Investment Real Estate Analysis: A Case Study, How To Find & Keep Great Tenants, and How To Make Money In Property Management. These can be found through all of the major book distributors. Jeff is a Certified Commercial Investment Member. The CCIM designation is held by only 15,000 commercial and investment real estate professionals worldwide and is the highest professional certification one can earn in commercial investment real estate.