Khashi Eyn answers a phone call by the window of his 30 Wall Street office, standing eleven stories above throngs of tourists and money-men. A flower in the lapel of his pinstripe suit stands stiffly below his permanent five-o’clock shadow and slicked-back coif. “These real estate developers leveraged too much,’ he asserts into his Blackberry. ‘They wanted quick cash in their pockets but weren’t looking at the future, and now they’re paying the price.”
Mr. Eyn is the President and CEO of Platinum Properties, a real estate brokerage firm he founded in 2005 to serve the financial district. His team of young agents has since garnered thousands of transactions, including the highly-publicized $35 million sale of several penthouse apartments in the Trump World Tower. Platinum has flourished in harmony with the growing downtown population, but now faces the difficult task of working in a dwindling market. Eyn, who maintains his optimism at twenty-five, is not flustered.
“I think that this economy will highlight the values FiDi offers,’ he begins. ‘With many people cutting housing costs, the Financial District offers a great compromise. Residents get to stay in Manhattan but don’t have to sacrifice their luxury lifestyles.’ Through the window of Eyn’s office one can stare down at the luxurious Tiffany’s as well as the gourmet Cipriani’s, whose clientele constantly saunter past hard-to-miss, tuxedoed doormen, who stand stiffly while donning their top-hats and umbrellas, as if they were starched with their uniforms.
Catching the reflection from Tiffany’s intricate glass display, one might also observe the bleak silhouette of Mangia, a long-standing neighborhood restaurant/diner just across Wall Street, whose windows are now covered with brown construction paper.
On paper as well, 2008 reports from the Downtown Alliance for New York reveal that the Financial District has grown in population from its year-2000 census number of 32,286 to a current 56,354 residents. The .75 square mile area represented accounts for the southernmost tip of Manhattan – a neighborhood whose average household income was reported at $242,000 in 2008 (based on an estimate of 2 persons per household). Last year’s study projects 28,995 total households in the area by 2011(up from 28177), as well as a $3.3 billion disposable income from the residential population. The current economic slowdown, however, has certainly brought these numbers down to earth, Eyn concedes.
“I do believe that retail in the neighborhood is being hit hard,” he begrudgingly admits. “The new stores opening down here were hoping to lure in the affluent Wall Street community and will find that more difficult, but it’s mostly the well established neighborhood businesses that will be able to hold on,” he intimates.
Mitchell Wasser, who is Residential Leasing Director for The Crest at 63 Wall Street, works closely with Eyn and claims he has felt the tangible effects of the recession draw near. “Fortunate brokers might be catching more deals on the whole,’ he says, ‘but for most of us it’s definitely time to focus and tighten ship. Right now, we’re basically back at 2005 prices, and we’re offering up to three months free on a sixteen month lease,” he explains. Mr. Wasser deals with nearly every brokerage firm in the city and is concerned that the reduced volume of renters might further weaken the market before it shows signs of improvement.
If Eyn is as concerned as Wasser, his poker-face serves him well. As the employer of nearly forty independent contractors who earn their salaries through commission, he is far from panic-struck by the current economic climate. On keeping his staff motivated, he insists: “By offering serious incentives I’m able to keep everyone optimistic and working hard.’ He speaks shoes-up on his oil-washed Mahogany desk. ‘It is my honest belief that it is possible to make the same amount of money in this market, or more. You just have to work harder for it.” With a nod of certainty, he reaffirms: “This area will definitely continue maturing into a 24/7 residential community.”
(photo courtesy of PlatinumPropertiesnyc.com)
(Statistics and census data provided by The Downtown Alliance for New York. http://www.downtownny.com/)
(Platinumpropertiesnyc.com)
