NEW YORK CITY—CBRE's Mary Ann Tighe and Gregory Tosko earned the top Real Estate Board of New York Sales Brokers Ingenious Award for 2013 with their work on arranging Coach Inc.'s purchase of its new 737,000-square-foot office condo headquarters at the Hudson Yards development

REBNY honored the city's most ingenious dealmakers at its 70th Annual Commercial Sales Brokers Committee Cocktail party held at the 101 club on Tuesday evening.

Tighe and Tosko were bestowed with the first place Henry Hart Rice Award for “Jumpstarting the Future: Coach Buys in to Hudson Yards.” David A. Green of Cushman & Wakefield was presented with the second place Robert T. Lawrence Award for “The Improbable Master Lease of the Retail Spaces at 650 Fifth Avenue.” The third place honorees, given the Edward S. Gordon Award, were M. Myers Mermel and Caroline McLain of TenantWise, for “Air Equal to Land: The Sale of Air Rights from 520 Park Ave.”

The Coach deal at Hudson Yards dates back to 2007 and with ingenious strategy, market insight and perseverance, Tighe and Tosko successfully worked with a number of parties including Related Companies, Oxford Properties, L'Oreal, SAP, Starwood and JP Morgan Chase, managing the stakeholders' interests, perceptions, and concerns to secure the ground-breaking deal, REBNY says. Coach's commitment became a major catalyst for the Hudson Yards development in helping to attract other tenants and has been a significant driver for the neighborhood now taking shape.

The award was Mary Ann Tighe's seventh Sales Brokers Ingenious Deal of the Year Award and Gregory Tosko's sixth.

Cushman's Green was honored for engineering and executing the improbable master lease of the retail portion at 650 Fifth Avenue to a joint venture of SL Green Realty Corp. and Jeff Sutton. The third place honorees Myers Mermel and Caroline McLain of TenantWise were singled out for arranging the sale of air rights from the Christ Church United Methodist at 520 Park Ave. to Zeckendorf Development.

“These leading brokers have proven themselves to be consummate professionals by navigating the complex nuances of the most challenging real estate transactions,” says REBNY President Steven Spinola. “They have earned the respect of their colleagues, the appreciation of their clients and the right to be honored for their accomplishments by the industry. Their impeccable standards for dedication, innovation, thorough research and elegant marketing are an inspiration to all who work in commercial brokerage.”