REIT Pioneer Stephen L. Green Earns REBNY's Top Honor

NEW YORK CITY-Being Manhattan's largest office landlord is already quite a distinction, but Stephen L. Green is about to achieve another. At the Real Estate Board of New York's 118th Annual Banquet next Thursday, he will become this year's recipient of the Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership in Real Estate Award. It's presented each year to a REBNY member for a lifetime of exceptional accomplishment in the profession and dedication to leadership in New York real estate.

Founder of what was then SL Green Properties in 1980, Green reportedly earned the sobriquet “King of the Bs” in the early years of his real estate career, on account of his strategy of buying older, underperforming loft buildings on Manhattan's side streets, then repositioning them with injections of fresh capital. He would then sell them at higher prices and use the proceeds to buy higher-quality properties, thus establishing a corporate modus operandi that continues to this day. Following the rebound of the Manhattan real estate market from the late 1980s/early 1990s downturn, Green took the company public in 1997, forming the first public REIT to focus solely on New York City.

When the firm began trading as SL Green Realty Corp., it owned six properties comprising 1.2 million square feet, and had a market capitalization of $258 million. Today, with Green serving as chairman of the board, the REIT is Manhattan's largest owner of office buildings, with owned interests in more than 80 Manhattan properties totaling more than 42 million square feet. In addition to its Manhattan investments, SL Green holds ownership interests and debt and preferred equity interests in 32 suburban assets through its 2007 acquisition of Reckson Associates.

Green's involvement with the New York community extends beyond his roles as a member of REBNY's executive committee and board of governors. He's also on the Board of Directors of Street Squash, an urban youth enrichment program providing academic tutoring and squash instruction, and a member of the US Squash 1904 Legacy Society.

Green is active in contributing to a host of charitable and philanthropic organizations including: the Children's Tumor Foundation, Nicklaus Children's Foundation and Hospital, City Meals on Wheels, Big Apple Circus, the Buoniconti Fund, Els for Autism, the New York City Ballet, the School of American Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, Smile Train, Wounded Warriors, Starlight Children's Foundation and others. He maintains an endowment for the New York-Presbyterian Global Prostate Cancer Research Center and Hartwick College, where he also funds the Stephen L. Green Governance Award, an essay contest that awards cash scholarships to the winners. Green's contributions to many of these charitable foundations are done in conjunction with his wife, Nancy Green.

The Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership in Real Estate Award is named for Bernard H. Mendik, who served as REBNY's chairman from 1992 to his passing in 2001.