Shopping Centers Today

JUN 2017

Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)

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44 S C T / J U N E 2 0 1 7 S I T E S & C I T I E S As a commercial leasing broker in New York City for roughly 20 years, Kenneth Krasnow was responsible for some 3 million square feet of class-A building space. Now Krasnow is concentrating on South Florida, as Colliers International's executive managing director for the South Florida region. Here he speaks with SCT about his start in the industry, why he thinks downtown Miami is the next Tribeca, and why he is never moving back to New York. What was your first job? My first job out of school, I worked for what would now be classified as a hedge fund, but [what] back in the day was more of a general money-management firm. I was a finance major in school. I thought I was going to have this long career in the finance world, but that just didn't quite hold it for me. I had spent a couple of summers with a brokerage firm in the garment industry in New York City. It was an old-school brokerage — in the Glengarry Glen Ross mold — but there was something about it that stuck with me. I did the finance thing for a couple of years and then decided to get into the real estate business. What was it about working in the garment industry that you liked? I was a canvasser. My job was to go into all these buildings and talk to various tenants about what they needed. It was real estate 101, really. I liked talking to the owner of a sewing factory or to a dress designer and trying to really understand what they were doing, what their business was. I realized that I really like the personal connections. In finance everything is conducted over the phone or via fax — the work was very abstract. It was not the sort of thing you could really put your arms around. You spent the first 18 years of your career at Cushman & Wakefield, in New York City, representing such clients as CBS, JPMorgan Chase and United Way Worldwide. What were some early leadership lessons you learned there? One of the most important early lessons was about transparency. [In this industry] you really need to be honest with your clients about what you can do, what you know and what you don't know. At Cushman & Wakefield, it wasn't a sign of weakness to say, "I don't do construction management, so I can't give you the best advice on how to build out your space, but we've got people over there who are experts in the field, who can help you." I think people who worked for small boutiques have to try to act more knowledgeable and confident than they are. That's where problems come in. That's when you tend to overpromise and underdeliver. What is your view on the industry currently? From a big picture, macro perspective, I think we're at a really dynamic and transformative time. I think that we are on the cusp of some really disruptive technology changes. As an industry, I think we've been slow to adapt to technology, but I see all that really changing in the next five or 10 years. From a market perspective, I'm very bullish about our little slice of the world here in South Florida. The real estate market here is transforming before our eyes. South Florida, right now, really reminds me of New York in the '80s and '90s, back when it was really transforming into a truly global city. Why are you so excited by the South Florida real estate market? You're really starting to see the urbanization of South Florida overall. The infrastructure is evolving. People are embracing the urban platform of live, work and play: It's walkable; it's livable; it's got arts and entertainment. There are multiple sports arenas. And for the first time, you are seeing people move into downtown Miami without cars — something that was almost unheard-of in South Florida before. You can also see it from the investment side. You are starting to see groups like RedSky Capital, East End Capital and Broker Kenneth Krasnow tells how he got to Florida — and why he's staying By Steve Bergsman Why he loves Miami

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