BOMA/NY Pinnacle Award winners

Real Estate Weekly, March 15, 2000

Playing to a full-capacity crowd of more than 550 real estate and property management professionals, the Divine. Miss M serenaded unsung, heroes, drafted some of the industry's top property executives into her back-up band and handed out the coveted and newly renamed BOMA/NY pinnacle Awards to the top 11 standard-setters of the buildingmanagement and ownership profession during 1999-2000 at BOMA/NY's 31st annual awards ceremony held on February 3.

Held at Windows on The World, the ceremony featured BOMA/NY president Steven W. Ford, Awards chair Kathleen Murphy, and Awards subcommittee chairs Michael Copperstone (operating), Robert DiChiara (historical), Barbara Fagan (civic betterment), Alvah O. Rock, RPA/FMA (renovated), Gregory J. Sutherland (corporate facility) and Harry Van Meter (new construction) as presenters.

Founding BOMA/NY president, Henry Muller, took a break from his retirement to fly into. New York and present the Pinnacle named in his honor - the Henry Muller Award: Recognizing Vision for New York an award given at the discretion of BOMA/NY to individuals or companies who have made a unique and distinguished contribution to bettering the quality of life in NYC.

Helping BOMA/NY celebrate were numerous dignitaries and elected officials, including William J. Diamond; commissioner of the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services; C. Virginia Fields, president of the Borough of Manhattan; Richard Eaddy, Bronx Deputy Borough president representing president Fernando Ferrer; and Thomas Von Essen, commissioner of the NYC Fire Department.

Formerly the Awards for Excellence, the BOMA/NY awards were renamed the Pinnacle Awards this year, says president Steven W. Ford, "to symbolize their position as the premier awards in our industry and the fact that each year, our award-winners raise the standard of competition. And when they raise the level of competition, they also hold every one of us in the New York marketplace to a higher level of excellence in all facets of our business.

The award winners were Ernest A. Conrad, PE, Landmark Facilities Group, with the Outstanding Local Member of the Year award; Four Times Square with the New Construction award; 90 West Street in the Historical category; 666 Fifth Avenue in the Renovated category; 1540 Broadway in the Corporate Facility category; and Project FIND in the Civic Betterment category (with a special award given to the John T. Griffin family for three generations of charitable giving). The Henry Muller Award for Recognizing Vision for New York went to The Times Square Business Improvement District; 10 Hanover Square won in the Operating Building category (100,000 - 500,000 square feet); 425 Lexington Avenue won in the Operating Building category (500,000 - 1 million square feet); and The World Trade Center won in the Operating Building category (over 1 million square feet). Winning at the BOMA Middle Atlantic Conference regional level were 1540 Broadway (corporate facility), 90 West Street (historical building), 425 Lexington (opera ting, 500,000 to 1 million square feet) and The World Trade Center (operating, over 1 million square feet).

While much of the awards ceremony put New York's finest office structures in the spotlight, two awards focusing on the contributions of BOMA/NY members were among the highlights of the evening.

Codes & Regulations/Government Affairs chairman Ernest A. Conrad, PE was named Outstanding Local Member of the Year for his extraordinary efforts in making BOMA/NY a highly visible and effective consulting "partner' with the City of New York for both the Y2K preparedness program and activities relating to legislation affecting the real estate industry; for serving as the driving force behind making Advocacy Day and the Annual Codes & Regulations Symposium the most successful events of their kind in BOMA/NY history; and for developing the Codes & Regulations/Government Affairs committee into a major active force within the industry and the greater New York area as a whole. Conrad accepted the award on behalf of "Ernie's Army", his more than 50-member committee that has "put the BOMA/NY name on the map in City Hall, Albany and Washington."

The John T. Griffin family was presented with a check for $2,500 for its record of compassion with such charitable undertakings as Covenant House, The Torch Foundation, personal involvement with children of Chernobyl and other related child-focused charities. Accepting the award for "three generations of my family," John T. Griffin, former BOMA/NY president, immediately donated the proceeds to The Torch Foundation.

Highlights of the winning properties

In the New Construction category, Four Times Square came away the winner. At 48 stories high, the newest building in the Times Square-Broadway marketplace is also the largest "green" building built to date. Completed in 1999 by The Durst Organization at a cost of $300 million, 4 Times Square has already become a modern architectural landmark. Its dramatic exterior design, including four, 60-foot-high signs at the crown, takes its cues from its location at the crossroads of the world. Its interiors are high tech, state-of-the-art, and environment tally responsible, with many green features providing a payback in as early as three years.