"Funny or Die Presents Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie"... get up or stay up 50 minutes longer to watch this!

I watched "Funny or Die Presents Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie" early this morning.  Please...you MUST watch this…soon.

From today’s New York Times:

The humor website Funny or Die on Wednesday began streaming a 50-minute comedy that finds Mr. Depp portraying the businessman turned politician, full-blown comb-over and all. Kept a secret for months — no small task in Hollywood — “Funny or Die Presents Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie” was released to coincide with Mr. Trump’s victory on Tuesday in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary.

Here is the link

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Now, I’d like to tell you a personal Trump story that I have only shared with a handful of people over the years:

In the early 1980’s the State of New York initiated a continuing education rule for all those holding real estate licenses.  There were a few folks ‘grandfathered in’ who did not have to go back to school.  These included NYC real estate legends such as Harry Helmsley who, with his partners, owned the Empire State Building.

I enrolled to take the class at New York University’s midtown facility.  About 20 of us got to the classroom on the first evening and who walks in – Donald Trump.  He goes to the podium at the front of the room and says, “Good evening.  I’m Donald Trump.  I made a deal with the State of New York.  If I agreed to teach a class I wouldn’t have to attend a continuing education class myself (Note: this was several years before he wrote “The Art of the Deal.”)  He continues, “I’d like to introduce you to Joe (I can’t remember his actual name).  Joe was my project manager on the construction of Trump Plaza (a high-rise residential condo).  He’s going to tell you about that project.”  And with that, Trump left the room.

And, each of the following weeks he did the same exact thing – introducing someone else who would talk with us about something to do with real estate – and then left the room!

Flash forward.  It’s now the early 1990’s and my wife and I went downtown to the Tribeca area of Manhattan as I wanted to visit some of the tenants in 99 Hudson Street, a building on which I served as ‘Owners Rep’ (basically a NYC real estate term) for the conversion from a printer’s building to a beautiful Class-B office building.  99 Hudson was branded the Legal Defense and Education Fund building by virtue of having tenants such as NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and others of the same ilk.  A side note here: the partners who owned 99 Hudson Street, Mort Olshan (Olshan Properties) for whom I directly worked, Marshall Rose (Georgetown Associates) and Fred Gould (Gould Investors Trust) wanted to ‘give back’ so we made very attractive rental deals with these not-for-profit constitutional law organizations and also gave them an option to buy their space at, I believe $50 per square foot (this was in 1983). It was a wonderful learning experience for me.

Anyway, after visiting the building we went next door to Nobu, the well-known Japanese restaurant.  Without a reservation, we took a chance and, sure enough, they were able to seat at us a nice corner table for two.  About 10 minutes later, Donald Trump and his then girlfriend (now wife) Melania were seated at the right table next to us.  

Even though I had had the real estate class experience with him and also another real estate related interaction (a story for another day) I didn’t feel the need to start a conversation with him.  However, when our server delivered our first order of sashimi, Donald said to us, “How can you eat raw fish?” And I said to him, “How can you not?”  

After he opened up the conversation window I said, ‘I don’t expect you to remember but you and I have some history.” He looked at me quizzically but with a 'come on, tell me' look and I related the story of his ‘deal’ with the NYC Real Estate Licensing Commission.  As I’m telling it, he turns to his girlfriend multiple times, with a big grin on his face and making hand gestures, “Yes, I did that.  Wasn’t that smart of me?  What a great deal.”  He was extremely proud of himself and said that he had almost forgotten about that.  They got up to leave and Donald said, “You two make a beautiful couple.” I said, ‘Thank you, so do you.” And he, smiling says, “Thanks, but don’t you think she’s a little young for me?”

So, as I watched ‘The Art of the Deal: The Movie’ early this morning - with great enjoyment and a lot of laughing to myself - I was reminded of that experience and just had to share it with you.

I hope you enjoy the movie as much as I did.

IMN's Laguna Beach Conference / Norman Kranzdorf's Book

IMN Laguna Beach Conference

This past week, Information Management Network, more commonly known as IMN, ran their 13^th Annual Forum on Opportunity and Private Real Estate Fund Investing at The Montage in Laguna Beach, CA. 

Just over 1000 commercial real estate folks converged on one of most dramatic oceanfront venues and, with that type of turnout, you may imagine it’d be difficult to run into people you know - unless meetings had been set up in advance.  This time, I purposely did not set up any appointments ahead of time, just to see what the experience would be like - oh, except for the one described in the next paragraph. (Note:  IMN uses a terrific online networking tool available to registrants where they can connect with any other attendee and even reach out to set up an appointment.) 

One person reached out to me. He’s the CEO of his own company and said he’d like to meet me. I didn’t know who he was or what he did and wasn't sure he knew anything about me either. I wrote back and told him what we do (Presentation Coaching for Capital Raising Teams and Annual Investor Conferences as well as Women’s Leadership Workshops in the industry) and he wanted to get together.  Working through his assistant on the East coast, we agreed to meet on Thursday at 10am at the event registration desk.  Pretty simple, right?  I arrive early to everything so I was there at 9:50am.  10am came and went and no CEO.  At 10:11 I called his office and was disconnected twice.  I decided to email him directly.  At 10:16 the grace time was up and I went on my way.  At 10:17 he sends me an email – “Just got here, on the way down.”  Without going into further play-by-play, I attempted to connect with him a few more ways and then gave up.  He never reached out to me again. 

Why did I go into this detail??  In our presentation and women’s leadership workshops we work on how to make a good first impression – whether it’s face to face, on the phone, on LinkedIn, etc.  You’ve probably heard the old adage, “You only get one chance to make a good first impression.” And, it’s very true!  I don’t know what this hotshot CEO was thinking but he made a really, really bad first impression on me.  Oh, why do I call him a hotshot?  I did my usual research before any first meeting and saw that he’s pretty darn full of himself.  More power to him.  However, the degrees of separation in our industry is much less than six – and, you never know when someone will ask me, “Do you know so and so?”  And if that comes up regarding this fellow, I will relate my first impression of him – in a matter of fact way.  So, be careful out there – the first impression you make is often a lasting one.

Back to the conference…  It was terrific! As you might imagine there was more and more speculation and talk about something happening that will adversely affect the commercial real estate industry. One fellow and I were talking about that and he said, “Something’s going to happen within the next 12 -24 months.”  I simply smiled at him (like, that’s a pretty wide horizon, isn’t it?).

I ran into so many friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in a while.  We were able to catch up and everyone had good things to say – about business, about the industry, about their families.  I also got to see some more recently made industry ‘friends’ and even make some new ones.

During the event, I noticed something that I’d like to mention – something I’ve brought up before but continue to see.  When you pay to go to an industry event – be there.  Don’t go off somewhere and start working.  Checking your emails periodically is one thing but, as we all have experienced, it can suck you into that dark hole which is difficult to dig out of – until the cocktail reception!  If you have to schedule a call, do it, get it over with and then get back to the learning and connecting that's right there in front of you. I saw too many folks, off by themselves, working their phones and other devices, seemingly not interested in meeting anyone.  Now, I don’t know what their reason for going to the event was, but why go at all if you’re going to disconnect yourself from ‘the happening?’

One last topic:  IMN was gracious in lending my partner Liz Weiner and I a room at The Montage to conduct our 11^th Women’s Leadership Workshop.  Some of the attendees were registered for the conference but were not participating in the golf outing. (It was an ideal time to schedule our women’s event!). Participants in our workshop were not required to register for the IMN conference – IMN simply wanted to support the growing recognition of the need to help CRE women develop and enhance their professional presence.  So, a big thanks to Stacey Kelly, Andy Melvin and Julius Hill of IMN who made it all possible.

PROMOTION:  Our schedule of Women’s Leadership Workshops for 1Q2016 can be found here.  So far, women from 56 different commercial real estate industry firms have attended our 11 open-enrollment workshops – the feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive and we are always tweaking our program based on new feedback from participants about what they’d like to take away from the program.  It’s all very exciting!

Thank you once again to IMN for your support of our Women’s Leadership Program!

Norman Kranzdorf’s Book: A Man of Many Centers

Some of you who have been around the block in the shopping center industry for a while know the name Norman Kranzdorf.  Norman is one of the founders of the ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) and a verified pioneer of the supermarket real estate world and shopping center and regional mall industry.

Recently, Norman published his autobiography, “A Man of Many Centers.”  I bought it and read it all in one day; it is a great read.  Having spent many years in the supermarket and shopping center industries myself, I knew many of the names Norman mentions.  While I wouldn’t call it a ‘tell all’ book, he relates stories and anecdotes about deals and the people behind the deals. In a couple of cases, where I had personal experience with the people mentioned, I was nodding my head in agreement, “Yup, that’s the guy!”

At 85, Norman decided to retire last year – but not really. Now he’s Chairman of Amterre Property Group, a shopping center firm based in Boulder, CO run by his son Michael. 

Let me share just the first paragraph of his bio from the company site;

Norman Kranzdorf has had a distinguished career in the real estate industry spanning more than 50 years. He founded Kranzco Realty, Inc., a general commercial real estate management and brokerage company, in 1979 and in 1992 was a co-founder of Kranzco Realty Trust, A New York stock exchange Real Estate Investment Trust. He served as its President and Chief Executive Officer until the June 2000 merger with CV Reit, which created Kramont Realty Trust. He was Chairman of Kramont until he retired in 2003. From 2003 until 2013 he served as Senior Vice President for Retail at Urdang Capital Management, Inc., a unit of The Bank of New York Mellon. From 1972 to 1981 he was president of Amterre Development, Inc., a successor to Food Fair Properties, Inc., a major shopping center owner and management company.

The impact Norman Kranzdorf has made on the shopping center industry is matched by a select few. I feel privileged to be able to call both he and his son Mike, who I met during the early days of commercial real estate technology, friends.

I’d encourage anyone who has grown up in the shopping center / retail real estate industry to read Norman’s book.  Here’s where you can get it . In some ways, it is the definitive history of the shopping center industry through the eyes of a guy who tells it like it is.

Final trip notes

On this last trip I got to spend some time with Rick Wincott.  Rick is Senior Executive Vice President, Research, Valuation, and Advisory, Altus Group USA (boy, that's a mouthful!).  But this visit was social.  For years, Dr. Wincott has been telling me about the musical instrument collection he has amassed in his Houston home.  I've vowed to visit and finally got my chance.  I have only one word:  Wow!  Rick, a blues bassist, has a room filled with vintage guitars, basses, other stringed instruments I can't remember the name of, classic amplifiers, a rare Fender bass keyboard (the type used by Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek) and a Nord keyboard. We got to play a little blues together as well as sample some San Francisco Bay area Bluxome Street Wine where Rick is an investor - it was yummy! Rick told me that he's planning to put a few of the guitars on the market via eBay.  If you're a guitarist or collector, let me know and I'll put the two of you in touch.  This was truly a once in a lifetime experience!

After leaving Houston and before the IMN event began I got so spend a few nights at Casa Kalmonson near Laguna Beach.  That's really a fancy name of saying I stayed with my college friend Michael Kalmonson, his wife Diane and Michael's mother Bertha who turns 96 in May, still drives and is sharp as a tack.  "The Duke" as he is affectionately known by a few close friends and I met via basketball at Fairleigh Dickinson University in NJ.  We also played on the same softball team in Michael's hometown of Bayonne, NJ.  After some of those games ended, he and I (and occasionally another teammate or friend) went on an eating excursion.  It began with an Orange Julius in Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ.  Then on to the just recently closed Naples Pizza in Bayonne for either a great thin crust pie or their legendary Mozzarella sandwich.  Craving more, we headed through the Holland Tunnel to Manhattan for corned beef sandwiches at Katz's Deli followed by a potato knish at Yonah Schimmels.  You may be wondering what we then had for dessert:  it was a cannoli at the famous Little Italy bakery, Ferrara's.  Michael was an avid friend of the band I played in called "Everyone" and came to a bunch of our gigs.  There were also lots more experiences - stuff you share with one of your best friends.  

Michael and Diane were ahead of the pack, moving from New Jersey to SoCal in the 1970's.  After a period of being out of contact (B.I.=Before Internet), we got back in touch.  I see them at least once a year, around the IMN Conference and have stayed with them a few other times when I was living in Napa and had business in their general area.

Since I began writing this column in 1999, I can count on receiving at least one email each week with some type of comment.  Yes, from The Duke. It's usually something that makes me smile or offers a constructive bit of feedback.  In some ways, this column has allowed Michael and I to continue not only our friendship, but also the relationship we began writing for our college newspaper, The Bulletin. This was the very paper on which I gave author and presidential speechwriter Peggy Noonan her start when I was Editor-in-Chief.  Michael showed me a scrapbook of some of his old columns which reminded me of what a great writer he is.  I'm hoping he'll start documenting some of his life experiences so that it can be shared with future generations.  It's about time, Duke!

On the Road….

Feb. 2:  Felix / WeinerWomen’s Leadership Workshop, Dallas

Feb. 4:  Felix / WeinerWomen’s Leadership Workshop, Houston

Feb. 16 - 17:  NAREIM (National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers) Research andInvestment Management Meeting, Chicago, IL

Feb. 18:  Felix / WeinerWomen’s Leadership Workshop, Chicago

Feb. 24 - 25:  NAREIM Executive Officers Leadership Retreat, Miami, FL

Mar. 2:  Felix / Weiner Women’s Leadership Workshop, Los Angeles

Mar.10:  Felix /Weiner Women’s Leadership Workshop, New York City

Apr. 6:  Mar.2:  Felix / Weiner Women’s Leadership Workshop,Atlanta

Apr. 13 - 4:  PERE Global Investors Forum, Los Angeles

Hope to see you somewhere on the road.

Happy birthday - tomorrow - to my brother Jay the attorney - in Tucson!

Dolph Schayes (1928-2015) - A basketball legend

Dolph Schayes (1928-2015)

There’s a summer camp in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains of New York State, up a big hill from the towns of Bolton Landing and Lake George, on a small body of water called Trout Lake.  It’s called Camp Walden and this special place has been operating continuously since 1931.  I found out about Camp Walden when I was 11, because my best friend Bernie’s dad had a connection to the camp. In many ways, Camp Walden changed my life.

What brings this up is my attendance on Monday in Syracuse, New York, at the funeral of long-time friend Dolph Schayes.  Dolph was a basketball player (it’s strange how one minute we refer to someone as ‘is’ and in the next instance, it becomes ‘was’).  In fact, Dolph was named one of the 50 greatest basketball players in NBA (National Basketball Association) History!  And for many years, Dolph ran a week-long basketball camp following the end of the regular 8-week summer camp season at Walden.  While there is now a proliferation of these camps, Dolph’s was the second of its kind when he started.  Then at some point, Dolph became a part owner of Camp Walden with Mel Besdin and was there for the entire summer.  Like a number of children in that era, Dolph and his wife Naomi’s children, David, Debbie, Carrie and Danny Schayes, spent their summers from a very young age at Walden. 

Walden was - and still is - a special place. Life-long friendships (and some marriages) started there and, even if there’s 30 years - or more - between interactions, when you run into a fellow ‘Waldenite’ the conversation picks up as if it were yesterday.  I actually had this experience Monday when, at the reception following Dolph’s beautiful funeral service at Temple Concord in Syracuse, I ran into Mike Stark.  Mike was the head counselor at camp when I was a camper and later a counselor.  While I had seen his daughter Cindy a couple of times over the years, this was the first time I had seen Mike in, oh, more than 40 years!  Mike was a teacher in Syracuse and then a school administrator.  And he was also a basketball coach and referee and was a star guard on the Syracuse University basketball team.  Now 88 years old, and sharp as a tack, Mike and I reminisced about the old days and a few of the old crowd.  It was wonderful to see him again.

Because of Dolph’s involvement, Camp Walden attracted some basketball players who became camp counselors.  Virtually all were involved in the Syracuse basketball program but due to NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) rules at that time, only 2 or 3 (if memory serves me well) players from the same college team could be at a summer camp at the same time otherwise it would be seen as the team trying to get a head start on the ‘legal’ first day of practice - October 15 (This date has since evolved into a ritual on many college campuses called ‘Midnight Madness’ - where the first practice of the season starts at midnight on October 15 – and the basketball arenas are filled).  One of those Syracuse players that was a counselor at Walden for several years is Jim Boeheim.  Jimmy played for the Syracuse Orangemen in the 1960’s and has been connected with the team in a coaching capacity (first as an assistant and now as head coach) since 1969 – being named head coach in 1976.  Jim’s counselor days at Walden were in the mid/late 1960’s and that’s when he and I met. In an online piece reporting Dolph’s death last week, Jimmy is quoted, "Dolph is a legendary figure in Syracuse. He was an all-time great, great player. His camp had a big influence on me." 

At Dolph’s funeral, some of his 9 grandchildren spoke talking about their Grandpa, not as a basketball legend but as a person.  They talked about the funny games he played with them (many of them made up by the man himself) and his involvement with their lives.  Then Dolph’s four children spoke about their dad.  His humility. His passion for history. The eulogies included a number of comments, which drew laughter from the packed temple audience.  Dolph would not have had it any differently – he had a great sense of humor and was always playing games – and not just basketball games!  His son Danny was also a star basketball player at Syracuse University and went on to an 18-year career in the NBA.  He told a few ‘funny’ stories about what it was like for him, growing up playing basketball, with his Dad in the stands.  Dolph was a passionate competitor who not only played professional basketball but also coached the Philadelphia 76ers and was the supervisor of the NBA referees.  Danny related one story when, during a professional game he was playing in, there was a bad call made against him.  Dolph ran down in the stands to get behind the scorer’s table (right at courtside) and shouted to the official, “I should never have hired you!”  Hearing this story, the mourners totally broke up in laughter – that was Dolph.

You see, Dolph Schayes was a special person – who cared, really cared, about people.  It was mentioned how he would talk with random people, everywhere he went, showing sincere interest in them.  People looked up to Dolph – not just because he stood 6’8” – but because of who he was as a man – a guy who grew up spending a lot of time on the basketball court in the Bronx (NY), as a star basketball player at DeWitt Clinton High School and New York University (NYU) and graduating from there with a degree in, what is now called aerospace engineering - the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. 

Sitting amongst Dolph’s family and friends yesterday, it struck me that Dolph was not a man who you felt would ever die.  He was a truly larger-than-life figure, someone whose smile was ever-present and who made everyone he came in contact with feel important. How special is that?  Some of what I heard yesterday got me thinking about my own life and maybe some things that I’d like to change before my time comes – 30+ years down the road. 

Dolph Schayes was one of the kindest, most generous men I have ever known.  My brother Jay included this in an email to the family:

I have strong memories of his gentleness and kindness.

I remember first meeting him when I was 10 years old.  He was by far the biggest man I had ever seen.  I believe my eyes were at his belt buckle.  Standing close to him, I looked up to see his smiling face and warm eyes.  This memory is vivid.  I have other memories of Dolph, but none of them nearly so clear.

What I do recall was that he was ALWAYS soft spoken, kind, warm, and NEVER harsh or critical.  Even when I was caught doing things that were highly inappropriate, Dolph was ALWAYS the most gentle, sincere and empathetic adult at Camp.

Camp Walden was a very important part of my life.

Dolph was a very powerful influence on me.

I carry him with me.

Jay, this is a beautiful testament to a special guy.

Camp Walden has been owned since the early 2000’s by Lauren and Mark Bernstein. They are wonderful people who have done amazing things with the camp.  Lauren and Mark also appreciate and respect Walden’s history and alumni community.  Those of us old-timers are always welcome to visit, something I’ve done in the past two seasons.  Under them the camp embodies the same special family feeling that it had when I was there and I know many life-long friendships are still beginning there.  I believe it’s one of the finest summer camps anywhere with facilities that none of us, back in the day, could even imagine.  But the property is still the same beautiful place – built on a hill, overlooking Trout Lake with newer buildings having been constructed to ‘fit in’ with the older bunks and administrative buildings. 

In 2003, a bunch of us organized a camp reunion – if it weren’t for the Internet and email it wouldn’t have been possible.  More than 50 of us converged on Montreal.  The camp has always attracted campers and counselors from Montreal, Syracuse and the greater New York City area.  It was a special time.  The camp is sponsoring a reunion day next June and some of us are already in touch and plan to make a weekend of it.  I have a feeling that Dolph would have come to that reunion but while the big man with the even bigger heart won’t be there, his spirit will be and I’m sure we will be sharing ‘Dolph Stories.’ 

I have a few of my own Dolph stories, which I’ll be happy to share if you’re interested the next time we see each other.  Camp Walden was a very important part of my life. Those of us that knew Dolph from Camp Walden share special memories, of him and of a time when things were very different in the world – much simpler than today.  They are times that I would not trade for anything.

Bud Poliquin, Syracuse sportswriter and host of a daily sports talk show on ESPN radio wrote an excellent piece about Dolph’s funeral, which can be found here.

I know all my Walden friends join me in sharing our sincerest condolences to Dolph’s family – Naomi, his wife of more than 60 years (an accomplished pianist I learned this week); their four children - David, Debbie, Carrie and Danny; his nine grandchildren  - Abbi, Bengie, Carla, Hannah, Julia, Kevin, Logan, Mickey and Rachel) and all those whose lives he touched in a way similar to how he touched mine and my brothers’ – and there are a lot of those folks out there! Given Dolph’s college degree in aerospace engineering I can visualize him right now, in his own spacecraft, traveling the heavens and visiting with people he knew, and those he’s never met.  Dolph loved people and everyone loved Dolph.

Dolph and me