2015 Year in Review - Faith Hope Consolo

What was your most notable project, deal, transaction or professional achievement in 2015?   My most notable achievements this year revolved around my strategic influence on education while balancing my deal making seamlessly and successfully. I joined forces with The Academy for Coaching and Training (ACT) with a mission to help real estate professionals, newcomers and veterans, move to the next level by providing workshops and private tutoring to several firms. This is in addition to teaching classes at NYU, Columbia, Parsons, Wharton and delivering talks to ULI, ICSC, Real Estate Finance & Investment (REFI) and Commercial Real Estate Women’s Network (CREW). What real estate project, transaction, market trend or product had a significant impact on your industry in 2015? The development of the Far West Side is already having an impressive impact on the city. The completion of the 7 subway line extension is opening the floodgates to what will soon be one of the most active sections of the city, featuring an abundant mix of retail to support office workers, residents and tourists.  In some ways, the mixed-use aspect of the project is not dissimilar to the transition of FiDi. But the Far West Side is a true 21st century invention without the constraints of pre-existing infrastructure or properties. Instead, it’s the product of a few visionary developers. How will you be supercharging your productivity in 2016? I have a lot of leases already in the pipeline, which are slated to close in early 2016. My business never ceases to be supercharged, but I work with a great team and am blessed by strong relationships with landlords and tenants. My group is always in the trenches, and besides implementing long-established and successful strategies, including working with traditional and online media, I have become increasingly active with outreach and marketing on multiple social media platforms.  The visibility that Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus and others provide is enormous and best of all, they keep growing and expanding my network! What emerging trends will drive investment and development in 2016? Given the current state of the world’s economy and relative strength of the U.S. dollar, we will see even more foreign investment in the greater New York metropolitan area, as well as in less traditional markets. Whether sovereign funds, investment groups or private investors, their motivation is to both build wealth and retain it in a safe country for investment. It is not an ideal situation, but it has been a driving factor in New York real estate for some time. Nor do I believe that soon-to-be rising interest rates will have any impact on this particular group.