2021 Year in Review: Barry LePatner, LePatner & Associates LLP

Name: Barry LePatner

Job Title: Founding Partner

Company Name: LePatner & Associates LLP

What was your greatest professional accomplishment or most notable project, deal, or transaction in 2021?
Often, I am retained to serve as white knight to assist clients with large projects facing massive construction problems. From April to August, I was deeply immersed in resolving a large new project that faced major construction defects threating issuance of a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy, which would have led to lender defaults, ground lease defaults, and lawsuits. The clients were ecstatic I was able to bring all involved parties to accept a solution that eventually led to securing the TCO and avoiding the financial disasters that loomed at the outset of my retention.

What was the biggest lesson you learned while working during the pandemic?
The past 20 months have emphasized the need to challenge old assumptions of business, home life and how each of us must change to meet new imperatives. In speaking to principals of companies large and small the most common responses were largely framed by fear (of the unknown), uncertainty (as to charting a course of action on how best to move forward), and doubt (about every aspect of their lives). Leaders who accepted that our prior assumptions may not have validity post-COVID responded better to shifts in our paradigms than those who remained frozen by inaction.

How has your working environment changed over the last year?
As soon as the March 2020 mandate to close NYC down was issued, I knew that moving to our home on Long Island would be the best place to operate our law firm and project management operations. All team members worked seamlessly from home and when we were needed on project sites we came to the city and joined our clients with masks and social distancing. Today, with the Omicron variant a further unsettling situation, there is no doubt in my mind we will be living at least another 9-12 months of seeing offices largely vacant.

What are your predictions for your industry in 2022?
The NYC real estate world will, in time, return to its former dominance as part of city’s ever-vibrant economic engine. Hospitality, entertainment, and restaurants suffered badly and may need until 2024 to achieve pre-COVID levels. There is also a major national shortage of skilled construction workers and supply chains of critical materials and equipment which have hampered project schedules. We will need all of 2022 to secure welcome funding of the new Biden Infrastructure program that will see major new construction of the Hudson River crossing, further work on the 2nd Ave. subway, and new housing programs in every borough.

What is the best advice you received in 2021, and who was it from?
From the outset of the pandemic my role was to counsel corporate, commercial, and developer clients through the throes of these tremulous times. For the most part I had to convince business leaders this was a two-year problem even when many successful developers and leaders privately insisted it would be much shorter. From a personal standpoint the best advice I received was from my wonderful wife, Marla Tomazin, who suggested intermittent fasting by skipping dinner on Sundays and Wednesdays. As an avid tennis player this led to my losing 14 lbs and gaining a step or two to the net.