A message from the founder: They said it couldn't be done, but here we are

Someone recently asked me why I started a commercial real estate newspaper in New York, an area that already had the subject well covered with several periodicals. Because it was 20 years ago, I had to tap deeply into my gray cells to remember, and the ultimate answer wasn't a brilliant one. As a matter of fact, it made very little business sense and I have never revealed it until now or even told the four people who were subliminally responsible. In 1963, with no publishing background, I launched the New England Real Estate Journal, a weekly trade newspaper covering commercial, investment and industrial real estate development. I was informed that one in ten publications make it and that the average business that succeeds takes three years. Fortunately, I became the one in ten and it did take exactly three years. When I started the New England newspaper there were only a few other publications in the country that touched on commercial real estate, and three of them were in New York. Reality, that folded in the horrible three-year recession 1989-1991; Real Estate Weekly; and the National Real Estate Investor, both still flourishing. The other two, one in Chicago and other in Philly, fell into the category of the 9 out of 10 that don't make it. Over the years other commercial real estate publications appeared and appreciated varying success, with several of them I was hired as a consultant. The New England paper became (and still is) the largest of its kind in the country. Why? I think it is because we always concentrated more on the people behind the deals than the deals themselves. We wrote about them, put their picture in the paper and made them celebrities in what the average man on the street would say is a very boring industry. If you asked the public to name some famous real estate people they might say: Donald Trump, some guy named Levit who made millions building Levittowns right after WWII, and Mrs. Helmsley who became famous because of the way she treated people and not her real estate success. Note all three are New Yorkers. In 1989, towards the end of Reaganonmics when even people who owned a peanut stand made more money than they knew what to do with, I decided that the time was ripe to branch out. I had already helped a group start a Journal in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Florida. I was even hired by the owner of the National Real Estate Investor to start a newspaper. The next obvious stop was New York state. Did I need another newspaper? No! Did I want to open an office in the city and take on the headaches of launching a new business? No! Was I personally looking for more things to do? No! Was it a challenge to invade the biggest city in the country that didn't need another commercial real estate publication when the prospect of success was now closer to one in a hundred than one in ten? Hmmm...I pondered that question for a long day. Who did I know in New York? Twenty years earlier when I was putting together lists of companies who brokered commercial real estate mortgages I cold-called a young man named Barry Horowitz of Cooper-Horowitz and was shocked when he came right to the phone. So shocked, I asked him, "Why did you take my call?" His answer: "I never screen my calls because I never know when it might be business." Hmmm! That was a business lesson that ain't taught at Harvard Business School and so I faithfully followed it. The second person I thought of was Julien Studley. Over 20 years earlier when I was broke and trying to keep the New England Journal afloat, I met him through a friend and I boldly pitched him on investing in the newspaper that was losing money every issue. A week later he phoned me, surprised me and accepted. However, I had just learned about financing receivables and went that route. The third New Yorker I thought about was beautiful Mary Ann Savarese who, at the time, was with RD Management, a major shopping center developer. She became a close ally along with her sometimes partner, the late founder of the vastly successful retail magazine, Dealmakers, Ted Kraus. Without phoning these four, just analyzing their no bullshit winning personalities, and talking to the mirror I decided to take on the challenge. I told you that my reasons weren't the best or smartest, but the New York paper did become successful thanks to me deciding to give it a shot because of four New Yorker's attitudes that more of the in-the-hurry people should adopt. Thank you Barry, Julien, Mary Ann and Ted. Roland Hopkins is the founder of the New York Real Estate Journal, Norwell, Mass.