Real Estate Board of New York holds annual Gala event

Event coverage submitted by Julia Corbett Davis, managing partner at RIO PR, LLC, New York, N.Y.

Manhattan, NY Members of New York’s real estate industry donned black tie and formal wear and filled the Hilton Hotel Ballroom on Sixth Ave. for the Real Estate Board of New York’s 121^st Annual Gala recently. Referred to as the “Oscars of Real Estate,” the event was filled with celebratory moments and networking. The Gala was attended by city and state officials, and top real estate executives, including Larry Silverstein, New York mayoral candidate Paul Massey Jr., Robert Knakal, Helena Durst, Bill Rudin, Bruce Mossler, and more.

The gala benefits the REBNY Foundation.  This is REBNY’s biggest event of the year and attracts a broad spectrum of the city’s most influential business and community leaders, as well as city and state officials.

Joel Herskowitz, chief operating officer and principal at Lee & Associates with Helena Durst, chief administrative officer of The Durst Organization

Silverstein took the stage to introduce the awards winners, including:

• Marc Holliday of SL Green Realty Corp. was awarded “The Harry B. Helmsely Distinguished New Yorker Award;”

• Maryanne Gilmartin of Forest City Ratner was awarded “The Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership in Real Estate Award;”

• Carl Weisbrod of NYC Planning Commission was awarded “The John E. Zucotti Public Service Award;”

• Jed Walentas of Two Trees Management was awarded “The Kenneth R. Gerrety Humanitarian Award;”

• Peter Riguardi of Jones Lang LaSalle was awarded “The Louis Smadbeck Broker Recognition Award;”

• Bill Dacunto of Silverstein Properties, was awarded “The George M. Brooker Management Executive Award;” and

• Lindsay Ornstein of Transwestern, received “The Young Real Estate Professional of the Year Award.”

As an event where networking takes precedence over ceremony, speeches were at times eclipsed by the attendees’ chatter, but when Ornstein came to the stage to receive her reward, she remarked that she was ‘the first woman ever to receive this award,’ which sparked a round of applause from the crowd. Ornstein said she was proud not only to be the recipient not just for herself, but for all women in real estate.

The Annual Gala honors industry leaders for their outstanding professional success and exceptional contributions to the real estate industry. True to form, this year’s Gala was a night of networking, friendship and accolades.