Rosenthal of Fried, Frank, Harris: Proud of construction at 50 West Street

Name: Carol E. Rosenthal Title: Real Estate Partner Company Name: Fried, frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP Follow my company on Twitter @friedfrank What year did you start your career in commercial real estate: 1984 Real Estate Associations/Organizations: Trustee, Citizens Budget Commission Advisory Board, Cityland (The Center for New York City Law, New York Law School) Board Member, Citizen's Housing and Planning Committee Board Member, Hunter High School PTA Chair, Zoning Committee of the American Planning Association, New York Metro Chapter (1998-2008) Law Committee, Municipal Arts Society (2003-2008) Board of Directors, Women in Housing and Finance, Inc. (1991-1995) What recent project or transaction are you most proud of? Currently, at 50 West St. near Battery Park City, a beautiful 63-story hotel and residential building designed by Helmut Jahn, is under construction. I was land use counsel to Time Equities, the developer, and guided the project through extensive city-mandated public and environmental reviews and a host of land use issues, resulting in amendments to the zoning resolution, the demapping of a volume over the Brooklyn Battery Garage, and the issuance of a number of special permits and certifications. Working with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), I was also responsible for closing the client's purchase of development rights from the City of New York over the Brooklyn Battery Garage resulting in additional square feet for the residential section of the building. After "Super Storm Sandy," we worked further with the city on modifications to the plaza and elsewhere to accommodate needed revisions. Who or what has been the strongest influence on your career and why? Watching my father become a much happier person when he courageously switched jobs when I was in middle school taught me how very important it is to do work you enjoy. Second, I had to prove him wrong: he was concerned that sending me to law school would be a bad investment, because girls were likely to get married and leave work! Instead, my family tells me I inherited his workaholic tendencies. What is the first thing you do when you arrive in the office in the morning? Morning Routine #1: Get Coffee. Close office door. Don't turn computer on. Spend some time analyzing a pressing problem or drafting a memorandum requiring a deft touch. Morning Routine #2: Get Coffee. Keep door open. Check in with my assistant, then my emails. Work on a plan of action for tackling the day. What time management strategies do you find to be the most effective for you? Sometimes I need to use every minute I have, whether it means catching up on emails in the subway or working on a draft letter in a taxi. More importantly, taking the time to prioritize tasks in a good list, and, where possible, delegating to others, is a strategy that works well. What is the best advice you have received and who was it from? One of my early bosses provided a great example by opening a meeting with a client team or regulatory agency by laying out the goals and problem and engaging the group in a collaborative effort to come up with a solution. A different boss would come in with a solution and patiently and persistently lay it out with an unimpeachable logic. I learned there are a few ways to approach something. List 3 women that you would like to have drinks / dinner with and where would you go? (50 words or less) My fantasy evening would start with dinner with Oprah at a quiet restaurant to discuss how she blazed her own fascinating and meteoric path. I would then have an after dinner port with Nancy Pelosi to get the lowdown on the tumultuous environment in which she has been so successful. I would end with hot chocolate with my late grandmother Johanna, and I would ask all my unspoken questions about how it felt, and how she kept on going, after losing her family and savings, and leaving Germany in 1938 to start over with her 7 year-old son. What is your favorite quote? "The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." William Arthur Ward What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a city manager, an architect, a policy wonk, a child actress (that had a short life), a rabbi, a chief of staff, a civil rights or anti-poverty activist, an artist, a food critic and a backup dancer for Tina Turner. I could not figure out how to have so many lives, so I became a land use and development attorney!