Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

With the announcement last week that its top seven executives would forgo annual bonuses for 2008, Goldman Sachs continues to demonstrate why it has always stood out from the rest of Wall Street as a leader that represents the best in capitalism. By giving up tens of millions of dollars in compensation, Goldman’s chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, its co-presidents, Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried, and their colleagues understand that in tough times, leadership by example matters. Indeed, their willingness to give up money that they rightly deserve—these are the executives, after all, who deftly steered Goldman through the storm as peers such as Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch crashed and foundered on the rocks—proves why brilliant managers deserve big bucks when their companies have a good year.  read more »

Here’s how you know the commercial-mortgage-backed securities market is in deep slumber: Goldman Sachs, king of the Wall Street shops, hasn’t originated a CMBS loan in nine months, according to two sources close to the bank.

It’s no secret that banks like Wachovia and Lehman and UBS are no longer issuing securities backed by mortgages with the ease of missionaries distributing Gideon Bibles. Investors have had to start hitting up balance-sheet lenders, like regional banks, and cobbling together smaller loans. But Goldman? Goldman is one of the few investment banks that actually has a CMBS crew in place on Wall Street.  read more »

Insurance giant AIG has assumed the remainder of Goldman Sachs’ lease at 180 Maiden Lane, which, at 800,000 square feet, is the largest lease transaction so far in 2008.

“We will consolidate several AIG offices in Manhattan to 180 Maiden Lane,” said a source familiar with the deal.  read more »

Goldman Sachs, the world's largest investment bank, is set to report on Tuesday a record annual profit of $11 billion, according to news reports this morning. More importantly for New York City and its real estate market, the average Goldman Sachs year-end bonus is expected to average an astounding $600,000 per employee--about double the average paid at other firms.

Stephen Ross’s Related Companies is receiving an infusion of $1.4 billion from investors, including Goldman Sachs and investment firms from the Middle East, according to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal [subscription].

The firm is apparently now worth about $5 billion, the Journal tells us:  read more »

Editor's note: This is an update to an earlier breaking news story.

A construction accident at the site of Goldman Sachs’ new world headquarters downtown injured one worker this morning, as a crane dropped a seven-ton cargo load on a trailer, according to preliminary reports from the Fire Department and Department of Buildings.  read more »

The Associated Press is reporting that an architect has been injured in an accident at the Goldman Sachs tower, currently under construction by the World Trade Center site.

A crane dropped a load of metal rods and sheet rock onto a trailer, injuring an unnamed architect. The condition of the worker was not released, according to the report.  read more »

Women's Wear Daily is reporting this morning that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Goldman Sachs Group are preparing a $24 billion bid to buy the Macy's retail chain.

According to WWD, a bid was expected last weekend, and both parties want to finalize a deal in time for Macy's investors' meetings scheduled for July 23:  read more »

Early on the morning of Feb.  read more »

In 1992, I wrote a short book about a number of things going on in this country that I thought we as  read more »

Crain's is reporting that Robert Lieber, a managing director of Lehman Brothers, has accepted the presidency of the city's Economic Development Corporation. Mr. Lieber would take over from Andrew Alper, a former COO of Goldman Sachs, who left the EDC post in June after four years. - Tom Acitelli

Mayor Bloomberg came into office vowing to end corporate welfare as we know it. And he did.  read more »

Mayor Bloomberg came into office vowing to end corporate welfare as we know it. And he did.  read more »

• If you're an average Joe at Goldman Sachs, you'll likely be grabbing a $397,707 bonus this year. And all that goes straight into your vulgar pied-a-terre fund. [Dealbreaker]
• 110 British travel agents didn't know anything about Brooklyn, so Borough Prez Marty Markowitz (at right) shed a tear. Then he told the Brits about all the great "ethnic enclaves" (and museums and restaurants) in his beloved hometown. [NY Daily News]
• But why didn't he mention Williamsburg's very first rooftop cabanas? It's a top attraction at the new Mill Building. (That's a pun.) [Brownstoner]
• Somehow Mill was robbed of Cooper-Hewitt's First Annual People's Choice Award. That honor went to the fabulous pre-fab Katrina Cottage. [Interior Design]
- Max Abelson  read more »
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According to Downtown Express, Goldman Sachs is negotiating with Embassy Suites to buy its 453-room hotel in Battery Park City. A lawyer for Goldman wrote a letter to Community Board 1 saying that an agreement would be signed by tomorrow, with a closing a month later.

A DE source, noting that the building is "really ugly," said that Goldman will "likely either demolish the building or change its facade .... "
Goldman recently began construction on its new $2.4 billion headquarters across a pedestrian walkway from the hotel.  read more »

-Matthew Grace

Recently, I met a man at a bar who asked me what I did.  read more »

Recently, I met a man at a bar who asked me what I did.  read more »

Goldman Sachs is becoming the revolving door of choice for high-powered Republicans with a talent for politics and money.

Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, Condi's number two at the State Department, is leaving the Bush Administration to join the Wall Street giant as a managing director and as vice chairman of its international division. His announcement comes less than a month after Bush tapped the firm's chairman and CEO, Henry Paulson, to be the new Secretary of the Treasury.

Mr. Zoellick hasn't said why he decided to step down from his State Department post, but word on the street (or at least in the newspapers) is that he had been jockeying for the Treasury Secretary job before Bush gave it to Paulson. Now he is heading to Paulson's old firm.

It's like Trading Places for the insider set.

-- Lizzy Ratner

We're hearing rumors (okay, we've seen the invite) that U.S. Senator Mike DeWine will be parachuting into the city next Monday, June 26, to raise some old fashioned New York cash for his November re-election bid.

The fund-raiser will take place at the 21 Club -- one of the original old-boy hangouts -- where guests will pay $1,000 for lunch or $2,100 if they want to rub shoulders with Mr. DeWine & Co. at a pre-lunch VIP reception. The hosts include such Wall Street sugar daddies as Citigroup CEO Chuck Prince, JPMorgan Chase chairman Bill Harrison, and Goldman Sachs executive veep Ed Forst, as well as GOP musclemen Senator John Sununu, Senator Chuck Hagel, and Congressman Michael Oxley.

Given DeWine's position on gay marriage -- he's one of the guys who sponsored the amendment banning same-sex marriage -- we doubt he'll be flying in a day early to cheer on the marchers at next Sunday's Pride parade down 5th Avenue. In fact, we doubt he'll be seeing much of New York at all beyond the cool interiors of '21' and his Town Car. But you never know.

-- Lizzy Ratner

Henry Paulson Jr., the chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs, likes snakes.    read more »

Goldman Sachs has just announced that it has chosen Lloyd Blankfein to replace Hank Paulson as its new Chairman and CEO -- and from a quick scan of his political-giving history, it looks like he won't taking over his predecessor's duties as star GOP fund-raiser.

In addition to giving $3,000 to Mr. Bush's 2004 presidential opponent, John Kerry, and $1000 to his 2000 opponent, Al Gore, he has given regularly and abundantly to Democratic candidates and committees over the years. In 2004, he gave nearly $30,000 to blue state causes like Hillary Clinton, Tom Daschle, and the DNC. And in this cycle alone he has given $25,000 to the Chuck Schumer's Democratic Sentorial Campaign Committee.

We guess this means he isn't in any danger of being tapped for a White House post anytime soon.

-- Lizzy Ratner

The 84-year-old John Whitehead, a World War II veteran and former Goldman Sachs head, resigned as chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.

"Four-and-a-half years is a long time for a supposedly retired person of advanced age and I hope to have more advanced age to enjoy," he said at a meeting this morning.

The Governor and Mayor will choose his successor at the L.M.D.C. At the foundation, The Times said this morning that Thomas Johnson, now chairman of the executive committee who already took over many administrative duties, would succeed him. Foundation spokeswoman Lynn Rasic would not confirm that, saying that the full foundation board would vote on the new chairman at the next board meeting, scheduled for July.

-Matthew Schuerman

Last June, when the red paperback 357-page Harvard and Radcliffe Class of 2000 Fifth Anniversary Rep  read more »

Last June, when the red paperback 357-page Harvard and Radcliffe Class of 2000 Fifth Anniversary Rep  read more »

No sooner do we report that Kelly Ripa has sold her Soho apartment than the buyer puts it on the market again. With the same agent Ripa used (Alida Rubin, of the Corcoran Group). For half a million dollars more than Ripa got for it. Within weeks of closing the deal with Ripa.

The flipper in this case is former Goldman Sachs investment banker Michael Rubinoff. He's got something on Ripa trying to sell the place, being a big-time deal maker who just recently invested in a consortium with Seagram's scion Matthew Bronfman.  read more »

But he probably doesn't need the half a million in profit. Why isn't he moving in to the extensively-renovated apartment in a celebrity-filled Soho building?

Fresh off his critical success with Match Point, director Woody Allen is treating himself to a $25.9 million townhouse, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.

Last week, the acclaimed filmmaker signed a contract for a 20-foot-wide, Georgian-style townhouse on East 70th Street, which had been listed with broker Louise Beit, of Sotheby’s International Realty. Designed by Trowbridge & Livingston in 1901, the stunning 16-room home includes 11-foot ceilings, ornate moldings, 10 fireplaces, and a Georgian staircase. In addition, there are five bedrooms, formal dining room, library, family room, media room, staff room, and a garden.

Certainly, Mr. Allen is no stranger to exquisite Manhattan properties.

In 1999, he paid $17.7 million for a 40-foot-wide mansion on East 92nd Street. The palatial home measured in excess of 15,000 square feet. About five years later, he sold the Carnegie Hill townhouse to former Goldman Sachs executive Barry Volpert, for $24.5 million.

However, the years spent in Carnegie Hill were not completely idyllic. Mr. Allen and some of his well-heeled neighbors (including Sony chief Howard Stringer and author Peggy Noonan) attempted to block the construction of a 10-story luxury condominium nearby. However, the state’s highest court ruled against them.

Since moving out, Mr. Allen has searched for an Upper East Side home, albeit smaller than the mansion he owned previously, according to real estate sources. In July 2004, Mr. Allen was reportedly under contract for a different East 70th Street townhouse; however, it was later reported in September that the deal fell through.

In the mean time, Mr. Allen has been reportedly renting a single-family residence at Madison and 85th Street for $25,000 a month.  read more »

Representatives for Mr. Allen did not offer any comment, as of this morning. Ms. Beit declined to comment on the listing.

-Michael Calderone

Lately, “good news” at Ground Zero has really just been the undoing of bad news: Goldman Sachs, Freedom Tower. At a lunch before the New York Building Congress today, the Governor delivered the first truly good news in a while: American Express is taking another 200,000 square feet in the World Financial Center.

Of course, there is still more than 4 million square feet of office space going up across the street at the World Trade Center, looking for a tenant--many tenants.  read more »

-Matthew Schuerman

Seems like all those sweaty press conferences this summer about breaking ground on the Calatrava transit station, fortifying the Freedom Center and subsidizing Goldman Sachs did little for the way New Yorkers view the Governor. Just 18 percent of city voters want Pataki in charge at Ground Zero, compared to 24 percent in May, according to a Quinnipiac poll cited by Crain’s. Some 65 percent of those surveyed would rather the Mayor take the reins. The Mayor said yesterday that’s exactly what he plans to do.

This turn of sentiment has something, though perhaps not everything, to do with the Governor’s pushing out the International Freedom Center. The Times teamed up with Pace University for an excruciatingly focused poll also released today—of 518 residents living below 14th Street—and found them split on the Governor’s decision.

David Dunlap adds:

“And 1,011 New Yorkers were asked six weeks ago by Blum & Weprin Associates for The New York Times Magazine what they thought should be built at ground zero: something shorter or taller than the World Trade Center. Fifty-four percent replied, ‘Any size building as long as they stop arguing about it.’”  read more »

-Matthew Schuerman

More details on the Goldman Sachs lease, obtained by The Real Estate thanks to the Freedom of Information Law:

--As The Observer has reported, Goldman only wanted to return to Battery Park City if it could be guaranteed that the city and state would get its act together on security. The lease stipulates that authorities have until December 31, 2009, to come up with a security plan for the World Trade Center area, or Goldman gets back the $161 million it is paying for the 64-year lease. The deadline may be extended by three months if the city “is proceeding with all necessary diligence.” One day after that, Goldman gets its money back. Goldman is going to put the money into escrow by February.

--Just how much power Goldman has over the authority is unclear. The document never assigns the bank explicit authority to approve or reject it. But a July 29 letter to Goldman from James K. Kallstrom, Governor Pataki’s special adviser on counter-terrorism, gives the bank the right to “participate in the review” of the plan three times during its development—and also to help select the consultant who will draft it. Once the plan is finalized, Goldman can “participate in the substantial implementation of the plan.” A July 21 letter from city Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly says Goldman will get a seat at a “centralized coordination center.”

--It is still vague what will be in the plan. The Kallstrom letter says, “The full range of protective systems components, equipment, staffing, construction and operational procedures.”

--Goldman is planning to rim West Street near its property with a series of bollards—hitching posts strong enough to stop truck bombs.

--As for financial incentives, the lease shows that city reduced Goldman's property taxes by about 12 percent since the original deal was struck a year ago. (To get technical, these aren’t property taxes per se, but payments in lieu of taxes, since Goldman is leasing state-owned land that is normally not taxed.)  read more »

--Goldman will get to count 65 percent of its contract employees—i.e. temps and freelancers—as regular employees to qualify for the $250 million or so worth of economic incentives. That number cannot top a quarter of all the bank’s regular workers. Goldman has pledged it would keep 8,100 workers in the city.

--Matthew Schuerman

In the rush to get things done, the Empire State Development Corporation gave "final authorization" to $1.65 billion in low interest Liberty Bonds for the Goldman Sachs headquarters near Ground Zero on Aug. 15. Now, in the enviable way that our state government works, it is time for the public hearing, scheduled for Sept. 7.

The IRS tax regulations which govern the Liberty Bonds (Title 26, Sect.147(f)2.B) say that a bond issue needs to be approved "after a public hearing following reasonable public notice"--in other words, one cannot put the cart before the horse.

An ESDC spokesperson told The Real Estate that the Aug. 15 "final authorization" was not the last step of the process because the panel still needed to "designate" the bonds. Presumably, the ESDC could still pull the plug on the project if enough people object Sept. 7. Of course, the ESDC is appointed by the Governor, and the Governor in the interim has trumpeted the importance of bringing Goldman back.

One watchdog group, Good Jobs New York, is mobilizing to stop what seems pretty inevitable.

Their bond-watcher-in-chief Bettina Damiani has written to our sister site, The Politicker:

"Despite the hearing notice (in six point font in the New York Post's classified) some Politicker readers may not know there's a public hearing for the proposed subsidy to Goldman Sachs for its new headquarters in Battery Park City."

In the year since the building was first announced, the cost has grown to $2.4 billion. In the week since the final deal was reached, expectations for jobs have become more modest, or at least more tentative.

The Aug. 23 press release asserted that Goldman "is committing to maintaining more than 9,000 employees" in Manhattan, and that the investment bank "anticipates creating approximately 4,000 new jobs by 2019."  read more »

The bond description released today states that the new building "will provide offices for approximately 7,400 employees and allow room for growth of up to 3,600 additional employees over the course of 20 years. It is anticipated that Goldman employees will be located in other Lower Manhattan locations as well."

- Matthew Schuerman

Subsidy-watcher Bettina Damiani writes in:

"Despite the hearing notice (in six point font in the New York Post's classified) some Politicker readers may not know there's a public hearing for the proposed subsidy to Goldman Sachs for its new headquarters in Battery Park City.

"Yes, yes, the Mayor, the Governor and the Assembly Speaker announced the deal's been approved. But, don't be fooled! There has to be a hearing, which is scheduled for next Wednesday. Sadly, the law doesn't require the State to release any documents on the deal before the deal. "

Because, if Goldman Sachs doesn't need a billion and a half dollars in public money, who does?  read more »

Details on the deal here.

Go into television! So learned our admirably flat-chested Michael Calderone when he talked to Barbara Corcoran about her new TV venture; she's got lots of ideas, and only one is an elimination contest among people who want to work in real estate! Just what kind of security plan is Goldman Sachs pressing for at Ground Zero? Matthew Schuerman finds that almost anything will do--as long as the squabbling and jurisdictional chaos among the state agenices, private security forces and local police and emergency workers can be quelled.  read more »

In less than a month, the city will pause to remember the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World  read more »

In less than a month, the city will pause to remember the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World  read more »

According to two officials involved in the negotiations with the investment bank Goldman Sachs to bu  read more »

Reuters is reporting that a vote to give a massive package of Liberty Bond incentives to Goldman Sachs to build a tower next to Ground Zero will be postponed until at least early September, but public officials pooh-poohed the notion that the negotiations for the bonds were in any jeopardy.

The low-interest bonds are meant to encourage building downtown; there will be some criticism of Goldman Sachs' deal to get these incentives, according to Bettina Damiani of the watchdog group Good Jobs, New York. City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. gave his imprimatur to the Goldman Sachs deal yesterday. But his statement suggests there may be additional goodies beyond the ones already mentioned in press reports. To wit:

"While I have concerns regarding a provision granting Goldman Sachs an opportunity to obtain even better benefits down the road, I support the proposed agreement and Goldman Sachs' commitment to retain 8,100 jobs in lower Manhattan."

We're waiting for more details. And for a vote by the Battery Park City Authority to approve the lease, which is the last piece needed before a really big and happy press conference.  read more »

As we reported yesterday, one element of the hold-up in finalizing the deal with Goldman is the negotiation over penalty fees to be paid to Goldman by the city and state if a satisfactory, comprehensive program for ensuring security at the new World Trade Center site isn't put into place.

- Matthew Schuerman and Tom McGeveran

Matthew Schuerman finds that Goldman Sachs is close to getting an agreement to receive a penalty fee if they're not satisfied with security measures at the new World Trade Center site: "According to two officials involved in the negotiations with the investment bank Goldman Sachs to build a new $2 billion headquarters adjacent to Ground Zero, C.E.O. Henry Paulson has secured a financial guarantee from the city and state, exacting penalties if authorities fail to enact a comprehensive security plan for the World Trade Center neighborhood." Michael Calderone reports on widow Lily Safra's 838 Fifth Avenue apartment, which was quietly sold in an inside deal to financier Thomas Sandell in the fall, is now back on the market; Sandell hopes to flip the place for a $6 million profit. Also: Nina Griscom's socialite-plastic-surgeon ex-husband has bought the Botswanan Embassy building; no word yet on whether it's a mega-surgery-house or a mega-residence for the nip-and-tuck expert.  read more »

The deal for Goldman Sachs to remain in Lower Manhattan is imminent, according to sources close to the negotiations.

While it's been treated as a done deal, the terms of that deal are still a matter of negotiation, and we're waiting to see what comes out of it. Plus, done deals have gone south before. Anyone remember the obscure state agency that killed the stadium?

That's unlikely here, but still ...

The Liberty Development Corporation, an arm of the Empire State Development Coporation, deliberated this morning on the Liberty Bonds that will be used to finance the $1.8 billion tower at West Street and Vesey streets. The Battery Park City Authority, the state agency that owns the land, is discussing the terms of the lease this afternoon and may vote to approve by the end of the day.  read more »

UPDATE: The Battery Park City Authority didn't finish with the lease this evening. They're meeting again at 11:30 tomorrow morning.

- Matthew Schuerman

Don't get us wrong. We're glad Goldman Sachs is back on board in lower Manhattan.

But despite today's follow-ups on the story of their return, we're left with a question.

If Goldman's problem with the previous arrangement was the tunneling of West Street called for in the Ground Zero master plan, why were any additional negotiations or financial considerations necessary after the tunnel was scrapped?

The Times headline reads: Officials Defend Actions to Keep Goldman Sachs Downtown.

Defend against whom? Even the good-government groups that have almost never met a corporate incentive package they liked seem to be quite sure the Goldman deal is a good thing:

"Even [Center for an Urban Future Research Director Jonathan] Bowles, who said he had generally praised the mayor for using corporate tax breaks sparingly, said he was pleased that Goldman had been lured back to the site," the article reads.

"'I'm ecstatic that Goldman is going to remain in Lower Manhattan,' he said. 'Everybody knows how important they are to the future of the World Trade Center area. I just think we've given away too much.'"

This despite Mr. Bowles having said earlier in the article:

"'It's probably the case that Goldman really was playing the city and had no intention of leaving Lower Manhattan.'"

So everyone seems thrilled to have them back, even at the enormous price tag that has seemed to carry. And:

"Wrapping up a deal to bring Goldman downtown would be a political triumph for Mr. Bloomberg and Gov. George E. Pataki, said Steven Cohen, a professor of public administration at Columbia University.

"'Politically, it's very important to both the governor and the mayor to make it at least appear that the redevelopment at ground zero isn't completely stalled,' Mr. Cohen said. 'Obviously, it took a lot of money to make this happen.'

"Mr. Bloomberg's opponents in the mayoral race would be unlikely to criticize either the offering of incentives to Goldman or their cost, Mr. Cohen said.

"'I don't see a political force that's going to make an issue out of this,' he said. 'It's only going to be a political benefit now.'"

Incidentally, the tunnel was unpopular with downtown activists.

As Matt Drudge would say, "developing ..."  read more »

- Tom McGeveran

If ever there was a profession in desperate need of a hero, it’s investment banking.  read more »

If ever there was a profession in desperate need of a hero, it’s investment banking.  read more »

The specialized glass skin designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architect David Childs for 7 Wor  read more »

Daniel Libeskind spoke today at the NYC College of Technology (where our Joe Tuzzo was taking notes), and when asked to respond to the Post's recent editorial blitz over the slow pace of rebuilding down at Ground Zero, the bespectacled architect retreated into the realms of poetry:

"It's no different from the process in which oil is produced from olives or wine from grapes. You put these things under great pressure, they resist the pressure, and the dregs get lost, and you keep the essential product of struggle and pressure... A lot of people today talk about too much stress, but if you really look at world history, the world has always had wars, injustice, rape, hunger - that has never changed, what has changed is how human beings act under pressure." Uh, O.K.  read more »

On a more practical level, he did indicate that there was plenty of flexibility left in the plan to deal with Goldman Sachs' recent stop-action: "All I can tell you is that there are many alternatives for the tunnel, there are alternatives for the site... We were on course, right on schedule, till about now."

The last time I did jury duty-sometime during the Reagan administration, I believe it was-I found th  read more »

Did you hear the one about the guy with the Park Avenue apartment full of toxic mold?  read more »

One of the more festive meals I've had lately occurred at Noche, the relatively new Latin restaurant  read more »

A Navy veteran, John C.  read more »

When Bear Stearns chairman and chief executive Jimmy Cayne sentan internal e-mail on Oct.  read more »

It was 9 a.m.  read more »