When the New York Yankees ask you to join the starting lineup, you say yes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To Craig Panzirer, getting offered a chance to work as senior vice president and head of leasing at Rudin<\/a> was that kind of opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n SEE ALSO: The New York Housing Court Problem Comes Home to City Hall<\/a><\/p>\n Panzirer joined Rudin in July 2026 after more than nine years as senior vice president and director of leasing at Global Holdings<\/a> Management Group. Before that, he spent seven and a half years at Vornado Realty Trust<\/a> as senior vice president of leasing where, among other efforts, he led the leasing for the firm\u2019s 10.5 million-square-foot Penn District portfolio.\u00a0<\/p>\n Panzirer, 58, is now in charge of leading the leasing strategy for Rudin\u2019s entire 8.6 million-square-foot portfolio, which includes properties such as Brooklyn\u2019s Dock 72, 560 Lexington Avenue, 41 Madison Avenue and 3 Times Square. In that last property, Panzirer said the firm is in advanced discussions with a few tenants to fill the approximately 200,000 square feet of vacant space there.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been doing what I\u2019m doing now for almost 39 years \u2014 I love what I do,\u201d said Panzirer, a Staten Island native and College of Staten Island alumnus with two adult daughters, a passion Now residing on the Upper West Side, Panzirer \u2014 who says that when he is not traveling or dining out he is most often found on the couch next to his girlfriend enjoying a show \u2014 began his career with Helmsley Spear, following some family encouragement to join the firm. It\u2019s there he said he received a fundamental education in all facets of commercial real estate.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cInitially, I was working for John Trainor, who at the time oversaw the Helmsley portfolio,\u201d he said. \u201cI learned how buildings operate, how systems work and how construction projects got done. Once I had a strong foundation on the operations side, I was able to learn about leasing, how buildings are marketed and how we find tenants for them. Much of that education came from Steve Durels, who is now at SL Green.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The \u201cit moment\u201d for Panzirer came in 1998, while he was working for Colliers ABR, which is now part of Cushman & Wakefield through a variety of acquisitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI had already been in the business for a decade and was still trying to find my way,\u201d he said. \u201cI was a broker and able to arrange the sale of 1440 Broadway, an 800,000-square-foot building, for $158 million to Max Capital Management. I then went on to lead the building\u2019s lease-up efforts totaling over 450,000 square feet. It was then that I said, \u2018I can do this.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Since then, Panzirer has added many feathers to his cap \u2014 so many that he probably lost count \u2014 but there are a few notable projects that stand out to him.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing back to my time with Vornado, doing the Macy\u2019s renewal and expansion lease at 11 Penn Plaza \u2014 a 646,000-square-foot lease that at the time was the largest deal in New York City that year \u2014 it was a major commitment by Macy\u2019s to stay at 11 Penn Plaza,\u201d Panzirer said. \u201cAnd this is all way before the Vornado renovation and everything that happened there.\u201d<\/p>\n Macy\u2019s renewed its lease at 11 Penn Plaza in February of 2013<\/a>, committing to stay in the building until 2035. While with Vornado \u2014 his tenure with the firm running from 2009 to 2016 \u2014 Panzirer also worked on Amazon\u2019s lease at 7 West 34th Street<\/a>, which was signed in 2014 for 17 years and 470,000 square feet.\u00a0<\/p>\n While with Global Holdings Management Group, Panzirer worked on several repositionings, including the repositioning of NoMad Tower at 1250 Broadway and the $30 million strategic repositioning and amenitizing of 99 Park Avenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another lease Panzirer did while with Vornado was the Dell Computers deal at 1 Penn Plaza. It was on this deal that Ben Shapiro \u2014 now vice chairman at Newmark, but then a broker with just a few years under his belt \u2014 met Panzirer, whom he described as a kind of a big brother-type mentor for him and others within the industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCraig and I have only ever worked together on opposite sides,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cWe negotiated against each other in the Dell deal, and it was an important deal for my career at the time. Craig was amazing in that he was tough, but never made me look foolish. It was a point in my career where I knew nothing and thought I knew everything. He was a great person. He didn\u2019t embarrass me when he probably could have, and he still negotiated a great deal for both parties.\u201d<\/p>\n After that, the pair became friendly, Shapiro said. Since that first meeting across the table about 18 years ago, they have \u2014 according to Shapiro \u2014 negotiated hundreds of thousands of square feet of leases together on opposite sides of the deal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s just a highly respected older brother to a lot of the industry,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cHe treats the industry with such an immense amount of respect, and he values the relationships he builds.\u201d<\/p>\n The reputation he has cultivated within the real estate industry is what Panzirer said he is most proud of \u2014 and he does not take that reputation lightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe deals I have done over the years have been with brokers whom I have dealt with many, many times,\u201d Panzirer said. \u201cThe brokerage community trusts me, the owners I work for trust we\u2019re going to execute on what we say we\u2019re going to do. We will build out space for their client, and deliver it on time and on budget, and get the broker paid on time. Everything that we say we\u2019re going to do, we do. And that I\u2019m proud of. That\u2019s my legacy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n When you\u2019ve built up a career that spans almost four decades, you become attuned to the way the market shifts, the trends, and all the peaks and valleys. Panzirer has seen the real estate sector evolve on several occasions. Most recently, the shift has come in what office workers are expecting employers to provide, especially in the post-pandemic return-to- \u201cTenant expectations have changed tremendously,\u201d he said. \u201cTenants now want to have experiences \u2014 whether that\u2019s a gym, whether that\u2019s a conference center, whether that\u2019s a game room, whether that\u2019s an amenity space offering coffee and food. All these things help the tenant keep their employees in the building and in the space, but not necessarily in their offices all the time. Studies show that when the tenants interact with the amenities, they tend to stay in the office later, which leads to more production.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the course of his career, Panzirer has helped clients establish a presence in buildings with significant amenities, and the things that are always a client\u2019s first ask are a gym, third-place conferencing and outdoor space. He\u2019s also worked on repositionings where owners added some wild amenities.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be at your desk for 14 hours a day,\u201d he said. \u201cThings have changed a lot over the years. When I was at Global Holdings, we did things like a two-floor amphitheater that can seat 80 people. We did a game room, a gym with showers and golf simulators. Then you\u2019ve seen them evolve, and now there are basketball courts and pickleball courts. I\u2019ve seen a Formula One simulator, which I actually thought was really cool. The last building I did at Global Holdings was 99 Park Avenue, and we put in a duckpin bowling alley.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n One area where Panzirer has noticed a significant evolution in the office environment is Midtown Manhattan. It\u2019s had an interesting post-pandemic journey as a lot of renovation and new construction has been happening, along Park Avenue in particular.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen J.P. Morgan announced that they were going to knock down and rebuild 270 Park<\/a>, and that it was going to be their world headquarters, that changed the mentality of what was going to happen in Midtown and specifically on Park Avenue,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it gave the market a very big jolt when it needed it in a big way. That type of commitment from that type of company to stay on Park Avenue and do what they did \u2014 the building is spectacular \u2014 was a major, major push for the Midtown market and for the city that needed it at that time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, as Panzirer further establishes himself in his new role with Rudin, he said his goals are to expand the firm\u2019s portfolio, lead his team well, and maintain those strong relationships he\u2019s so meticulously cultivated. His presence has already been felt the past three months.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCraig stepped in and made an immediate impact at Rudin, which is not surprising given his three decades of New York City leasing experience and deep industry relationships,\u201d said Michael Rudin, co-CEO at Rudin. \u201cWe\u2019re excited about what\u2019s ahead as Craig and our leasing team work to keep Rudin\u2019s office buildings filled with the world\u2019s most innovative and successful companies.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As grateful as he is to have worked for the companies he has in the past, for Panzirer Rudin is a career capstone.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the New York Yankees ask you to come play, you say yes,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for me at this point in my career, and it\u2019s just a very exciting time. This is a fourth
for poker, and avidities for golf and travel. \u201cI get up in the morning for the people, for the deals, for the deal flow, for the action, for the satisfaction of completing deals and completing a repositioning program. When you work hard and you come to the fruition, those moments when something closes is a great feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
office era.\u00a0<\/p>\n
generation-run, 100-year-old firm<\/a>, and that\u2019s got me energized for the future.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n