Despite a sparkling skyline as a backdrop, all eyes were a bit teary Monday night as the Real Estate Board of New York honored Steven Spinola, its recently retired president of 30 years, at an exclusive Rainbow Room event.
Real estate industry titans, including former REBNY Chairmen Jerry Speyer, Burt Resnick, Stephen Ross, John Zuccotti and Mary Ann Tighe and current REBNY Chair Rob Speyer, were joined by the group’s board of governors, committee heads and a variety of politicians and new REBNY Chairman John Banks in wishing well to Spinola and his wife, Eileen, who ran the education and brokerage divisions.
Every speaker, whether in person or, like former Mayors David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani, during a video, recognized Spinola as a negotiator who knew what was possible when people worked together. As Comptroller Scott Stringer explained, Spinola “understood the skylines of the city have to change.”
But as always and especially after 9/11, Spinola also cautioned industry players “to conduct ourselves with honor,” said Tighe.
Mayor de Blasio said Spinola was someone who “people see as a crucial arms broker in this town.”
As the mayor left, Gov. Andrew Cuomo drew chuckles by declaring that Spinola “proved an ‘Italian diplomat’ is not an oxymoron.”
Among the 300 attendees were skyline changers Steve Roth, Bill Rudin, Dan Brodsky, Ric Clark, Henry Elghanayan, Jeff Levine, Anthony Malkin, Leslie Himmel, Donald Zucker, Joel Picket, Hal Fetner, William Lie Zeckendorf, Douglas Durst and Fred Wilpon — who was high-fived on his Mets division win.
