(Observer) -- Power. Webster’s Dictionary defines power as … No, no, no, never mind that: Power in New York City real estate means money—its acquisition, spending and creation—especially now, as the market enters a tremulous sunset after several bright, shiny years. Our list of the 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate was assembled with this finance-centric criterion at the forefront. The list, especially higher up, contains those who animate the deals and the trends. They are the deciders and the money providers. They make the real estate world the rest of us live in; or cover, as the case may be. This criterion explains why some people were obvious picks (financiers like No. 20 Josef Ackermann and No. 7 Lloyd Blankfein; developers like No. 1 Jerry Speyer and No. 9 Douglas Durst; landlords like No. 33 Bill Rudin and No. 66 Lloyd Goldman); and why some picks weren’t so obvious initially (No. 58 Charles Stevenson, the co-op board president at 740 Park; No. 26 Robert De Niro, perhaps the greatest living actor who became Tribeca’s greatest booster; No. 15 Edward Egan, the Catholic archbishop of New York with all that church property under his purview). The criterion also helps explain why we didn’t rank any brokers until No. 25 Dolly Lenz, probably the most successful residential broker in the U.S. Why? However capable and ingenious in the commissioned service of those spending the capital, brokers are facilitators for the likes of Messrs. Durst and Speyer (or of Messrs. De Niro and Egan, for that matter). They are not the initiators. The same holds for public officials, including the mighty Michael Bloomberg (No. 2). They seem to be at their best for real estate either facilitating its development or standing clear of its ascendancy. That is, obstructionist or helper; and Mr. Bloomberg’s administration has done very little of the former and a lot of the latter.
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