LVM has represented the Malkin family since 1986. At one point, one of their properties, 1185 Avenue of the Americas, faced the prospect of some 350,000 square feet coming back on the market. LVM began an intensive media campaign to reinforce the owner's direct marketing efforts by tailoring numerous trade articles, news releases and newsletters to highlight the available space. For example, in support of a brokers' party, LVM placed many articles about the event, which attracted more than 300 brokers. In one year alone, leases representing more than 200,000 square feet were signed or awaiting completion.

Subsequently, the Malkin family purchased the MerrittView office complex in Fairfield County, Conn. MerrittView was then an isolated suburban facility, lacking an identity and sophisticated amenities, and struggling to maintain 40% occupancy. The building had developed a reputation for problems, resulting largely from a series of previous owners with too much debt and too little cash flow, who had neglected maintenance and had done little to improve common areas. As a result, MerrittView was then surrounded by negative publicity.

Recognizing good turnaround potential, our client upgraded the building and refocused its marketing strategy. LVM's task was to place stories about the improvement program in trade and local business publications, and to promote an awareness of the new MerrittView as a Class-A facility. LVM achieved numerous positive stories in the general press and numerous trades - not only promoting the property directly but also associating it with the client's reputation for achieving successful turnarounds. While publicity was of course only a part of the marketing program, it played a major role in the fact that MerrittView became more than 90% leased.

For almost 30 years we have represented Sholom & Zuckerbrot Realty, a Long Island City-based real estate brokerage firm. When the client approached us about a deal it had just completed (moving a Manhattan art gallery into an old and unattractive warehouse space), we immediately saw the potential for a story. One of the results of our efforts was that the client was featured on page one of The New York Times Sunday Real Estate Section. Because of this publicity, a broker at S&Z was approached regarding a new deal, which was ultimately closed, worth a commission more than $1,000,000.

Sherwood Equities has been a client of ours for more than a quarter of a century. One of developer Jeff Katz's many assignments for us was to help him market 1600 Broadway on the Square. A concern of his was that prospective buyers would be turned off by the idea of buying in the first new high-rise condo building in Times Square, given the area's reputation for noise and congestion. Another concern was that landing a retail tenant might prove difficult at the rent sought. A third issue was securing an appropriate advertiser for the building's four large signs.

LVM helped Sherwood Equities overcome all three challenges. By focusing on the building's architecture, beautiful layouts and extraordinary amenities package, we were able to deflect concerns about the building's Times Square location. As a matter of fact, we promoted the benefits of the tower's convenient location at the crossroads of the world. By highlighting the fact that more and more upscale retailers were moving to Times Square, we helped pave the way for our client to lease 30,000 square feet of prime retail space to M&M Mars. And by securing a major story in the business section of The New York Times about 1600 Broadway's latest ad tenant (Corona), we helped cement Sherwood's relationship with this company.

Partly as a result of our efforts, the new development was completely sold out quickly (at prices few would have expected), a brand new, internationally known retailer (at a rent few thought Sherwood could secure) found ideal space for its flagship store, and a rejuvenated advertising campaign for one of Broadway's newest and most important "guests" garnered much attention and delayed Sherwood's tenant.

Some years ago, Sony informed Sherwood - which is also a principal owner of One Times Square, the historic Manhattan building where the New Year's Eve ball is dropped - that it would not be renewing its lease on the extraordinarily high-profile space where its Sony "JumboTron" was displayed. Our client told us that he was very concerned that such a potentially big story as the Sony defection would leak out without direction, that it would be difficult to put in proper perspective, and that our client's point of view might not be adequately represented.

Accordingly, we recommended a strategy with two goals. Number one, we wanted to prevent a negative leak; number two, we wanted to alert others that the famous sign space would now be available. With all this in mind, we proposed a selective and carefully orchestrated publicity campaign. The result was not only that our client was repeatedly quoted, placing the Sony decision in proper perspective, but that NBC read (in a major story we placed in The New York Times) about the availability of the space and then signed a lucrative multi-year contract to rent the space for its own high-tech display.

The owners of the Capri, a high-rise apartment building on the East Side of Manhattan, retained us to increase the visibility of the property. After meeting with the client, we were able to place the Capri in "The Hunt' column of the New York Times. In addition, a Capri representative was interviewed by the reporter for an online video that appeared on New York Times.com.

The article and video produced just what the client wanted. A prospective home buyer had been searching for his dream property for over a year. After reading the Times article, he made an appointment to visit the sales center that weekend - and bought an apartment for more than $1,000,000!

In 2003, a client of ours was proceeding smoothly with plans to develop a major residential project in Manhattan's financial district - a project expected to play an important role in the post-9/11 recovery of lower Manhattan. Suddenly, the plan became the target of a small group of neighborhood activists protesting the demolition of a five-story, un-landmarked building they claimed had historical and architectural significance. Our client had already secured the necessary permits to proceed with the demolition, but was eager to maintain its long record of successful cooperation with community groups.

Our task was to prevent the protest from escalating and attracting unwarranted media attention. We established frequent communication with the key relevant media and reporters, explaining our client's position and the lawful and proper procedure that it had followed, and emphasizing its tradition of working with neighborhood groups and its willingness to talk and compromise, if feasible. During the space of the next few weeks, a compromise was reached, in which the building façade was preserved while the remainder of the structure came down. Result: the project got underway with no undue delay or negative media attention.

On the other side of the Hudson, we undertook a three-month campaign for Mountain Road Lofts in Union City. The challenges for this development were several: the developer (BSG Management) was unknown, the community was under-reported, and the project was small (19 units) and had limited amenities.

In order to maximize the publicity potential, we researched both the community and the history of the neighborhood, highlighted the spacious layouts and appointments at the site, as well as the competitive price for the homes, and positioned the developers as an unusual duo with considerable knowledge and interest in the history of the area.

Results included a major story (and photo) in the Sunday New York Times, the New York Post, the Star-Ledger, New York magazine and several trade publications. The developer was thrilled with the results.

When LVM was retained by Sumitomo Realty & Development on behalf of 666 Fifth Avenue, the 40-year-old office building, despite its prominent address, was struggling to compete with more modern towers and fill a great deal of vacant space.

LVM began a media program that imparted a modern, forward-looking image to both the building and its management, focusing on high-tech upgrades and a range of other improvements. The building was repeatedly mentioned in The New York Times, Crain's New York Business, the tri-state-area real estate trades (especially those read by the all-important brokerage community) and other media.

After our campaign was completed, the building was virtually fully leased. Sumitomo's representative wrote to LVM: "The exposure this property received through LVM's efforts was even more than we hoped for . . . LVM gave us significantly greater results than had the same dollars been spent on pure advertising."