STEVEN J. POZYCKI
Steven J. Pozycki is the man behind Panasonic of America
Corp.’s new headquarters in Newark, one of the largest com-
mercial commitments in the city’s history. Insiders say Pozycki
is the one who made the deal happen, along with help from
the Economic Development Authority and its tax credit pro-
gram, and with Matrix Development will build Panasonic’s
new home. Pozycki began
developing his first project,
the 182-acre Morris Corporate
Center business park in
Parsippany, in 1981. Since that
time, SJP has developed nearly
25 million square feet of proj-
ects in partnership with major
public and private institutions. It
also controls an additional three
million square feet of strategi-
cally located office space fully
permitted for future develop-
ment. A Monmouth University
alumnus, Pozycki serves on its
board. He was awarded the Real
Estate Institute’s Leadership of Excellence Award for his signifi-
cant contributions to the New Jersey real estate industry and is a
member of the New Jersey Real Estate Advisory Board, con-
vened in 2008 by then-Gov. Jon Corzine.
EDWARD RUSSO
In his 12 years with Russo Development, president and CEO
Edward Russo has transformed the business his father founded in
1969 into one of the most active development companies in
Northern New Jersey. More than 1. 7
million square feet of projects have
been completed during his tenure for
clients including JP Morgan Chase,
NYSE Euronext, Cervalis and Credit
Suisse. In addition to overseeing the
company’s development pipeline, Russo
has negotiated more than $700 million
in finance and lease transactions with
various institutional lenders and tenants. Russo currently serves on the
Board of Trustees of the New Jersey
Chapter of NAIOP and the Executive
Board of the Northern New Jersey
Council for the Boy Scouts of America.
DAVID SANZARI
In weathering the recent economic downturn, David Sanzari, president and CEO of Alfred Sanzari Enterprises, has said he learned
from his father, company founder Alfred Sanzari, “to always prepare
for the worst. He taught us to be very conservative with what we do
and how much we borrow and the size of the project we take on,
and we’ve pretty much stuck with that.” Founded in 1945, Sanzari
Enterprises is one of New Jersey’s leading development organizations. The company owns and manages approximately six million
square feet of commercial, industrial, residential and mixed-use
real estate projects in Northern New Jersey. In 2009, with the economy bottomed out, Sanzari took an innovative approach to marketing properties: he let current tenants do the talking in video testimonials. The immediate result? Two new leases at the company’s
Court Plaza in Hackensack totaling about 7,200 square feet.
www.reforum.com
DAVID S. STEINER
With more than 50 years of
experience in the industry,
David S. Steiner has a long and
distinguished history as a real
estate developer, and is behind
some of the largest build-to-suit
office and lab projects in the US.
He is chairman of Steiner
Equities Group, a Roseland-
based development firm special-
izing in industrial office parks
and commercial facilities in New
Jersey and 14 other states.
Steiner also teamed up with his
son, Douglas, in 2004 to build Steiner Studios, a $118-million state-
of-the-art film and television production facility at the Brooklyn
Navy Yard in New York. On a broader level, he’s one of the found-
ers of NAIOP, serving as national president for two consecutive
terms, and was named Developer of the Year in 1990 by the organi-
zation. Steiner’s been a member of the Board of Commissioners of
the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey since 2003 and has
been affiliated with such organizations as the State of New Jersey
Economic Development Council, the State of New Jersey Commerce
Commission and the Tri-State Regional Planning Commission.
EMANUEL STERN
Described by one developer as “close to legendary,” Hartz Mountain
Industries president and COO Emanuel Stern has dominated New
Jersey real estate headlines in the past year for the brouhaha over
the relocation of his former tenant, Panasonic Corp. The state
awarded a $102.4-million incentive to Panasonic to remain in New
Jersey, but it would have meant the electronics giant would move
its headquarters—and some 800 jobs—from Hartz’s Secaucus
property to 250,000 square feet of a to-be-built office tower in
Newark in 2013. Stern dug in his heels and sued the state to keep
his tenant in Secaucus. He ultimately dropped the suit, but only
because lawmakers agreed to the Grow New Jersey bill to bring
incentives to suburbs like
Hartz’s Meadowlands empire.
At Hartz, Stern oversees a port-
folio of 38 million square feet
of office, industrial, hotel and
retail space in more than 200
buildings. The firm is an active
player in the solar energy and
data-center areas and is rapidly
moving into the hot multifamily
arena, acquiring a stake in
Roseland Property’s manage-
ment arm. The two companies
recently announced plans for a
$450-million complex at Colgate
Center on the Jersey City water-
front that will ultimately total
more than a million feet of multi-
family and retail. Officials believe
it will be the largest rental project
and one of the five tallest build-
ings in the state. But Stern has stated the project will move forward
only if the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Urban
Hub Tax Credit residential program, suspended after depleting its
$250-million allocation, is revived.
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012 REAL ESTATE FORUM 45
