Editors’ Note

Joseph Moinian, the New York City-based developer, investor and long-term owner of prime real estate nationwide, is recognized for pioneering the development of emerging neighborhoods in major metropolitan cities across the United States. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Real Estate Board of New York and sits on the board of the Skyline Museum.

Company Brief

Founded by Joseph Moinian in 1982, The Moinian Group (moinian.com) today includes a portfolio of more than 20 million square feet of property and is among one of the only national real estate entities to develop, own and operate properties across nearly every asset category, including office, hotel, retail, condos and rental apartments. The Moinian Group has been a pioneer for the development of state-of-the-art, visually distinguished properties.

What have been the keys to The Moinian Group’s growth and leadership in the New York real estate market?

The keys to our growth and leadership in New York’s real estate market relate heavily to our ability to leverage a comprehensive array of capabilities. Our team’s history is embedded in investing, developing and leasing a wide range of properties, not just in New York, but across the country’s most competitive markets. With this broad experience, we’ve been able to stay ahead of the curve and maintain a reputation for developing state-of-the-art, aesthetically distinguished properties. We continue to strive for excellence, sustaining our leadership in the industry with a focus on creating new environments in which to grow, work and live.

How do you define The Moinian Group culture?

I founded our culture at The Moinian Group on a dedication to excellence, from the spaces we create, the projects we build and invest in, to the people we recruit. Success is never an accident, but the result of hard work, persistency, and a desire to accomplish great things. We look for people who already think this way and cultivate that attitude every day. I am also quite fortunate to be able to work with my family every day, which helps foster a level of collaboration that filters through our entire organization.

Where do you see the New York real estate market today?

New York continues to be a world-class city that attracts the best minds from around the world, which is reflected in the real estate market. There has been a slowdown in the investment sales market, but we continue to see a huge appetite among the best brands and corporate tenants who need and want to have a significant presence here, particularly along Manhattan’s Far West Side. Brooklyn is providing some wonderful residential opportunities, the retail market continues to reinvent itself in new and exciting ways, and thanks to the explosion in e-commerce, I have never seen an industrial market like this, bursting at the seams. As long as the economy remains strong, the real estate market will, too. Long-term, New York will always be a tremendous investment.

Will you highlight The Moinian Group’s current projects and developments in New York?

The Moinian Group is in the midst of an exciting period of activity. We’re actively marketing 3 Hudson Boulevard, our 1.9 million-square-foot, Class A office tower developed in partnership with Boston Properties. 3 Hudson Boulevard is in the heart of the Hudson Yards District and spans the entire square block between 11th Avenue and Hudson Boulevard Park from West 34th Street to West 35th Street.

Our commercial project at 220 11th Avenue is also being actively marketed, with JLL leading the leasing efforts. Designed by Studios Architecture with inspiration from West Chelsea’s rich history and industrial-style exteriors, the ground-up development will include more than 200,000 rentable square feet of boutique office space with open, column-free floor plates as well as ground-floor and cellar retail totaling nearly 13,000 square feet. 220 11th Avenue is scheduled to break ground this year, with occupancy in the second half of 2021.

Leasing has also officially launched at PLG, a Moinian Capital Partners-funded development and our first venture into the Brooklyn market. The 26-story, Hill West designed residential tower features 467 luxury rental residences and more than 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor resort-style amenity space located at the nexus of Brooklyn’s Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Flatbush neighborhoods.

Are you surprised to see the growth and development that has taken place in certain neighborhoods in the City and the increased development taking place in the boroughs?

I’m more enthusiastic than I am surprised. The Moinian Group recognized long ago that the largest and greatest potential for prosperity lies in the transformation and revitalization of New York City’s underserved neighborhoods, and it’s exciting to see others sharing in that perspective. Since the firm’s inception, our investment, development and management strategies have incorporated a desire and commitment to forging new neighborhoods, catalyzing the rebirth of existing neighborhoods and spearheading the transformation and enhancement of property values and environments.

How is technology impacting the real estate industry?

Technology is impacting virtually every aspect of the real estate industry. We’ve established ourselves as one of the most prominent supporters and entrepreneurial investors of the technology sector. Through our venture capital arm, Currency M, we are leveraging our distribution as developers and managers to develop technologies we can pilot and implement to give our tenants better living and working experiences.

By creating strategic partnerships with companies that value access to Moinian’s resources and expertise, we’re playing an active role in fortifying the place for technology in the real estate industry, particularly through our portfolio of innovators seeking to redefine the built environment. For example, Nestio, a residential real estate marketing and leasing automation platform, powers Currency M’s site; TFLiving’s mobile technology that provides amenity-related services to residential and corporate property owners and managers underwent testing at The Marc and is featured in Moinian buildings for event and amenity programming; and Moved, a free moving concierge service application pairing customers with a personal assistant to coordinate the logistics of the entire move-in and move-out process, is generating brand visibility by Moinian’s promotion of the app to residents in the form of a generous discount code.

What are your key priorities for The Moinian Group as you look to the future?

We are focused on leveraging lending and venture capital more in our historically conventional practices to build a more diverse and dynamic organization at The Moinian Group.