Ask anybody who knew the late, great real estate entrepreneur Edward S. Gordon, and you'll hear words like "integrity" and "tenacity" bandied about.

For veteran broker James Emden, who counted him as a friend and mentor, those qualities served as a bellwether during a three-decade-plus run at Gordon's eponymously named firm and various M&A-induced hybrids. Those attributes also go a long way in explaining what propelled Mr. Emden to leave Gordon's still-buoyant bubble of influence in favor of a vice chairmanship at Colliers International under its tristate CEO, Mark Jaccom.

"I came here because I like what Mark Jaccom is doing," said Mr. Emden, who joined Colliers International earlier this month after more than 35 years with the Edward S. Gordon Company, Insignia/ESG and, most recently, CB Richard Ellis. "I look at Mark as the Eddie Gordon that I grew up with. Mark has definitely taken the Edward S. Gordon approach, in my opinion."

That approach, said Mr. Emden, is typified by an old-school appreciation of the real estate industry, what with its focus on loyalty and shoe leather. Despite its designation as a global firm with more than 480 realty offices in 61 countries, Colliers International remains an underdog, Mr. Emden, 63, said on day 10 as a Colliers broker.

Mr. Emden's 450,000-square-foot deal for Viacom in 1989, while still an ESG broker, is emblematic of that old-school philosophy. What began as a cold canvassing in 1976 came to fruition only after 13 dedicated years of biannual meetings with officials at the media conglomerate, which at the time occupied an estimated six offices throughout the five boroughs. In what would later become the epicenter of teenage frenzy-MTV's Total Request Live-Viacom inked a huge landmark consolidation deal at 1515 Broadway.

"Today, they have as much as 1.3 million feet in 1515 Broadway, plus other locations," said Mr. Emden, who no longer represents Viacom. "But if I had not canvassed in 1976, I would not have had the opportunity in 1987 to bring [Viacom] into the Edward S. Gordon Company. At that time it was the largest fee ever earned by ESG."

More recently, Mr. Emden completed a transaction for the media company Blue Rock Productions, which, in 2007, took 40,000 feet in the top five floors of the Silverstein Properties-owned 575 Lexington Avenue. The lease was followed in the same year by a 40,000-foot expansion deal for Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co., an investment advisers group that signed on for three floors at 1775 Broadway. Those are on top of a career that has included more than half a billion dollars in real estate deals for clients that have included the Bank of Montreal, the city's Economic Development Corporation and the OMNICOM Group.

"Any career has steps," said Mr. Emden of his transaction tallies while at ESG and CBRE. "When I look back on the last 40 years, well, it's been a good run-and it's not just money. It's been a good run overall."

With those real estate firms behind him, however, among Mr. Emden's first transactions as a Colliers International broker will likely be one for another media company seeking to move from midtown to Lower Manhattan. Although Mr. Emden declined to name the client behind a planned 85,000-square-foot relocation to 4 New York Plaza, a source familiar with the negotiations confirmed it was American Media Inc., the publisher of, among others, The National Inquirer. (Because of contractual obligations, the deal will be tallied for CBRE.)

"I think they're going to put us down by the water," National Inquirer executive editor Barry Levine was quoted as saying in a recent article in GQ that described the company's current One Park Avenue digs as akin to a FEMA trailer. "By the wharf. Where the rats are even bigger."

BEFORE EMBARKING ON his 35-year relationship with Edward Gordon, Mr. Emden was a rental apartment agent with neither a phone nor an office. Freshly graduated from Ohio State University, the Long Island-raised ingénue set out to raise funds by renting apartments in Gramercy Park.

Under the name Carid Associates, Mr. Emden and brother Jeffrey posted ads in The New York Times, listing a phone number that connected to a pay phone outside a Manhattan Blimpie location. They hung an "out of order" sign on the phone and paid an employee at the sandwich shop $20 a month to make sure it never got tied up by customers.

Despite his ramshackle strategy, the business paid off, and, by the time he bid adieu to the rental market, Mr. Emden had pocketed a cool $20,000.

"I had about $10,000 in school loans and then the market collapsed in New York, so there were tons of apartments and you no longer needed to pay a fee to a broker," said Mr. Emden of what ended his brief residential stint in the early 1970s, which saw him standing next to the "out of order" pay phone for hours on end. "In those days, if you rented an apartment for $300, the fee would be around 10 or 12 percent."

While no longer the struggling broker, he said he maintains the same work ethic he honed as a young man. It's perhaps for that reason that Mr. Emden, who lives with his wife in Manhattan's Sutton Place, so cherishes working with Mr. Jaccom at Colliers.

"I feel in my heart that Mark is my mentor and that I can go to Mark with any problems or questions and he'd be there for me, and that, to me, was the main reason why I felt comfortable coming to Colliers," Mr. Emden said. "I feel like I got in at the bottom because, remember, Colliers just acquired a large portion of FirstService Williams, and I felt I was one of the first brokers to come on since that happened."

jsederstrom@observer.com

The Global Food International Corporation, a Russia-based restaurant company, has leased 25,000 square feet at 11 Times Square, filling a large portion of a retail space that been vacant since the new office tower was finished two years ago.

“They’ve been very successful in Russia and they wanted to open their first location in the U.S. in what is the most familiar location both here and around in the world, Times Square,” James Emden, a vice chairman at Colliers International who represented Global Food in the deal, said. Robert Koslow and Dmitry Levkov, executives at Colliers, also worked with Mr. Emden on the transaction.

11 Times Square

Mr. Emden said that Global Food would occupy about 6,000 square feet on the ground floor of 11 Times Square and the 1.1 million-square-foot building’s entire second floor, a nearly 19,000 square foot space. It will operate a facility that will feature several partitioned eating areas serviced by traditional restaurant waitstaff and that will each feature different ethnic cuisines.

“They are still planning their concept,” Mr. Emden said.

The deal absorbs a large portion of a space that had been much talked about in the brokerage industry. Because 11 Times Square is brand new and sits at the periphery of one of the city’s busiest and strongest retail neighborhoods, there was early talk that it would attract a blockbuster retail deal. Such speculation appeared to be close to coming to fruition when a large aquarium that would reach up into 11 Times Square’s office floors was rumored to be in talks.

But that deal fell through as did several others, prompting conflicting accounts why, as the city’s retail market rebounded dramatically from the recession, 11 Times Square remained vacant. According to SJP Properties, the building’s landlord, it was particular about what tenants it brought to the building and how the retail would color the property’s image. For instance, the drug store CVS was rumored to be circling the property for months but Jim Schotz, a director of leasing at SJP, said the landlord eventually decided against that deal.

“We had been marketing the space for a couple of years and we were looking for a specific tenant that would benefit the other tenants in the buidling as well as the Times Square neighborhood overall,” Jeff Schotz, a director of leasing at SJP, said. “We did not think a drug store was that kind of tenant.”

“SJP definitely liked the fact that we are an international tenant that fits within the greater context of Times Square, which is a crossroads for the world and draw huge amounts of tourists,” Mr. Emden added.

Another hurdle for 11 Times Square was its location at the edge of Times Square, a spot that retail executives often said was too far off the beaten path to land a bigtime deal. Mr. Emden said that Global Food never saw that liability in the space.

“Global Food saw this as a prime location that would draw all the traditional tourist traffic from Times Square but also benefit from the huge commuter traffic that the bus terminal draws,” Mr. Emden said.

Mr. Emden said the location came with some economic benefits. Global Food agreed to pay about $500 per square foot for the ground floor space, an amount far less than the nearly $2,000 per-square-foot figures many landlords at the heart of Times Square seek.

The deal at 11 Times Square seems to lend a push to Eighth Avenue’s long awaited transformation into a more mainstream retail corridor that will perhaps increasingly attract the heavy tourist traffic just an avenue block away.

David LaPierre, a retail executive at CBRE who wasn’t involved in the 11 Times Square deal but handles Eighth Avenue retail space, said more tenants who in the past would only consider being at the center of Times Square are now more open to going to Eighth Avenue - reflecting the changing perception of the artery. Mr. LaPierre, who is the leasing agent for 30,000 square feet of retail space that is being renovated at Milford Plaza at Eighth Avenue and 45th Street, imagined the stretch becoming a true western extension of Times Square in the coming years as it draws a denser concentration of retailers.

“It’s density that will create a destination,” Mr. LaPierre said.

He pointed to the popular restaurant Shake Shack on the corner of 44th Street and Eighth Avenue as an early example of how the right tenant can draw vistors hitherto unseen on the avenue. The eatery routinely has snaking lines of tourists waiting outside during lunch.

“Shake Shack showed that people will come out to Eighth Avenue for the right tenant,” Mr. LaPierre said. “It’s a burger but it’s not a cheap burger. McDonalds is a cheap burger. It shows there’s a group of people not afraid to spend for a good quality product and that can translate into a host of retail categories.”

Mr. Schotz said that 11 Times Square meanwhile is fielding more offers for the remaining retail space at the property, which totals about 25,000 square feet.

"We have several offers out," he said, predicting that more deals will be announced within a month.

11 Times Square has three ground floor units left, 1,800, 2,300 and 3,000 square feet in size. The 2,300 square foot unit connects to a below grade space that is roughly 18,000 square feet.

A leasing team led by Robert K. Futterman and Joshua Strauss, both of the retail brokerage firm RKF, handles retail leasing for SJP at the property.

Several law firms are moving offices in leases arranged by Colliers International.

Brandt Steinberg & Lewis will move from 386 Park Avenue South, which William Macklowe agreed to buy this summer for what Crain’s reported was between $110 and $120 million from a Savanna and Monday Properties joint venture. The firm will move to Steinberg & Pokoik Management’s 1430 Broadway.

1430 Broadway.

The law firm’s lease at the building is for a period of ten years and for nearly 9,000 square feet on the sixth floor.

“After an extensive search, Brandt Steinberg & Lewis was extremely pleased to relocate their Manhattan operations to 1430 Broadway,” said Ted Rotante, an executive managing director in the New York office of Colliers International. Mr. Rotante represented the firm, along with colleague and Vice Chairman James Emden. “They wanted to move to well-located, move-in ready space with good ownership.” Mr. Rotante added that Steinberg & Pokoik has agreed to build-out the space to suit the firm.

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Ken Kronstadt and Ricky Kramer represented the landlord in the deal.

Colliers International also recently represented Richards Kibbe & Orbe in subletting 15,173 square feet of unused space to Build America Mutual on the 27th floor of Brookfield Office Properties’ 1 World Financial Center. Build America Mutual is a new mutual insurance company.

Ted Rotante represented the law firm with colleague James Marcellino, while Cushman & Wakefield’s Melissa Bazaar repped the subtenant.

cgaines@observer.com

Behavioral Ideas Lab, Inc., a nonprofit, has signed a 10-year lease for the entire 9,155-square-foot 30^th floor at Savanna’s 80 Broad Street. Asking rents were in the mid- to upper-$30s.

“It’s the kind of location they wanted to be in,” James Emden, vice chairman at Colliers International, who represented the tenant, told The Commercial Observer. “The economics made sense; it is still a cheaper deal than Midtown.”

The nonprofit research organization, which is currently located in Midtown West, focused its initial search in that market, but moved Downtown in search of better quality and pricing.

Behavior Ideas Lab will build out the space and is expected to occupy the 30^th floor at 80 Broad Street by October.

As reported, Savanna acquired 80 Broad Street in 2011 after taking control of the property’s senior mortgage. Last month, the real estate private equity firm signed video security software company Mobotix Corp. to a 7,840-square-foot lease.

Mr. Emden and Adam Baruch of Colliers International represented Behavioral Ideas Lab in the transaction. Hal Stein, Adam Leshowitz and Todd Stracci of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the landlord.

Neither NGKF nor Savanna immediately returned requests for comment.

EcoHealth Alliance has signed a 10-year renewal for its 11,000-square-foot space on the 17^th floor at the Kaufman Organization’s 460 West 34^th Street.

“EcoHealth loves the building and the neighborhood, especially as the Hudson Yards District continues to emerge as one of the most exciting new areas in Manhattan,” said James Emden, vice chairman at Colliers International, in a statement. “We explored relocation options, but the Kaufman Organization has been a tremendous partner. Signing an early renewal for the existing space was the most desirable option.”

460 West 34th Street.

A nonprofit environmental health organization, EcoHealth Alliance was founded in 1971 by British naturalist Gerald Durrell and was known until 2011 as Wildlife Trust. The organization’s mission is to both protect global health by preventing the outbreak of emerging diseases and safeguard ecosystems by promoting conservation.

Located between Ninth Avenue and 10^th Avenue, the 19-story property at 460 West 34^th Street was built in 1927. As reported by The Commercial Observer, SBLI Mutual Life Insurance Co. signed a five-year renewal at the building last year. Appellate services firm Counsel Press also occupies space on the building’s fourth floor.

Mr. Emden represented the tenant alongside Melinda Fishman. Edward Hart represented the landlord in-house.

Residential brokerage Compass made another addition to its growing commercial real estate presence this time poaching Colliers International veteran James Emden to lead the office leasing division, Commercial Observer has learned.

Emden, 71, joined Compass last month as a vice chairman and has been tasked with building out a team to help the startup gain a bigger presence in that space.

“I loved what [Compass was] doing and felt that I could benefit them on the commercial side by using the experience and younger generation there and merging them together,” Emden, an Upper East Side resident, told CO. “They’ve built a wonderful machine so far and they continue to grow. I’m just tapping into that.”

Emden said he jumped ship from Colliers because he was impressed by Compass’ fast growth and its commitment to using technology in real estate.

“That’s the wave of the future,” Emden said, “and the Compass people are thinking in all the right ways.”

Emden, who plans to continue doing deals at Compass, is primarily a tenant rep. His major deals have included Charter Communications taking 137,000 square feet at 2485 Second Avenue in the spring (he represented the landlord, the Potamkin Companies) and asset management firm Tikehau Capital in its 9,830-square-foot lease at 412 West 15th Street in February 2018, which The Real Deal reported set a record for rent in the Meatpacking District. He also brokered Viacom’s first lease for 450,000 square feet 1515 Broadway in 1989, as CO previously reported.

The hire is the latest in a string of heavy-hitters the six-year-old Compass has drawn on the commercial side of the business. Last year, the company nabbed retail pro Robin Abrams and her Eastern Consolidated team to build a commercial leasing team and broker Adelaide Polsinelli to launch an investment sales division, as CO previously reported.

Emden is in charge of Compass’ office leasing while Abrams focuses on retail leasing, according to Emden.

A graduate of Ohio State University, Emden has nearly four decades of experience in the real estate industry, starting off in the real estate department at Loews Corp., according to his Colliers’ biography.

He spent more than 35 years with Edward S. Gordon Company, remaining there as it became Insignia/ESG and most recently CBRE. Emden left in 2010 to join Colliers and has been a vice chairman at the brokerage since. (A spokesman for Colliers did not immediately provide a comment.)

A hospitality company and a financial firm have inked two leases totaling 13,000 square feet at 48 Wall Street, according to landlord broker Helmsley Spear. 

Merchants Hospitality signed a seven-and-a-half-year lease for 6,075 square feet for a duplex penthouse on the 32nd and 33rd floors with four outdoor terraces. Asking rent in the deal was in the low-$50s per square foot. 

Two financial firms and one insurance company have extended their leases at 48 Wall Street in the Financial District, Commercial Observer has learned. 

Financial advisory outfit American Stock Transfer & Trust Co. inked a long-term lease extension for the 22nd and 23rd floors of the building, totaling 17,090 square feet, according to the landlord’s broker, Helmsley Spear. Frank Cento and David Sherman of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant in the deal.

CanAm Enterprises, an investment firm that specializes in EB-5 visa projects, is relocating within the Financial District to 48 Wall Street, according to landlord broker Helmsley Spear.

The company inked an 11-year lease for 7,150 square feet on the entire 24th floor of the 32-story building between William and Pearl streets. Asking rent for the space was in the $40s per square foot.