Vornado Realty Trust

Vornado Realty Trust

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: VNO S&P 500 Component
Industry	Real Estate Investment Trust
Founded	1982
Headquarters	New York City, New York, U.S.
Key people	Steven Roth (Chairman and CEO)
Revenue	US$2.915 billion (2011)[1]
Operating income	US$856.153 million (2011)
Net income	US$622.302 million (2011)
Total equity	US$6.828 billion (2011)
Number of employees	4,020[2]
Website	www.vno.com

Vornado Realty Trust is a New York based real estate investment trust. It is the inheritor of real estate formerly controlled by companies including Two Guys and Alexander's.

History

1999 K Street, NW in Washington, D.C. is being developed by Vornado Realty Trust. It was designed by architect Helmut Jahn.

Vornado Realty Trust's origins can be traded back to an early discount store chain called Two Guys, founded in 1946 by brothers Sidney and Herbert Hubschman. In 1959, the company acquired O. A. Sutton Corporation, manufacturers of the Vornado line of electric fans, air conditioners, and dehumidifiers. The merged company was renamed Vornado, Inc. At its retail peak in the early 1970s, Vornado operated 53 Two Guys stores, 65 supermarkets, 240 Fosters Freeze restaurants and other retail operations.^[3]

Vornado began divesting its retail operations, and by the late 1970s was down to 60 Two guys stores. By the fall of 1979 Interstate Properties Inc., a private partnership engaged in shopping-center development, had taken a 17-percent stake in Vornado. The next year Interstate Properties took control of the firm after winning a proxy struggle. Steven Roth, the active Interstate partner, regarded Vornado's real-estate holdings as more valuable than its declining retail operations. He liquidated Two Guys; by 1985, real estate outstripped merchandising as the chief source of sales.^[3]

Interstate Properties entered the Manhattan real-estate market in 1985 by buying a small stake in Alexander's, a failing retailer whose land holdings included its flagship store, occupying the entire block between East 58th and 59th streets and Lexington and Third avenues. Interstate and developer Donald Trump raised their respective shares of Alexander's to 22 percent each in 1987 and agreed to expand or sell their interests in the firm jointly. In 1988 they each raised their stakes to 27 percent. The agreement lapsed in 1991, when Trump turned over his holdings in Alexander's to Citicorp, which had been holding them as collateral for a personal loan. The following year Roth and Alexander's creditors forced the firm into bankruptcy. Alexander's emerged from bankruptcy in 1993, but as a real-estate investment trust. That same year, Vornado Inc. was converted into Vornado Realty Trust. In 1995, Vornado bought Citicorp's interest in Alexander's.^[3]

On February 15, 2001, the Port Authority announced that Vornado Realty Trust had won the lease for the World Trade Center, paying $3.25 billion for the 99-year lease.^[4] Silverstein Properties was outbid by $30 million by Vornado. However, Vornado balked over lease terms and possible tax liabilities that Silverstein was willing to accept.^[5] Silverstein's bid for the lease to the World Trade Center was accepted on July 24, 2001.

On May 14, 2009, Vornado issued a press release announcing that the board had voted to replace Roth with Fascitelli as CEO of the company. Roth will remain chairman of the board, and Fascitelli will be the President and CEO of the company.

Vornado Realty Trust has no connection with Vornado Air LLC, the current manufacturer of Vornado fans.

Major holdings

• Alexander's (32.8%)
• Merchandise Mart (100%)
• Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty (100%)
• Toys "R" Us (32.9%)
• JC Penney

Divisions

Vornado Realty Trust controls various office and retail holdings, which are divided into the following divisions:

New York office

Washington D.C. Office

Malls

Vornado announced plans to sell its shopping mall portfolio in April 2012 to better focus on its office holdings.^[6] As of March 2014, five Vornado malls have already been sold to other companies.

New York City retail

New York state retail and strip malls

California office

• 555 California, San Francisco, CA

Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc.

• Chicago, Il
  • The Merchandise Mart
  • Kitchen & Bath Design Center
  • 350 West Mart Center / Chicago Apparel Center
• High Point, NC
  • High Point Market
  • Suites at Market Square
  • Plaza Suites
• Washington, D.C.
  • The Washington Design Center
  • Kitchen & Bath Design Center
• New York City
  • Architects & Design Building
  • 7W New York
  • Kitchen & Bath Design Center
• Los Angeles, CA
  • L.A. Mart

References

External links

• Vornado Realty Trust