NEW YORK IS A CITY of icons, and nowhere is its iconography more apparent than at the nexus of real estate and Wall Street.
That extends to the city’s personalities, especially in the world of money. So it makes sense that Stephen Ross and Jeff Blau, the impresarios of the Hudson Yards project taking shape on Manhattan’s West Side, turned to an iconic figure—someone already established in a totemic tower elsewhere in the city—to tip Hudson Yards into the zeitgeist.
That someone is Henry Kravis, co-founder and co-chief executive officer of the private equity giant KKR & Co. In a reminder of how New York can feel a lot like a small town, Kravis was at his son-in-law’s birthday party when he ran into Blau, CEO of real estate developer Related Cos. The chat turned to Related’s sprawling Hudson Yards project, the largest private real estate development in U.S. history. His interest piqued, Kravis asked for a tour.
Kravis brought along both his head of real estate and chief administrative officer, who were equally curious about the project. Blau says Kravis wasn’t alone among high-profile locals eager to get a look, noting that BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink was similarly intrigued. “They were interested as great New Yorkers,” Blau says. “These are people who say, ‘I need to know everything that’s going on here.’ ”
When it became clear that relocating KKR to Hudson Yards might be on the table, Kravis says Ross, Related’s chairman, couldn’t contain his excitement. “Steve almost came flying across the table to give me a hug,” Kravis recalls. “I didn’t quite appreciate the impact we might have by moving there.”
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