Team
Rick Rakow
President & Chief Executive Officer
Almost 30 years of commercial real estate experience
After spending 10 years representing an owner of 2,000,000 square feet of commercial space, Rick saw a trend emerging among the more sophisticated tenants. They were bringing in their own leasing specialists to regain advantage lost to landlords and their agents, who conduct real estate transactions every day. Seizing the opportunity, Rick opened one of this region’s first commercial real estate companies focused on the needs of tenants; he now runs the largest tenant advocacy firm in the region.
While he is most familiar with properties in Westchester and Fairfield Counties and surrounding areas, Rick has handled assignments as far away as Vancouver, Canada, the states of Ohio, Florida, New Jersey, Rhode Island and New Hampshire – with a skill set that travels well.
Over the years, Rick has provided successful tenant advocacy services for:
- Larger firms such as: The Better Business Bureau, Benjamin F. Edwards & Co, Hertz, illy café North America, Wittnauer International, Bay Networks, Bank of New York, IBM, Motorola, Castle Oil Corp., Ampacet Corporation, Sprague Energy, Assured SKCG Group, Inc., Environmental Power Corp., Stonebridge Partners, U S Energy, and Borg Warner, among others.
- Local firms such as: The Business Council of Westchester, AKRF, Gage-Babcock Associates, Micro Powders, Inc., Chriss Careers, Ltd., Community Mutual Savings Bank, Guaranteed Home Mortgage Corporation, Harvey Ginsberg & Co, CPA, Hospice & Palliative Care of Westchester, Deitch Media Management, Inc., Proftech Corp., Pure High Net Worth Insurance, Red Oak Transportation among others.
- Law firms such as: Kissel, Pesce, Hirsch & Wilmer LLP, Fair FitzGerald & Hershaft, P.C., Beck Liebman Petrone, PC, Steinberg & Cavaliere, LLP, Hoffman, Wachtell, Koster & Maier, LLP, Jones Hirsch Connors & Bull, LLC, Hankin, Hanig, Stall & Kaplicki LLC, Marshall, Conway & Wright, P. C., Colangelo & Goldenberg, LLP, Watkins & Cherneff, Steven Sundheim, Esq., Law Offices of Freedman & Baer, and Milde Hoffberg, PC among others.
- Medical tenants such as: The Westchester County Medical Society, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Dermatology Consultants of Westchester PLLC, Scarsdale Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation Services, Inc., Primary Care Cardiovascular Associates, Chester Pediatrics, Russell Kamer, MD, Partners in Safety, Craig Fern, MD, Shore Management, Healthcare Radiology and Diagnostic Systems, PLLC, Hudson Valley Pediatrics, Kevin Plancher, MD, Ira Levine, DDS, and Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.
All in all, Rick has personally concluded several hundred transactions successfully over these last 28+ years and his firm now assists in roughly 100 transactions on behalf of tenants every year.
Rick has also represented many landlords through the years, such as: Benerofe Properties, The Beekman Estate, Amcott Associates, Buckingham Properties, WP Mall Realty, North Street Community, LLC, Cohen Brothers Realty, Stillman Management, Broadway Freeform, Marli Hartsdale, Polymer Management Associates, Reggie Pink, LLC and more, to lease or sell their properties.
Perhaps more important, in addition to his business dealings, Rick served on many committees for the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and helped them raise well over $1,000,000. He served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Westchester Division for three years and chaired many special events committees. He is a past Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee for the entire Northern Metro Chapter.
In addition, Rick is the immediate past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Heart Association and is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for The Food Bank for Westchester. He is active in helping several other charitable organizations in Westchester, is a Past Vice President of The Business Council of Westchester and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Westchester County Association.
