In this episode, Jonathan Anapol shares insights from a career spanning more than 3,000 lease transactions across New York City. He discusses the importance of truly understanding clients, matching businesses with the right spaces, and how experience, market knowledge, and entrepreneurship have shaped his approach to commercial real estate in an industry that continues to evolve.

Transcript

Hal Coopersmith: So you were saying you probably did the most amount of leases in New York City?

Jonathan Anapol: I would say we, I’ve probably done the most amount of leases of any other tenant broker in New York City. We did a very high volume of leases. We kind of specialize in small to medium sized firms, people who are looking for 2000, 5,000, 10, 12, 15,000 square feet. So as most people know that 80% of the tenants in New York are firms with under 5,000 feet. We’ve focused on those kind of tenants and serviced a lot of them.

Hal Coopersmith: You must know these buildings inside and out?

Jonathan Anapol: I do. I actually, you know, or if I meet a person on the sidewalk, I don’t remember their name, but I remember every single building, every single plate that I’ve been very good memory, that I’m able to know the quality of the building, the quality of the lobby, the type of floor plate it is, where the windows are, where the interior core is, what’s best for a law firm, if they need a lot of windowed offices and perimeter space, what’s best for a tech company who wants a lot of  workstations, etcetera. So that, I’m able to, I try to step, understand what the client’s needs are, step into their shoes. Use my knowledge and experience of all the buildings in Manhattan in each neighborhood, and then be able to look at what’s available and then identify the top five or six best selections to show a tenant.

Hal Coopersmith: And are you taking notes? On all of this? Or are you doing this all in your head? At least in terms of the building, it’s just kind of like a photographic memory.

Jonathan Anapol: Oh, on the building side, a photographic memory, you know, I can pretty much draw the four plates of every single building in the city.

Hal Coopersmith: So how many leases do you think you’ve done over your career?

Jonathan Anapol: About 3000 leases probably.

Hal Coopersmith: And what are your client’s looking for when you’re doing these 3000 leases? Like how do you get to understand and maybe hear what they’re saying, but also maybe hear what they’re not saying?

Jonathan Anapol: First of all, you got to be a good listener. I find that most, many brokers in the industry they don’t really listen to what the tenant’s act asking for. They try to show the tenant what they may have in their portfolio of availability, but not really stepping into the shoes of the tenant and understanding what their needs are. I’m a business owner and I’m working with mostly other business owners and I try to take it from that same perspective of not only what they’re telling me, but if I was a business owner in their industry at their stage of growth, what would I be looking for with my real estate knowledge and my knowledge of running a business? So putting those two facets together, listening to tenant, but also applying an ownership kind of businessman’s direction. To selecting spaces and defining what the real requirements of the tenant are.

Hal Coopersmith: What’s an example of that?

Jonathan Anapol: An old, old line firm who’s been in business and is well established.  like an accounting firm probably doesn’t have a,  high rate of growth, but has a longevity to the business. So they’re going to probably want a space that they’re going to maintain and be there for the next five, 10, or 15 years.  they’re not going to probably need a lot of growth room, so they’re going to want a long-term lease and they’re be con and they’re be concerned about the pricing their overhead rent. So that would be a particular type of building and a particular type of space. A tech firm. I’m working with a lot of,  cyber, crypto companies right now. They have a very fast growth rate and they don’t really know where they’re going to be in five years from now. So they’re going to want a shorter term space and they’re going to want more of an open floor plate, a bullpen environment rather than a perimeter windowed office environment, with the 

Hal Coopersmith: Or more flexibility in the lease, maybe

Jonathan Anapol: For flexibility in the lease.

Hal Coopersmith: Termination, or sublet

Jonathan Anapol: Yeah. Termination. Well, termination clauses are difficult in Manhattan. Most landlords are not going to do a termination clause, especially on a three or five year lease. It’s, you know, if it’s on the back end of the lease after seven years, perhaps the landlord would consider it. but a,  they’re going to want, if you are only going to, if a tenant is only going to be doing a three or five year lease, the landlord’s not going to want to build out the space with a new building installation. So you do have to identify a built space, whether it be a sublease or a direct space that’s been vacated, that’s in good condition that may just need paint and carpet.  it’s easy to upgrade and make it, moving ability for the tenant.

Hal Coopersmith: So you’re listening to the things that a business owner may, may not be saying. How did you decide to start your own business and doing this?

Jonathan Anapol: I guess I was brought up as an entrepreneur. so I originally started out in the apparel business. Working with my father.  but the industry and apparel was down trending and I felt that as at a young age, that I should probably move from the apparel business into another. Another business, a friend of mine was in real estate. I worked with him for a couple years and then ended up starting my own real estate company.

Hal Coopersmith: Why do you think. Some people or maybe some brokers aren’t necessarily as entrepreneurial. And what can a broker kind of gain from an entrepreneurial, right.

Jonathan Anapol: Well, most brokers are salespeople and which is a very good attribute for being a broker, but I don’t really refer to myself as a salesperson. I refer to myself as a business person with. More than just sales abilities, financial abilities, planning abilities, marketing abilities, to run a business, it takes a lot of different attributes. And probably nine out of 10 brokers that go into the real estate business do very well, but they’re not suited to run a business in all the aspects that it takes.

Hal Coopersmith: What’s been one of the challenges, having your own brokerage and would you recommend that?

Jonathan Anapol: Right. Well, the challenge to running a business is that there’s many things to do. Mean, there’s finances, there’s marketing, there’s overseeing people, there’s being a broker yourself. So it’s a very difficult dance. To accomplish getting all those done. Although if one is a good delegator or hiring people, there are ways around it. But, in real estate, it’s a very hands-on business I find. And I do enjoy working with tenants. So it’s just been a lot of hours accomplishing all the tasks.

Hal Coopersmith: And how do you train brokers that work with you?

Jonathan Anapol: Basically Onhand experience,  having them work with me or work with another senior broker, from at all aspects of doing property searches. Canvassing buildings to understand the buildings, working with tenants, following through on leases, getting a new broker to read a lease and really understand what’s in it so that when they have to talk to a tenant, they can answer some questions intelligently. So it, it does, it takes years to learn the city and all the buildings, and it takes years to learn a lease transaction and all the,  complications with it.

Hal Coopersmith: What’s been a tricky deal where you help a client out of it or kind of added a lot of value?

Jonathan Anapol: With all the leases I’ve done. No two leases are the same. it’s unbelievable. every client has, its, has their own nuances and requirements. It could be, not a lot of money for a security deposit in the bank. It could be the lack of financials. It could be, that they need flexibility in the lease to be able to move and grow. Every landlord is different and has their own quirks. Some landlords don’t like to give free rent, but they’ll give a little bit lower price. Other landlords, institutional landlords may give a lot of free rent, but want to a higher base price. knowing how landlords deal with security and attendance financials, there are no two landlords and no two tenants alike. It’s,  a crazy industry, but that’s how the world is.

Hal Coopersmith: You are very transparent about with your website to post, listings,

Jonathan Anapol: Right? I think most brokers take the opinion that if I give a tenant the information upfront, then they won’t need me. And my approach is to be very transparent, provide as much information as I can off the website or just. As I meet someone or they inquire and, and then I’ll gain their respect and then they’ll reach out to me for more information in my professionalism to guide them through the whole process.

Hal Coopersmith: You’ve been doing this more than a little while. How has the business of brokerage changed over your career?

Jonathan Anapol: Right. So I have been doing this, I hate to admit it, for 30 plus years. The biggest change was with COVID. The industry was pretty balanced, the first 25 years. but when COVID hit, everything was turned upside down.  one is no one went back to the office. Two is everyone thought that they weren’t going to need an office anymore and everyone was going to work at home. Most people let their leases lapse. Or, or downsized, and thought the offices weren’t, weren’t that important.  over the last, 12 to 24 months, it’s been back to work now. and people who downsized are now re needing to get more space, to have enough desks and offices for all their employees. They have realized that the,  ability to train people. In an office and also to,  communicate and organize them is very difficult to be done on a Zoom call. So the offices are starting to be back as they were, but it was a tremendous,  disheveled of the whole industry that took place.

Hal Coopersmith: And where do you see the industry going?

Jonathan Anapol: Well, based upon the last 12 months, it’s almost going back to. An office-based institution, four to five days a week. the last 12 months have been very eye-opening and the office market as an industry has, has really,  vacancy rates now are down. to a normal level, prices are up past 2018 or pre 19 pre COVID levels it’s been a very strong comeback for the office market in the real estate business today. Commercial real estate business.

Hal Coopersmith: What advice would you give to a broker who’s just coming up?

Jonathan Anapol: To answer that question, because the world is changing so quickly with the AI, and technology, it’s difficult to predict where we’re going to be in 10 years from now. With that said, work with it and I, I work with a lot of, not personally, but I work as in the industry with a lot of young brokers who are just starting out and they’re basically,  they’re hitting the ground and running at a hundred miles an hour. So that from my old perspective. With all my knowledge of the industry, sometimes you need a fresh, clean approach, using the current technologies available in networking with people, identifying companies. I think, the ai, Is going to be a big help in researching to identify companies that are growing and moving as well as it could be a curse to providing, direct access to the market for tenants on their own.

However, even with a full database of direct market, direct spaces, which is not available in the industry, a tenant without the knowledge of every building, the owners. Nuances, the look of the lobby, if the hallways are cared for, how the bathrooms are, what kind of negotiations would take place in an industry. It’s not something like, it’s not just shopping for an apartment. It, there’s, there’s a lot more aspects to it. Which one is still going to need a commercial real estate broker, I believe.

Hal Coopersmith: Well, that is a wonderful note to end things on, Jonathan Anapol, thank you for being a part of Broker’s Angle.

Jonathan Anapol: I appreciate it very much. It was great being here.