Profile Georgia Malone - Mann Report, March 2001

QUICK THINKING

Georgia Malone admits it. She speaks rather quickly. "But it's not terrible that I talk fast. I tell people, you just listen slowly” She need not explain herself. It's a sure bet given her whip smart intelligence combined with a lively personality, chat whoever is listening to her is doing his very best to keep up.

As president of Georgia Malone & Company, a real estate brokerage and consultant firm she started four years ago, the services Malone offers are varied and include olive and retail leasing and sales bro­kerage and real estate consultation. "What’s unique about this com­pany is that we're mostly lawyers and we don't practice law." In fact the director of her once leasing division is a lawyer and has an MBA as well. "Clients respond to that because they feel a lot more confi­dant dealing with someone who can navigate the law and handle the business aspects of the project," she notes. "Right now," she says, "I have a client on West 20th Street who has an 80,000 square?foot commercial industrial building that he inherited and he came to us so that he can figure out its best and highest use. We put together three business proposals and now he knows what he can do. And that's part of what we do; we provide people with struc­ture, and then find them partners or tenants to do the deal with." Currently, Malone is also a co?developer on another building on West 20th Street. Thirteen stories high with 2,400 square feet of space on each floor, it is in the process of being converted from an office to a residential condominium building. She notes, "That proj­ect should be done within the next couple of months."

Other deals which Malone worked on and brokered include the development of the Battery Park City entertainment, retail and Embassy suites Hotel project and the 465-room Hilton Hotel on Times Square.

The Brooklyn?born Malone's career in real estate started after she graduated from law school and bean working as house counsel for Arlen Realty, Development Corp. "My interest in real estate started while I was in law school. I was influenced a lot by my real proper­ty law professor. I've always loved buildings, plus real estate involves a lot of contract work, which I was always good at.

Seeking to bolster her understanding of real estate, after two years with Arlen, Malone joined Borah Goldstein Altschuler 8C Schwartz, a mid?sized law landlord/tenant firm whose focus was litigation. "I was fortunate enough to work with one of the firm's really smart partners who both knew the law very well and all these smart trial tactics," she says. While there, Malone also discovered that she had a knack for negotiating, an exchange she considers to be an art form. "The keys to negotiating are evoking credibility to the person sitting across from you at the table, knowing all aspects of the deal and focusing on one issue at a rime," she says. And in this regard, Malone cleared many development sites, using her negotiation abilities to vacate recalcitrant tenants from these sites.

In the mid?eighties, she went to work for the Rent Stabilization Association, a landlord's professional association, again as general counsel. "I never had more fun. Part of what we did was introduce pro?landlord legislation in Albany and at the City Council and I would argue in favor of or opposed to various landlord tenant proposed bills in front of hundreds of people." While there, Malone also co?authored two books on landlord/tenant law.

While debating whether or not to start up her own farm, Malone instead chose to return to Borah Goldstein after being offered a partnership. She eventually became a full equity partner due to her ability to bring in huge clients and business. During her eighth year at the firm, Malone was hit with the shocking news that she was suffering from Non-Hodkin’s Lymphoma. “Really, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It changed my life. I took a year oft, which forced me to look at myself and a lot of the things I was avoiding.”

And while Malone returned to the firm for a short period, she quickly realized that it was no longer what she could do so she resigned, from her firm and practicing law. "I wasn't sure what type of company I wanted to start, but I went ahead and rented an office and hired a secretary," she notes. Within one week, she had a chance meeting with a woman who headed up acquisitions for Promus Corp., a major hotel corporation which has since been taken over by Hilton Hotels. "I was sitting next to this woman at a meeting and she told me that they were looking for hotel sites in New York City. I told her I knew a developer who might be interested and could possibly help her. "We ended up doing two hotel deals together which amounted to approximately $368 million dollars." She adds, "That was the beginning of me becoming a deal negotiator, a broker and a real estate consultant. God smiled down on me."

Malone's future plans for the company include adding owner/manager to her title. "The whole idea over the next few years is to begin buying apartment buildings, which are safe real estate projects. That's something you'll see us do once prices start coming down," she notes. She recently sold a 900?unit apartment complex and is currently working on a few apartment portfolio deals, one of which exceeds 10,000 units. Ever flexible, Malone predicts that the company will move into other areas of real estate as demanded by the market. "There's a lot of commercial sublease space coming available," and given Malone's vast commercial landlord/tenant background, "We're looking at getting into reviewing leases in addition to brokering the spaces.”

Since her full recovery from cancer, Malone was invited to join the boards of Cornell's Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine and The Delos Foundation. "I raise tons of money for the centers we are building to treat people by offering alternative healing methods in addition to traditional medical practices," she says.

Given all she accomplishes in a single day, it's no wonder that her thoughts stream out at the world at a rather brisk pace. No doubt it has been a big part of her success, and these days, her satisfaction with what she does. She concludes, "I love the work I do for Cornell and Delos, and as far as my business and personal life, I've never been this happy:"