NEW YORK, NY – September 15, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — Savanna, a New York-based real estate private equity and asset management firm, today announced it has hired Todd E. Korren as Principal, Director of Leasing. In his new position, Mr. Korren will be responsible for leasing activity, tenant relations and promoting the Savanna portfolio within the brokerage community. Savanna will continue to engage third party real estate brokerage and property management firms on each of the buildings within its portfolio while Mr. Korren will coordinate leasing activities with these firms and will work directly with existing tenants within the Savanna portfolio.
Mr. Korren joins Savanna with over 26 years of experience in the real estate and construction industries, including office and retail leasing, construction, asset and property management, acquisitions, property redevelopment and repositioning, site assemblage and ground up development. Previously, Mr. Korren has held positions at a number of top tier real estate firms including The Witkoff Group, Insignia/ESG (now CB Richard Ellis), StructureTone and most recently, Swig Equities. Throughout his real estate career, he has negotiated leases for over 6.2 million square feet and participated in over 20 acquisitions.
“Todd is a very talented real estate professional whose excellent reputation and breadth of experience in commercial leasing will be a tremendous asset to Savanna as our New York City portfolio and leasing volume continues to grow,” said Nicholas Bienstock, a Managing Partner of Savanna. “
In the past two years, Savanna has acquired a substantial portfolio of class A and B office buildings in New York City totaling approximately 3.0 million square feet, including 100 Wall Street, a 504,000-square-foot, 29-story office building in the Financial District; 386 Park Avenue South, a 260,000-square-foot, 20-story office building in Midtown South; 104 West 40th Street, a 210,000-square-foot, 20-story office building right off Bryant Park in Midtown; 5 Hanover Square, a 333,000-square-foot, 25-story office building in the Financial District; 1375 Broadway, a 513,400-square-foot, 27-story corner office building in the Garment District; and 80 Broad Street, a 417,000-square-foot, 36-story office building, in the Financial District.
“I am thrilled to join Savanna and look forward to making significant contributions as the firm continues to expand its portfolio and seek new opportunities in New York City and the major Northeast markets,” said Todd Korren.
Mr. Korren earned a Bachelor of Science in Management at New York University and a Master of Business Administration from New York University. He has also completed courses in the New York University Graduate Real Estate Program and is a licensed New York Real Estate Broker.
Mr. Korren is an active member of numerous civic and professional organizations including Young Men’s/Women’s Real Estate Association of New York (former Vice-Chairman, Governor and Secretary); Real Estate Board of New York (Sales Committee; Economic Development Committee; Rental Conditions Committee); Long Island City Business Development Corporation (member) and the Architectural Review Board of Roslyn Estates (Chairman).
Mr. Korren has been recognized by such leading publications as Real Estate New York, Real Estate Weekly and Real Estate Forum in industry rankings including “Rising Star”, “40 Under 40”, “50 Under 50”, “Broker All Star” and “Top Broker”. He was selected by the REBNY as the 2009 Young Real Estate Man of the Year.
Mr. Korren resides in Roslyn, New York with his wife and two daughters.
About Savanna
Formed in 1992, Savanna is an institutional real estate private equity firm and asset management company based in New York City and run by Managing Partners Christopher Schlank and Nicholas Bienstock. The firm pursues opportunistic real estate equity and debt asset investments throughout the northeastern United States, focusing on directly owning and operating properties in New York City and the Washington, D.C. metro area. The firm’s equity investments target superior risk-adjusted returns by adding value through asset management and/or property development, redevelopment, and repositioning. Savanna also selectively invests in real estate debt instruments that have the potential to generate equity-like returns, including preferred equity instruments, high-yield bridge and mezza nine loans, and B-notes. Since inception, Savanna has invested more than $1.7 billion in total capital across 15.2 million square feet of real property across multiple asset classes and locations, representing over $3.75 billion in total capitalization. For all leasing inquiries, please contact Todd Korren at tkorren (at) savannafund (dot) com.
