In Gilmartin interview from May, a reminder that Atlantic Yards pace was never realistic, the role of luck, and the dubious claim of an ongoing Forest City alliance

There are a couple of intriguing lines in a 5/16/19 interview with MaryAnne Gilmartin, co-founder of L&L MAG and former CEO of Forest City Ratner, on the web site Madame Architect, under the headline You Are What You Build: MaryAnne Gilmartin on Knowing Your Wheelhouse and Seeing What Others Don't.

What did she learn in her government-adjacent job at New York City's Public Development Corporation?

My time there helped me understand the role that public policy and government play in the built environment for things of a certain scale. I learned to think big and to not be intimidated by complexity. You also think in different metrics on the public side, like job creation and tax dollars - not profit and bottom line, so as a private developer, my take-aways from that time allow me to now effectively partner with the government and marry the goals of public and private to make it a win-win all the way around.

(Emphases added throughout)

Sometimes it's a win-win, sometimes not. Surely when Gilmartin works for a private company the priority is the company's priority.

Not even one building a year

Asked about building MetroTech, at a time when Brooklyn was rough, she said:

Developing in Brooklyn was high risk, but the economics were very compelling. Brooklyn was a place to sharpen your tools because nothing was easy there - that’s always good though because when you work harder, you have a leg up on your competition and you know how to be more convincing. The work in Brooklyn ended up being super gratifying and we were eventually able to put a ground up building there every 12-18 months.

That's interesting, because even at MetroTech pace, Atlantic Yards was unrealistic from the start, involving at least 16 buildings and a professed ten-year time frame.

The Times tower triumph

The New York Times building, she said, was career-defining, not just because of the impressive design but the fact that the builder and client stuck to it:

The day after 9/11, we stood up and proclaimed that nobody would want to work in a building that was a fortress to withstand those kinds of attacks. The Times was committed to transparency and exceptional architecture, so other than changing the type of glass and reinforcing the core, we did not change this object of beauty that Renzo Piano designed.

The role of luck

Asked about the secret to success, she cited Forest City's meritocracy and--credit her for candor--luck:

I never had my eye on the corner office, but it turns out, in a meritocracy, if you work hard, you eat what you kill - meaning you are what you build. Also, luck! The truth is, real estate is a business of cycles, and the cycles went my way. I was able to get a great selection of projects.

A relationship with Forest City?

As previously described, she left Forest City after the company became a real estate investment trust (REIT) and dialed back significantly on new development:

It’s been amazing to be nimble, hunting for new projects again. We’re essentially a twenty-five year old start up because of our relationship with Forest City, but we’re also exploring a lot of new types of projects.

Well, Forest City was already extinct at the time of the interview, since Brookfield in late 2018 absorbed Forest City.

And while L&L MAG cites Forest City-built buildings in their portfolio of past achievements, they don't look like allies any more; L&L MAG is competing for a World Trade Center site against a partnership involving Brookfield.