Though his reputation often precedes him, New York real estate heavyweight Michael Shvo remains somewhat of an enigma to many.
He purchased one of its most prominent landmarks, the Transamerica Pyramid, for $650 million at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and has unveiled a $400 million plan to transform it into a world-class headquarters building and public gathering space that will draw San Franciscans and tourists alike into the city’s ailing downtown.
Coming to New York from that — first we came to the East Coast and then Palo Alto on the West Coast, because my parents had a two-year sabbatical at Yale and Stanford — to see the big buildings, the Saks Fifth Avenue stores and the big windows, for a kid from Israel that was all kind of fascinating. I have selective memories of certain moments in time there. The highlight was always when my parents would take us on a weekend trip to San Francisco.
At Douglas Elliman, I became a real estate agent, and the top residential broker in the country. I decided to leave that in the early 2000s and start a real estate marketing firm for new developments. We would partner with developers and come up with ideas for buildings.In the early 2000s, probably one of my largest contributions to the residential real estate market was that I invented the marriage of fashion and real estate.
The broker’s primary job is to sell knowledge, not just data that buyers can get online. Therefore, the broker must always study the product and know the ins and outs better than anyone else so he or she can create true value for the customer.Probably six years ago, seven years ago, I decided that there are certain decisions that are just not that important.
On the other side, I have Peter Marino who is very different, and a very close family friend. Peter is what they call a timeless modernist with a heavy focus on materiality. When you work with him you see materials that you’ve never seen in your life, because Peter has a constant input of materials that are being created for him.My life in general has been extremely public because of the high-profile buildings that we do.