Clive Davis Honored by Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Institute

Posted by on Apr 17, 2015

Clive Davis, the legendary music producer and the Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music, has been honored in a recent ceremony by the Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770. The Institute bestowed their highest honor, The Order of the Golden Sphinx, to Mr. Davis at a gala event held in The Plaza Hotel. The event took place on the 13th of April. The evening began with a cocktail reception with hors d’oeuvres such as foie gras and short rib quesadillas. After the reception, the guests and Harvard alumni filed into the main dining hall for an appetizer of tuna ceviche and avocado mousse. The main course consisted of filet mignon and cheesy gratin with a side of peas and asparagus. Unsurprisingly, dessert was a hasty pudding topped with vanilla ice cream.

Throughout the evening, the Chairman Andrew Farkas addressed the guests and discussed the club’s goals and the impact they have had over the years. The Harvard Krokodiles, the oldest a cappella group in Harvard performed “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” by Benny Goodman before the main course was served. The Hasty Pudding Theatricals also performed on the night with the highlight being their own rendition of “Empire State of Mind” by Alicia Keyes, but with the ode being to Clive Davis rather than New York City. Clive also treated the audience to a surprise performance by his newest talent, Avery Wilson, after talking about the people who had influenced his career and personal life. Wilson performed a version of “A Song for You” by Donny Hathaway.

Andrew Farkas has played a pivotal role in the history of the Hasty Pudding Institute. He was the president of the club for two years during his undergraduate degree. He is currently the Chairman and has recently made a donation to the University so the club’s theatre is now named Farkas Hall, after his father Robin L. Farkas. Farkas Hall is home to the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Harvard Krokadiloes, the Radcliffe Pitches and plenty of other student-based productions and events.

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NAI DESCO Celebrates Wittenauer, Sales Associate of the Year

Posted by on Mar 13, 2015

Mark Schnuck, President of NAI DESCO announced that David Wittenauer has won the much sought after Floyd L. Sweeney Sales Associate of the Year Award for 2014. This award goes to one of the company’s 25 associates who has the highest production for that year. Mr. Schnuck commended David on his exceptional contribution to the firm, his clients and the local Illinois real estate market. He noted that these contributions embody the values the company has put forth.

Mr. Wittenauer is the managing broker of the O’Fallon, Illinois office and one of the vice presidents of NAI DESCO. He has over 20 years of experience in the local real estate market and specializes in retail, office and investment properties.

NAI DESCO covers the Southern Illinois, and Central and Eastern Missouri markets. It’s a leading commercial real estate firm and part of the NAI Global. NAI Global is a network of independently owned and operated real estate companies across the globe. The network was founded in 1978 and was acquired by C-III Capital Partners in 2012 under the leadership of their Chairman and CEO Andrew Farkas. Mr. Farkas is also the CEO and Founder of Anubis Advisors, a real estate advisory business, and is a hugely influential businessman in the real estate industry.

NAI DESCO was founded in 2000 when local, established brokers partnered with the Schnuck family and an independent firm was formed. They currently have three office locations and 25 agents. Their sister company, The DESCO Group, is an investment, construction and property management company and manages over $700 million in assets. These two companies work together to offer a comprehensive suite of services.

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NAI Member of the Year Revealed at Las Vegas Event

Posted by on Feb 23, 2015

NAI Global announced its coveted Member of the Year award at its recent NAI Global Convention in Las Vegas in February. The top international acclaim went to NAI Harcourts in New Zealand. The member company was established in 2009 and has grown exponentially since then, and now is in charge of 61 locations in New Zealand and an additional 14 in Australia. The CEO of NAI Harcourts, Hayden Duncan, commented that the award reflects the growth they have seen in the past year.

Mr. Duncan’s reasoning for their success reflects the NAI Global attitude that locally owned member companies have a knowledge and expertise of their surrounding area that larger chain companies don’t. Couple that with an international network of support and you have a recipe for success. Hayley Duncan is overwhelmed at receiving this accolade, which goes to the member company that most accurately meets characteristics such as to positively represent the NAI brand name, to work closely with other member companies within the network, to drive business and to provide leadership within NAI Global.

NAI Harcourts was previously known as Harcourts International which was established in 1888 in New Zealand. Harcourts International joined with NAI Global to become NAI Harcourts in 2009.

NAI Global is an international network of wholly-owned independent member companies and is the fourth largest commercial real estate services firm internationally. NAI Global was acquired by C-III Capital Partners, LLC in 2012. Andrew Farkas is the CEO and Chairman of C-III and is also CEO of Anubis Advisors, a real estate advisory business that also deals with asset management and distressed debt acquisitions.

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NAI Global Member Offices in Louisiana Merge

Posted by on Jan 20, 2015

Latter & Blum is a commercial real estate firm based out of Louisiana who, due to a recent merger, has added a new office to its ever expanding operations. NAI Lake Charles will become NAI/Latter & Blum and will serve as their southwest Louisiana office, and add nine new agents to the firm.

This acquisition marks the fifth expansion in two years, making Latter & Blum the only private commercial real estate firm covering the central, southwest and Gulf Coast of Louisiana. The Chairman and CEO of Latter & Blum, Bob Merrick believes the addition of a commercial office in Lake Charles will open up more referral opportunities for their agents in New Orleans on both the commercial and residential fronts. NAI Lake Charles follows the firm’s acquisition of ERA Moffett Realty Inc. in August, a residential real-estate firm. This will also allow them to maintain their high level of service, while meeting the demands of the on-going industrial expansion in the state. Latter & Blum has a network that spans from Texas to Mississippi. This collection of companies includes CJ Brown Realtors and Noles-Frye Realty in Baton Rouge and Alexandria respectively.

The Latter & Blum offices in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Houma and Alexandria, as well as the newly added NAI Lake Charles office, are all existing members of the NAI Global network of independently owned commercial real estate firms. NAI Global has over 350 offices worldwide and is managed network of firms, owned by C-III Capital Partners, since an acquisition in 2011 led by C-III’s CEO Andrew Farkas.

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Anubis Advisors’ Role in the Farkas Empire

Posted by on Jan 5, 2015

Anubis Advisors was founded in March 2010 by Andrew Farkas, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Island Capital Group LLC. ICG is a real estate merchant banking and asset management firm that operates internationally but has its primary location in New York City. Anubis acts as an advisory company to ICG, ICG’s portfolio companies and others, on issues such as distressed debt acquisition, real estate and asset management.

The services provided by Anubis include strategic planning, M&A, restructuring, executive management and some financial services. Anubis’ management team consists of professionals, including Mr. Farkas as acting CEO, who were responsible for the continued development and expansion of Insignia Financial Group, Inc. which was one of the top three global real estate firms between 1991 and 2003.

One of Anubis’ clients within the portfolio of ICG companies is C-III Capital Partners LLC and its subsidiary C-III Asset Management LLC. C-III provides creative solutions to equity and debt problems within the real estate market, while its asset management team service a portfolio of almost $120 billion of commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS). Anubis’ role is to assist C-III in their integration of a principle capital deployment and M&A strategy within their existing operations, in the hopes of acquiring more CMBS fund managers and incremental CMBS, among other servicing operations. Under the direction of Anubis, C-III also intends to further pursue third-party servicing relationships and expand into new lines of business that correspond with current business operations.

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