Karl Frey is the executive vice president for land and development at iStar in New York.
Next to nature
We’re in the Grace Building, on 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue. We have the entire 39th floor, with floor-to-ceiling windows and offices on two sides that overlook Bryant Park.
An architect friend who was visiting said, “This is the view that everyone who has never been to New York thinks that everyone in New York has.”
The décor is stark white throughout. It looks like everyone moved in six months ago, but the company has been here almost 20 years.
Continue reading the main storyMicrosoft computers didn’t come in white back then, so our chairman, Jay Sugarman, bought Apples and had them reconfigured with the Microsoft operating system.
1. Quiet enjoyment
I’ve known Jay for years. When I started here five years ago, Jay asked if I had any concerns.
I said that having my office next to his might not be a good idea because I’m loud. He said, “Not a problem.”
But when I came to work that Monday, my office had been moved to the other side of the building.
I now face the Bank of America tower.
2. Tall desk, small desk
I’ve used a standing desk for over 30 years, before they were popular.
My original oak desk, probably a drafting or accounting table, or what they called a paymaster’s desk, didn’t fit with the sleek, modern look, so I had a boat builder build me a new one.
When colleagues stop in, I sit down to talk with them, which gives me a break from standing.
I have a number of items around that are either tied to the past or represent the unpredictability of the development business. Dozens of factors can throw a project off course.
I’ll pick up an item and hold it when I’m on the phone, or meeting with someone in my office. They keep me grounded.
3. Holding it together
The bolt is from the amphitheater stage we built in Coney Island this year. When my grandfather first emigrated to this country from Germany as a teen, he worked as a riveters’ helper, carrying hot rivets to the ironworker who would install them. Eventually bolts replaced rivets. This bolt reminds me of him.
4. Construction wisdom
My great-grandfather, a cabinetmaker, used this folding ruler. I like it because I believe what gets measured gets done.
5. Transporter
In my free time, I’ve built seven boats with a boatbuilder friend.
The mast hoop, which affixes the sail to the mast, is from one of my boats. To me, it represents both utility and beauty.
People looking into my office and seeing me hold it up to my nose must wonder what I’m doing. It’s finished with linseed oil and pine tar, and the smell makes me feel like I’m on the water.
6. Family and community
I took a photo of my kids sitting on the bronze statue of a gorilla outside the San Diego Zoo, and a friend painted a huge, wildly colorful oil painting of it. It’s highly visible in this décor, and not everyone here liked that.
But besides that it’s of my kids, the artist is special to me. She works in a building I bought in Lowell, Mass., that I helped turn into an artist community.
I’ve committed to the tenants that I won’t raise the rent more than the greater of 3 percent or inflation.
An article on June 18 about the Manhattan office of Karl Frey gave an outdated name of the company he works for. It is iStar, not iStar Financial. (The company’s name was changed in 2015.)