Michael Cohen is president of the Tri-State region at Colliers, the global real estate services and investment management firm, and chairman of the Flatiron NoMad business improvement district. He has spent four decades in New York real estate as both a broker for other owners and an owner himself. He speaks plainly about which office buildings still have a future, what the city is changing to help, and why the broker has survived every attempt to replace him.

Michael Cohen, President Tri-State, Colliers International

Watch the episode ↗

In this conversation

Michael on his mentor Seymour Durst, who argued for rezoning Manhattan's empty manufacturing districts long before the city did it.

How to tell whether a Class B building is one of the A's of the B's, or whether the dirt is now worth more than the building.

The City of Yes, the Midtown South rezoning and a tax break for owners willing to invest heavily to turn a C building into an A.

Why WeWork's enterprise model failed, and the four products Michael now sees inside a single 20-story tower.

His view that Excel, Argus and the listing service changed brokerage, and that AI will not replace the negotiation.

Communication is only 20% content and it's 80% delivery.

Michael Cohen

Chapters

A mentor ahead of his time

Seymour Durst and a young broker's education in the city.

The broker's day

Triage, organization, and turning data into a story that persuades.

The A's of the B's

Which Class B office buildings still compete, and what happens to the rest.

What the city is changing

Mixed floors, old manufacturing zoning, and incentives for conversion.

By the numbers

The Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan, approved by the City Council in August 2025

9,500+

new homes

2,800+

permanently affordable

$448M+

in community benefits and infrastructure

Michael describes the Midtown South rezoning working its way through public comment and calls it enlightened. It is the change his mentor Seymour Durst argued for: letting manufacturing blocks become housing.

Source: New York City Council press release, August 14, 2025 ↗

Debt, flex space and four products in one tower

Why the debt load decides who can reposition, and how landlords now share risk with suite operators.

What hasn't changed

The human side of brokerage, better buildings, and New York's emissions experiment.

By the numbers

New York City's Local Law 97

25,000 sq ft

most buildings above this size are covered

$268

annual penalty per ton of CO2e over the limit

40%

emissions cut targeted by 2030

2050

net zero target

Michael calls Local Law 97 a big experiment and asks who pays when a tenant's 24-hour trading floor pushes a building over its limit.

Source: NYC Department of Buildings, LL97 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions ↗

In some cases the dirt is worth more than the building.

Michael Cohen

Takeaways

The first question for a struggling office building is financial, not architectural: if it was financed above 50 percent of its pre-2020 value, there may be no equity left to fund a conversion.

A tower can be split into retail, long-term office, pre-built short-term office and a suite operator's floor, which balances what lenders want with the flexibility tenants ask for.

Ground-floor retail is shifting to trying, returning and experiences, so treat it as an amenity for the building above as well as a source of rent.

Over 40 years in the business, it never grows steady state 3% a year. It's a very choppy and volatile rate of growth.

Michael Cohen