During the past 25 years, RFR has assembled a world-class portfolio of commercial and residential real estate including many of New York's signature office towers, ultra-luxury condominiums/hotels and high-end retail developments.
RFR's unique combination of European sophistication and American ingenuity has positioned the firm at the forefront of the real estate industry. The RFR team expertise leads the industry in operating, developing, leasing and managing of world-class properties.
Executive Team
New York
Stamford
Richard Farley Executive Vice President Co-Director of Leasing
As Executive Vice President and Director of Leasing for RFR Realty, Richard Farley is responsible for leasing the six million square feet that comprise RFR’s office and retail portfolio. Overseeing a staff of five full-time leasing executives, Mr. Farley and his team have completed over 5,000 leases totaling more than 6.5 million square feet in the 11 years he has been at RFR.
Richard Farley entered the real estate business 30 years ago as a broker representing tenants. He became an owner’s agent in 1983 while at Madison Newmark, where he managed SL Green’s leasing portfolio. In 1989, he joined SL Green, which had become a powerful Manhattan landlord, having converted more than 20 loft buildings into office space. Mr. Farley served as the head of SL Green’s leasing department for a five-million-square-foot portfolio for seven years. Impressed with Mr. Farley’s record of achievement at SL Green, RFR Realty tapped him to oversee its rapidly expanding commercial portfolio in 1997. Just some of the prime Manhattan properties under Mr. Farley’s purview today include 390 Park Avenue (Lever House), 375 Park Avenue (Seagram Building) and 17 State Street. In addition, Richard Farley oversees RFR’s 150,000-square-foot Class A portfolio in West Palm Beach Florida, which is comprised of the Mellon Building and the Horizon Building. In South Beach, Miami, he is responsible for RFR’s retail leasing at the 125,000-square-foot Lincoln Center.
Highlights of Mr. Farley’s career include:
Wachovia Bank’s 175,000-square-foot lease at RFR’s 375 Park Avenue -- Mr. Farley and the RFR leasing team as well as outside counsel from Cushman & Wakefield arranged this headquarters lease in late 2004.
Cornell University’s 15-year, 70,000-square-foot lease at SL Green’s 16 East 34th Street -- Mr. Farley negotiated this profitable lease on behalf of SL Green in 1992, when the leasing market had significantly eroded.
International advertising firm Publicis’ 114,500-square-foot, 15-year lease at RFR’s then newly respositioned 2 Herald Square, signed December 2000.
Mercy College’s 20-year, 55,000-square-foot lease at RFR’s 2 Herald Square, signed October 2001 for the final block of office space then available at the property.
Mr. Farley has maintained an average occupancy rate of over 97 percent during his tenure at RFR. He serves on the Real Estate Board of New York’s Grand Central, Plaza District, and Leasing Agents Committees. He is also a member and a former board member of the Young Men’s/Women’s Real Estate Association as well as an active board member of the Landmarks Preservation Foundation.