www.TheRealDeal.com

December 2015 Vol.13 No.12

STROMAE TICKETS Schwartz listens to a wide variety of

music and regularly hits up concerts.

He recently saw British pop reggae

band UB40 and is currently into

Omi, MisterWives and 5 Seconds of

Summer. He’s also a big opera, jazz and classical

music fan. “[It’s] the total potpourri,” he said of his

musical taste. “[My PR firm] put the J. Geils Band on my bio, which

makes it sound like I do nothing but listen to old music,” Schwartz

joked. “That’s why I’ve got my Stromae tickets over there,” he added,

referring to the Belgian hip-hop and electronic music wunderkind.

28 December 2015 www.TheRealDeal.com

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THE VIEW Schwartz’s office has expansive views, allowing him to watch over

some of the city’s most iconic buildings, such as Rockefeller Center,

which is owned by his client Tishman Speyer. “At night, I just look out

from my desk at the entire expanse of the Empire State Building and

the flashing lights in Times Square,” Schwartz said. “It’s pretty kinetic.”

BEATLES MEMORABILIA Schwartz is a longtime fan of the Fab Four. He has a John Lennon

“Land of Milk and Honey” print above his desk and this Beatles “Help!”

sculpture he picked up in Amsterdam.

He said that he cried when he saw

John Lennon’s leather jacket and

lyrics while visiting the Rock and Roll

Hall of Fame in Cleveland. “It was just

really emotional seeing all that stuff

gathered in one place,” he said.

FISHY Schwartz’s year-old Betta fish goes by the name Fishy Two. Fishy’s

piscine namesake was “buried at sea,” Schwartz said, quickly adding,

“Well, the men’s room over there anyway.”

Schwartz said he enjoys cleaning the tank

and feeding his office companion fried

bloodworms. “It’s sort of a Zen moment

for me,” he said.

GRAND CENTRAL BUFF Being in the MetLife Building, of course, also means

being right on top of Grand Central Station. Not

only is Schwartz a Grand Central history buff,

he also thrives on its energy — and, maybe most

of all, its pizza. His choice slices are at Naples

45 and Two Boots. “I never appreciated how

great Grand Central was until we moved here,”

said Schwartz, who carries around a backpack

emblazoned with the Grand Central logo.

SEAGULL SCULPTURE Seagulls come with symbolism for Schwartz. The late journalist

and attorney Allan Ecker, a mentor, gave Schwartz a sculpture of a

seagull in the early ’80s. At the time, Schwartz was a young attorney

working in entertainment law and wanted to get out. The sculpture

says: “You have the freedom to be yourself here and now.” It’s a quote

from the 1970 novella “Jonathan Livingston Seagull.”

Schwartz never read the book but got

the message. “It means if you

don’t like it, get your ass

out,” he said.

THE FAMILY Schwartz is married

with four grown children

— and has the family

photos to prove it. This

one of him and his wife is

from a skiing trip in Vail,

Colorado. His twins,

Emily and Andrew,

recently graduated from college. His older sons, Brett and Casey,

run a thriving nightlife business, which organizes parties under the

name Medium Rare. They recently hosted the after-party for the

band MisterWives at Terminal 5 in Hell’s Kitchen.

MAKING MUSIC Schwartz, a musician himself, has been in a number of bands over the

years. He’s even taken the stage with former Grateful Dead guitarist

Bob Weir. Now he plays bass guitar for a rock band called Normal by

Day, which sometimes has gigs at 55 Bar in

Greenwich Village. The band also headlines

Real Estate Rockers in Relief (an annual

charity concert founded by Schwartz

and World-Wide Group’s David

Lowenfeld), which has prominent real

estate execs like Taconic’s

Paul Pariser and FirstKey’s

Randy Reiff perform.

PHOTOGRAPH OF CARL SCHWARTZ FOR THE REAL DEAL BY MICHAEL MCWEENEY

AT THE DESK OF: CARL SCHWARTZ

On any given morning, you may find Carl Schwartz leaving his West 88th

Street apartment to play racquetball at NYU. An hour later, he’s riding

the subway to Grand Central and heading up to his scenic office in the

iconic MetLife Building. Schwartz, one of New York City’s top real estate attorneys,

moved to the building in 2012 when he shook up his career and jumped from the

prestigious firm Herrick Feinstein, where he headed the real estate practice, to

Hunton & Williams. The latter firm has more than 800 attorneys nationwide but

had no NYC real estate team when he arrived. Now Schwartz co-heads the firm’s

global real estate practice, which has 30 New York lawyers. During his 30-year

career Schwartz has represented clients such as the World-Wide Group, Savanna

and Tishman Speyer. And he’s negotiated and consulted on a slew of deals involving

Yankee Stadium, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, 70 Pine Street, 20

Exchange Place and many others. From his 53rd floor office he can look down on it

all. “It feels like you can see the whole world from here,” he said. By Adam Warner

CITI BIKE Schwartz isn’t really a town car guy; he’s a big fan of walking and biking

around the city. He keeps a lightweight helmet in his office for days

when he hops on a Citi Bike.