For over four decades, Peter Riguardi has navigated the intricacies of New York commercial real estate, carving a path for unparalleled achievement in the ever-evolving landscape. Beyond his proven track record leading some of the city’s most coveted projects, it is his vision, astute understanding of business operations and attention to market dynamics that has positioned him as one of New York’s most influential real estate executives.
Throughout his career, Peter has been a part of defining and at times, redefining the New York City skyline. He has led transformative projects in New York’s most pivotal moments from the rebuilding of Downtown after 9/11 to the redefining of Midtown west by way of the Hudson Yards development and other new developments across New York City. Many of his transactions are ranked as New York’s largest and most complex, including some of the only transactions completed during the pandemic.
As Chairman and President, Peter additionally co-leads JLL’s Tri-State region, with responsibility for 2,700 professionals across seven offices. An innovative leader, Peter has been instrumental in shifting JLL from the traditional brokerage model to an advisory model, similar to the function of an investment bank. That new ethos and dedication to deep, strategic relationships with investor and occupier clients, along with recruitment of top talent in key disciplines, and investments in new technology and services catapulted JLL to the market leader in the New York Metropolitan area. Since Peter joined JLL, the company has more than quadrupled market share, revenue and increased profitability substantially.
Peter followed his late father Edward Riguardi into the business at GVA Williams Real Estate in 1983, forming their own firm Colliers ABR Inc (now Colliers International) in 1994, before Peter joined JLL in 2002.
Peter resides in the Flatiron District of New York. In addition to real estate, Peter is a partner in a wine and olive oil business, located in Mirabella, Italy. Peter is also a partner with Peak Real Estate, a multifamily investment and operating company in New York City. A baseball enthusiast, Peter is also part owner of Baseball America, the leading research paper for the sport.
Professional affiliations and achievements
Peter serves on many boards and is an active philanthropist.
- REBNY’s 2017 Louis Smadbeck Memorial Broker Recognition Award
- Commercial Observer “Power 100 CRE Most Powerful Players” Top 20 (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and more)
- IREM Real Estate Person on the Year, 2017
- Boy Scounts of America, 50th Real Estate Industry Good Scout Award Recipient, 2013
- Board Member, Iona College (12 years)
- Honorary Doctorate Degree, Iona College
- Board of Governors, REBNY
- The Rabin Medical Center of Israel, Honoree and former Americas president
- Met Council, Honoree ¾ Muscular Dystrophy, Honoree
- Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
- Special Olympics, Honoree
- United Way, Honoree
- The Police Athletic League, Honoree
- The Realty Foundation, Honoree
- the AIR Society, Honoree
- St. Francis Food Pantries and Shelters, Honoree
- Dominion City Church, Honoree
Occupier Transaction Experience
Among his accomplishments are some of the largest and most complex leasing transactions and asset sales in Manhattan, including:
- AIG: 220,000-s.f. at 28 Liberty; 330,000-s.f. at 1271 Avenue of the Americas; 250,000-s.f. at 30 Hudson Yards
- Bank of America: 1.5-million-s.f. lease at One Bryant Park; 400,000-s.f. lease at 50 Rockefeller Center; 177,000-s.f. lease at the GM Building
- Beijing Vantone: 190,810-s.f. lease for China Center at One World Trade Center
- Blackrock: 1M-s.f. lease at 50 Hudson Yards
- BNP Paribas: 325,000-s.f. lease at 787 Seventh Avenue
- BNY Mellon: 300,000-s.f. lease at 200 Park Avenue; 350,000-s.f. lease at Brookfield Place; 400,000-s.f. lease in Boston; 325,000-.s.f sublease to J.Crew at 225 Liberty Street
- Deutsche Bank: 1.2M-s.f. consolidation to 1 Columbus Circle in Midtown NY; 151,935-s.f. lease at 345 Park Avenue
- General Motors Corp.: 114,300-s.f. renewal at 767 Fifth Avenue; 65,130-s.f. lease at 1345 Avenue of the Americas
- HSBC: 550,000-s.f. sale-leaseback at 452 Fifth Avenue; 300,000 s.f. at The Spiral at Hudson Yards
- J.Crew: 325,000-s.f. buy-out at 770 Broadway; 300,000-s.f. lease at Brookfield Place
- JetBlue: 235,000-s.f. lease at Queens Plaza, Long Island City
- JPMorgan Chase: 417,000-s.f. lease at 390 Park Avenue; 100,000-s.f. lease at 5 Manhattan West
- Macquarie: 220,000-s.f. lease at 660 Fifth Avenue
- Merrill Lynch: 1-million-s.f. development site in Jersey City, NJ; 760,000-s.f. acquisition of 2 Broadway; 350,000-s.f. acquisition for Tokyo, Japan, headquarters
- MetLife: 410,000-s.f. lease at 1095 Avenue of the Americas
- Metropolitan Transportation Authority: 1.6-million-s.f. net lease of 2 Broadway
- Morgan Stanley: 1.2-million-s.f. headquarters/ground lease and development at 745 Seventh Avenue; 1M-s.f. lease at One New York Plaza
- Morgan Stanley: 300,000-s.f. lease at Park Avenue Plaza
- Morgan Stanley/E*Trade: 400,000-s.f. lease in Alpharetta, GA
- Port Authority of New York & New Jersey: 750,000-s.f. lease at 4
World Trade Center
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and affiliates:
650,000-s.f. lease at 1 Manhattan West
- Spotify: 500,000-s.f. at 4 World Trade Center for their HQ in North
America
- Wells Fargo: 645,000-s.f. in San Francisco
- WeWork: numerous leases totaling 1,000,000 s.f.
- WeWork: Americas reorganization
Landlord Transaction Experience
Peter has been the agent for some of New York City’s most notable agency assignments and repositionings, such as:
- 1285 Avenue of the Americas: UBS 1.0-million s.f., Paul Weiss 650,000 s.f.
- Brookfield Place: Over 1.9-million s.f.
- One Columbus Circle: Deutsche Bank 1.2-million s.f.
- Seagram Building: Blue Owl 160,000 s.f.
- 28 Liberty: AIG 220,000 s.f., New York State Attorney General 345,000 s.f. 51 Astor Place: IBM 143,836 s.f.
Consulting/Capital Markets Assignments
- Moinian Group: hired to find development partners at 3 Hudson Boulevard, which resulted in a joint venture agreement with Boston Properties to build a 2-million-s.f. building; also retained as leasing agent.
- Port Authority of New York & New Jersey: Advisor to the Port Authority on its redevelopment of the World Trade Center shortly after September 11, 2001 until most recently, which included negotiating on behalf of the Port Authority with Silverstein Properties, Durst Organization and Westfield and coordinting all procedures for managing the complex; at peak the Port Authority had 50 team members dedicated to the World Trade Center project.
- Sands Casino: Hired to evaluate New York site development options for casino, hotel and retail space.
