The 30-Minute Interview - Stephen G. Kliegerman - NYTimes.com Mr. Kliegerman, 44, is the president of Terra Development Marketing, overseeing sales and marketing of new developments for Halstead Property and Brown Harris Stevens, both owned by Terra Holdings. The New York developments include the condominiums One48 in Gramercy Park and Richard Meier On Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and the Chelsea rental 537 West 27th Street. Interview conducted and condensed by Q. You wear two hats. How do you divide up your time between Halstead and Brown Harris? A. You have to prioritize - you have to decide which jobs you can send somebody in your place and which sites need your immediate attention. It's usually during the initial stages when really important decisions are being made that can affect the economics or the aesthetic of the job. So if we're doing final floor plans or trying to finalize what that brand will be, I make it to all of those meetings. Q. Brokers seem to be more involved in the planning stages of developments. A. In the beginning of the condo development boom, developers sought out the brokerage community to guide them in the predevelopment phase. I guess the best example of that is Louise Sunshine. When the boom really hit full force, developers thought they could do everything on their own. Then when Lehman fell in 2008, a lot of developments that were not properly conceived failed. So now that we're in a new boom of development, both rental and condo, developers are calling us in to talk about who the right demographical buyer is for the neighborhood, the right unit mix and size of the units, amenities. Q. Can you provide some examples of developments where you left your mark? A. One example is 148 East 24th Street, which we are just completing sales on. We were able to work with the developer to overcome some of what we saw as some minor but important design flaws, like closet doors that open too far into the room. In one unit in particular there was a big outdoor space and a bedroom that was small. They completely redesigned the unit to make it more desirable. Another example is 540 West 28th Street, Plus Art. When we saw the original floor plans, we felt that they could be enhanced and we also felt that the building needed to have a little more stature. We worked with them and their architectural team to bring in an interior design team that really made their finishes a little bit more upscale. We went with a wide-plank wood floor. And we worked with them to do little things like getting more bike storage in the buildings and we worked with them on their roof deck. Q. How are sales going at Plus Art? A. There are 91 units, and we have six or seven units left. Q. Are there any prevailing trends in amenities or layouts? A. When you're talking about the middle of the market, buyers want amenities that they actually are going to use but won't add a lot of ongoing monthly expenses. They like to see a gym in the building, even one that functions as a second gym if you can't get to your full-service gym. Community rooms, parking. Outdoor space is very important and so is storage. At 505 West 47th Street we actually doubled the amount of bike storage. When you get to the very high-end developments, those buyers want top-of-the line service and amenities, so those buildings will have everything. Q. How many developments are you representing right now? A. In Manhattan and Brooklyn, we have about 30 active developments on the market on the Halstead side, and on the Brown Harris Stevens side - we really just started getting going - there are 10. Then in our pipeline we've got another 25 or so that will come to market from mid- to late-2012 all the way to 2014. Q. You mentioned a development boom earlier. A. I do think we're starting to see a bit of a development boom - not like in the "90s and 2000, but it's the "new economy" boom. Developers, and the banks, are seeing that there is an imbalance between supply and demand. In addition, there's a lot of private equity money that has been sitting on the sidelines. Billions upon billions of dollars. So over the next three or so years there will be a significant amount of inventory coming to the market. But it's less than half of what we saw in the prior 15 years: where we were adding 5,000 to 10,000 units a year citywide, I think now you're looking at 1,000 to 2,000 a year. Q. Let's talk about sales prices. A. It depends on the neighborhood. If you're looking at Harlem, prices range from $600 to $800 a square foot, on average, for quality development. If you're talking south of 96th Street, in the middle range of the marketplace $1,100 to $1,400 a square foot is becoming more the norm. In the high end of the market, anything from $2,500 to, I think we'll see, $10,000. There's an incredible appetite for the high end both locally and internationally. New York City is really a safe haven. Q. What percent of your buyers are foreigners? A. A couple of years ago it was a little less than 10 percent. Today it's probably closer to 20 percent. Q. Sounds like business is good. A. Business is good. Last year we closed between 500 and 600 units; this year we will probably close about 400 to 500 units, but only because our inventory had dwindled. In 2013 and 2014, the number of closings are predicted to reach 800 to 1,000 units. Q. Is it a buyer's or seller's market? A. For the most part, we are back into a seller's marketplace. That switch happened about the middle of last year. Over all, if you look at Manhattan and Brooklyn, the average price is up about 5 percent from last year. For rentals, over the last 12 months, we have seen rents increase 12 to 20 percent. There is such a small supply; and the city, unlike the rest of the nation, has added jobs. Q. Do you remember your first deal? A. I do. My first deal ever was a really hard sell, actually. It was a unit on 140 East 28th Street, a two-bedroom apartment in a beautiful Bing & Bing classic prewar building. Back in 1990 the area was filled with drug addicts and prostitutes. They were asking $696,000 and interest rates were high. They ended up buying for the low 600s, and it's probably worth two and a half times as much today.