New York Observer: O Pioneer!
O Pioneer!
Winick Realty’s recently appointed managing partner among far west side’s earliest shepherds
Steven Baker built a life, and staked his career, on the Far West Side of Manhattan at a time when the High Line still languished as an abandoned freight track and nearly every block west of Ninth Avenue included a warehouse, garage or parking lot.
While other brokers followed dollar signs in midtown and across Madison Avenue, Mr. Baker, then a young broker living in a Ninth Avenue bachelor pad, saw potential in the dusty warehouses and loading docks he walked past in the summer of 2000.
“I knew I wanted to control the neighborhood,” recalled the 40-year-old Mr. Baker, now a managing partner at Winick Realty, who has played a leading role in transforming the area.
From his earliest deals with Payless Shoe Source and John Jay College, which created classrooms on 10th Avenue where a boarded-up retail space once shriveled, Mr. Baker has helped change the Far West Side from a ghost town of dreary industrial buildings into a pedestrian-heavy attraction for city trendsetters and tourists alike.
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Kelly Gedinsky
Winick Realty Group LLC has been chosen to exclusively represent the retail at 420 West 14th Street, located between Washington Street and Ninth Avenue, steps from the High Line’s recently-completed 14th Street entrance.
With construction underway on the Second Avenue subway, however, leasing activity has slowed in the area. “It’s very hard to navigate sidewalks,” said Hal Shapiro, a broker at Winick who specializes in the Upper East Side. “Noise interferes with the retail experience.”
Danny Hodak, who previously opened the acclaimed Mediterranean eatery Taboon, has leased 1,000 square feet at 30 E. 13th St. across from the New School for a new, quick service spot that will have a homey feel and a wood floor. Hodek also owns a wood-floor finishing company.
