If a picture is worth a thousand words, an onsite tour can communicate volumes. That was the reasoning behind W&H Properties' exciting and very successful "Passport" program this past January.

The program was designed to show Manhattan's brokerage community the great potential of the recent additions to the W&H portfolio -- 1333, 1350 and 1400 Broadway, 112 West 34th Street, and the Empire State Building -- while also getting brokers to tour the beautifully upgraded original buildings within the portfolio.

"At 501 Seventh Avenue, 1359 Broadway, 250 West 57th Street and The Lincoln Building at 60 East 42nd Street, we transformed exceptionally well located but underperforming properties into fully tenanted, quality properties, pre-war trophies that can compete with the best buildings," says Anthony E. Malkin, President of Wien & Malkin Supervisory Services. "So what better way to illustrate the future of the new portfolio additions than by showing them next to what we've already accomplished?"

The Passport program worked like this:

During the last two weeks of January, Manhattan brokers were issued passport facsimiles to be used to tour both the "old" and "new" buildings of the W&H portfolio. If they visited all five of the new additions and at least two of the original buildings, getting their "passports" stamped in the process, they qualified for a raffle in which they could win one of nine valuable prizes, consisting of 50-inch Panasonic Plasma HDTV, IBM ThinkPad X60s, and Sony Cyber-shot(r) DSC-T50 digital cameras.

Hundreds of Brokers Participate

Several hundred brokers took the tours to qualify, resulting in significant direct exposure to the new buildings in the portfolio and the plans to transform them, together with positive proof that W&H delivers on its promises.

"It's a powerful message," Mr. Malkin notes. "And the passport program contained another potent motivator -- $15 million of potential brokerage commissions for space that is coming to market from a landlord that has proven that it is a great partner for brokers and tenants alike. That's a very motivating message."