From time to time, this newsletter profiles a Wien & Malkin investor, taking care to preserve his or her privacy. The following article relates how the president of a real estate product and service company doing business with Malkin entities decided to invest with Wien & Malkin after getting to know the strengths of the firm - and why he and his family are very glad he did.

One of the best ways to know whether to invest with a firm is by doing business with it first. Of course, not many prospective investors have such an opportunity. But one who did - the owner of a long-established company that provides specialized products and services for the construction industry - will soon mark ten years as a Wien & Malkin investor. He and his family participate in nearly a dozen of our investment partnerships.

In the course of doing business with W&M Construction, a W&M Properties affiliate - and part of the Malkin family group of companies - in the 1990s, this investor became well acquainted with its chief executive officer, Tom Durels. He also got to know veteran Wien & Malkin attorney Alvin Silverman, who has helped structure many of our most successful trophy syndications.

"Because I was impressed with the professionalism and integrity of Tom and his staff and Alvin, I became more interested in what Wien & Malkin offered beyond Class-A space for tenants," our investor recalls. "I reasoned that if these are good people for my company to do business with, and they are specialists in real estate investment, it's worth taking a shot with them."

Being best acquainted with W&M's suburban office portfolio, he began by purchasing units in 500 Mamaroneck Avenue and 711 Westchester, properties in Westchester County. He soon diversified into retail condominium investments by taking positions in 10 Union Square East and the East-West partnership, both properties in Manhattan.

Next he added investments in the First Stamford Place office complex and the Westport, CT retail block, and participates in the Strategic Capital and Industrial Partners programs.

"I believe in spreading the investments around to provide as much diversity as possible," says the lifetime New York business owner. "And knowing how cautious and disciplined the Malkins are, with a long and successful track record, I'm very comfortable with where they lead us."

He uses the word "us" because his entire immediate family invests in Wien & Malkin programs through a family partnership.

"The partnership, which includes my wife and our three children, provides a number of advantages, including estate-planning benefits," he says. "We have two grandchildren now and eventually they too, may become Malkin investors."

After nearly ten years of investment experience with Wien & Malkin, "we appreciate the success of those investments and their dependable performance, but there is something more. I like the firm's integrity, accessibility and the considerate family-run style of the business. If I call and leave a message, it will be returned within 24 hours. That's a good feeling to have."