This top five advertising agency needed to consolidate from four locations within tight occupancy cost limitations.  The existing office market offered nothing which was both large enough and affordable. We decided to use our own development experience to translate Ogilvy & Mather's needs, objectives and constraints into a hypothetical development model which would make sense both to a developer and to our client as tenant.  We reversed the usual roles by creating a competition among developers for a transaction of our own conception.  The most promising plan was for a 1.5 million square foot building to be 40% occupied by Ogilvy, with a stepped rent plus an equity participation. The idea was proposed and "sold" to the developer of the old Madison Square Garden site, so that he modeled his project and lease on our terms.
The program solved our client's problem, made a huge project feasible and helped reinforce our client's image as a highly creative agency.
Mr. Pattison won the New York Real Estate Board's Lawrence Award for Ingenuity and Professionalism for this transaction.