Professional Experience
Associated Office
An undisputed leader in the industry, Paul J. Amrich, Vice Chairman in the New York City Advisory & Transaction Services Group, combines marketing intelligence and an incisive understanding of his clients’ goals to consistently achieve outstanding success in leasing and repositioning properties. First joining CBRE in 2006, Mr. Amrich has 29 years in the business. In 2023, Mr. Amrich was honored to be appointed Chairman of the CBRE Investor Leasing Advisory Board. This prestigious group comprises the leading landlord/investor representatives from the top 10 cities across the U.S. to share game-changing, best-in-class practices that elevate CBRE’s Landlord Advisory Practice across all markets.
When promoted in January 2012, Mr. Amrich was the youngest Vice Chairman in the firm’s history. He has been included in the prestigious Colbert Coldwell Circle—the Top 100 Global Producing Professionals—every year since joining CBRE and has been one of the top 25 producers nationally at CBRE for the past 10 years. In 2018 and 2019, he was the number one producer in CBRE’s Tri-State region.
Mr. Amrich’s expertise lies in forging and nurturing alliances with the many landlords and occupiers he serves. He has completed over 30 million square feet of leasing and currently represents more than 28 million square feet of Class A office space on behalf of New York’s premier landlords. In addition, Mr. Amrich has been actively involved with developing a robust tenant rep/advisory practice in recent years, specifically serving the unique needs of high level financial organizations, hedge funds, and private equity firms.
Mr. Amrich has been a vital participant in many of Manhattan’s game-changing transactions including his work on behalf of Oxford Properties and CPPIB in the 1.3 million-sq.-ft. lease of 550 Washington in its entirety to a Confidential Multinational Technology Company; the 389,500-sq.-ft., 30-year lease for New York University on behalf of Columbia Property Trust; and the 977,255-sq.-ft. long-term renewal and expansion of the Publicis Groupe at 375 Hudson Street bringing the building to 99% leased for owners Hines, Trinity and Norges. In addition, he helped Normandy underwrite the redevelopment of the iconic ABC Carpet and Home Building into a trophy creative office space. The lease executed for 105,000 sq. ft. for the Netflix NYC headquarters took the building to 100% occupancy before the base building work was completed.
His recent tenant representation transactions include a 51,070-sq.-ft. renewal and expansion for Tiger Global Management and a 40,295-sq.-ft. expansion for Summit Rock Advisors. Mr. Amrich’s relationships with both of these prestigious financial firms began many years ago when they were starting out. From the acquisitions of those initial intimate spaces, he became a trusted advisor that has helped them expand as their needs have grown.
Among Mr. Amrich’s recent notable agency deals is the 176,540-sq. ft. renewal of Medidata Solutions (life sciences software company) at 350 Hudson Street for owners Hines, Trinity and Norges; and the 227,201-sq.-ft. renewal of iHeart Media at 125 West 55th Street for J.P. Morgan Asset Management & Waterman Interests. In the latter pivotal and complex deal, iHeart Media consolidated its downtown studio space into 125 West 55th Street requiring an abundance of power—and the infrastructure to put in massive generators. As a result, the lower block of the building was leased for an additional 10 years with very favorable economics in the most challenging times during the pandemic. Also of note is the 78,353-sq.-ft. lease for Joele Frank Associates at 22 Vanderbilt Avenue on behalf of the Milstein Companies. In this transaction, the team helped the tenant fully realize the benefits of being in a fully amenitized building and reimagining their footprint. The tenant’s actual square footage remained the same, but they gained valuable real estate because they no longer needed dedicated amenities in their space.
Mr. Amrich’s team was the most active agency broker for the past decade in the Meatpacking District achieving the highest rents at 412 West 15th Street during lease-up and achieving leasing success at 430 West 15th Street where the team secured Palantir as the 15-year anchor tenant prior to construction beginning on the redevelopment for the entire 99,000 sq.-ft. asset at record rents at the time.
Mr. Amrich is often tapped by the media, including Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, to offer his unique insight on the commercial real estate market. He regularly lends his expertise to industry panel discussions, including the CBRE New York office’s quarterly media updates, and has been profiled in leading industry publications such as the Commercial Observer and The Real Deal. He began his commercial real estate career in 1996 with Cushman & Wakefield.