B-building experts expand.

While the oversupply of new commercial space and bargain hunting tenants have helped open up opportunities for brokers in the Class-A market, Winoker Realty is on an expansion course in the leasing and management of Manhattan's older buildings.

A specialist in the "Penn-Garment Segment" since 1969 - in the garment center alone they lease and manage 2.6 million square feet, Winoker Realty has recruited a number of brokers with experience in other areas of the city. In addition to 1370 and 1375 Broadway, their new exclusive agency assignments include buildings in the Lower Broadway and Park Avenue South corridors. Among them are 568 Broadway, home to the flagship store of Armani A/X, 95 Madison, 360 Lexington, and 291 Broadway.

Owners in these neighborhoods like the fact that Winoker does not yet manage a lot of other buildings on the same street, said David Winoker, executive vice president of the family-held firm founded and still headed by his father, Sid.

"It's good to be the new kid on the block," said the younger Winoker.

Fred Adelman recently joined the firm, as executive director, after 15 years at Williams and stints at Koeppel Tener Riguardi and Edward S. Gordon. Many brokerage firms today, according to Adelman, view "B" buildings as an impediment to attaining high-profile exclusives and promotional assignments.

"It does have an effect on their image to take B/B-minus buildings and handle them," he said.

At Winoker, Adelman said, they are not interested in big promotional deals but rather they focus on the buildings and the agencies and the management.

"It really qualifies your company when you say you are exclusive agent," he said.

An experienced exclusive agent, Adelman will assist the firm in getting new assignments in Midtown West. Adelman was instrumental in Winoker being enlisted at 95 Madison and 1370 Broadway. Other recent additions to the firm's ranks include Jonathan P. Switzer who has focused on Lower Broadway. While at Rubell & Miller, Inc., Switzer was exclusive agent at 568 Broadway for Integrated Resources and was involved in the deal that brought Armani/A/X to the building. He will serve as leasing agent for 568-5-18 Broadway and 291 Broadway.

Bruce Weinberg, formerly a managing director at The Ginsburg Organization, has specialized in East Side tenant representation in the Plaza district and other areas. His client roster has included Mitsui & Co. (USA) Inc., Toyota Tsusho of America, Bergdoff Goodman Menswear and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Also arriving from Rubell Miller, Inc. is Ravah Daley, an experienced exclusive agent who also worked for some ... Time will tell."

Meanwhile, the Winokers and Adelman said they support the notion of granting incentives for transforming some architecturally distinct" B buildings, in Downtown Manhattan particularly, into residential space. They believe this will give obsolete buildings new life, create opportunity in the real estate business and provide an alternative to high-priced luxury apartments for municipal employees and others.

"Someone's got to put that plan into operation," said Sid Winoker. time at Newmark & Co.

A Whole Different World

In addition to leasing, Winoker, armed with David Winoker's knowledge of construction and building systems and Sid Winoker's experience, tackles the management challenges particular to these vintage properties.

"They could be 50, 70 and 80 years old," said Sid Winoker.

Many of the buildings, according to the older Winoker have violations of the certificate of occupancy "CO" and they were not properly built. And, unlike newer buildings, each floor has its own air conditioning system.

"It's a completely different world from the Class-A buildings," he said.

Winoker said they have to convince sometimes-reluctant owners, both institutions and individuals, to replace windows and elevator systems. And they have to make buildings conform to local laws that were not even thought of when the structures were built.

"We're really coming on to a system running 40 miles an hour and, we not only have to keep it running, we have to improve it," he said.

When they take on a management assignment at an older building, the firm never knows what it will find.

"Complete sets of plans are not available to us, " said S id Winoker.

At 37 West 39th Street, preliminary work revealed that previous renovations of the turn-of-the century structure had hidden a cast-iron facade and a mosaic tile floor in the lobby. Winoker continued to uncover and restore the facade and the lobby, which now serve as points of distinction for the property.

The contraction in Midtown office rents has forced Class-b owners to become more competitive as well. So while some tenants are moving to the Grand Central area, said David Winoker, others are cutting advantageous deals in their current Class-B locations. Those owners who did not refinance during the 80's and take money out of their buildings, are in the best position to respond to their tenants, he said.

"Again it's a question of pricing," agreed Sid Winoker.

While a number of industry analysts are pessimistic about the future of the city's older commercial stock, Sid Winoker said that the firms that must be in high-profile spaces are supported by the companies that take space in B buildings. Many of these buildings, he said, will continue to thrive on that group of tenants.

"We have to keep them going for as long as the owners are able," he said."