Michael Kleinberg: designing relationships.

"We're the prefect partners," says Jeffrey Kleinberg of his brother Michael Kleinberg, partners at the space planning and interior architecture firm their father founded more than 47 years ago. "I tend toward the creative side and he tends toward the business side."

As president and head of business development at MKDA (Milo Kleinberg Design Associates), Kleinberg has spent the past 28 years working side-by-side with his brother and father to help the family company grow from $15 million to more than $75 million in project valuations.

He has also transformed the firm, which at its inception had been focused on a single sector, into the most recognizable name in the Manhattan market by expanding the firm's reach to include the finance, entertainment and publishing sectors, to name a few; and also by developing lasting business relationships with brokers and landlords.

Kleinberg got his start in architecture early. During high school, he finished his days at MKDA under the tutelage of his father, Milo Kleinberg, learning architectural fundamentals: to measure, to draw and to design. "I was always under my father's creative influence, so architectural design is all I can ever remember wanting to do," he says.

The inclination to design was in his blood, but it was his interest and knack for the business side of things that would eventually take him by surprise. When Kleinberg officially joined the firm in 1978 after completing his architectural degree from City College of New York (CUNY), he immediately started to assess how to help the creative company grow.

In only four short years Kleinberg eked out a place for himself within MKDA that had less to do with designing space than it did with designing business relationships. "Clearly, good design is paramount, but in order to offer our clients added value, we believe in art of relationship design," he says.

Establishing and building relationships between landlords, brokers and corporate office tenants has always been Kleinberg's forte and the firm's manifesto. Under his direction, MKDA has not only helped a myriad of corporate tenants define their space, but it has frequently helped some of the busiest brokers in town--including brokers from CB Richard Ellis, Cushman & Wakefield, Newmark, and Studley--quickly close lease transactions through visionary preliminary space planning.

Notably, MKDA has helped some of the biggest landlords in the industry rent space, even during challenging market conditions. For Equity Office Properties Trust, for example, MKDA recently subdivided and built out 18,000 square feet of office space at 717 Fifth Avenue. The design resulted in full leasing of a space that had been difficult to lease because of large floor plates in just a few short months. MKDA also helped bring a tenant into the space because of its relationship with brokers

MKDA counts Silverstein Properties, The Durst Organization, Reckson Associates Realty Corp., Rockrose Development Corp., Paramount Group, and Vornado Realty Trust among the high-profile landlords with which it has built lasting relationships. "When I see Michael's name attached, I know it is a quality landlord," says Barry Lewen, senior managing director of Grubb & Ellis New York Inc.

Kleinberg's strategy for relationship building has paid off. This year, MKDA was ranked eighth in Interior Design magazine's Second 100 Interior Design Giants 2006. An additional component to MKDA's success is Kleinberg's business initiative to keep the firm diversified like a well-rounded stock portfolio.

In the 1970s, MKDA designed Gloria Vanderbilt's famed showroom, which featured a canary yellow reception desk set in a vivid blue background. The Milo Kleinberg showroom was not only cache then, but it was what kept the business running. Today, the firm still designs showrooms like the one it did recently for Marcraft--makers of the Donald Trump suit--at Trump Tower, but it is just as likely to design office spaces for hedge funds.

"When the market shifts, we move with it," says Kleinberg. "We use our experience in working with various sectors to stay flexible and to shift with changing market conditions. We did this, for example, when hedge funds exploded into the marketplace."

In the past three years alone, MKDA has planned and designed space for XE Capital, Saranac Capital Management, Primus, Bass Trading and Concordia Advisors, to name a few. In fact, the firm recently opened its first ever design office outside of New York in Stamford, CT to tackle the large number of hedge funds--in addition to brokers and landlords--in Fairfield and Westchester Counties.

"I'm always amazed by Michael's ability to do things single-handedly. He saw an opportunity to expand the business into a market outside of New York, and was able to get the office up and running successfully on his own," says Jeffrey.

Kleinberg's skills at relationship building and business development translate easily to his 25 year-long role as a member of the Real Estate & Allied Trades Division Executive Committee of the UJA Federation of New York, for which he raises funds and engages some of the most influential entrepreneurs in the real estate industry. His philanthropic efforts have resulted in a number of awards and recognitions.

Additionally, Kleinberg is a chairperson of the Building Committee at Westchester Day School and a member of the Real Estate Board of New York and The Facilities Managers Association.

When asked the secret to his success, Kleinberg will cite focus, hard work and learning from the experience of others. His brother says it's his believability, honesty and intimate knowledge of the product he sells.

According to Bill O'Connor, principal of O'Connor Capital Partners, it's the fact that he makes himself consistently available that's really impressive. "When you called, you dealt with Michael, you weren't shuffled off to someone else," he says.

"Truthfully, it's the art of the relationship between myself and my brother and father," concludes Kleinberg. "In business, success is always a joint effort."