Murray Hill Properties and the Mann Group join forces.

Executives from Murray Hill Properties and the Mann Group have announced that the Mann Group has become a division of Murray Hill Properties effective December 1st.

Asserting that the union will capitalize on the two New York commercial real estate firms' strengths, particularly in the fashion industry and the area known as Times Square South, partners from both firms touted the partnership as a "strategic coup."

Both entities will retain their names, with the Mann Group becoming "a division of Murray Hill Properties," according to Neil Siderow, partner at Murray Hill Properties, and Jeffrey Mann, president of The Mann Group.

Both firms have long-standing reputations in their respective markets. Murray Hill has served the tri-state area for more than 25 years, offering both commercial and retail brokerage services and third party property management. In its leasing operation, Murray Hill Properties deals in the 10,000 to 100,000 square-foot, and it manages buildings between 200,000 and 1 million square feet, including 44 Wall Street, 30 Broad Street, 370 Lexington Avenue and 270 Madison Avenue. The firm is comprised of more than 30 brokers and approximately 25 staff members.

Murray Hill's retail division was the broker for Avon when it entered its first retail location, a 32,000 square-foot space in Trump Tower at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. In addition, Murray, Hill manages property for Credit Suisse First Boston and has closed numerous successful lease and sales transactions for such clients as Aetna; MCI Telecommunications; Bear, Stearns; Gucci; Lenox Hill Hospital; Intel; and Chase Manhattan Bank.

The name Mann has been a household name with fashion insiders for decades. Jeff Mann was in the garment trade for 25 years, continuing in the footsteps of his father, Irving Mann, who got into the business in the 1930's.

"My family has been involved in the ownership of many buildings through a relationship with Irving Schneider of Helmsley Spear," Mann said. "I was fortunate to have learned both sides of the business, having met all the players in the garment and real estate industries at an early age through my father. I've been able to develop a good working relationship with both sides over the years, and that's what makes this partnership with Murray Hill so unique. I understand both sides of this equation and can put together deals that work for each party, whether its a warehouse, factory, cutting room or showroom."

Due to his father's close relationship with Schneider, who he said "had a vision of New York City real estate second to none," they made many amazing investments together.

"My father always told me as a young man that Irving was the brightest and the most trustworthy person in the industry," Mann recalled. "He never questioned him. He was special to my father and he is just as special to me."

Mann, who also owns Mann Publications, publisher of the Fashion Manuscript and The Mann Report, fashion and real estate magazines, added "Due to the extraordinary growth in the publishing business, the timing was right for me to expand the brokerage business. Murray Hill Properties was the obvious choice, given their unparalleled commitment to customer service and their ability to respond to market changes quickly on behalf of their clients."

Voted "Fashion Man of the Year" by the Fabric Salesman's Association, Mann understands the subtleties that differentiate a warehouse from a factory and a cutting room from and showroom. He literally speaks his client's language: not only does he know the industry lingo from his years as a "dress man," but he also caters to the Asian community, long an integral part of the fashion industry, by offering business cards and servicing transactions in both Chinese and Korean.

The Garment District, also known as the Fashion Center, was responsible for $16 billion, or 75 percent, of Manhattan's total manufacturing and wholesale output in 1992. The District also employs an estimated 48,000 people, a large portion of the Manhattan fashion industry's 133,000 person workforce.