Partners work double duty to keep tenants happy.

When it comes to Michael Lenchner and Greg Gang, managing directors of SageGroup Associates, the brokerage affiliate of the William Kaufman Organization, you can't have one without the other.

Although they come from very different backgrounds, the roads that led them to Sage were similar and the pair has developed an uncanny knack of thinking as one over a partnership spanning 17 years.

"We live near each other, we socialize outside of the office, our wives are friends and we both have two kids that are close in age," said Gang. "And we've never had a fight," added Lenchner.

Gang graduated from the University of Buffalo in 1983 with a degree in economics and then landed his first job at an investment bank. The long hours and tedious work left him frustrated with banking and, when a friend suggested a career in commercial real estate, he took a chance on the change.

For the next five years, Gang immersed himself in the industry learning, from the bottom up, the finer points of the business from the seasoned brokers at Abramson Brothers.

Lechner, meanwhile, graduated from the University of Hartford in 1989 with a degree in marketing. He too found himself not knowing what his next step should be and looked to a friend who already worked in real estate for counsel. Lechner ultimately took a position with one of the city's biggest real estate firms and never looked back.

Little did either man know that what began accidentally was the beginning of their life-long careers in real estate, and the first stepping-stone towards their friendship.

Sage Group Associates is a division of Sage Realty Corporation, the property management arm of the Kaufman Organization that has earned a place among Manhattan's most respected names in real estate, managing its buildings as assets and providing a comprehensive package of tenant services.

Sage Group Associates was established in 1989 as Kaufman set out to differentiate the company's three million square feet New York City portfolio of Class A buildings from its properties in the UK, where the company owns 23 buildings in England, Scotland and Wales. Lenchner was hired to help launch the firm with Gang joining just a few months into the endeavor. The two men discovered an immediate kinship both as colleagues and as friends. Their partnership extends beyond the perimeters of their office, which they choose to share because, they say, they have a system of sharing information that allows them to feed ideas off each other.

Gang and Lenchner lead a team that helps Kaufman maintain 99.9% occupancy in its buildings through its commitment to not only meet the demands of tenants such as Goldman Sachs, Grey Global Group, Wachovia Bank, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Rockefeller Fund and Omnicom Group, but to exceed their expectations.

They already have an advantage, according to Lechner, who points out that the Manhattan portfolio of Class A office towers--437 Madison Avenue, 767 Third Avenue, 777 Third Avenue, 747 Third Avenue, 77 Water Street, and 320 W 13th Street--is a unique collection of buildings owned by a family-run firm that has a stellar name in management circles.

"Their great reputation makes our jobs easier," said Lenchner.

Throughout 2006, due to the high occupancy levels in Kaufman's six major office towers, the majority of their transactions were routine renewals. "Kaufman buildings have a great reputation for maintaining their tenants," said Gang.

By building and operating their own buildings, Kaufman has been able to offer tenants personalized service in every aspect of their business through Sage Group Associates.

"Each building has a tablet that logs whatever issues the tenant has and we make sure that it is dealt with immediately and then follow up to ensure every crease is ironed out. Kaufman buildings are the only buildings in the city that offer that," said Lenchner.

The partners are optimistic that 2007 will see the commercial market surge to even greater heights as low vacancy continues to impact rents. "With the market tightening, our focus will be renewals, because rents will continue to rise," said Lenchner.

"It all goes back to supply and demand and people prefer to be in Kaufman buildings," added Gang.