Sigman finds missing pieces in development puzzles.

David Sigman, senior vice president of LCOR, was truly primed to tackle the tricky, large-scale projects for which he is renowned when he studied engineering at Princeton University.

"As a project exec, I am focused on everything from soup to nuts, from choosing land to identifying sites to purchasing, to arranging development," Sigman said. "Especially in New York, where zoning is complicated and everything is a puzzle play, it really helps to understand the intricacies of how things fit together technically. design solution is unique."

Shortly after graduating from Princeton, Sigman left the business consulting firm where he was employed and followed in the footprints left in the cement by his father who ran a real estate design firm. He whet his appetite for the business after snagging a job with the Zeckendorfs working on such large-scale, complicated projects as the redesign of the three million square feet Ronald Regan Federal Office Building, a project on which he collaborated creatively with world class architect, James Ing Freed, who is renowned for designing the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.

It wasn't until Sigman moved to New York City and began working for LCOR--the development, investment, operations and asset management firm--on projects such as the redevelopment of Terminal 4 at John E Kennedy Airport that he learned what type of work was required to see a mega project through to fruition.

"I went from doing $25 million projects in DC, to a billion and a half dollar project at JFK. It was a big change. You use the same skill set, but there are a lot more people and a lot more coordination is involved."

The transformation of that job's scope was both economic and physical. When Sigman first embarked on the project, moving from an office where plans were drafted on 8 1/2 by 11 sheets of paper, to the 165-acres on the airport where the project would be realized, he was floored.

Developers with a shorter attention span may have been daunted by the 10-year process of working on the project--which involved everything from juggling permits to overseeing construction. Sigman believes the experience provided him with a steady foundation for all his future work, including JFK Corporate Square, an offshoot of the terminal providing housing adjacent to the JFK Air Train Light Rail station in Queens, and the redevelopment of the millions of square feet behind the New Jersey Hoboken Train Station.

Sigman may have had the most technical fun helping to develop the Stratus on West 25th Street. The 40-story building, replete with cantilever jutting 40 ft over an adjacent private building, required a floor plate and footprint that needed to be constantly reconfigured as zoning and air rights changed. To complete it, Sigman had to pull all his best tools out of his developer's suitcase.

"I really get a kick doing something like the Stratus. There were so many problems to be addressed before we could build that building. We had to negotiate with both ConEd and a private family to purchase the building, at the same time the geometry of the building was exceptionally complicated," Sigman said.

As with every new project, the Stratus helped Sigman expand his repertoire--and re-evaluate the relationship between the site and its larger possibilities in the market.

"We are always looking for creative ways to expand it or to use zoning to our benefit. The whole business is very experience-based, so it helps to have been through it a few times," Sigman said.

He hopes this knowledge will help him to weather changes in the future and help maximize opportunity for some of the work he has in the pipeline, such as the development of the New Jersey Transit land behind the Hoboken Train Station.

"We are pretty well known for doing large scale, mixed use projects," Sigman said. "The market has become a lot more competitive. We are spending a lot of time putting more complicated deals together. We are staying aware of how the market is changing and reacting quickly to changes."