7/31/2019 At the Desk June 2012

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22June2012www.TheRealDeal.com

At the Deskof :Dennis Russo

PHOTOGRAPHFORTHEREALDEALBYCHRISMARTIN

Dennis Russo may be co-head of the real estate department at law rmHerrick, Feinstein which has one of the biggest such practices i nthe city but hes not your average Ivy League attorney. The son of a re-

ghter, he went to St. Johns University Law School in Queens, where he grew

up. Russo who specializes in workouts, restructurings, joint ventures,

acquisitions, dispositions and development projects now oversees a team

of more than 50 lawyers. He has a host of high-prole clients, including

Hersha Hospitality andSherwood Equities. Russos team also handled Hershas

$104 million purchase of the Hyatt Union Square and Gemini Real Estates de-

velopment of the newGem Hotel on 13th Street, which is slated to open later

this year. The amateur musician is also a landlord and developer in his own

right, owning about 450 residential apartments, mostly in Brooklyn, as well

as several small retail properties in the outer boroughs. By Guelda Voien

Russo has played guitar for 35 years and

says collecting guitars is his passion. He

has roughly 150 of them, including gui-

tars previously owned byPeter Framp-

ton and B.B. King. This redwood guitar

was custom-made by famed manufac-

turer Fender Stratocaster using wood

from the deck of his Fire Island home.

As a law student in the late 1980s, Russo

started renovating NYC brownstones and

multifamily buildings with his cousin and

childhood friend. This cast-iron gate is

from the rst building they renovated in

Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Today, Russo is on

the investment committee at Herrick,one

of the few rms where partners actually

invest in real estate. The rm currently

has interests in about 40 properties.

This plaque, awarded to anNYPD

precinct in 1938, is part of Her-

ricks collection ofarchitectural

artiacts, which also includes an

original 1913 copper ornament

from the Woolworth Building.

This typewriter belonged

to Russos uncle, an intel-

ligence ofcer in the U.S.

Army in World War II. Thistypewriter has traveled

through most of the battles

in Europe, Russo says.

Russo found this drawing ofJulius and Ethel

Rosenberg which he later discovered had

an inscription written byPablo Picasso in

a house he bought on Fire Island. The former

owners mother, a lawyer, had represented

the Rosenbergs when they were convicted of

passing secrets to the former Soviet Union.

Picasso, who was a communist sympathizer,

gave this to her as a present, Russo says.

This uniform belonged to Russos late fa-

ther, a longtime frefghter in Brooklyn and

Queens. My family is being Irish cops

and remen, Russo says. My father put out

all the res in Brooklyn when it was b urning

to hell. Great guy not a pencil pusher.

A photo of Russo riding a dirt bike

with clientRichard Meilman, of Mei-

lman Properties, in upstate New York

last October. He is teaching me how

to ride dirt bikes yes, at age 50.

Russo was given this clock when

he left Herrick in 1999 for Son-nenschein Nath & Rosenthal. He

returned to Herrick in 2003, and

took over as the head of the real

estate practice last year.

This photo of Russo

with Guns N Roses gui-

tarist Slash was taken

last year at the Nation-

al Association of Music

Merchants show. The

guitar companies invite

me because they know I

buy guitars, Russo says.

At another show earlier

this year, he met up with

Ben Friedman, president

of real estate rm Aba-

cus Capital Group.