With a 400-plus team of building managers, responsible for some 115 assets totaling 37 million sf, Popkin was concerned with more than simply how and when he would get home. In fact, as of Sunday morning, when this interview took place, he was still monitoring the condition of buildings from his Westchester home and preparing to determine what aspects of the firm's emergency preparedness plan--in place since Sept. 11--worked and what aspects failed.

As he reports, the first priority was to determine how widespread the problem was. From his MetLife building perch, he could see the stilled roof fans of Grand Central Station and he knew immediately that, "this was extensive."

Communication was key, says Popkin, but server-based Blackberries such as his company uses were down and cell phone use was sporadic at best. Equipped with two way radios, the manager could at least communicate with other CBRE staffers at 200 Park.

"We made our way down to the mezzanine-level command center," he reports. "My prime concern was to make sure 200 Park was going well and at the same time we sent members of our staff to all the other Manhattan buildings. Where we could get a land line that wasn't electronically based, we called all our other properties, which have dedicated staffs."

Periodic drilling of all building personnel on emergency evacuation procedures in the nearly two years since Sept. 11 helped to make the evacuation of buildings an orderly process, he reports, and periodic sweeps of the buildings helped management to keep track of tenants who opted to remain in their offices.

While announcements were being made in all the buildings to keep tenants calm and share the latest updates on the blackout, Popkin faced "a multitude of problems, such as ensuring that everyone within our own organization was okay and addressing the problem of people stuck in elevators."

He estimates that people were stranded in only six of CBRE's 20 Manhattan buildings. "We resolved all of these within a couple of hours," he reports. "With elevator entrapments, it's necessary to get all of the proper resources in place--electrical engineers and elevator consultants--to bring power back if possible and bring the elevator level to a floor." Another priority was to ensure that emergency backup systems were operational for CBRE's 24/7 tenants around town.

Popkin says that the suburbs presented the least problem, owing in part to the fact that the outlying areas regained electricity long before Manhattan did and that most suburban assets are low-rise. Of all the problems he faced, the biggest one, he says, was trying to accommodate the roughly 600 people who clogged the lobby of 200 Park--especially after the gates to adjacent Grand Central were closed. "When we saw we were getting a full house, we closed entrances to anyone else," he says. "Management of the lobby restaurant--Cucina--opened their restrooms to those people and made bread available. We also put in emergency lights and pulled water coolers from various spaces. By 9pm, two thirds of the people were asleep on the floors." Oddly, at about 6am, when the gates to Grand Central opened--even though there was still no train service--everyone evacuated 200 Park in what Popkin describes as "a mass exodus."

Of his own staff, "No one went home until we knew the buildings were safe," he reports. Popkin himself left for home at 2a.m. to "get some shut eye and be able to monitor situations throughout the tri-state area via land lines."

While power has been restored, as of Sunday morning, the city, "is not yet back to normal," says Popkin, who was still waiting for ConEd to get steam capacity enough to power AC systems in various buildings. Over the next few days, systems checking will be a priority.

"Otherwise we are out of the woods," he states. "Of course, we all need to be cautious, and we can't let our level of vigilance down." Another priority over the next few days will be to evaluate what portions of the emergency plan worked and which didn't. Clearly, says Popkin, communications will be a prime focus. "But the majority of the plan worked extremely well," he reports.

In terms of personnel, however, he has no complaints: "I'm so proud of the way they performed. They really stepped up to the plate, and all of them gave selflessly."