Desiato: What were your early days in the family business like?

Rudin: Growing up in the business with my father, grandfather and uncle, I worked in a variety of positions, but when I went off to college, I started exploring different industries. I was finishing up school at NYU. I had worked in the film industry for a couple of summers and realized the unique opportunity I had to understand the real estate business.

In the early '70s, my family had contracted with the Archdiocese of New York to buy a building on 50th and Lexington Ave. By the time we went through the zoning change, the market had crashed. In 1977 as the market started to recover, we purchased the building, what is now 560 Lexington Ave., a very successful project, and the first office building to go up after the fiscal crisis.

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John Salustri

John Salustri has covered the commercial real estate industry for nearly 25 years. He was the founding editor of GlobeSt.com, and is a four-time recipient of the Excellence in Journalism award from the National Association of Real Estate Editors.