City One: News

Mar 21, 1990 -- Robert Morel is one of a handful of people in New York City who knows how to make money work in wondrous ways for local businesses.

Director of industrial planning and financing at Huberth and Peters, Inc. in Manhattan, Morel unearths every funding resource available to companies in need of expa~sion or reloca tion. He is a walking encyclopedia of resources, with contacts in banking and commercial real estate at all levels, and a variety of government agencies.

Through Morel's knowledge and efforts, companies can save money through property tax abatements, energy cost reductions, economic deveIopment zone certification and any other eligible state or city expansion inducement. Morel estimates he saves money for the compames he deals with in three ways:
• By going through government programs, he can cut the acquisition price by 30 to 50 percent over the term of financing.
• By finding banks to buy the bonds after he obtains financing through government approved tax-exempt bonds
• By acting as a real estate broker and helping them find buildings in the outer boroughs (Manhattan clients tend to leave their rental properties in Manhattan for facilities they can purchase in one of the other boroughs.)

Morel calls himsulf a cutter of red tape. He does the footwork so the companies can proceed with their business while he finds the funds they need through government programs.

"These are complicated," he said. "They need help to cut through the red tape. I help them structure deals with city, state and federal programs. Sometimes we piggyback - layer programs to get the most cost-efficient approach."

Morel not only saves his clients time and money, but helps the city by keeping revenues and employment here. He estimated his efforts have helped to retain about 1,000 jobs and to create an additional 700.

His clients encompass a wide varity of businesses but manufacturers, warehouse concerns and the food industry make up the largest portion. Two years ago, he said, when the recylcing busisess was undergoing changes, he had five recycling projects in one year.

In the past year Morel has arranged tax-exempt financing for three New York City companies. The largest of these was a $3.7 milllon tax-exempt bond financing for Manhattan Poly Bag Manufacturing Company in Brooklyn, which included a $2.9 million refinancing of an existing tax-exempt bond issue and $800,000 for new machinery. The bonds were issued by the New York City Development Agency (IDA) at a below-market interest rate of about 8 percent.

In another recent deal, also through the IDA, Morel arranged $1.7 million in tax-exempt financing for Wm. E. Martin & Sons, Inc. The company plans to use the funding to acquire a 45,000 square-foot industrial building in Queens, as well as renovate the facility and purchase machinery. The 15-year term bonds have a below-market interest rate of about 8 percent.

...fewer than half a dozen attorneys and brokers do what he does.

There are pages and pages of the statistics that makeup the transactions Morel has completed since he went to work for Huberth & Peters, Inc. in the mid-1980's.

Morel is a modest man, despite his success. During our interview in a sparce, empty office, he relinquished the desk to me so I would have a writing surface. He would not answer any questions that purported to make him larger than life. When asked how many people in the city are actually in his line of work, he shrugged, smiled and said, "a handful of attorneys and brokers."

Pressed for numbers he finally acquiesced and admitted fewer than half a dozen attorneys and brokers do what he does.

Morel is an ultra-specialist, who limits his work to New York City because he thinks "it's difficult to be a specialist in many areas." He is a commercial real estate salesman who has only just become a broker because, he said "I've done 40 deals and it took me three months just to get the paperwork together to take the exam"

He is a New York City native, having been raised in Queens and residing with his wife and 18 month old son, in Manhattan. The family has recently purchased a country home where they spend weekends and Morel said his weekend hobby has become cutting down trees. But he also admits his greatest pleasure is his son who he refers to as "my life."

So how did this slightly built, quick speaking 36 year old get into such a specialized line of work?

"I never expected it to he my lifetime work," he said. "I realized there was a place for me in the brokerage community. I wanted to get involved in something more concrete."

Morel's first post-college employment had distinct similarities to what he does now. He was a broker of a different variety. Instead of matching companies with resources, he planned trips for the New York City branch of American Youth Hostels, setting up bike trips and making arrangements for groups going te Europe and North America. He was a planner and problem solver, always by the phone ready to deal with the next problem.

After obtaining a masters degree in policy analysis in urban affairs from The New School, Morel went to work for the New York City Office of Economic Development, where he "reported to the person who reported to the person who reported several more layers up at the mayor's office." He functioned as a policy analyst and lobbyist. During the Reagan era, he said, the president's economic policies affected the city economics and "we needed to analyze what the effects would be." Morel describes this as a frustrating process that often ended up with the continual redrafting of paperwork.

I'm a professional nudge! As an expediter that's what you have to be. You need to know when to nudge someone.

"The job was response. It was nothing in depth," he recalled. "I wanted to actually help companies buy a building, machinery or create a job. I wanted to feel I'd helped this company grow, to do something real, concrete."

He left the city job and went to a real estate firm which he left after several years to join Huberth & Peters, Inc.

On a daily basis, he said, he now makes phone calls and deals and follows up on loose ends with government people, bankers and clients. Asked if he was sort of a 'nudge', he laughed.

"I'm a professional nudge!" he said. "As an expediter that's what you have to be. You need to know when to nudge someone."

He is also a shopper, finding the best financing and above all, an interface. "I make sure the government agencies cail me," he said, "rather than the manufacturer. And I build trust with banks. They'll take my deals because they know I'm a major source of business for them."

His success, he knows, is based on the trust he's built over the years. He can get a corporation a deal because of his reputation and experience, and frequently will get funding for a company that can't get it on its own.

"I point out to a banker, for instance, that there are major efficiencies in a new location, such as moving a storage facIlity from Midtown Manhattan to Brooklyn when the company is based in New Jersey."

"And there are sweater manufacturers with such tight space you can hardly walk through the aisles," he said, "let alone get to an item at the bottom of a stack."

"I'll sometimes take bankers through to show them the dlfficulty of getting at things," Morel said. "The most fun is going to the companies, going to a shipyard and seeing a lathe that's about 35 feet turning a ship's propeller, for instance. You get to see how things are made, the equipment that's used."

Both Morel's knowledge and enthusiasm are undoubtedly part of his success, because at this point in his career most of his business comes through referrals.

"I usually get involved because previous clients recommend me to people," he said. "A neighbor of a building I got for a client may recommend me. Also sometimes a company is frustrated with government red tape and someone recommends me and I get involved in the 11th hour. I get business from brokers who dont want to see their projects 'dangling in the wind.' I expedite the process."

In addition, Morel said, brokers come to him from other agencies and other boroughs. And accountants refer their clients to him when they need to buy a building.

"Talk to Rob," Morel imitates the ac- countants. "Let's see if it makes sense, if your numbers are strong enough."

The Tax-Exempt Program is governed by the IRS, Morel said, and the code is amended every several years.

"I've been doing this long enough to know when a company won't be eligible," he explained. But he also does conventional financing so he can help clients even if they lack eligibility for the government programs.

"The government cut back dramatically a few years ago," Morel said. "They talked about terminating (the program), called it sunsetting. They were due to sunset in December, 1989, then extended it to September 1990."

Morel said the government drain is only $7 million a year, an amount he said "is nothing compared to the number of jobs saved."

At the moment, Morel is actively involved in a deal for a major baking concern he wouldn't name. He is doing financing for them on both real estate and equipment.

"You wouldn't believe the tablecothes you'll see their products on," he said. "This bakery produces food used at four-star Manhattan restaurants!"