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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement from FIP Ventures LLC
January 21, 2010 – Investment group FIP Ventures has signed a contract to purchase the vast majority of commercial establishments in Fire Island Pines, the internationally-famous gay community.
The group is purchasing the assets of Pines Commercial Properties, including the famed Pavilion nightclub complex, the Blue Whale and Bay Bar restaurants, the Hotel Ciel, a grocery store, gym, clothing store and numerous retail outlets and residential properties. The deal is expected to close in March.
The FIP Ventures team consists of Seth Weissman, 26, a Pines summer renter and a managing partner of Weissman Equities, a Manhattan-based real estate investment firm; Matthew Blesso, 36, president of Blesso Properties, a developer of innovative high-end real estate in New York and abroad, and Andrew Kirtzman, 48, a veteran New York City journalist, author, Fire Island Pines homeowner and owner of The Madison Fire Island Pines.
The FIP Ventures team is a diverse group of highly-accomplished professionals whose combined experience will ensure the continuing success of the Fire Island Pines.
Blesso, a creative and socially-conscious developer, has garnered numerous design awards, including an American Institute Architects New York State Award of Excellence in 2009. “I’m thrilled our team is acquiring this storied group of assets. This purchase allows us to employ unique designs and concepts and build upon a great tradition,” he said.
Kirtzman, the former host of “Kirtzman and Co.” on WCBS-TV and “Inside City Hall” on New York 1 News, got his start in journalism as co-founder of The Fire Island Villager, which he began publishing at the age of 17. In 2007, he opened a high-end guest house in the Pines called The Madison Fire Island Pines.
“The Pines is both a chic international destination and a small town, with its own long-standing traditions,” said Kirtzman, who has spent virtually every summer of his life in Fire Island. “We’re intent on preserving the very qualities that make the Pines unique.”
Weissman, named one of Real Estate New York’s “Thirty Under Thirty” people to watch in 2008 and former Goldman Sachs investment banker, said, “This is a community with some of the most accomplished, affluent and creative figures in the gay community. They demand a high level of services and amenities and we will give it to them.”
Further details of the transaction and a description of the purchaser's plans will not be released until the acquisition is complete.
More detailed bios of the Triumvirate after the jump...
Here are more complete bios of the owners:
MATTHEW BLESSO
Matthew Blesso is President and Founder of Blesso Properties, a New York-based innovative, socially-conscious development company established in 1998.
The firm has developed nine projects including a 12-story loft building, a $9.4MM Greenwich Village townhouse and a boutique hotel in Panama. The firm’s projects have garnered six design awards and set numerous sales price records.
The company prides itself in identifying unique investment opportunities and executing creative designs. The company’s projects have garnered tremendous interest and have been featured in The New York Times, Interior Design, Le Figaro, The New Yorker, International Architecture and Design, Bloomberg TV, New York Living, and International Homes among many others.
Blesso Properties is also committed to being socially responsible. The firm incorporates sustainable practices into all of its projects and donates a portion of the profits of each project to philanthropic causes. To date, the company has donated in excess of $200,000 and Matthew currently serves on five non-profit Boards.
Blesso,36, was born and raised in Paterson New Jersey. He currently resides in Noho.
ANDREW KIRTZMAN
New Yorkers know Andrew Kirtzman as the former host of the political shows “Kirtzman and Co.” on WCBS-TV and “Inside City Hall” on New York 1 News, and as the author of best-selling books about Bernie Madoff and Rudy Giuliani.
But residents of Fire Island Pines know Andrew as the owner of The Madison Fire Island Pines, a high-end guest house, and as a long-time homeowner. Kirtzman has spent almost every summer of his life in Fire Island; he got his start in journalism as the co-founder of The Ocean Beach Villager (later the Fire Island Villager) at the age of 17.
Kirtzman has covered more than a dozen national political campaigns for print and television. He has spent months at a time reporting abroad, covering the fallout from the Iraq war in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. In September 1999, Brill's Content magazine named Kirtzman one of New York's 10 Most Influential Journalists.
In 2009, Harper Collins published Kirtzman’s second book, “Betrayal: The Life and Lies of Bernie Madoff,” a biography of the man who perpetrated the most sweeping financial crime in history. The book was a New York Times best-seller.
In 2000, Harper Collins published "Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of The City," which chronicled the mayor’s attempt to turn New York around through the sheer force of his will, and the often ruthless tactics he used to accomplish his goals. Kirtzman was with Giuliani on the morning of September 11, and wrote an additional chapter for the paperback version of the book with a first-person account of the mayor’s handling of the crisis. The hardcover and paperback versions sold almost 30,000 copies.
Kirtzman came to WCBS-TV in 2002. In 2003, his week-in-review feature “Kirtzman’s Column” won an Emmy award for outstanding political programming. His weekly Sunday morning television show “Kirtzman and Co.” on WCBS-TV was required viewing for the city’s political junkies and a rite of passage for political candidates and elected officials. While at WCBS, he chronicled the 2008 presidential primaries in reports for the station, The Washington Post and CBSNews.com.
Kirtzman came to WCBS from New York 1 News, for which he anchored the nightly political show "Inside City Hall.” During that time, he also wrote a bi-weekly column for New York Magazine.
Previously, Kirtzman served as a government reporter for the New York Daily News, an investigative reporter for the Houston Post and city editor of the Hudson Dispatch in New Jersey.Kirtzman attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as executive editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian, and received his degree in journalism from NYU.
Kirtzman, 48, is married to Kyle Froman, a dance photographer and former member of the New York City Ballet. He was born and raised on Manhattan's Lower East Side, and currently resides in Noho.
SETH WEISSMAN
Seth is a Managing Partner of Weissman Equities, a real estate investment firm focused on value-added investments. Prior to co-founding Weissman Equities with his brother Matthew, Seth worked in the real estate private equity group of Perry Capital, a $15 billion multi-strategy hedge fund.
At Perry, Seth handled the underwriting of equity and debt investments across multiple asset classes. Seth was responsible for more than $400 million worth of transactions representing over 2 million square feet of office, multi-family, hospitality, and retail space. Seth was also responsible for the “hard money” and bridge lending platform which provided short-term loans on real estate assets throughout the United States.
Seth worked on hotel and mixed-used deals in the United States and Mexico, including both traditional hotel deals and hybrid condo-hotels and luxury time shares in New York, Florida, California and Mexico. He provided financing for several mid-scale hospitality projects ranging from the Point Breeze on Nantucket to the firm’s $50 million investment in Exclusive Resorts (http://www.exclusiveresorts.com/), a luxury destination club, and Equinox Fitness, a luxury fitness company with 150,000 members and 45 clubs throughout the U.S.
Seth serves on the Victory Campaign Board of the Victory Fund, a group which works to elect openly-gay candidates to public office,
as well as on the Young Friend’s of Mount Sinai.
He earned his BS in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2008, Real Estate New York named Seth one of their “30 Under 30” rising stars of commercial real estate.
Seth, 26, spends his summers as a renter in Fire Island Pines. He currently resides in Gramercy Park.
Counting down until the summer!
xx,
Parker
1 comments:
SCOOP! Way to go, Parker Pines! I need to get back. Mr. Kirtzman owns a house I lived in for several years. I need to get back to that little isle.
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