In the wake of the IBM retreat from central Westchester County in 1990, GMAC came into possession of a number of buildings on Westchester Avenue.
Edward S. Gordon Co., which would eventually, as Insignia, merge with CBRE with regional offices in Stamford and New York City, was hired to manage the portfolio from an office at 925 Westchester Ave.
- Kay Licata. Photo by Bill Fallon
So began a 25-year relationship between CBRE and a trilingual graduate of the University of Casablanca ”” Kay Licata ””brought aboard to corral and analyze what turned out to be at times chaotic data spread across the Interstate 287 corridor between White Plains and Harrison. As she prepares to leave the company, her job title is director, research services, CBRE Inc. She spoke recently from the company”™s Stamford office.
“This was pre-Internet,” Licata said, reflecting on her first task. “We made a lot of phone calls. We visited a lot of buildings. And we built a database. We had a large portfolio. We were working very hard and the only thing we had to do was take care of this asset for GMAC. We competed with the real estate market and we did very well.”
Licata and research analyst Steven Fiore produce CBRE”™s quarterly reports, called MarketView.
“Kay is really a pioneer in the local market, as we were the first company to use our own research,” said CBRE Senior Managing Director Robert Caruso.
“Kay”™s are big shoes to fill,” Caruso said regarding a replacement. He said the search is ongoing. “CBRE invests so much in research. The new talent that”™s coming in will be at the highest level. We”™re confident the person coming in will be of great value to our sales professionals and to our clients.”
Johanna Clark-Wendt, the company”™s marketing manager, said, “At CBRE, research and marketing work very closely together. Professionally and personally, Kay is just a pleasure to work with.”
Licata reciprocated, saying, “The management here gives you the tools to succeed. They educate. They teach. They push you to be the best at what you do.” She described her work as “wonderful,” her work history as “the most beautiful.”
Licata is fluent in Arabic, French and English and uses all three regularly: conversing with family weekly in Europe and Morocco.
A one-hour conversation with her remains lively across topics like absorption because Licata makes it so. She is a mainstay of CBRE roundtable events, where her data are front and center. She enjoys a glass of wine and anticipates taking up golf in retirement. She describes herself as “very social.”
“I”™m going to miss them so much,” she said of her CBRE co-workers. “They are truly like family. All my experiences here have been the most beautiful ever.”
