Campofranco driven by the art of the real estate deal
For Salvatore Campofranco, real estate has been a labor of love ever since he was a kid on Long Island, where he used to help his father who ran a homebuilding business.
“On Saturdays, I cleaned up the homes that my father built before the occupants moved in,” he recalled. “I learned very early the pride that comes with building a better place for families.” He also developed an appreciation for some of the disciplines that went into creating living spaces. “I watched my father confer with architects reviewing the plans at the site and saw how those visions became a reality.”
That experience has served Campofranco well in his 35 years as one of the region”™s most prominent figures in residential and commercial real estate. As founder and managing member of Westport-based Luzern Associates LLC, he oversees a real estate investment company that redevelops a select group of residential, mixed-use and Class A office properties in Connecticut and Boston. What they have in common is that they have experienced a dramatic turnaround, thanks to the business acumen, hands-on experience and expertise of Campofranco and his team of versatile professionals.
- Salvatore Campofranco. Photo by Bob Rozycki
Getting favorable bottom-line results has brought smiles to the company”™s partners and investors. Considering that Luzern was established in 2007 ”” one year before the Great Recession unfolded ”” rebounding from down times in the real estate market has been particularly sweet.
“My father, who was a World War II veteran, experienced a boom market in the 1950s and 1960s, but I recall how the gas crisis of the 1970s impacted that,” Campofranco said. He began his career in 1980 after graduating from St. John”™s University with an accounting degree. “The real estate road ahead would undergo a number of downturns,” said Campofranco, “notably the slump in the late 1980s-early 1990s, the dot-com implosion in 2000 and, of course, the worst recession since the Great Depression that started in 2008.”
As a veteran of slumps and the opportunities that present themselves between those dips, “Time is your best ally in real estate,” Campofranco said. That stick-to-itiveness, and the good fortune of having “great partners and a very supportive family, helped me to navigate a very tough and stressful period of time.”
He cited the 92,000-square-foot office space at 372 Danbury Road in Wilton that was part of Luzern”™s portfolio when the market plunged. The property was only 40 percent occupied, but Campofranco and his partners remained committed and, seeing the long-term potential, proceeded with extensive renovations in 2009. The persistence and investment paid off as new blue chip tenants signed on, thereby increasing the market value of the property. In early 2014, the property sold for $19.2 million.
Having a beneficial effect on the local economy is another aspect of real estate that he enjoys, Campofranco said, pointing to the 360 Hamilton Ave. office building in downtown White Plains.
The 12-story, 384,000-square-foot building had been vacant and a stigma for more than 10 years. While Campofranco served as chief operating officer and executive vice president of Reckson Associates Realty ”“ a position he held for more than 10 years before going out on his own ”“ the company made the decision to renovate 360 Hamilton, which paid off.
The renovated White Plains building today is headquarters for Heineken USA Inc. Among its tenants are Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Signature Bank, Itochu Chemicals America Inc., Marsh & McLennan Agency Inc. and the New York Financial Group office of Prudential Insurance.
“It was a risky decision but turned out to be a highly desirable office destination, one that all the tenants loved,” he said. “But more important, one can argue that it set the stage for the greater redevelopment and revitalization of the city”™s downtown that soon after ensued.”
Campofranco”™s interest in attracting and retaining Westchester employers led to his appointment to the executive committee of the Westchester County Association”™s board of  directors, a position he held for more than 11 years.
As chairman of the building committee for ArtsWestchester, Campofranco was instrumental in the nonprofit”™s acquisition and redevelopment of The Peoples National Bank & Trust Building at 31 Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains as its Arts Exchange headquarters.
Among his interests outside his deal-making world, Campofranco loves fly fishing. Given the nature of his business, that sport might be a fitting metaphor for the reward that comes with being patient ”“ if not today, then perhaps tomorrow. But the odds are over time that you”™ll catch a fish, and the catch may be something to shout about.