Prudential Douglas acquires Siderow Realty Group
Building on its move this year into the high-end housing market in Westchester County, Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate, New York”™s largest residential brokerage, has acquired Siderow Realty Group, a boutique firm in Chappaqua.
Prudential Douglas in January announced its acquisition of Prudential Holmes & Kennedy Real Estate, a family owned Westchester company with offices in Armonk, Bedford, Chappaqua, Katonah, Pleasantville and Somers.
Sheila Siderow, a former vice president at Houlihan Lawrence who founded Siderow Realty Group in 1994, and her team of real estate agents will be based in Prudential Douglas Elliman”™s Chappaqua office.
“I am thrilled to join Prudential Douglas Elliman,” Siderow said in a statement. “The firm”™s culture, unsurpassed network of agents in New York City, Long Island, the Hamptons and Westchester, as well as their extensive marketing and technology resources will greatly benefit my clients and the community at large.”
Dottie Herman, president and CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman, said Siderow will be “a perfect addition to our Westchester team.”
Bronx brokerage expands to Westchester
KZA Realty Group, a Bronx-based commercial real estate brokerage and development consulting company, has opened a Westchester County office at 600 Mamaroneck Ave. in Harrison.
Kathy Zamechansky, KZA owner who founded the company in 1998, in a statement said the new office will give Westchester clients more convenient access to the firm”™s services, which also include commercial planning, project management, finance, marketing, communications, and community and government relations.
Zamechansky until recently also was executive vice president of NAI Friedland Realty Inc. and was a partner in KZA/Friedland Development Consulting Services. A Bronx resident, she is a former executive director of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce and was the founding president of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp.
Manhattanville receives record $5M donation
An anonymous donor has given Manhattanville College the largest donation in its history, a $5-million gift over three years to benefit the Purchase college”™s highest-priority strategic initiatives.
The unrestricted gift was announced by Manhattanville”™s interim president, Jon C. Strauss. He said it will be used “to strengthen academic excellence initiatives, provide for additional campus capital improvements and create a new fund for the incoming president, when selected, to implement initiatives identified in the college”™s strategic plan.” The gift, he added, will help ensure Manhattanville”™s competitive standing “in a rapidly changing world.”
The college”™s board of trustees this year approved a $4.5-million capital improvement plan. Renovations to residential and academic buildings began this summer with a $2.75-million allocation and will continue next summer, college officials said.
PepsiCo gets top ranking for sustainability
PepsiCo Inc. in Purchase has been ranked the world”™s top company in sustainability practices in the food and beverage supersector in the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
PepsiCo was the only company based in the U.S. to earn a top ranking in the 19 supersectors assessed. It was also named the beverage sector leader for the third consecutive year.
Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones index is the first global investment index tracking the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. The Dow Jones World Index identifies the leading 10 percent of companies in sustainability practices, based on economic, environmental and social criteria, among the world”™s top 2,500 companies in the Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market Index. The Dow Jones North America Sustainability Index tracks the leading 20 percent of the 600 largest North American companies.
PepsiCo has been named to the North America index six times and to the world index five times.
“Great companies are built to succeed today, tomorrow and well into the future,” said Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo chairman and CEO, in a statement. “Our commitment to balancing excellent operating performance with sustainable business practices is a big reason PepsiCo has become one the world”™s top performing food and beverage companies.”
