Stephen Kliegerman

Few have done as much to shape the cloud-scraping skyline of New York City over the past two decades – and bring Gotham back from the depths of the pandemic – than powerhouse visionary Stephen Kliegerman. Since 2000, when he joined the senior executive team at Terra Holdings, parent of Brown Harris Stevens, he has overseen more than US$15 billion in property sales in the New York metro area, totaling 10,000-plus properties. One of his latest projects, the soaring 52-storey Elkus Manfredi– designed 200 Amsterdam, is the Upper West Side’s most-anticipated new luxury condo development.

Working closely with high-profile developers, Kliegerman masterminds the management of landmark new properties, taking them from early planning to final closings. Sustainability and wellness have driven many of his newest endeavours, from the Foster + Partners–designed Selene on East 53rd to a Passive House Project in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill to a short stack of duplexes in the East Village, and even beyond the city limits to the carbon-neutral singlehome development, the Catskill Project. A Tesla owner, he encourages developers to build with future demands and generations in mind, including electriccar charging stations, induction cooking, top-of-theline air filtration and energy-efficient features such as thermal insulation.

One big shift he has been part of most recently is built-in wellness. “From highly filtered fresh-air intake and building-wide water-filtration systems to amenities including saltwater pools, experiential showers, meditation and treatments rooms and infrared saunas, developers are responding to the heightened awareness of healthy living,” Kliegerman, a recipient of the Real Estate Board of New York’s Henry Forster Award, says.

His expertise and crystal-ball-gazing get him widely quoted everywhere, from The New York Times to CNBC. His latest observation: “Manhattan is back.”