Talking with David Weinreb, CEO of the Howard Hughes Corporation – HuffPost 2.28.14
Mike Ragogna: David, it’s an honor to talk to you, thank you for the time.
David Weinreb: Well it’s an honor to talk to you. You have an illustrious background that’s quite impressive.
MR: Thank you for saying that. Hey, let’s get into your background, but first I want to ask, why did you feel it was important to bring music to the South Street Seaport area?
DW: Music has been a part of my life since I was around seven or eight years old. I’m not sure how familiar you are with my history but I spent my childhood in the entertainment business. I was a singer, I did a lot of television commercials and the like and I used to open up for a lot of the great comedians across the country. And, of course, I’m a New Yorker, went to the school system there, and then ultimately lived in the city before I moved to Texas. Being a New Yorker, you realize that to build something that will withstand the test of time, you need to build something that’s going to include the arts, great food offerings, and interesting experiences. One of the ways we built this into our vision for the Seaport has been taking the pier’s iconic waterfront location and its ability to provide a great community anchor with this rapidly growing section of lower Manhattan. My goal is obviously to create an unparalleled experience that’s compelling for the local residents, the daily people who come downtown to work and then obviously tourists. I think music is a vital part of that. All of the arts. We’ve got jewels of development, like the one-of-a-kind rooftop experience that’s been offered, not just to expand the public space but also this venue for concerts, films, special events, a setting that’s second to none because to the north, there’s the Brooklyn Bridge to the south is the Statue of Liberty, to the west is the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center, et cetera.
MR: The music that’s going to be part of the series is a really mixed bag. Who did the programming?
DW: We haven’t made a public announcement yet on who will be handling the day-to-day except just to say that it will be a best-in-class company that will work very closely with us. We not only have this music venue, but we also control Merriweather in Columba, Maryland, which is thought of as one of the most successful amphitheatres in the country. We built–although it’s now owned by the township–the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion, which used to be one of the most visited amphitheatres in the world. Then we’ve got places from the River Walk to the public space in Honolulu to even a ballpark that we hope to build in the next few years in Summerlin, all of which will be able to be programmed for great musical events.
MR: I’m imagining that everything you put in place helps the local economies as well. How will you be affecting the local economies?
DW: Our goal, always, wherever we have assets, is to assimilate into the local community and make sure that we make a difference. I think our SEE CHANGE program is a great example of how we impact locally. To give you an example of things that will be coming up in our next generation of SEE CHANGE, right now, we have an ice skating rink, our multistory fleet of shipping containers that houses up-and-coming retailers, in the summer we intend to bring back front row cinema. Last summer, we hosted two movies a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays in a film series. That series went from Memorial Day, when it kicked off, and ran for eight or nine weeks. We’re going to do a Seaport musical festival. Last year it was every Friday in June, so we featured great new talent. We did the Seaport musical festival and then the Fort Knox musical festival, both of which happened last year, and now we’ve got our FRONT/ROW Cube, that’s this winter in tandem with our unseasonably cool ice rink, which is really neat. We’ve kind of embraced the cold weather months with exciting new SEE CHANGE ideas. I really encourage you to go see the rink if you haven’t been inside it. It holds up to two hundred and fifty guests and we’ve got all kinds of neat programming going on in there. The bottom line is, as I said, to assimilate with the community and bring programming that’s relevant, current, interesting, fun and that brings the community together.
MR: David, how did you first get associated with all of this?
DW: The Howard Hughes Corporation is synonymous with the relentless pursuit of achievement, but the company itself was actually assets that were formally part of the General Growth portfolio. When General Growth went into bankruptcy, Bill Ackman, our chairman, recognized that there was a subset of assets that would be better off being in their own entity as a public company. Those assets, at one point we were in eighteen states and thirty-four assets were the beginning of the Howard Hughes corporation and we went public in November of 2010. Now, some of those assets were in fact Howard Hughes’ assets that go back nine decades, as far back as during his lifetime.
MR: What were some of the first things you did when you came on board?
DW: I had to explain the larger company to show you how the Seaport is a great example. Our predecessor had a very interesting but what we believe is a difficult to execute vision, so we essentially re-imagined what the Seaport should be with the “big idea,” if you will, coming from this acre and a half that will be that roof that will exist on our new Pier 17 that will hold a deluxe-scale restaurant, two bars outside and this amphitheatre that will hold up to four thousand people. But in addition to that, that certain space will be available for all kinds of great programming from art exhibitions to fashion shows and even sporting events, et cetera. We’ll be able to hold twenty five hundred people on our estate with tennis matches, basketball games, et cetera. It’s really a multi-use entertainment venue that I believe is going to be at the center of the greatness of this redeveloped property.
MR: How do you see the Seaport’s growth in the next five years?
DW: My great hope is to see it become one of, if not the most important districts in the city. Thriving on a twenty-four seven basis that can offer all of the great things that other districts in the city offer. I think the waterfront is a treasure and it’s a great opportunity to integrate the public spaces, art and culture, great food offerings, et cetera. The original city planners did a masterful job hundreds of years ago developing the grid system for New York, but unfortunately it took out the waterfronts because of the west side drive and the FDR. So there are very few places where both locals and people visiting the city can really experience the water like you’re able to do in so many great cosmopolitan cities all around the world.
MR: What are some highlights from your professional musical career?
DW: I’m a great movie and music enthusiast, I love all types of music, but it’s really broader than that. It’s about just having a great respect for the arts in general and recognizing that we had a location on the Seaport that’s completely unmatched anywhere, certainly in this city. I believe that when we create this rooftop experience there’ll be nothing like this that exists anywhere. The opportunity to bring together not just great space, but phenomenal programming in this destination is very exciting. We’re trying to make sure that we do something that, as I said, can stand the test of time. I think the New Yorker is a very discerning consumer, they know great food, they know great art, they know great music, and they expect to have these unique experiences that can’t be found in other places.
MR: I would imagine this is a great venue for new artists to get more exposure than they’ve ever had before.
DW: Absolutely. As I said, being public, we can’t speak on a one-off basis about things that haven’t been reported publicly, but I think we’re going to see all kinds of programming coming from these venues. I think you’ll see headliners, you’ll see a music series of up-and-coming artists that will be very inspiring. My hope is that this becomes a venue where a number of great future headliners are “found,” if you will.
MR: Nice. Hey David, you fell into my evil trap! What advice do you have for new artists?
DW: There’s no tougher business than show business, but I’m a big believer in being passionate and staying the course and doing something that you love and there’s certainly a lot of talent in the world, but fewer people that stay true and authentic to their long-term vision and commitment to a certain craft. So I think if someone has a love for something, I think the world needs more people who are inspired by something they do on a daily basis.
MR: Beautiful.
DW: One of the things that I think might be interesting for you to know is that we’ve got six guiding principles at the company that we talk about and focus on, from imaginative thinking to collaboration, having a passion for excellence, staying the course, timing–which I think is critical. Everyone thinks it’s what a great comedian needs, but I think it’s one of the most important skills for a great leader–and authenticity. I think that those guiding principals, when executed help create a great internal compass and direction.
MR: I’m imagining that’s true for both a human and a corporation.
DW: Definitely.
MR: That’s great, I’m glad we fit that in.
DW: I’m a big believer that nothing in life happens by accident. I guess the opportunity that connected us to have this phone call was the Jay-Z moment a week and a half ago, which was completely unplanned and unexpected. Of course, Jay-Z is a quintessential New Yorker and someone that we hope will be one of the many great talents that will perform at the Seaport when it gets completed.
MR: Do you plan to help teen and young artists as well?
DW: Again, as far as just wanting to make a difference in the world both personally and at the corporate level, we work hard to try to create opportunity for people to have venues to express their greatness. That would certainly include younger people as well, and great talent.
MR: It seems to be a trend in the city that there are more places for these kids to be playing than I can ever remember having existed before.
DW: I don’t think anything will be off limits to us. We want to be able to showcase great talent for the Seaport, we’re going to have interesting programming, and in order to stay relevant we have to stay up with the times. As you point out there’s a lot of great young talent out there today who are making a huge difference in the music business.
MR: If someone wanted to play at the Seaport, who would they contact?
DW: They can visit the “Contact Us” section on http://www.SEECHANGENY.com
MR: Beautiful. I appreciate your time.
DW: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure to speak to you and I look forward to meeting you in person sometime.
MR: That would be great, same here.
Transcribed By Galen Hawthorne