Q&A: Firm likes the Northeast

NOYACK’S FOLLINI REMAINS BULLISH ABOUT SECTOR

By John Mugford

C.J. Follini

The economic news in almost every business sector in almost every nook and cranny of the country is not good, as we all know.

And even though healthcare is often regarded as an industry that can weather most economic storms, the current recession is taking a financial toll on physicians, hospitals and, as a result, healthcare real estate as well.

However, one would never know these are dire times if talking to C.J. Follini, the high-adrenaline, ultra-confident founder and managing principal of healthcare real estate firm Noyack Medical Partners LLC in New York.

Even in the current economic quagmire, Mr. Follini remains enthusiastic and bullish about the medical office sector and healthcare real estate, especially in the Northeast, where Noyack does most of its business.

Mr. Follini had a high-profile commercial real estate background in New York prior to founding Noyack in 2001, as his family has long been involved in major construction projects throughout the tri-state area, including the building of the U.S. Open Tennis facility in Flushing, N.Y.

But Mr. Follini has also found plenty of success working on his own. For example, in the early 1990s he and New York-based Rockefeller Group were the co-developers of a 400-acre expansion of the International Trade Center in Mount Olive, N.J. Mr. Follini also made quite a profit on a 12-acre brownfield site he acquired on the waterfront in Queens in 2000. After buying the land for $9 million and embarking on a three-year environmental cleanup, Mr. Follini sold the property for $27.5 million.