Fat Cats gala dress code for lean times
David Pennetta, president of CIBS and a principal in Jericho-based Oxford & Simpson Realty Services, said the two organizations are trying to make things easier for younger members who make less money. Credit: Handout
Desmond Ryan, executive director of the Association for a Better Long Island, freely admits it: "The Fat Cats have gotten thinner," he said the other day.
Ryan was talking about his organization, which represents the Island's developers, and about the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island. They are described -- sometimes even by themselves -- as the Fat Cats. Their annual dinner dance -- widely known as the Fat Cats Ball -- for the last 20 years has been a black-tie affair. Not this year.
Advertisements for the April 19 event at the Carlyle on the Green at Bethpage State Park are quite clear, and different: "No Black Tie."
The withering effects of the economy on commercial real estate and development -- high unemployment rates and few new projects -- have prompted both the ABLI and CIBS to free up attendees from renting or buying tuxedos or buying expensive formal gowns.
"It's a reflection of the times," Ryan said.
David Pennetta, president of CIBS and a principal in Jericho-based Oxford & Simpson Realty Services, said the two organizations are trying to make things easier for younger members who make less money.
"They're on the beginning end of the pay scale," Pennetta said. "No one is going to cry over what you call the Fat Cats having to spend money on a tux, but it's the younger people we're thinking about."
Another reflection of the times: the three entries for the prestigious Long Island Developer of the Year Award. With little construction taking place on the Island, in place of the megaprojects of yore, this year's entries include a strip mall in Hauppauge, a small shopping center in Oceanside and the new Rechler Equities building in Plainview.
But there are lots of reasons to come to the April event, which is expected to draw about 400 people, Pennetta said. "There is a secret speaker we're working on getting," Pennetta said. "It's a major major politician." That's all he would reveal. Maybe we need to get our best business suit ready.
We can tell times are still tight. ABLI held a real estate summit panel discussion in Melville Thursday morning. We expected a bagel, but they only offered coffee.
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