When Cacheris and Stein arrived at the midtownapartment last Monday morning, they brought along their secret weapon: Cacheris' colleague Sydney Jean Hoffmann, a 46-year-old mother of two with a law degree and a bedside manner.
He had Herms ties, a midtown Manhattan apartment with a doorman and skyline views, and a circle of powerful friends, among them technology entrepreneur Michael Rockefeller and real estate developer William Zeckendorf.
Mitsui's ambition and appetite for risk are reflected in a series of developments in New York, Los Angeles and London, including a 42-story luxury apartment block in midtown Manhattan and the soon-to-be-vacated home of the British Broadcasting Corp. in London.