5 Minutes With The Zero Irving Team
Zero Irving, Awards for Excellence in Office Development Finalist
Spencer Levine, President, RAL Companies & Affiliates LLC
Who has had the greatest influence on your career and what was the best advice he or she gave you?
Zero Irving is about the team and not just about me. The project became and remains a passion project for all those that touched it, so when we talk about the project it’s “we” and not “I.” But I would have to say that my Father, Robert Levine (the “RAL”) is the greatest influence on my career and the greatest inspiration to all of us. His passion, creativity and optimism is the cornerstone of what RAL delivers and encourages us all to exhibit the same. He has been so instrumental in my career from choosing landscape architecture as my degrees, to my love of the built environment and most importantly inspiring me to be a good person, but if I had to choose 1 piece of advice it would have to be that “there is something to learn from everyone involved in a project. Leave your title at the door, speak to people, LISTEN to people, respect everyone including and especially the people that make it all happen onsite, grab a broom or do whatever you have to do to get the job done.”
As a ULI NY Awards nominee, what makes you most proud of your project?
Zero Irving is one of those projects that from beginning to end (and beyond) makes our team proud. There are so many things that make us proud! The project program was conceived by a team that “gelled” from day one into an extended family that was committed to delivering a new type of project that could “do good and well” all at the same time. There are so many elements of the project that we as a team are proud of, but the most striking thought that comes to me is that the project doesn’t just resemble but element for element delivers on the exact programming, commitments and promises that we made in our original response to NYCEDC’s RFP in 2016. It’s a testament to the thought, detail and passion that the team put into delivering this project.
What is your favorite off the beaten path New York location or activity?
This is a tough question because there are so many great places to explore and always new places to learn from but I think I would have to say Brooklyn Bridge Park. While the park as a whole has been a major success since its opening, putting it “on the beaten” path for many, there are so many opportunities throughout the park to “get lost” and make your own paths that every time I visit it’s a new experience. Having had the opportunity as a team to develop multiple buildings adjacent to Brooklyn Bridge Park, including Quay Tower, The Landing, and One Brooklyn Bridge Park, I have spent the equivalent of days exploring there and it’s a truly uniquely New York location.