The Devil’s Lease: A Manhattan Office Tale

On the frostbitten evening of Dec. 22, Andrew S. Levine, SL Green Realty’s chief legal officer, executed a transaction so banal it could have been plucked from a bureaucratic nightmare. He sold 1,493 shares for $67,588, a sum sufficient to buy a modest office tower in a parallel universe where Manhattan rents $45.27 per square foot. The SEC Form 4 filing, that most solemn of parchment scrolls, marked the act as routine portfolio management. Or so one might think, if one believed in such things as logic.

A required SEC filing disclosing insider trades of company securities by officers, directors, or major shareholders.

Direct ownership: Shares held personally by an individual, not through trusts, family members, or other entities.

Open-market transaction: A trade executed on a public exchange, not through private agreements or company-issued shares.

Derivative instruments: Financial contracts whose value is based on the price of an underlying asset, such as options or futures.

Disposition: The act of selling or otherwise transferring ownership of an asset.

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Indirect entities: Organizations or accounts, such as trusts or family partnerships, used to hold assets on behalf of an individual.

REIT (real estate investment trust): A company that owns, operates, or finances income-producing real estate and distributes most profits as dividends.

Dividend yield: The annual dividend payment divided by the stock’s current price, shown as a percentage.

TTM: The 12-month period ending with the most recent quarterly report.

Asset management: The professional management of investments, such as real estate or securities, to meet specific goals.

Preferred equity: A class of ownership in a company with higher claim on assets and earnings than common equity, often with fixed dividends.

Capital deployment: The allocation of financial resources to investments or business activities to generate returns.

Let the devil lease the future. 🏙️

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2026-01-12 20:43