More guards are prowling RXR Realty office buildings in New York. Landlord KPG Funds is having talks with an Israeli-based artificial intelligence firm for workplace weapons surveillance. And corporate executives are being told to spend more on security.
The deadly mass shooting at a high-profile Park Avenue office tower in Manhattan on Monday sent shockwaves across the country, and some commercial building owners are already taking steps to try to lower the risk of such incidents recurring.
New York-based real estate developer RXR, “in an abundance of caution,” stepped up patrols and security field supervisor visits, a spokesperson told CoStar News. The owner of Manhattan properties such as the Helmsley Building and 75 Rockefeller Plaza at Rockefeller Center already hosts multiple active shooter trainings yearly and, like other business and building owners around the United States, said it is reviewing building safety "procedures and potential enhancements” with security teams and law enforcement.
On Monday, 27-year-old gunman Shane Tamura of Las Vegas walked into the lobby of 345 Park Ave., a building that houses big-name tenants from Blackstone to the NFL, and first fatally shot a uniformed off-duty New York police officer before he killed a security guard, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust CEO Wesley LePatner and a young associate who worked for building owner Rudin, according to city law enforcement officials. They said Tamura shot himself at the scene.
The shooting, called New York's deadliest in 25 years, led to further analysis of security around office buildings that was already heightened after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in midtown Manhattan in December. The violence has led to assessments and debates about what companies and building landlords can do to protect employees and tenants. Studies show many companies have added or upped spending on CEO security with increased incidents targeting corporate executives.
According to the FBI, “commerce,” or places of business such as office buildings and retail shops, is the second most at-risk location category, just after open space, and above such locations as schools and government facilities, where active shooter incidents have occurred in the United States.
“The intensity of risk and the frequency of risk” is higher “for corporate infrastructure than it has been in the past 40 to 50 years,” Anthony Roman, president of his namesake fraud and criminal investigations firm, said in an interview.
The “budget needs to be increased with regard to physical protection of corporate structures where personnel is present. The same holds true for buildings.… It’s a question of how important is budget versus how important is managing risk to a particular corporation. That becomes a big question mark.”
To be clear, all the measures and protective elements can only go so far, as in the case of 345 Park. The building was equipped with security lauded as being above the industry average at the time of the shooting.
Each floor of the tower has a bulletproof safe room that doubles as a bathroom where occupants can lock themselves in, New York Mayor Eric Adams said in interviews in the wake of the shooting. The building also has active shooter drills and other procedures in place. On Monday, Blackstone employees piled up couches and other pieces of furniture to block office doors, according to media reports and a much-viewed photo on social media.
Weapons and explosives detection
Even so, Roman, an industry veteran since 1975 and whose firm works with major corporations throughout the United States and the world, said an emerging trend in safeguarding physical assets involves advanced artificial intelligence-based weaponry and explosive detection equipment that can trigger automatic lockdowns to efficiently secure an area.
These types of devices, on the market for just a few years, have been gradually adopted at major sports stadiums and some commercial properties, he said.
Mark Ein, executive chairman at security firm Kastle Systems, told CoStar News in an email that “security technologies are advancing rapidly — from AI-powered video analytics that detect unusual behavior in real time, to card readers integrated with biometric verification and live video feeds.”
He added that “smart sensors can now monitor motion, door access, and sensitive equipment with far greater precision. These tools add valuable layers of protection. … The most effective way to make a building as safe as possible for its occupants is the marriage of the best technology and coordinated human preparation. … Nothing can solve every threat, but they are essential.”
At KPG Funds, a firm with a portfolio including Class A office properties in Manhattan’s SoHo, cofounder and CEO Greg Kraut told CoStar News he’s been in talks with a firm that has developed advanced technology for weapon recognition, utilizing closed-circuit television and AI that would trigger silent alarms and automatically secure elevators. KPG properties’ current security systems include technology such as facial recognition access for all doors and elevators, Kraut said.
“Some of [our] buildings don’t have doormen,” Kraut said in an interview. “So we have to have the best technology. It’s one solution for smaller landlords. All of our buildings have lots of security cameras. We are always at the forefront of technology to make our tenants feel as secure and safe as they can. … [We] believe that integrating the new technology will significantly improve our safety protocols.”
Technology aside, buildings increasingly include active shooter trainings, though Roman said many such efforts are more or less academic “where employees get on their PCs” to review guidelines instead of participating in physical drills.
Other steps
Buildings' so-called protective designs include reinforced doors and glass, bulletproof safe rooms and silent alerts.
But an advanced level of technology and materials that may be used in "highly secure" facilities such as embassies, government buildings or courthouses is “often not practical, cost-effective or even desired by the occupants given the level of threats and risks perceived” when they are deployed for "lightly secured" office buildings, malls or schools, according to the Whole Building Design Guide, an online resource portal from the National Institute of Building Sciences, a nonprofit industry group.
Hiring personnel such as retired or off-duty police officers or former federal agents who understand how to respond to a threat immediately also can minimize the risks, according to Roman.
RXR said its head of security is a former senior New York police leader; KPG’s Kraut said his firm’s protection resources are led by a veteran of the Israeli military. “Too many buildings just over the years [use] the generic security guards [who] aren’t really specialists in this type of situation,” Kraut told CoStar.
Both Rudin and Blackstone declined to comment on their precise security plans.
Building “owners try to control what they can,” Kraut said. “The next-generation security is going to be outside of the building. I’m also a big fan of plain-sight security,” he said. New York needs a “more active police presence on the streets, especially in high-demand areas like Park Avenue.”