Back in the game

The builder of the Empire State Building and Starrett City was once a name to be reckoned with in New York development circles.

In recent years, though, Manhattan-based Starrett Corp. has shied away from major development projects to concentrate on construction management and general contracting, and residential property management. Now, under new ownership, it is charting a return to the high-risk, high-reward realm of local development. No one knows better than its new leader, Joel M. Simon, how dangerous that can be.

Investors who bought the public company headed by developer Paul Milstein for $80 million last December have hired Mr. Simon to get the now-private firm back into the big game. Its ambitious joint proposal with Vornado Realty Trust and Lawrence Ruben Co. for the rights to create a 1 million-square-foot commercial complex above the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 42nd Street signals that Starrett is already back in the fray.

"For Starrett to be a part of this is a significant statement about our re-entry into world-class development," says Mr. Simon, who became president and chief executive in March.

Starrett's plan is to do battle in the high-stakes development arena and pump up its general contracting and construction management niche. But Starrett isn't the only sleepy developer waking up to the possibilities in the local real estate...