After suffering a heart incident at a Hamptons golf course in early August, Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth received double bypass heart surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine hospital in Manhattan.
According to Bloomberg, Roth resumed his duties at the real estate firm after a month of rest, coming back to the office at the conclusion of Labor Day weekend.
Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not regulate the health disclosures of CEOs at publicly traded companies, Vornado is widely considered to be more secretive about Roth’s succession plans than other companies of comparable size and influence. Roth has told investors there is a succession plan in-house, but for now the public does not know what that plan is.
Despite that, Michael Franco, the company’s chief investment officer, is a likely pick to lead the company in the future, according to sources who spoke to The Real Deal for a story about Roth last year.
Vornado owns more than 30 million square feet of real estate in New York City and it is currently repositioning 8 million of that at Penn Plaza. It’s also developing one of the most expensive condo projects in history at 220 Central Park South. Earlier this year, the company spun-off its Washington, D.C.-area assets into two companies, Urban Edge Properties and JBG Smith Properties. Vornado also owns shares in Toys “R” Us, which is nearing bankruptcy.
During the time Roth was recovering from surgery, President Donald Trump announced he was dissolving an infrastructure advisory council that was to be headed by Roth and developer Richard LeFrak. Roth is one of the president’s most recognizable supporters in the real estate industry. [Bloomberg] — Will Parker