"As a real estate entrepreneur, I have developed a strong passion for design and a great respect for designers and architects. Our design centers have become known as havens catering to the needs of design professionals.

" While we certainly encourage the public to learn about design centers and the many treasures they contain, we believe that this is best served through the guidance and direction of a professional. Pacific Design Services has been created to help clients find qualified designers for their projects. This service allows us to encourage work for designers that will also bring business to our showrooms.

"A comprehensive marketing plan that will best serve the needs of the design professional in accessing the many special resources located within the PDC showrooms. It is paramount that PDC serve the needs of design professionals in this exclusive trade environment.

"On a monthly basis we are preparing an informative seminar series that will be of interest to local designers aimed at stimulating multiple visits to PDC.

"Our plan for physical changes for PDC are in the early stages and should be more crystallized before the end of this year. PDC presents an exciting opportunity for redevelopment not only physically and operationally but in its marketing plan strategy."
CHARLES COHEN

Charles S. Cohen
As owner, president and chief executive officer of Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation (CBRC), Charles S. Cohen has achieved an enviable national reputation for his exceptional business acumen, innovation and creativity at every turn. An entrepreneurial real estate executive in the truest sense, Mr. Cohen, one of the country's legendary commercial real estate owners with a portfolio of over 11 million square feet of prime properties located in New York, Texas and Southern California, is one of the rare breed of developers with a vision that is clearly and ultimately defined by design. Beyond his mastery of business transactions, he has brought his impeccable--and innate--taste and style to a wide range of high-profile projects, from office skyscrapers to corporate parks to his newest passion--Design Centers.

Perhaps the best illustration of this is Mr. Cohen's remarkable revitalization of the D & D (Decoration & Design) building in New York City, which has been universally hailed as an unequivocal triumph. In repositioning this once proud specialty building into a true showcase property, Mr. Cohen turned a seemingly outdated structure into the premier luxury home furnishings center in the country. Now, he is poised to do the same in two different sectors of the country--on the West Coast at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles and in Texas at the Decorative Center of Houston.

While breathing new life into commercial properties, Mr. Cohen has essentially refined the role of the "re-developer"; his ability to reposition and maximize the potential of underutilized buildings has allowed him to carve a special niche within his industry. No better example of those talents was his remarkable transformation of the vacant 39-story million square foot former Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield office building in Manhattan into a fully leased Class A office tower housing the world headquarters of McCann Erickson, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Heller Financial and HypoVereinsbank.

Mr. Cohen's rare mix of business savvy and design sensibilities has been instrumental in CBRC's extraordinary record of success and achievement. Since purchasing the company outright in 1988, he broadened its horizons and, at the same time, significantly increased its profitability. These results can be attributed to Mr. Cohen's unparalleled expertise in all phases of building development--from construction to leasing, to financing, marketing and managing. At CBRC, he has scrupulously assembled a team of more than 300 employees who share his passion for and commitment to achieving the highest standards of excellence in the real estate field. The CBRC team finances, assembles, constructs and manages its own properties. An exacting dedication to detail and superior leadership skills are hallmarks of both CBRC and Mr. Cohen himself.

Throughout his career, Charles Cohen has worked in collaboration with a remarkable lineup of architects and design professionals on many prominent projects built for an array of Fortune 100 companies. In transforming the former General Foods Headquarters in White Plains, NY, into a class A multi-tenanted business center, Mr. Cohen worked with legendary architect Philip Johnson. He has completed projects with architect Helmut Hahn and interior designers Adam Tihany and Jacques Garcia. Mr. Cohen has acquired buildings designed by the architectural firms of Kohn, Pederson & Fox and Cesar Pelli.

Mr. Cohen's broad business and legal backgrounds stood him in good stead early in his career. An attorney admitted to practice law before the New York State Bar and the Southern and Eastern Districts of the U.S. Federal District Court, he served as an officer in Chemical Bank's Real Estate Division from 1977 to 1979. Following that he acted as vice president and General Counsel for CBRC until 1983 when he was installed as the company's president.

Despite his inordinately busy schedule, Mr. Cohen has always found the time to pursue other interest--both professional and personal. He is a board member former chairman of the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation, a Metro New York Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), the international business organization's largest chapter. Mr. Cohen is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York, the Young Men's and Women's Real Estate Association, the American Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the city of New York. He is also a member of the Board of the USO of Metropolitan New York. He is a licensed real estate broker in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. In 2001, Mr. Cohen received the USO's prestigious Gold Medal for a lifetime of patriotic service to his country and was honored on both coasts by B'Nai B'rith International for his humanitarian and community service.

A lifelong film aficionado, Mr. Cohen is the author of the well-received TriviaMania (Zebra Books), a Q&A Quiz Book that is a veritable bible of movie-related information. He also created, directed and produced a comedy short, which was the recipient of a Kodak Movie Award. In addition, he is a board member for the Hamptons Film Festival.

Charles S. Cohen is a 1974 graduate of Tufts University and a 1977 graduate of Brooklyn Law School. He resides in suburban Connecticut (where his home has a movie theatre in it) and New York City. Mr. Cohen has two children.