The Sage Commander
Don Chiofaro, son of a Belmont cop, model for Tom Wolfe's high-living, highly extended real estate mogul in the novel "A Man in Full," is preparing for the fight of his life. He has hired a law firm and is calling in chits from his friends. And studying the art of war.
With the battle now joined with Tishman Speyer Properties -- a "gang of pirates" as Chiofaro calls them -- Boston's builder of International Place has taken to citing an ancient Chinese strategy manual, "The Art of War," as a road map for his campaign to head off foreclosure by his new lender.
One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Subduing the other's military without battle is the most skillful. Chiofaro -- 2,300 years after "The Art of War" was written -- is the Sage Commander, a leader of wisdom, daring, and deception. The goal: "Taking whole," or conquering without fighting. But taking whole is not our Don, and all this entertaining but silly talk about "the New York crowd" will have nothing to do with the outcome.
Chiofaro is a man who never walked away from a fight in his life. He fought and won a long court battle with his former lender, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America. He fought and won another court battle with his equity partner, Hillman Properties Inc., who wanted him tossed out as manager of International Place. Now he is fighting a two-front war: He has sued a group of minority investors who fired him as their partner to develop the 36-story downtown office tower called One Lincoln Street, and now he is suing Tishman Speyer, the deep-pocketed owner of such trophy properties as Rockefeller Center. What would Sun Tzu, the master strategist, have advised the Sage Commander about that?
Chiofaro's fate will be decided in Bankruptcy Court, not in the court of public opinion. Is his decision to file for bankruptcy protection a proper use of the court, or is he trying to game the system? Can he keep up with his mortgage payments or is foreclosure, as Tishman Speyer says, inevitable? Is Tishman, the mortgage holder, overreaching and trying to act like an owner?
"When I packed my duffel bag, I didn't pack a white flag," Chiofaro told me yesterday.
He has been a Boston fixture for 20 years. But playing the Boston card will make no difference. Note that the day Chiofaro filed in Bankruptcy Court, the mayor of Boston spoke up not for him but for the New York pirates. Several Boston executives, whom Chiofaro said would offer on-the-record support, declined to comment. Some Boston law firms declined to take Chiofaro's case because they either do or hope to do business with Tishman Speyer. Translation: Tishman Speyer, with great ambitions in Boston, is the future.
Don Chiofaro and Jerry Speyer, Tishman Speyer's chief executive, could do worse than follow the teaching of Sun Tzu. Taking whole means conquering the enemy in a way that keeps as much intact as possible -- both of your own resources and those of your opponent. That leaves something for everyone to build on.
Taking a state whole is superior.
Destroying it is inferior to this.
To quote an ancient Boston columnist: "It won't happen. Too much value in International Place. Why share if you don't have to?"
Neighborhood news: Citizens Financial chief executive Larry Fish and his wife, Atsuko, will help plant the first of 100 cherry trees on the Esplanade today. The Fish family first proposed planting the trees last year, in conjunction with the centennial anniversary of the Japan Society of Boston. But the gift raised the hackles of some guardians of the Esplanade, who thought the 1,400 cherry trees already on the narrow strip along the Charles was quite enough. The new trees, a gift of the Fish family and Citizens Bank, will go ahead anyway. The Fish family and the bank have also agreed to maintain the trees.
Steve Bailey is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at bailey@globe.com or at 617-929-2902.
