Honorees of tonight's REBNY banquet, from left: REBNY President Steve Spinola, Dick Concannon of Rudin Management, Mike Fishman of SEIU, William Montana of Studley, Woody Heller of Studley and Dottie Herman of Douglas Elliman (credit: Zachary Kussin) Strong activity in the retail sector, and a robust rental and investment sales market seemed to be the tonic buoying the crowd at the 117th annual Real Estate Board of New York banquet. The gathering, held at the New York Hilton Hotel in Midtown, attracted prominent elected leaders, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, as well as thousands of prominent real estate professionals, such as Douglas Durst, Kent Swig, Lawrence Gluck, Larry Silverstein, Ziel Feldman, Paul Massey and James Kuhn. Brokers who attended the gathering were split on how 2013 would shape up. [more]