Gherkin, Dude

The Swiss Re building, affectionately known to everybody in London as "The Gherkin," located at 30 St. Mary Axe tower and opened in 2004. At 40 stories or 180 meters, it is London's first environmentally sustainable tall building. The windows, for instance, allow natural ventilation to supplement the mechanical systems. You know- those little hook thingies that let you raise them. The landmark London skyscraper -- which reminds me every time of San Francisco's TransAmerica Tower -- designed by Norman Foster and was confirmed sold on February 5, 2007 for over £600 million to a group formed of IVG Immobilien AG of Germany and Evans Randall of Mayfair. Swiss Re on the top floors while the rest, I believe, vacant so somebody losing their shirt.

I worked right next door for a time in Bury House helping Paul raise some dough for his tech-company ShipServ; ShipServ provides supply logistics to the shipping industry and doing something like a million transactions a month.  I helped Paul secure £5.5 million, if memory serves, in 2002 which was like squeezing water from a brick .. rock.  Today the company jams and Paul remains CEO while I started Trailhead Capital which, I like to say in these difficult times, "the rock of Gibraltor." Yep, that would be me and my voice mail.

How the Gherkin got its nick-name:

"At the moment it looks as though London seems to be turning into an absurdist picnic table - we already have a giant gherkin, now it looks as if we are going to have an enormous salt cellar."

-- Prince Charles comments on Renzo Piano's 1000ft 'Shard of Glass' London Bridge Tower in 2003