The four-story, Art Deco hotel sits at 1680 Collins Avenue across the street from National, Delano and Sagamore oceanfront resorts. The 31,033-square-foot San Juan Hotel was originally built in 1948. Florida corporate state records list the hotel’s owner as entities tied to the Gilani family. 

The expansion would rise on the western portion of the 0.4-acre site, facing James Avenue. The proposed plan would increase the number of rooms from 75 to 104 and expande the building’s footprint to 44,755 square feet. Of the existing 75 hotel rooms, 31 will be demolished and rebuilt, while 27 will be restored.

The historic facade will remain, too. The expansion is compatible with development and construction limits imposed by the Museum Historic Preservation District and the Miami Beach Architectural District, per the filing to the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board, which will hear the application April 14.

As part of the development plan, the neighboring liquor store would be redeveloped into restaurant space and a garden. (Attorney Michael Larkin of Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes, the lawyer representing the owners, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

If approved, the plan would be the latest hospitality redevelopment on the block. The owners of the Ritz-Carlton plan to add a 15-story condo tower. The Delano hotel is preparing to reopen this year after closing in 2020 for an extensive renovation.

Julia Echikson can be reached at [email protected].  

The county will sell roughly one-third of the 128-acre campus at 3721 Stonecroft Boulevard to an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group for $166.8 million. The deal for the 42-acre parcel will enter into a contingency term until early 2027, according to the Business Journals, which first reported the news. 

Starwood’s exact plans for the site were not immediately clear, though the county has indicated that the Miami-based developer aims to build a data center. Indeed, Starwood is actively developing a roughly 60-acre data center campus not far from the Chantilly property, dubbed Renaissance Technology Park. The developer late last year filed plans to extend that project by another 400,000 square feet on 8 acres it purchased from Word of Grace Christian Church in 2023 for $25 million. 

The Chantilly site does not include entitlements or land-use approvals for new data center development. A spokesperson for Starwood did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The site remains an important location for police training, but the current facilities are spread out in a way that leaves portions of the property underutilized,” the county said in its February announcement of the potential deal. “By moving and grouping these facilities together, the county can free up land to sell. The funds from the sale will defray costs to ensure Fairfax County has a modern police training facility.”

The county estimates that a potential data center development could generate more than $20 million in tax revenue within its first year of operation. Proceeds from the sale will support the redevelopment of the aging police training center, and will include a new criminal justice academy, firearms training grounds, driver training infrastructure, K-9 unit training zones and other improvements, per the county. 

If the sale is finalized, construction of the new police facilities are expected to occur from mid-2028 to early 2031. 

Fairfax County is hardly the only entity selling rural land in Northern Virginia for outsize returns, particularly as data center development continues to ramp up in the region. Last month, Baltimore-based Merritt Properties sold a roughly 40-acre parcel in Ashburn to data center developer Cologix for $375 million. Late last year, meanwhile, Chuck Kuhn’s JK Land Holdings traded 97 acres in Leesburg to SDC Capital for an eye-popping $615 million. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at [email protected].

Hosted by CO’s Editor in Chief Max Gross, in collaboration with the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), this annual confab joined some of the city’s most prominent business and civic leaders.

“This event not only serves as a definitive State of the Union event for New York and its real estate industry, but offers very candid insights from the real estate executives and policymakers that are directing the future of New York,” Gross said in his opening remarks. “Today, you’ll hear from real estate and policy experts on everything from how the industry is working to build on momentum for economic growth in the new mayoral administration, to how many developments like 350 Park Avenue are transforming our New York City skyline.”

The event kicked off with welcoming remarks from James Whelan, president of REBNY, who noted the strong recovery in the real estate market post-COVID and the enormous need for more rental housing in a city with a vacancy rate at or below 2 percent. Whelan also noted the need for commercial real estate-specific policies from state and local elected officials. 

“The policies coming out of City Hall, as well as the policies coming out of Albany, will go a long way to determining how our commercial and residential sectors perform moving forward,” Whelan said. “Such policies will determine whether such sectors experience growth, attract investment, and generate increasing amounts of tax revenue to pay for vital government services.” 

One particular policy that pretty much every speaker across the six panels agreed on was that the state’s 485x tax abatement program, developed to incentivize affordable housing development across the city, doesn’t work because of its strict construction wage rules for projects of 100 units or more. To get around the wage requirements, developers are building residential buildings with 99 or fewer units, speakers noted. 

In one session — which featured speakers Ken Fisher of the law firm Cozen O’Connor; Leila Bozorg, New York’s deputy mayor for housing and planning; Jed Walentas, CEO of Two Trees Management and REBNY chair; and Lisa Gomez, CEO at L+M Development Partners — Walentas held nothing back when expressing his opinion that 485x won’t get the job done.

 “The 485x program does not work. Generating a whole bunch of 99-unit projects and having the market decide that that’s what they’re willing to invest in is not a solution for New York City housing,” Walentas said. “Our industry, with City Hall, with the governor’s office, with the legislature, needs to fix that with organized labor, with all the other constituencies, whoever it is — we need to come up with a program that works.”

Adam Greene, executive vice president of development at owner RXR, agreed with Walentas’s take on 485x when he spoke on a panel later that morning. Greene was joined by Keith DeCoster, vice president of market data and policy at REBNY; Michael Hershman, CEO of owner Soloviev Group; Bruce Mosler, chairman of global brokerage at Cushman & Wakefield; and Mitch Korbey, partner and chair of the land use and zoning group at law firm Herrick, who moderated the talk. 

Greene did note that the 467m tax program, which incentivizes office-to-residential conversions, has been a boon for the city. But he and the panelists agreed that conversions alone aren’t enough to solve the city’s housing supply issues. 

Later in the day, Shimon Shkury, president and founder of Ariel Property Advisors, reiterated those sentiments about 485x and 467m. Shkury was speaking on an affordability and talent pipeline in a New York-focused panel with Karen Hu, principal and head of development at Camber Property Group; Bryan Kelly, president of development at Gotham Organization; Christina Rausch, executive vice president of real estate transaction services for the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC); and Marissa Schaffer, director at developer MSquared. David Shamshovich, a partner at law firm Belkin Burden Goldman, moderated. 

“485x needs to be changed,” Shkury said. “The wage requirement that is there now [should be] moved away to allow for larger construction. 467m is a fantastic tool, and we saw a 60 percent increase in permits last year, which means people are utilizing it.” 

One critical element in housing development is knowing that where you are building is a safe area. People often view their homes as a sanctuary, and safety then can be critical to attracting and retaining residents. 

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch spoke about the city’s overall safety during Thursday’s event, noting that last year the city had the lowest recorded number of shootings in its history, and that 2025 was the safest year on record for subway riders — excluding the pandemic years, when far fewer people rode the rails. 

“The people in this room decide where and how the city grows across the five boroughs,” Tisch said. “People are asking what the next chapter of this city will look like, how our business districts will grow, how our neighborhoods will thrive, and how we make sure that New York remains the most dynamic and economically vibrant city in the world. And at the center of all of those conversations is something fundamental: whether people feel safe in this city.”

Residential development wasn’t the only topic at CO’s Future of New York event. Office development was also top of mind, particularly the development of the planned supertall tower coming to Midtown Manhattan at 350 Park Avenue. The building, a joint venture between Vornado Realty Trust and Rudin, in collaboration with Ken Griffin’s Citadel — which will anchor the building — is expected to be delivered in 2032. 

Paul Darrah, chief workplace officer for Citadel, and Barry Langer, executive vice president of development and co-head of real estate at Vornado, spoke with Jonathan Mechanic, chairman of real estate at law firm Fried Frank, about the progress of the project and the importance of highly amenitized Class A office development in the post-COVID workplace. 

“Workplaces have gotten denser,” Langer said. “The ability for you as an employee to get up from your desk, go to an amenity space, go outside to a terrace, and go down to a coffee shop — it is all about how the next generation really wants to work. Having outdoor spaces that are actually usable, shielded from the wind, shielded from the sun, and proper places to put down a laptop makes them much more usable than just having a beautiful landscaping plan.”

The day wrapped with a final session addressing the economic drivers that can support greater tourism in New York City. Moderated by CO’s Gross, the panel featured Steven Fulop, former Jersey City, N.J., mayor and now president and CEO of the Partnership for New York; Thomas Grech, president and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce; Slater Traaen, senior director at owner Mitsui Fudosan America; and Jessica Walker, president and CEO of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. 

The panel discussed the current state and future of tourism in New York City, highlighting the city’s desirability, while noting struggles to bring in international tourists due to economic and immigration policies like steeper tariffs and ICE raids. Still, the panel highlighted New York City’s resilience, and noted that the upcoming World Cup soccer matches happening in less than 100 days will be a boost to the city’s retail and hospitality sectors. 

“We’re anticipated to hit 66 million tourists this year,” Walker said, “which is still a little bit below where we were in 2019, before COVID, but certainly good news.” 

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at [email protected].

The deal marks the eighth acquisition for the Rose Affordable Housing Preservation Fund VI, which aims to provide long-term housing affordability across its portfolio. Related Companies did not immediately respond to Commercial Observer’s request for comment. 

As part of the new deal, Jonathan Rose Companies plans to undertake a $19.7 million rehabilitation of the property, known as the Caroline Apartments. Improvements will include upgrading the building’s internal systems and energy efficiency,, renovating units and  community space, and hiring a full-time resident services coordinator. 

“This investment reflects our ongoing commitment to preserving the affordable communities that families across New York City depend on,” Max Jawer, managing director of acquisitions at Jonathan Rose Companies, said in a statement. “By extending long-term affordability, reinvesting in meaningful property upgrades and prioritizing resident services, we’re helping ensure that residents continue to have stable, high-quality housing to call home as the surrounding neighborhood continues to evolve.” 

Residents at the Caroline Apartments will be able to remain in their homes during the renovations, according to the announcement.

Newmark served as the broker and lender on the transaction, though it’s unclear which brokers from the firm worked on the deal. The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

News of the deal comes as New York City experiences a dwindling supply of affordable housing units across the boroughs. Both public and private organizations have been working to combat the crisis through the implementation and utilization of tax incentive programs, but officials in the industry have said there is more that needs to be done to solve the problem. 

“For decades, we’ve partnered with public agencies and local stakeholders to protect existing housing while reinvesting in communities so they can thrive over the long term,” Brandon Kearse, president and chief investment officer at Jonathan Rose Companies, said in a statement. “This acquisition continues that legacy, demonstrating how thoughtful preservation strategies maintain affordability, strengthen neighborhoods and expand opportunities for residents across the city.” 

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at [email protected]. 

In the wealthy enclave of Beverly Hills, excess appears to be the defining feature. From a steak dinner at Mastro’s to a full spa day at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel to a special bespoke tailored suit — with trademark yellow lining — at the world-renowned House of Bijan, anything exclusive, elaborate, and in short supply can be found for a price. 

But in the rarefied world of Beverly Hills real estate, scarcity rules. Brokers try to work out new retail leases on the city’s globally recognized shopping streets years in advance, owing to the infrequent opportunities to move in. 

That’s why a series of ongoing shifts in and expansions of the city’s real estate landscape is set to radically shift the city’s profile. 

“At this moment, Beverly Hills is having a real renaissance,” said Avison Young principal and managing director Chris Bonbright.

On the site of a former shopping center on Wilshire Boulevard, the 17.5-acre, $10 billion One Beverly Hills mixed-use project — combining a five-star Aman Hotel and luxury condos, 200,000 square feet of retail gunning to become a more exclusive Rodeo Drive, and a spacious public garden and park — further expands the city’s hold on high-end retail. 

“We are transforming [Beverly Hills],” Jonathan Goldstein, CEO of co-developer Cain, told Commercial Observer in September. “In creating the public spaces, the retail center, revitalizing the classic Beverly Hilton — in the way that we’re doing — is going to reshape the center of Beverly Hills.”

This sought-after project, which started pouring the foundation in November and aims to open before the 2028 Olympics, adds premium space for new stores and dining just as existing retail destinations like Rodeo Drive commend record-setting rents, north of $1,000 a square foot, and the globe’s most luxurious brands scramble to rent, or, in increasing numbers, buy their place in this very limited retail firmament. Rents have soared 50 percent since 2019, per CBRE, with one property renting at just shy of $1,400 a square foot. 

Finally, a quirk in statewide zoning regulations may help the city add significant new housing options. Known as Builder’s Remedy, it’s a California law that states that if development-averse municipalities like Beverly Hills don’t properly plan, zone for, and entitle increased housing production to help make up the state’s yawning housing production gap, builders can get permission to erect projects that override local zoning restrictions. A number of such projects are taking shape in Beverly Hills right now, including a cluster of four towers around ​​Olympic Boulevard and South Beverly Drive.

“More than in the past, Beverly Hills is benefitting from not being in Los Angeles,” said Bonright. 

The city’s commitment to public safety and streetscape infrastructure stands in contrast to L.A., where the city has simply stopped repaving streets since last summer. More importantly for real estate, Beverly Hills doesn’t have Measure ULA, the so-called mansion tax passed in 2022 that adds an additional 4 percent levy on property sales between $5.3 million and $10.6 million, and an added 5.5 percent tax on transactions for $10.6 million or more. 

“Beverly Hills spends a lot of money on the way it looks and feels, and that seems to be making a bigger difference today than it’s made in a long time,” said Bonright. “Everyone is looking to buy there.”

Buying there — specifically, the shopping meccas of Rodeo Drive, Cannon Drive and Beverly Drive — has become even more lucrative for retailers, as social media, celebrity, and soaring incomes among the upper crust have driven more attention and accumulation to those stores. A desire to make these true destination spaces has led to gardens and dining being fused with stores, such as the Gucci Osteria rooftop restaurant or Patek Philippe’s concept store with a rooftop garden. 

Commercial corridors like West Hollywood, Melrose Avenue, and Abbot Kinney may get some of the hipper, up-and-coming brands. But a spree of lease signings and transactions have shown the immense and enduring value of these Beverly Hills high streets, especially compared to a regional retail landscape — which a recent Matthews report found was suffering from poor performance, a plateauing population, and regulatory challenges.

One Rodeo, another luxury location at the corner of Rodeo and Wilshire, sold last year for $211 million. Hermes just spent $400 million on a 25,000-square-foot store at 338 North Rodeo Drive, double the size of its current Rodeo outpost. Anta, China’s answer to Nike, opened a flagship store on Rodeo in February. Louis Vuitton plans to open a 45,000-square-foot, Frank Gehry-designed, four-story experiential flagship store on Rodeo with dedicated VIP shopping space and a venue for product launches. And luxury conglomerate LVMH plans to build a three-story Tiffany & Company flagship on a former hotel site they purchased in 2021 for $200 million.

“They only do this because they think L.A. is a very important place to be long-term,” said Newmark executive vice chairman Jay Luchs. “In this case, on Rodeo Drive, they want to always control their destiny.”

Even retail activity in nearby areas commands premiums: Ben Ashkenazy’s investment firm paid just $50 million for a two-block parcel at 9700 Wilshire Boulevard, the 184,000-square-foot Neiman Marcus building. According to JLL Managing Director Matthew Fainchtein, more than half the property on Rodeo Drive is now owned by brands instead of leased, as they see the value in owning real estate (and shutting out competitors). And owners of the remaining rental properties see the value in their holdings and will be aggressively negotiating upcoming renewals. 

While citywide, about 7.4 percent of retail space remains empty, on these key streets vacancy currently sits at functionally zero.

“Beverly Hills seems to be immune to all this sort of cyclical stuff happening in the market and in the economy,” said Fainchtein. “It’s very much in its own bubble.”

Another subset of developers, namely those that focus on multifamily and affordable projects, also have gone to great lengths to establish a foothold in the city. Beverly Hills is pretty much built out, and it can be prohibitively expensive to buy property, tear it up and build new. That is, except for Builder’s Remedy projects.

Despite the city trying to stand in their way, Bonright says they’re going to get built — hundreds of units were approved throughout 2025.

“There is always controversy around height in a mid-rise market, right?” Bonright added. 

Alan Nissel, a law professor at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law and partner at the developer Wilshire Skyline, currently has a Builder’s Remedy project proceeding on 9229 Wilshire Boulevard, adjacent to the retail triangle bounded by Santa Monica Boulevard, Wilshire Boulevard, and Canon Drive. The 116-unit, 14-story tower is “particularly well-suited for high-density development and an opportunity to provide another architectural landmark to the city,” said Nissel. And, since it’s a commercial site, it won’t entail any residential tenant displacement.

“Developing in Beverly Hills is very difficult but there is no better place to live,” he said. “Beverly Hills is one of the few islands of safety, beauty and community left in Southern California.”

Beverly Hills is also doing better than the competing markets, as clothing brands and other major consumer-based companies are similarly paying big bucks for office buildings in the past year and a half like they’re Hermes on Rodeo Drive.

Fashion Nova’s Richard Saghian paid more than $674 a square foot to Tishman Speyer for a 175,000-square-foot Beverly Hills headquarters on North Maple Drive. Alo Yoga paid $90 million — about $1,085 per square foot — for its new Beverly Hills headquarters on Wilshire, marking one of the city’s priciest office trades of 2025. A partnership that includes Jens Grede, co-founder and CEO of Kim Kardashian’s Skims, acquired a nearly 90,000-square-foot Beverly Hills office for $61 million, a roughly 26 percent discount.

And sports gambling company FanDuel paid $71 million — or more than $1,410 per square foot — for a newly built Beverly Hills office also on Wilshire. For comparison, the office towers in Downtown L.A. are trading at around $200 to $250 a square foot since the pandemic.

Thus, Bonbright said office leasing is a niche part of the city’s real estate market.  Entertainment bigwig United Talent Agency, signed a 193,591-square-foot renewal at its namesake UTA Plaza in November. Nearby Century City, which has become a dominant West Coast office market with rents approaching double the Greater Los Angeles average, and potentially nearby Westwood, which will benefit from the soon-to-open D Line subway on Wilshire, will remain the local office draws.

But Beverly Hills maintains its role as a magnet. And while there’s little land to buy, there’s still room for the city to grow. This recent growth surge has taken place at a time when a significant portion of Beverly Hills tourist traffic from overseas hasn’t been visiting; nationally, overseas visitors dropped 6 percent year-over-year in 2025, and JLL predicts this decline in gateway markets like L.A. will hurt luxury retail.

“All this good news that’s happening locally is happening with historically low international tourism,” said Bonright. “You put that back in the mix, and then you’ve got that many more bodies on the street and dollars going into the restaurants and the stores and the hotels.”

Decron Properties landed $82.9 million in Fannie Mae financing tied to River Ranch Apartments, a 398-unit, garden-style complex at 1518 Patricia Avenue. The permanent financing will allow Decron to pay off existing debt while also freeing up capital to “continue to operate River Ranch at a high level,” according to broker BWE.

BWE’s Jake Roberts and Mike Guterman arranged the debt on behalf of Decron. The five-year, fixed-rate loan has the lowest agency financing rate that BWE has secured in more than three years, per the brokerage, though the exact rate was not disclosed. It’s likewise the lowest rate that Decron has secured for any of its properties in the post-pandemic era.

“This is the lowest fixed-rate financing we’ve achieved in our portfolio in the last four years, and it’s a testament to our conservative approach to capital structuring in an environment where rates remain significantly elevated,” David Nagel, Decron’s president and CEO, and Daniel Nagel, the company’s chief investment and chief financial officer, said in a joint statement. 

“We’ve been deliberate and disciplined in how we approach our capital stack,” they added. “By combining good timing with a thoughtful investment thesis around debt and capital structure, we’ve been able to execute an incredible outcome in a tough capital market. This refinancing puts our investors in the strongest possible position and enables us to continue investing in this property and our broader portfolio.”

Decron, which owns nearly 50 multifamily and commercial properties across Arizona, California and Washington state, made headlines in recent years with several major property sales well north of $100 million. In 2024, the firm traded the 376-unit Ranch at Moorpark to AEW Capital Management for $133 million. Roughly six months earlier, it sold a two-property portfolio in Thousand Oaks to FPA Multifamily for $171.3 million. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at [email protected].

Quantum Pacific Realty and MetroLoft have secured an $88 million bridge loan as part of the recapitalization of 845 Third Avenue, a 21-story office property in Midtown East that will be converted into a 529-unit apartment building, Commercial Observer can first report. 

BHI, the U.S branch of Bank Hapoalim, provided the debt. No broker was listed on the translation.  

llana Druyan, senior vice president and head of international origination at BHI, described New York City in a statement as a “dynamic and consequential real estate market.” She added that it is “a fundamental mission of our bank to continually shape its growth and trajectory.”

“Projects like this one in Midtown East reflect what’s possible when the right partners, the right capital, and the right vision come together to help drive opportunity forward,” Druyan said.

The asset has had an interesting history, as of late. CO reported last November that Rudin had sealed $350 million to recapitalize 845 Third Avenue‘s next chapter, as it transitioned out of ownership. The deal included Quantum Pacific investing $80 million for a stake in the property along with a $250 million construction loan from BDT & MSD Partners. 

By tapping Berman’s MetroLoft to do the design, zoning and execution of the conversion of 845 Third Avenue, Quantum Pacific Realty has chosen one of the pre-eminent experts in that field. In recent years, Berman has led the adaptive reuse of assets 443 Greenwich Street, 20 Exchange Place and 63 Wall Street, all of which are now luxury or rental apartment buildings. 

Quantum Pacific Realty has also been busy. The firm bought 101 Greenwich Street from BGO for more than $100 million in February 2025, and 767 Third Avenue from Sage Realty for $88 million in November 2024. 

845 Third Avenue opened as an office in 1963 and has more than 350,000 square feet. 

Quantum Pacific Realty and MetroLoft did not respond to requests to comment.

Brian Pascus can be reached at [email protected].

The floating-rate, interest-only bridge financing covers Joule House, a 308-unit development at 2200 Northwest First Avenue, on the corner of First Avenue and 22nd Street. The New York-based developer completed the asset in September.

“This transaction represents a unique opportunity to partner with a best-in-class owner-operator in Fisher Brothers as they continue their thoughtful stabilization of a premier asset in an attractive, high-growth market,” Mark Gormley, a managing director at Boston-based Bain Capital Credit, said in a statement.

A representative for Fisher Brother declined to provide the occupancy rate of Joule House. Keith Kurland, Aaron Appel, Jonathan Schwartz, Adam Schwartz, Michael Diaz, Michael Ianno, Christopher de Raet and Edward Leboyer of Walker & Dunlop represented Fisher Brothers in the transaction.

The fourth-generation real estate company obtained a $117.5 million construction loan from J.P. Morgan Chase and Canyon Partners in 2023 after paying $17.6 million two years earlier for the 1.54-acre site. 

The eight-story building was Fisher Brothers’ first project in Miami. The firm is best known for owning legacy office buildings in New York City’s Midtown. 

Besides the residential component, Joule House includes 26,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, where high-end smoothie joint Sunlife Organics will open a 2,000-square-foot location later this year.

Julia Echikson can be reached at [email protected]. 

BrightSpire, using the entity BRSP Paragon, sold the seven-story building at 21-02 49th Avenue — also known as the Paragon Building — to Jack Guttman’s Pearl Realty Management, which used the entity 2100 49 Ave, records show.

David Palame, general counsel, executive vice president and secretary at BrightSpire, signed the deal for the seller, while attorney Alan Weiss signed for the buyer, according to records.

The new sale comes at a roughly 56 percent discount from the $64.3 million BrightSpire paid for the building in 2023, property records show.

It’s unclear who brokered the deal, as well as why BrightSpire decided to offload the property at such a discount. Spokespeople for BrightSpire and Pearl Realty did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Built in 1916, the Paragon Building sits on the corner of 21st Street and 49th Avenue, and was redeveloped around 2018 by Related Companies and Studios Architecture into modern office and retail space.

Starbucks was a retail tenant there, but the coffee shop closed along with dozens of others in New York City following a nationwide downsizing effort from Starbucks.

News of Pearl Realty’s acquisition of 21-02 49th Avenue comes after the Brooklyn-based real estate company sold the development site at 97 West Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, to Jay Group for $130 million in December, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at [email protected].

Majestic Asset Management sold the properties as part of a recapitalization sale, and Blackbird Investment Group, and H.I.G. Capital were also involved in the deal, according to brokerage firm Colliers. An affiliate of Starwood Property Trust provided a $153.5 million acquisition loan tied to the sale, records show. 

Majestic had assembled the five-campus portfolio, dubbed Tech Park @ Goleta, in separate deals throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s. The properties are bounded by Hollister Avenue, Bollay Drive, Castilian Drive, Cremona Drive and Ward Drive. The deal is one of the largest property sales ever in Santa Barbara County.

Colliers’ Sean Fulp, Michael Kendall, Mark Schuessler, Gian Bruno, Kenny Patricia and Blake Hammerstein arranged the deal alongside Hayes Commercial Group’s Francois DeJohn and Caitlin Hensel. CBRE’s Brad Zampa and Mike Walker arranged the debt. Tenants at the portfolio include Lockheed Martin, Umbra Space and IT equipment provider Curvature. 

“Goleta’s combination of entrenched technology and aerospace tenants, limited new supply, and strong institutional ownership continues to support long-term investor conviction in the market,” Fulp said in a statement. “We continue to see sophisticated capital prioritize high-quality R&D and industrial assets in Goleta, given the market’s durable fundamentals and long-term growth trajectory.”

Other major firms such as Raytheon and Northrop Grumman have long-term footholds in Santa Barbara County, and its proximity to Vandenberg Space Force Base make it a very attractive option for companies looking to escape the bustle of L.A. County.

Nick Trombola can be reached at [email protected].

The real estate investment trust (REIT) — New York City’s largest office landlord, with more than 30 million square feet of space — announced this week that it extended and refinanced $2 billion of a $2.4 billion corporate credit facility at a lower rate.

SL Green has extended the maturity date of a $1.25 billion revolving line — a pool of cash a firm can tap into anytime — to June 2031, while reducing its borrowing cost by 25 basis points to 125 basis points over SOFR (which currently sits at 3.62 percent), based on the REIT’s current credit rating.  

Another $1.05 billion piece of the debt (a term loan facility) is being split into two parts — with a $750 million term-loan due June 2031 and a $300 million term-loan due May 2027. A third, existing $100 million term-loan remains due November 2026. 

Matt DiLiberto, chief financial officer of SL Green, said the refinancing of the firm’s credit facility falls inline with the plans SL Green has to execute a $7 billion financial plan in 2026, one that is buttressed by the strong metrics of the New York City office market. 

“The strength of the Midtown Manhattan office leasing market, coupled with the credit quality of our portfolio and our platform, continues to attract the support of the world’s highest quality financial institutions,” said DeLiberto. 

Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and BMO Capital Markets served as joint arrangers of the $2.4 billion credit facility, while Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, TD Bank Corp., and Bank of America will serve as bookrunners (distribution of the shares of and bonds of it to investors). 

SL Green’s stock sits at $39.65 as of Friday morning, down 15 percent on the year, and 32 percent from where it was March 20, 2025.

Brian Pascus can be reached at [email protected].

As tens of thousands of analysts, fund managers and real estate players confabbed about the state of the market from March 9 to 13, the event was quieter than it had been in past years, according to several attendees. Many Middle Eastern representatives weren’t able to attend, held back by canceled flights stemming from the war in Iran. 

“I think there’s been a general dampening effect,” said Gunnar Branson, CEO of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE). “You could see global investors trying to see how this turns out. It certainly felt different than it did before.”

Just weeks into the rapidly shifting Iran conflict that began Feb. 28 — one that’s evolving with every tweet, Branson said — it’s impossible to gather detailed data on the impact of hostilities around the Strait of Hormuz, the all-important oil shipping channel. But there’s plenty of speculation around the inflationary impacts of a prolonged spike in energy prices and open-ended fighting. 

Investors and analysts broadly share a consensus that this will be a short conflict, causing a tapping of the brakes for deal-makers rather than an abrupt stop. This war won’t broadly shift the existing trends in foreign investment flows into U.S. property, and may prove to be a speed bump for the real estate recovery that has shaped up in recent months. Despite the feared outbreak of significant hostilities in the Persian Gulf, in real estate, pragmatism and positive momentum appear to be winning out. 

“These events are obviously playing on investors’ psyches, but, when it comes back to actual fundamentals in global real estate markets, there are still positive signs,” said Simon Chinn, vice president of research and advisory services for the Urban Land Institute. “Despite this volatility, many in the industry recognize you can’t just sit on the sidelines. Unpredictability has become the only constant now.” 

In recent months, there has been a noticeable uptick in transaction volume and overall improved sentiment in commercial real estate, buoyed by a firming up of prices. Falling interest rates, falling hedging costs and a declining dollar had created a strong backdrop for international investment in the U.S., said Alex Foshay, Newmark executive vice chairman and the head of its international capital markets group.

While total direct foreign investment in U.S. commercial real estate was $26 billion last year, a drop from $29.7 billion in 2024 and far from recent peaks (like the $95 billion invested in 2018), circumstances had teed up a return to more aggressive deal-making. The fourth quarter of 2025 saw $10 billion in such investment alone, per Newmark. Whether you’re an Australian superannuation pool, a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund or a German pension system, you “want to buy into the story” the U.S. is selling, Foshay said.  

“From a geopolitical standpoint, show me a country that feels safer right now,” said Branson. “We’re sort of the tallest short person in the room. And 50 percent of the institutional-quality commercial real estate is here.”

So far, many of the Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds have been publicly silent, making few if any statements about the war and its repercussions on investment strategy, especially regarding where their capital flows. 

Foshay, who works with major Middle Eastern funds, said that in recent discussions leaders have said they’re “steadfast in their positions” and continue to pursue their 2026 investment requirements. Gulf investors have deployed over $10 billion into New York City real estate since 2020, according to Newmark data, and made additional investment in U.S. skyscrapers, student housing and offices. 

As long as the conflict is brief, the impact on capital flows — and the view of the U.S. as the best place for long-term investment — should remain largely unchanged, said Sam Chandan, founding director and professor at New York University’s Chao-Hon Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance. 

Chandan has one qualifier: Investors from the United States who may have been evaluating opportunities to deploy capital in the Persian Gulf region will place more emphasis in their calculus on the potential for geopolitical instability in the area. The long-sought image of places like Dubai as an international haven for capital and financial firms is a critical focus for Middle Eastern leaders, and a reputation they hope doesn’t take a hit.

For the first two months of the year, the mood within commercial real estate was decidedly upbeat. An Urban Land Institute global survey published in December picked up on improving optimism around investment opportunities in 2026, and an AFIRE survey posted in February found cross-border investors were not only excited to increase their investment in the U.S. this year, but also ranked the country as the safest business environment, despite growing skepticism. Roughly two-thirds of respondents said they didn’t foresee a wave of divestment from the U.S. anytime soon.

Data from MSCI found a 12 percent year-over-year increase in global real estate deal value in 2025, and the U.S. real estate market has “level set” in recent months, according to Jim Costello, executive director at investment adviser MSCI, finally adjusting to the post-COVID landscape and moving forward. The LightBox CRE Activity Index — which aggregates commercial listings, appraisals and other U.S. transaction data — hit 118.2 in February before the outbreak of hostilities, the highest level in the last four years. 

“We’re seeing an uptick in transactions, a deeper, more diverse buying pool, and people putting money to work deploying capital,” said Manus Clancy, head of data strategy at LightBox. “It wasn’t just opportunistic buyers. Everybody was dipping their toes in.”

However, a conflict that escalates — either becoming more intense amid existing players, or begging to entrap more countries in the region, or more seriously damaging oil infrastructure — may lead to an inflationary spiral in the U.S. that eventually causes a rise in interest rates and a reassessment in values. Newmark’s Foshay believes any conflict that runs past eight weeks will begin to raise investor concerns. And stopping that spiral may prove much more difficult. 

“Compared to U.S. tariff disputes and Liberation Day last April, what is happening at the moment is much harder to switch off,” said ULI’s Chinn.

The conflict’s impact on U.S. real estate activity can be divided into two buckets, said MSCI’s Costello: the real economy, which takes much longer to show an impact, and the financial economy. 

The latter has already seen some war-related activity in recent weeks. Both the 10-Year Treasury Index and Moody’s BAA Corporate Bond Index have increased. The former, a benchmark off which many loans are priced, went from 3.97 to nearly 4.2 percent between late February and March 11, and the latter is moving faster and widening the spread. Costello sees that widening spread as a leading indicator of risk aversion, and eventually an increase in cap rates. 

The impact on the real economy — higher energy rates, rising inflation, increased costs, an economic slowdown and corporate tenants leasing less space — will take much longer to percolate. Costello recommends keeping an eye on second-quarter brokerage reports to gauge where the real estate market is going. 

But, if and when that impact is felt — if a barrel of oil costs $125 for half a year or longer because of persistent supply problems — that begins to cycle through the economy and real estate market. Inflationary pressure hits buying power, hurting retail and hotels, while rising energy costs spike utility bills for apartments in particular, hammering net operating income and squashing the seeds of multifamily recovery. It “slams the brakes on the U.S. economy,” said LightBox’s Clancy.

There’s real risk to a prolonged conflict. Chinn also sees the conflict, regardless of its next stages, reinforcing many emerging themes in real estate investment and operations during this period of increasing instability. That includes reassuring the resiliency, as well as the cyber and physical security, of key assets. (Attacks on Amazon data centers in the Gulf have raised the specter of these assets becoming new wartime targets.)

But there’s also a sense that a repeated cycle of crises — COVID in 2020 and 2021, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the inflation spike that same year, the 2023 regional banking breakdown — have created a numbness to crisis. 

“The fact that none of this has turned into the sky really is falling,” Clancy said, “has made people a bit comfortable.”

In New York City, the good news is that Mayor Zohran Mamdani has expressed an openness to P3s and hired a talented group of deputy mayors and commissioners. While some important positions remain to be filled, this group has experience and knowledge of how to make smart P3 decisions that allow our economy to grow and deliver significant public value.

Having helped guide public–private partnerships to approval for more than 25 years, here are strategic recommendations for presenting a P3 proposal to the Mamdani administration.

It will be important to establish credibility and highlight not only your track record of success, but also any history of community-based initiatives and public benefits that have resulted from your projects. Do not just rely on relationships, and make sure you bring data, as leadership in the new administration will focus on substantive outcomes.

Align the substance of your proposal with the mayor’s goal of making the city more affordable. “Affordability” is the key buzzword on everything from social services to technology to economic development. Framing your project in this context is strategically important in how you speak to the press and in pitching your project to government leaders and other stakeholders.

Understand both the political landscape and the technical processes your project will require, and hire the right experts to guide you. Entitlement and procurement processes, for example, are governed by established rules, regulations and oversight regardless of who is in office.

Determining whether your project requires City Council or Community Board review could bring in a different set of politics requiring a customized engagement strategy to ensure a smooth approval process.

You should understand the growth trajectory of New York City, as your project may be able to piggyback on past approvals. To their credit, the economic development team in the administration of Mayor Eric Adams made smart decisions through rezonings — including an expedited land-use review for affordable housing, which the Mamdani administration has already started using — and investments in workforce development programs, public realm, growth industries like AI and life sciences, and locally based economic hubs both in and out of the Manhattan core.  

As Andrew Kimball, then the president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said last year that city development officials think in years and decades, not just today. A perfect example is the impressive work done with the community to develop the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. These will have important payoffs to the city, state and country in the coming years, as well as provide confidence to businesses entering or expanding in our metro market.

Finally, understand how federal and state policies, and the broader political environment, may impact your proposal. While the Trump–Mamdani relationship appears to be off to a positive start, it could shift quickly given their stark differences on policy and politics. The Trump administration has made clear that it is willing to challenge jurisdictions and leaders who oppose its agenda, and New York City will likely remain a focal point of that dynamic. The recent conflict over the Gateway rail tunnel project is a clear example of the political complexities.

New York City has long operated within complex geopolitical tensions and has consistently emerged stronger. With the midterm elections approaching, the coming months may be politically turbulent. However, if Democrats regain control of the U.S. House — and potentially the Senate — the federal government may become more receptive to investing in and supporting New York and opening additional P3 opportunities.

As the financial, media, cultural and international affairs capital of the world, New York plays an outsize role in the national economy. Policies that undermine the city inevitably reverberate far beyond the five boroughs, affecting communities and economies across the country. For that reason, it is important that we continue reminding the nation (and the world) of New York’s critical importance by advancing thoughtful public–private partnerships and executing them in ways that strengthen both businesses and communities.

Travis Terry is the founder and CEO of consultancy Immortal Strategies.

U.S. banking regulators — including the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) — issued a series of proposals Thursday that, if officially approved after a 90-day comment period, will decrease capital burdens on U.S. banks. Those rules date from the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and more closely tie capital requirements to associated risk.

In readjusting the risk-based capital requirements, regulators announced that larger banks — generally those with at least $700 billion in average total assets — will see effects equivalent to an average 2.4 percent reduction in capital requirements, derived from a “1.4 percent increase due to the Basel III proposal, and a 3.8 percent decrease due to the G-SIB surcharge proposal,” according to the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC). 

Global Systemically Important Banks, or G-SIBs, are banks whose failure could theoretically pose a threat to the international financial system. As such, those banks have been required to hold even larger percentages of minimum capital in reserve than others. Basel III is part of an international benchmark for banks’ capital requirements. 

For banks with $100 billion or more but less than the top category, the decrease will be 3 percent. Smaller banking organizations will see a decrease in capital requirements of 7.8 percent.

In a March 12 speech at the Cato Institute, a right-leaning think tank, Michelle Bowman, vice chair for supervision at the Federal Reserve Board, explained the rationale for the changes.

Bowman said the new approach seeks to “reduce redundancy, simplify where possible, achieve better calibration of requirements relative to risk, and remove incentives for activities to migrate out of the banking system,” noting that “the result is more efficient regulation and banks that are better positioned to support economic growth, while preserving safety and soundness.”

The vice chair expressed the belief that “the global systemically important bank (G-SIB) surcharge” had become “disassociated from actual risk.” She added that many regulatory changes made following the GFC had been necessary, but “requirements that overly calibrate low-risk activities produce unintended consequences … [including] constraining credit availability, pushing activity into the less regulated non-bank sector, and layering on complexity and costs.”

These changes come at a time when alternative lenders often supersede traditional banks in many areas of commercial real estate lending, including accounting for roughly half of all new U.S. construction lending as of January 2026.

The new proposals seek to deal with this problem head-on.

“By improving risk-based capital requirements, the proposal would bolster the role of large U.S. banking organizations in supporting the broader economy,” the proposal reads. “The reforms that followed the 2007-09 financial crisis substantially increased the resilience of the U.S. banking system. However, in some cases, these post-crisis reforms have imposed burdens that contributed to the migration of some activities, such as mortgage origination and servicing, outside of the regulated banking sector. Revising the regulatory capital framework to better align requirements with risks — and in so doing easing requirements on some lower-risk, traditional banking activities — would contribute to U.S. banking organizations becoming better positioned to support the economy.” 

Bowman said that the Fed and its partners took a “bottom-up approach” to modernizing the capital framework.

“We did not begin by setting an aggregate ‘target’ and working backward,” said Bowman. “Instead, each requirement is evaluated on its merits — examining whether it is properly calibrated to risk, achieves its intended purpose, and avoids creating unintended outcomes.” 

Matthew Bornfreund, a partner at law firm Morrison Foerster who specializes in bank advisory and who was also an attorney at the Federal Reserve, believes that the new requirements, as expressed by Bowman in her Cato speech, achieve Bowman’s goals of more accurately reflecting the relationship between capital requirements and risk. 

“Vice Chair Bowman has repeatedly said that the intention was not to simply reduce the overall capital requirements on sort of an aggregate basis, but to make sure the individual capital components are better aligned to the actual reasons why we ask banks to hold capital,” said Bornfreund.

Sairah Burki, managing director and head of regulatory affairs and sustainability at CREFC, noted that certain aspects of the new proposal put the U.S. more in line with the international banking community.

“The change here is that they are going to seek to align the G-SIB surcharge with international jurisdictions,” said Burki. “The G-SIB surcharge appears to be too aggressive, so they’re trying to make it more consistent with what we’re seeing internationally.”

Burki also noted that, according to Bowman’s preview, the G-SIB surcharge will be indexed to economic growth.

“Banks won’t be penalized for inflationary scenarios,” said Burki.

Another new advantage for banks is the simplification of determinative formulas.

“An important feature of this proposal is the elimination of duplicative capital calculations for the largest banks,” Bowman said at Cato. “Today, these banks must maintain two sets of risk-based capital ratios: one using the standardized approach and another using internal model-based advanced approaches. Experience shows this duplication creates burden without providing corresponding benefits. Therefore, the proposal establishes a single approach to calculate the risk-based capital requirements for the largest banks.”

Bornfreund said he believes Bowman’s approach is a reaction to that of the Biden administration, which, he said, had been in the process of finalizing Basel III when Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in March 2023.

“The Biden administration took the opportunity to try to address some of the things that came out of [the failure of] Silicon Valley, and it likely was not the appropriate forum to do that because it kind of muddied up whatever capital rules they were putting into place,” said Bornfreund. “They tried to solve too many problems with capital.”

Burki noted that the Biden administration’s proposal “would have raised capital requirements for banks generally between 16 and 19 percent,” attracting “an almost unprecedented level of pushback” from the banking industry.  

“The Biden administration got the message about a year later, and the vice chair of supervision at the Fed, Michael Barr, indicated in a speech at the Brookings Institution that they would redo the proposal,” Burki noted. “Shortly after that, however, there was a change in administration.”

Burki also said that the Biden proposal lacked a specificity that would have clarified the reason for the capital requirements it sought.

“One of the major criticisms of the proposal under the Biden administration was that it was lacking in analysis of the risks associated with [capital requirements], and why they came up with the requirements they came up with,” said Burki. “A lot of the pushback was, ‘Where’s your cost-benefit analysis? What is your rationale for these numbers? We don’t understand where these are coming from.’ So Bowman’s point, I think, is that they have been very intentional about closely examining the different assets and activities for which they’ll be assigning capital, and then moving out from there.”

That said, Bornfreund doesn’t see the new version of Basel III as any sort of rebuke to the Biden administration.

“They’re going back to first principles, when the Basel III regime was first put in place after Dodd-Frank,” said Bornfreund, referring to regulatory legislation born of the GFC. “They’re adjusting to some of the things we’ve now learned that aren’t actually efficient ways to manage bank risk. They’re adopting 10 years’ worth of learnings to make the system work better.”

Larry Getlen can be reached [email protected]. 

International retailer WeWearAustralian will open its first U.S. location in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, Commercial Observer has learned. 

WeWearAustralian, an initiative supporting local Australian fashion brands, has signed a lease for 5,000 square feet at PEP Real Estate’s 69 Mercer Street, according to tenant broker Cushman & Wakefield.

The length of the lease and the asking rent were not disclosed. The average asking rent for retail space in SoHo was $734 per square foot in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to data from CBRE. 

C&W’s Ian Lerner, Ed Nelson and Alan Wildes represented the tenant, while PEP handled the lease negotiations in-house. 

“We are thrilled to have secured this exceptional SoHo location for WeWearAustralian’s U.S. launch,” Lerner said in a statement. “This deal introduces a distinctive and innovative retail concept to one of New York City’s most dynamic shopping districts. WeWearAustralian provides a unique platform for Australian brands seeking to enter the U.S. market, and 69 Mercer Street offers an ideal setting to showcase these brands to a global audience.”

John Pasquale, managing partner at PEP, added to CO that the tenant chose 69 Mercer Street due to its “location, configuration, reasonable negotiations, and the potential of a long-term amicable relationship.”

The space at 69 Mercer Street, which is situated between Spring and Broome streets, includes 2,500 square feet on the ground floor and 2,500 square feet below street level.

“Inside, soaring 18-foot ceilings and exposed timber beams set the stage for a dramatic interior, while tall storefront windows and a custom rear skylight flood the space with natural light,” PEP said of the space on its website. “Polished concrete floors, wood-paneled details, and gallery-style shelving create a refined backdrop for retail, showroom or experiential use.” 

69 Mercer Street was previously home to The Den, a boutique shop that sold clothing, accessories, magazines and select home goods. Online posts indicate the retailer moved to a spot on West 25th Street.

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at [email protected]. 

Stuf Storage, a self-storage company that partners with landlords to convert underutilized spaces, has signed a 10-year, 7,828-square-foot lease for the basement and ground floor of the GFP Real Estate-owned building west of Washington Square Park, according to the landlord.

Stuf plans to use the space to service nearby residents, students of the surrounding universities, and small businesses, GFP said.

GFP did not disclose the asking rent for the building, but the average asking rent for self-storage space in the U.S. was $159 per square foot in the second quarter of 2025, according to a report from Cushman & Wakefield.

“Activating underutilized space in a way that adds value to both the building and the surrounding neighborhood is always a win,” GFP’s Neith Stone, who represented the landlord in-house and the tenant alongside David Kaye, said in a statement.

“Stuf’s model is a smart fit for this property and this location,” Stone added. “With New York University and several dense residential communities nearby, we believe the facility will serve a real need while enhancing the overall functionality of the building.”

Stuf, which launched in 2020, established its 10th New York City location in August after signing an 11,991-square-foot deal at Vornado Realty Trust’s One Park Avenue. Much of its growth is attributed to its ability to activate underutilized space in commercial buildings.

The deal at 10 Astor Place brought the building’s leasing to 100 percent, according to GFP.

“This location is everything we look for: a high-density neighborhood, a landmark building and a real estate partner who understands the value of activating unused space,” Katharine Lau, CEO and co-founder of Stuf, said in a statement. “We’re excited to bring our storage platform to Astor Place and serve the surrounding community.”

There is growing traction in the self-storage sector recently. Operator Public Storage acquired National Storage Affiliates in a $10.5 billion deal earlier this week, and StorageMart, parent company of Manhattan Mini Storage, bought 15 New York City facilities from the Carlyle Group for about $1 billion in January.

Mark Hallum can be reached at [email protected].

The organization, which focuses on helping people grappling with homelessness and those who have been through the criminal justice system, signed a six-year, 37,760-square-foot lease for a new headquarters at 39 Broadway, according to landlord Cammeby’s International Group.

Cammeby’s did not immediately disclose the asking rent for the building, but the average asking rent for office space in Lower Manhattan was $59.26 per square foot in February, according to a report from CBRE.

“Organizations focused on public service and community impact increasingly see value in being located in the heart of Lower Manhattan,” Avi Schron, principal of Cammeby’s, said in a statement. “Fedcap’s mission-driven work and long-standing commitment to expanding economic opportunity make them an exceptional addition to the building.” 

Brian Siegel of The Lawrence Group negotiated on behalf of both the landlord and the tenant in the transaction. Siegel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

With the new lease, Fedcap will take over the entire second and third floors of 39 Broadway, a 37-story building between Morris and Rector streets.

“With its central Financial District location and flexible full-floor layouts, 39 Broadway provides an ideal environment for organizations like Fedcap to grow their operations while remaining closely connected to the communities they serve,” Schron said.

It’s unclear where Fedcap is relocating from, but the nonprofit has 11 offices spread throughout the Bronx, Queens and Manhattan. Those offices include a career advancement center for older adults at 42 Broadway, directly across the street from its new location.

Mark Hallum can be reached at [email protected].