PHOTOS: Inside Cooper-Horowitz’s 2017 holiday bash

Dealmakers rubbed shoulders at Michael Jordan’s

Two poofy-coated tourists who hopped off Grand Central Terminal’s elevator on the wrong floor and stumbled into Cooper-Horowitz’s holiday bash caught a rare sight: New York’s real estate industry in its purest, condensed form.

The mortgage brokerage’s annual bash, hosted at Michael Jordan’s steak house, is an institution. For six loud, boozy hours in the afternoon, the city’s top developers, bankers and brokers walk in and out, rubbing shoulders and talking shop.

The likes of Robert Gladstone, Adelaide Polsinelli, Bruce Eichner, Josh Zegen and Jay Neveloff were there, though hard to spot in a sea of suits. But it wasn’t all business as usual. The party seemed less crowded than in years past, although co-host Richard Horowitz said 1,200 guests were expected. And some of the attendees sounded downbeat at the end of a disappointing year in the commercial real estate market.

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Work was “less fun” in 2017, said Eastern Consolidated broker Ronda Rogovin, pointing to a sharp drop in investment sales volume. “I’d rather be busy than bored,” she added.

Craig Price, an attorney at Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman, was more upbeat on the commercial market, noting that deal volume picked up over the past three months. But he acknowledged that the residential market has gone quiet.

Eastern Consolidated’s Polsinelli predicted that it might take five years for the commercial market to really pick up again. “It’s the cycle,” she said. “We were due.”

Photos by Jhila Farzaneh for The Real Deal.