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Prices in the luxury market are slipping, inventory levels are swollen, and Amazon has turned its back on Queens. But despite these challenges, the New York new development market is still ripe for opportunity, according to top executives who live, breathe, build and sell it.
At The Real Deal‘s 12th annual showcase, developers MaryAnne Gilmartin and Michael Shvo were joined by architect Vishaan Chakrabarti and brokerage boss Elizabeth Ann Stribling-Kivlan on a panel to discuss the state of the market.
While the industry is still smarting from losing Amazon, development in Queens continues to have upside, said Gilmartin, whose firm is planning a large, mixed-use project on the waterfront at 44-02 Vernon Boulevard. Shvo spoke about his record-breaking boutique condo Downtown. “The Getty is the billionaire’s building of West Chelsea,” he told Stuart Elliot, TRD‘s editor-in-chief and the moderator of the panel. “I don’t think we’re competing with anybody.” To Stribling-Kivlan, the amount of attention shone on West Chelsea has made it more of a destination. And Chakrabarti, founder of PAU, noted that land prices and construction costs hamper the kind of rental development needed for lower- and middle-income New Yorkers.