Ringing out the year in style

Real estate firms ready to celebrate 2014 with stylish holiday parties

Town Residential’s holiday party will return to Tao Downtown for a second year.
Town Residential’s holiday party will return to Tao Downtown for a second year.

Tis the season of eggnog, shopping, and — of course — lavish holiday parties. And true to New York real estate, industry holiday parties are all about location, location, location.

The scene is, clearly, quite different from a few years ago. 

In 2008, in the middle of the financial crisis, many of the most popular and well-attended annual parties were canceled. And much like the state of the economy and the housing market, recovery was slow. 

In 2011, for example, brokerages were still feeling the impact of the crash, and opted for more modest activities — bowling, the circus — and less fancy digs to celebrate to holidays. 

But this year, sources say, the holiday party is officially back. The booze should be free-flowing,  and the city’s most exclusive doors are about to open. 

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Michael Stern’s JDS Development, as well as Josh Zegen’s Madison Realty Capital, are hosting their annual parties on the top of the Standard Hotel. TerraCRG, meanwhile, is celebrating at the Brooklyn Winery in Williamsburg, and is offering its guests kosher and non-kosher food and drink options. 

Town, the brokerage headed by CEO Andrew Heiberger that also celebrates the anniversary of its founding around the holidays, will host its annual celebration at Tao Downtown for the second straight year.

Rutenberg Realty’s New York City office, for its part, will be hosting its biggest party yet, according to the firm’s newly appointed president Stefani Markowitz (see related story, page 134.) 

The party will be hosted at the Chester, a swanky nightclub in the Meatpacking District. 

The fête should be a mix of a celebration of the market, the brokers, and the rebranding the company has recently gone through.