Just before 8 a.m. on Dec. 13, 2016, two teams of sheriffs descended upon narrow streets lined with cinder block buildings in Laoag, a city in northern Philippines. They stormed a pair of office buildings, leading some onlookers to think brawls had broken out. In fact, the target was Avion BPO, a call center and research facility with U.S. clients. A group of panicked Avion researchers locked themselves in a… [more]
September 2018 Issue
Search and destroy: How CoStar became a $15B juggernaut
A deep dive into the CRE data giant's approach to competition
Can Compass deliver?
Awash in venture cash and under intense pressure to show big returns, the firm is buying brokerages from coast to coast and targeting $1B in revenue
Robert Reffkin did not want his picture taken. Not in front of an illuminated Compass logo. Not seated. And certainly not with… [more]
Mini mergers: Smaller firms unite
Faced with the same tough market realities as their big counterparts, small and mid-sized firms are increasingly joining forces
Residential sales have slowed, the cost of running a brokerage has climbed,… [more]
The rise of the anonymous LLC
Tracing the rapid growth of New York’s favorite property investment vehicle and its controversial drawbacks
For more than four years, nobody knew who bought the only $100 million apartment in Manhattan. Real estate agents and architects who worked with the… [more]
Behind the AG finance bureau’s master plan
Despite the turmoil after Eric Schneiderman’s abrupt resignation, bureau chief Brent Meltzer is looking to expand his department’s reach and tackle more cases
Eric Schneiderman’s resignation … [more]
The private equity paradox
A bottleneck is brewing as funds that are flush with cash can’t find real estate deals with the returns they need
There’s an eyebrow-raising issue playing out in the private equity world right now. While funds have pulled back on the… [more]
The construction unions at a crossroads
The latest scraps between Related and the Building Trades’ Gary LaBarbera mark a turning point in the battle over union and nonunion labor in New York
Standing in front of thousands of … [more]
Commercial broker games
As real estate’s top governing bodies turn a blind eye, many say brokers and firms using “tie-ins” to manipulate bids are getting an unfair pass
On top of lease escalations and the distinctions between rentable… [more]
The Closing: Benjamin Brafman
The famed criminal defense attorney on avoiding the Hamptons, his bonds with Charlie Kushner and Puff Daddy, and his #MeToo concerns
Benjamin Brafman is the founder… [more]
WATCH: Benjamin Brafman on his comedy days, his bonds with Puff Daddy and Charlie Kushner, his views on #MeToo and more
With clients like Harvey Weinstein, Puff Daddy, Dominique Strauss-… [more]
Who owns all of New York?
An epic, first-ever ranking of the largest property owners in the city
When Silverstein Properties was bidding on the Helmsley Carlton House eight years ago, company executive Marty Burger thought his firm had a pitch that would win the property. “[We had]… [more]
Has LEED lost its luster?
As the city changes its building codes and other green certifications become available, landlords are rethinking the program’s value
To cut its energy usage in half, JPMorgan Chase hired more than 400 construction workers to upgrade its massive… [more]
Leveling a building but not a legacy
As 270 Park Avenue nears demolition, the building’s architect, Natalie Griffin de Blois, is finally getting her due
While the 52-story tower at 270 Park Avenue is set to be demolished in the … [more]
Bjarke Ingels is twisting convention on
Manhattan’s West Side
The Danish designer manages to reject cookie-cutter architecture at HFZ’s XI towers — and does so without gimmicks
Now it all seems so clear: We live in an age — or at least a season — of tilting … [more]
Residential market report
From Manhattan’s median price drag to Brooklyn’s negotiability squeeze, a look at the biggest trends
Tepid new dev market hits Manhattan’s median price Sliding new development prices dragged down the overall median price for Manhattan homes to… [more]
Commercial market report
From a 2Q construction boom to a new record for Manhattan office condos, a look at the biggest trends
NYC construction surpasses pre-recession levels Over 9 million square feet of new construction was completed in New York City in 2018’s second quarter, with… [more]
Editor’s note: Data drama
Data can sometimes be dry. CoStar’s story is anything but. In this month’s cover article, we take a look at the $15 billion real estate data firm, which has a… [more]
Features
Behind the vast business dealings of Donald Trump’s longtime attorney in the wake of the guilty plea that shook the country
The Mulberry Construction CEO on cutting out subcontractors, drawing from Machiavelli and helping Playboy return to the club scene
The G4 Capital co-founder on her declining Uber rating, Soho House lunches and crashing construction sites
We Heard
Google isn’t just snapping up chunks of New York City and the Bay Area, it’s also starting to rebrand neighborhoods. And it seems U.S. lawmakers aren’t the only ones looking… [more]
In February 2017, Stonehenge Partners’ CEO, Ofer Yardeni, told a boisterous crowd at a panel on the city’s rental market: “If you are a 35-year-old and you live in [WeLive… [more]