Even though Black Friday is in the rearview, everyone is still shopping for the best deals out there. Throughout the year, a handful of transactions broke through the noise for the same reasons. The discounts were too big to ignore.
Start in Midtown, where Charles Cohen’s long-running standoff with Fortress set up one of the steepest adjustments of the year. Vornado stepped in to buy 623 Fifth Avenue for $218 million, a number far below the $712 million valuation tied to Cohen’s shelved residential conversion plan. The tower is about three quarters empty and now headed for a full repositioning. For Cohen, the sale helps chip away at a nearly $200 million judgment and closes a chapter that had been dragging for years.
A few blocks away, JPMorgan is testing buyer appetite for its Plaza District tower at 125 West 55th Street. The bank wants $270 million, roughly half of what it hoped to fetch pre-pandemic. The building is about half vacant, including much of the premium top-floor space. Even with leasing activity rebounding, buyers are benchmarking today’s numbers against a different era. Green Street’s estimate that office sale values have fallen roughly 37 percent since 2022 adds some context to the spread.
Some investors aren’t waiting for clarity. David Werner grabbed 440 Ninth Avenue for a bit over $100 million in a short sale, well below the $269 million it commanded in 2017. Savanna is in contract to buy the leasehold at 444 Madison for $50 million after the previous owner defaulted on a $120 million loan. Both buildings are roughly half empty and both deals fit the playbook of targeting older stock that needs fresh capital and a longer runway.
SL Green is taking a similar swing with its agreement to buy Park Avenue Tower for $730 million. Blackstone put roughly $925 million into buying and renovating the building over the past decade, and the new price shows how much the Plaza District has reset. Another clear example is B&H Photo’s purchase of Brookfield’s 333 West 34th Street for $150 million, a steep drop from the $255 million Brookfield paid in 2018.
Discounts weren’t limited to offices. Clipper Equity unloaded a rent-stabilized building on West 65th Street for $45.5 million, nearly a 40 percent cut from its 2017 price and close to its 2008 level. On the luxury end, a Gilded Age mansion on East 67th Street closed for $36 million after debuting at $50 million.
Capital flowed west with the same pattern. Donald Bren’s Irvine Company sold One American Plaza in downtown San Diego for $120 million, less than half the roughly $300 million it paid nearly two decades ago. With vacancy hovering around 29 percent, the trade shows how sharply pricing can reset when fundamentals break down.
In San Francisco, Redco bought Wells Fargo’s former headquarters for $55 million, a dramatic fall from its pre-pandemic valuation of $370 million. In Long Beach, Izek Shomof picked up Landmark Square for $50 million, less than half its 2013 price.
South Florida posted its own rollbacks. Thor Equities bought two Wynwood development sites for about $30 million, roughly half of the seller’s 2023 basis. And in Kendall, Related picked up a multifamily site once slated for 770 units at a 37 percent discount to what Harry Macklowe paid in 2022.
As the year wraps, these were just a few of the price cuts that jumped off the page, and with one month left in 2025, don’t be surprised if we see a few more before 2026.
In the news this week: Prosecutors added a charge to the Alexander brothers’ sex trafficking case, Francis Ford Coppola put up a landmark tower as debt collateral and brokers and owners sounded the alarm on COPA. These stories and more below.
Prosecutors add minor exploitation charge to Alexander bros sex trafficking case
Prosecutors filed a fourth indictment against former top brokers Oren and Tal Alexander and their brother Alon, weeks away from their scheduled trial for federal sex trafficking charges. The indictment, which brings the total number of counts against one or more of the brothers to 11, added a count against Oren of sexual exploitation of a minor in 2009.
Cash-strapped Francis Ford Coppola puts up SF tower as collateral
Francis Ford Coppola, one of cinema’s great appreciators of beauty, put up the Sentinel Building in North Beach as collateral on a private loan. Francis Ford Coppola Presents, one of the director’s companies, has taken out a loan with Capital Holdings VI LLC, and has offered the Sentinel Building as a guarantee.
COPA panic: Brokers, owners sound alarm on City Council bill
If passed, the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act would give nonprofits approved by the city the first opportunity to buy buildings with three or more residential units. Last week, the bill was on a list of measures set to age, meaning it would be eligible for a Council vote. It was ultimately pulled from that list, but the bill’s movement has some real estate professionals spooked.
Jungle king: Billionaire Larry Ellison pays $30M for Lion Country Safari
An entity with the same Walnut Creek, California address as the Larry Ellison Foundation paid $30 million for Palm Beach County’s Lion Country Safari. Ellison is the third richest person in the world, with a net worth of $250 billion, and he is a major investor in Palm Beach County’s Manalapan.
JPMorgan pumps $5B into affordable housing
JPMorgan Chase reported a new milestone for its push to pump billions into projects meant to shore up affordability across U.S. housing markets. The bank originated more than $5 billion in debt and equity tied to affordable housing through the third quarter, a push executives say is designed to both create and preserve roughly 39,000 units nationwide
Arrested Brazilian banker revealed as owner of $85M Bay Point estate in Miami: sources
The Brazilian banker who was arrested last week as part of what authorities allege is a multibillion-dollar fraud is the owner of a waterfront estate in Miami, and linked to other properties in South Florida. Banco Master’s CEO and majority shareholder, Daniel Vorcaro, was arrested as part of Brazilian authorities’ fraud investigation into the Rio de Janeiro-based bank.
Walton Street Capital exec sets state home sale record with $33M Winnetka deal
A Winnetka home sold for a record-breaking $32.5 million in a private, off-market transaction last week. The sale comes near the end of a record-setting year for the highest end of luxury real estate in the North Shore. It’s the most expensive home sale ever recorded in Chicagoland, breaking the previous record of $31.3 million for a Winnetka home in August.
“If you can’t sell ’em, f*cking kick the keys back,” Rastegar says amid foreclosure fight
Ari Rastegar is set to lose four apartment buildings to foreclosure, but he’s not sweating it. The Austin multifamily market is so frozen that foreclosure has become another outlet to exit a deal, he said. The real estate investor and CEO of Rastegar Capital is facing foreclosure on the four properties tied to a $22.7 million loan from Greystone.
Amazon investing $50B in data centers for one client: U.S. government
Amazon’s next deep dive into the data center sector has one core user in mind: the United States government. The tech giant is planning to invest $50 billion to improve its artificial intelligence and computing capabilities for government customers of its cloud business.
Abramson Brothers plans Hell’s Kitchen office-to-resi conversion
Abramson Brothers is joining the wave of Midtown property owners turning their aging office buildings into apartments. The longtime office landlord filed plans last week to convert its 90,000-square-foot building in Hell’s Kitchen into a 108-unit residential property.
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