Poolside at the Wynn, sipping booze and playing blackjack, a jeweler-turned-real estate investor said he was there scoping out retail tenants. Earlier, in a red-draped cabana matching the cocktail waitresses’ short skirts, a 40-something retail exec, who has been an ICSC attendee since he turned 21, said the dinners and drinks are only where deals start.
The ICSC pre-game Sunday was relatively tame until about 1 p.m., when brokers, investors, developers and more (mostly men) let loose; multiple tequila shots, or whatever drink of choice in plastic cups. Even then, people said things were calmer than the debauchery of years past. Overheard were conversations of concessions, a-list retail tenants and the K-shaped economy while ‘90s club music blared in the background.
The small circle that is the retail real estate world meets in Sin City every year. Things are scaled back now — parties and attendees. Cabanas and clubs felt less extravagant. The earlier days of mirror-glassed suits and men on stilts are no more. More than 25,000 people were anticipated to walk through the doors. If it was that many, it’s still less than the typical 30,000-plus years ago. One restaurant broker said fewer bigwigs are in attendance. Still, there were whispers that Simon and Westfield were around. There were definitely Ashkenazy Acquisitions guys in attendance.
A developer, a mortgage broker and an investment sales broker, who unlike most didn’t go mute or stiffen up when they heard “reporter,” made it pretty clear ICSC is for the parties, not the show floor. One called retail “copesthetic” over cigarettes at the casino while his friends dropped hundreds of dollars, maybe thousands, on cards — and didn’t bother to buy insurance when the dealer’s upcard was an ace. They allegedly won big the evening before.
But this was the pre-party. It’s the afterparties once the sun goes down where the real stuff happens — be that deals or hedonism.
Later, Sunday evening, at a cocktail party at Carbone Riviera hosted by Prism, where founder and chief executive Stenn Parton made the rounds, and small bites of tuna tartare and the most amazing spicy rigatoni were served, things were more chill. Stenn’s father Lindsay Parton, the president of DJM Capital Partners was there. He sat next to the CEO of Panda Express. Newmark’s Jay Luchs made an appearance, too.
The next day, lots of men with ICSC badges or nametags roamed the Wynn halls. At a lounge over coffee, instead of at one of the many sessions, a title services exec said he doesn’t come to ICSC to sit and listen. He comes to network. That’s where the money is. Some shuffled from session to session — others skipped the talks on capital raising and underwriting, filling empty downtown storefronts, structuring profitable leases and more and were back at the pool Monday.
Though many traded their alcohol for iced coffees, that eventually turned into cigars on day beds. At a cabana with its own small pool, a cofounder said it was like summer camp for retail … with booze of course.
You won’t find Cain’s Larry Green poolside or walking the halls. He was at a suite, where there was a model of One Beverly Hills and a view of the Trump hotel. Green was meeting luxury brands all morning and was pretty booked the rest of the day. Interest in the ultra-luxe megadevelopment’s retail spots is high, he said, especially among the less traditional luxury brands.
After dark, a chief commercial officer of an appraiser and asset manager and a senior vice president at a lender waited in the line to get into Meridian Capital’s mixer at Zero Bond. The vets ditched the champagne at entry, going straight for a smoky scotch and old fashioned before chumming it up with other industry execs. Over a dirty martini, a lender said she’s heard about the craze of ICSC over the years but stays out of it all. She’s here for business, and that means going to a broker’s party and on Tuesday, a developer’s.
Overlooking the golf club, there was talk, sarcastically, of a very vanilla industry of straight shooters — and not so sarcastically of blacking out in Vegas. Both got a laugh. All the while, a title insurance guy was selling his business to anyone that’d listen.
Next up was Newmark’s much-harder-to-crash bash at XS, a five-minute carpet-lined walk from Meridian’s. Whether it was the open bar, twinkling lights, gold couches or the outdoor pool, the energy was there. Pros were drinking $60 scotch out of plastic cups and bro-hugs were had. Newmark banners were draped strategically. Luchs was spotted again. Later, a conversation was overheard with and about two nepo baby developers — once they left, the insiders joked their “daddy’s rich as fuck.”
Then it was to the Cosmopolitan for Marcus & Millichap’s where Akon’s “Sexy Bitch” played. People were mostly outside, again by the pool, chatting it up. One part-owner said he doesn’t know if his kids have what it takes to run his company.
Nearing midnight, the last party of the night, for this reporter at least, was Eastdil’s at Intrigue. It was quiet. Even Mr. Brightside didn’t rally the troops.
Tuesday then came. After a night of partying, the show floor opens. Will the real deals be had?
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What to expect at ICSC 2026: Dealmaking, flaunting and partying in Vegas