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Major attendance shrinkage at the Wynn pool kicks off ICSC 2018: PHOTOS
Smaller crowds, less energy on Sunday, longtime attendees say
The New York City real estate players who made their annual pilgrimage to the Wynn pool in Las Vegas encountered a subdued scene on Sunday, with fewer people and less energy than in recent years.
Investors, brokers, attorneys, title underwriters and other cogs of the retail real estate market trade gossip, talk shop and feel out deals on Saturday and Sunday as a prelude to ICSC RECon, the biggest retail conference in the world. For the New York City players, the pool party is something of a barometer for the overall event.
But attendance at the pool this year was down, which some attributed to major New York City retail figures like Jeff Sutton, Albert Laboz, Bobby Cayre and others skipping the four-day convention due to it overlapping with the Jewish holiday Shavuot.
“It’s gotta be down 15 percent,” said Eastern Consolidated broker James Famularo, surveying the crowd.
Still, at ICSC’s biggest see-and-be-seen event, there was New York retail royalty to be found.
Jeff Winick was tanning, and Jason Pruger of Newmark Knight Frank was cooling off in the pool. Cousins Rick and William Friedland of Friedland Properties were talking deals with brothers Brett Weinblatt of Solil Management and Adam Weinblatt of Newmark.
Longtime attendees noted that several cabanas typically occupied by one family or company were taken by new faces today. There were new faces at the cabana typically rented by Michael Cayre and his family’s Midtown Equities.
With Bobby Cayre and Alex Adjmi both out for Shavuot, Jared Epstein of Aurora Capital Associates was the host for the cabana. Inside, Howard Hughes Corporation’s Jaclyn Gottesman was chatting with Cushman & Wakefield’s Hillary Muss.
Nearby, Jeff Weinhaus of Equinox was discussing the market with Jeffrey Roseman of Newmark and Ed Hogan of Vornado Realty Trust. Others at the pool included Jeffrey Feil of the Feil Organization, Ariel Schuster of RKF and Cory Zelnik of Zelnik & Company.
Festivities were also happening at the neighboring Encore, where Adam Hakim of Eastern Consolidated hosted a party at a bungalow at the Encore Beach Club. Attendees included prolific hotel developer Sam Chang of the McSam Hotel Group.