Deconstruct

Pull back the cover of The Real Deal's January issue and you'll find NIMBY vs. YIMBY battles unfolding across the country. Deconstruct talks with TRD senior reporters and bureau chiefs to unpack what's driving development and blocking construction in New York, South Florida, Los Angeles, Austin and Chicago.

Imagine a scenario where you, a developer, could pick a site on a map and discover exactly what you could build there. No more hiring experts, contacting the city, finding ways to match zoning requirements. Deepblocks, run by Olivia Ramos, is trying to do exactly that and more, using artificial intelligence. Deconstruct sat down with Ramos at The Real Deal's annual Miami Forum last November to cha...

The Real Deal dubbed New York’s last legislative session the “housing session that wasn’t.” Developers desperate for a 421a tax abatement replacement went home empty handed. Tenant advocates saw no movement on the renter protection good cause eviction. Could 2024 be different? Alicia Glen, housing expert and deputy mayor for housing and economic development under the De Blasio Administration, thin...

In early November, the Deconstruct team flew to Miami for The Real Deal's annual showcase and forum. We're bringing you an interview we did live with the founders of Kaizen AI, Jay Shah and Anuj Shah. Kaizen uses artificial intelligence to analyze building designs, then retrofits them to be the most profitable project for any given space, taking developer wants into account.

You know the story: interest rates rose and deal flow slowed. After a year and half of sluggish trading, what's next for NYC's investment sales market? Avison Young's Head of Tri-State Investment Sales James Nelson lays out the market dynamics set to drive office and multifamily deals. Ariel Property Advisors' Founder Shimon Shkury gets granular on the distress affecting the rent-stabilized market...

"It's the case of the haves and the have nots." Real estate investment firm Ivanhoé Cambridge is facing the same issues as every other investment firm: how do you correctly manage an office portfolio right now? For the firm's head of office and life sciences investments, Jonathan Pearce, it's all about separating assets into buckets: the good ones worth throwing new cash on, and the ones underperf...

In early November, the Deconstruct team flew to Miami for The Real Deal's annual showcase and forum. We're bringing you two interviews we recorded on site at the event. First, you'll hear from Miami star broker Dora Puig about the state of the residential market. After that, Edgardo Defortuna and Ana Christina Defortuna at Fortune International Group talk about the hotel-branded residence market,...

On the last day of October, a jury found the National Association of Realtors and two brokerages — HomeServices of America and Keller Williams Realty — guilty of conspiring to artificially inflate broker commissions. The verdict immediately spurred a copycat suit and could inspire dozens more. The Department of Justice is eyeing its own case and policy changes could be on the table. The...

Fredrik Eklund is now actually on 24/7. The "Million Dollar Listing" star broker and his partner John Gomes have launched a new AI tool called Maya, which allows buyers and agents to dig through listings and ask the bot general real estate questions. The Real Deal's Deconstruct sat down with Eklund to chat about his new AI venture and took Maya for a test drive.

Two years back, when money was still cheap, a new crop of investors was getting in on the red-hot multifamily market. Syndicators — investors who pool money to buy properties — turned to floating-rate debt to quickly close on deals when demand was at its peak. After a year and a half of rate hikes, many of those fledgling investors are now grappling with distress. Nuvo Capital Partners' Brian Unde...

"A slow-moving train wreck." That's what Daniel McNamara, the founder of Polpo Capital, calls the upcoming wall of maturities — the massive amount of commercial mortgage-backed securities coming due in the next year or two. Many, especially those who used floating-rate debt are facing a triple threat: the triple whammy of higher interest rates, lower valuations and more conservative lending. All o...

In the early '90s, Ethan Penner pioneered the commercial mortgage-backed security. Thirty years later, the father of CMBS breaks down the investment product's origin story, the writing on the wall before the Great Recession and the CRE downturn of today.

Tighter lending conditions have proved a thorn in the side of many Miami developers. But not Swire Properties. Henry Bott, the new president of the firm's American arm, discusses development plans for the last piece of land on Brickell Key, plus the mainland office supertall it's building with Related.

As the market for traditional lending, through regional banks or commercial mortgage-backed securities, has dried up, more private credit lenders and financiers have hopped into the real estate space. And Arkhouse, a private equity firm focused on deals to privatize public real estate investment trusts, sees opportunity in that. The Real Deal's Deconstruct chats with Arkhouse managing partners Gav...

Mauricio Umansky is a busy guy. His brokerage The Agency opened a New York office last year, then a Hamptons outpost early this summer. His firm and family star in the Netflix series Buying Beverly Hills. Season 2 wrapped filming in July. And this spring the broker released his first book — The Dealmaker. It's a guide to success in business and in life. In Fresh Air's 'How Parking Explains Th...

Related Companies is building offices in Chicago, Austin and West Palm Beach. That's right — offices. At a time when so many firms are pausing office development, citing a lack of tenant demand and the shift towards remote work, Related is plowing ahead with developments. The Real Deal's Deconstruct chatted with Related's head of office development, Philippe Visser, about why the firm is still bui...

In June, a group of investors who invested in a Nightingale Properties-sponsored deal on crowdfunding platform CrowdStreet found out their money was missing. The Real Deal's podcast Deconstruct looks at what happened, the risks with crowdfunding and FundRebel, a new platform that is trying to differentiate itself. Guests: Ian Ippolito, founder of Private Investor Club and the Real Estate Crowdfund...

At 92 years old, Larry Silverstein is shaking things up. The founder of Silverstein Properties is spearheading a mammoth office-to-residential conversion. He's thrown his hat in the ring for the city casino bid. And he's in with a new crowd: the young folks of Lower Manhattan.

The Real Deal's Deconstruct is back with a fresh season of interviews, deep dives and market analysis on Tuesday, September 5. After that, catch us every Monday on Apple, Spotify, TheRealDeal.com or wherever else you love to listen. Talk soon!

RXR Realty CEO Scott Rechler's year has centered on "Project Kodak" — a strategy of separating older, obsolete office buildings from a younger product that can still pull the tenants and rents to thrive. TRD's Deconstruct sat down with Rechler to unpack how that strategy has evolved, why he's pegged multifamily as the next shoe to drop and whether the Fed's recent rate pause will lift the gates on...

It’s no secret the Hamptons boomed during the pandemic. New Yorkers fled the city in search of year-round vacation properties, stoking for-sale demand that flooded over into rentals. As the market enters its first Covid-free summer (fingers crossed), brokers say that surge has receded. In its wake stands a housing market transformed. Guests: Dana Trotter, managing partner at The Agency; Cindy Scho...

Real estate is a sport in Palm Beach. And billionaires are still making moves, despite an overall slowdown in home buying across the country. The luxury market in the South Florida town has been propelled by "inter-island moves" — wealthy homebuyers hopping from one mansion to the next. Deconstruct chats with TRD senior reporter Katherine Kallergis about why Palm Beach is continuing to see record...

The U.S. is short 6.5 million homes, Realtor.com estimates. The solution, argues Kurt Carlton, co-founder of investment platform New Western, are the 16 million houses that sit vacant. Deconstruct breaks down how small-time investors are fixing up empty properties to put supply back on the market.

In the pandemic, a wave of new residents flooded into Texas. No income tax, cheaper homes and plenty of good barbecue joints. Six of the 15 fastest growing cities in the country from July 2021 through July 2022 were in Texas, the only state with more than three on the list. That presented a massive opportunity for developers, with homebuilders such as Lennar developing entirely new cities on the o...

Nearly four years after landlords challenged New York’s sweeping set of rent reforms, their suit has finally landed where they'd hoped: U.S. Supreme Court's doorstep. Deconstruct breaks down owners’ two-pronged approach to a rent law rollback and what drama could come from the rent guidelines board vote next month.