Welcome to Power 100, 2023
If you’re a fabulously wealthy billionaire who is developing the most anticipated office tower in South Florida — and anchoring another massive office tower in Manhattan — your name might be Kenneth Griffin of Citadel. And, congratulations, you’re on Power 100.
If you’re the chairman of the Federal Reserve and, in your efforts to tame inflation, you have made the lending market a waking nightmare by slowly raising rates like a few cranks of a vise, your name might be Jerome Powell. And congratulations — you’re on Power 100. (Although we can’t vouch for the other honorees if you plan to attend Commercial Observer’s Power Gala in September. You will probably get an earful.)
If you founded Roc Nation, your wife goes by the name Queen Bey, and you’ve joined one of New York’s largest office landlords in a bid to build a casino in Times Square, you’re probably Jay-Z. Welcome to Power 100.
A few of the “new” names on the Power 100 aren’t really new. Some have had a previous tour and dropped off during the years where commercial real estate’s attention seemed to be focused elsewhere. (That just proves you should never give up hope.)
And while Jay-Z, Kenneth Griffin and Jerome Powell have star power that extends well beyond the realm of real estate, plenty of the newbies have been fighting for years in the trenches of multifamily, senior housing, or slightly more specialized fields like triple-net leases. (We’re talking about you, Glen Kunofsky and Nicoletti DePaul.)
Nathan Berman is a familiar name in New York real estate circles as an operator who made his fortune converting office towers into residences in Manhattan’s Financial District. But Berman’s formula might be the key to fixing New York’s oversupplied office market and its undersupplied residential market. Berman is currently undertaking this with the 1.1 million-square-foot 25 Water Street. And he earned a spot on Power 100.
Another Berman — Gary of Tricon Residential — has built up a stunning portfolio of 36,000 homes, mostly in the Sun Belt, and has some $16 billion of assets under management. He’s never been on Power 100 before, but in a year when multifamily is one of the bright spots he has certainly earned his place.
With this list we try to capture the widest possible snapshot of the real estate landscape, and a lot of the times it’s the newbies who most represent the zeitgeist of the moment.
Welcome to the Power 100, newbies. Hope to see you next year.
