Commercial Observer Breakthrough Awards Prove Momentum of CRE’s Comeback

As Marc Norman, associate dean of NYU’s SPS Schack Institute of Real Estate, kicked off the proceedings for Commercial Observer’s second annual Breakthrough Awards Breakfast, he neatly summarized the depth of the challenges faced by all those nominated for these awards — and, for that matter, for all who endeavor to close deals and create new properties in an industry that has been besieged by obstacles in recent years.

“The deals nominated today represent for me and our students at Schack an amazing series of case studies in how complex transactions get done in a dynamic political, policy, and economic environment,” said Norman. “The structure of this event is something I love, because it shows us excellence across all asset classes and sectors, deal sizes, and financing types. This crew of finalists represents a kind of best-in-class, and shows us the way in innovating and moving forward in a very tough market — really the toughest market — New York City.”

And this, illustrating the resilience and ingenuity at the heart of the industry, is in many ways the primary purpose of the Breakthrough Awards.

“Our Commercial Observer Breakthrough Awards have become an important way of recognizing and celebrating the critical deals, transactions, projects and teams that are leading the industry forward despite market challenges,” said Observer Media CEO James Freiman. “In a challenging economic landscape, it’s easy to get distracted by the many hurdles the industry faces, but each of the Breakthrough Award finalists and winners have demonstrated best-in-class work and the innovation and ingenuity needed to overcome those obstacles.”

The prestige of these awards had a clear and marked impact on all those nominated.

“Knowing that Rosenberg & Estis is recognized along with other top-notch law firms as one of the elite firms representing the real estate industry, in what is a very competitive business and in the world’s most competitive city, is at the same time gratifying and humbling,” said Michael E. Lefkowitz, managing member at Rosenberg & Estis, one of the evening’s nominees for Law Firm of the Year. “These types of industry recognition events are excellent opportunities to showcase Rosenberg & Estis’ talents, and well as to get to know a bit more about the amazing achievements and successes of other players in the real estate industry.” 

Kicking off the evening’s deals and transactions segment, the night’s first award, for Retail Transaction of the Year, went to Kushner, Fortress Investment Group, GreenBarn Investment Group, and Rithm Capital for their $415 million financing of Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, N.J. The financing will be used to transform the former mall into an open-air town center featuring 900,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

“I want to thank our partners Fortress and GreenBarn on our amazing Monmouth Square project in Eatontown,” said Kushner CEO Laurent Morali. “And to our amazing team at Kushner, represented here by so many, I love all of you and I love working with all of you. Thank you so much.”

Industrial Transaction of the Year was awarded to Turnbridge Equities, Dune and Cushman & Wakefield for Otto Environmental Systems’ 61,000-square-foot lease at 807 Bank Street in Brooklyn.

“Biggest thanks to Turnbridge and Dune for their incredible collaboration in bringing this innovative, eco-friendly solution to life,” said Rico Murtha, a managing director at Cushman & Wakefield. “With its forward-thinking design and low carbon footprint, this breakthrough embodies the future of sustainable technology in industrial facilities. We are thrilled for Otto to commence its war on rats in the streets of NYC!”  

Residential/Multifamily Transaction of the Year, intended to recognize the breakthrough deal or transaction advancing the residential and/or multifamily markets, was awarded to Blackstone and Wells Fargo. The award represented the latter’s role as buy-side M&A adviser and lead financing provider for Blackstone for the $10 billion acquisition of AIR Communities, which included a $2.65 billion term loan and $4 billion in SASB CMBS transactions.

Life Sciences Transaction of the Year was awarded to Breakthrough Properties for its 15-year, 230,000-square-foot lease with Pfizer Oncology at the premiere life sciences campus Torrey View in San Diego.

“In this transaction,” said NYU’s Norman, “Pfizer drives its commitment to accelerating breakthroughs for cancer patients utilizing two state-of-the-art facilities at these buildings.”

Then, a special award for Structured Debt Transaction of the Year was presented to Blackstone. 

“In March of this year, Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies acquired a $1 billion performing senior mortgage loan portfolio from German lender Deutsche PBB,” said Norman. “The portfolio consists of 11 loans secured against performing multifamily, office and hospitality assets across the U.K. and U.S. Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies acquired the entire portfolio on an all-cash basis. So we want to congratulate the team at Blackstone for the 2024 Structured Debt Transaction of the Year Breakthrough Award.”

Shifting the focus to specific projects, the Sustainability Project of the Year was awarded to Bank of America for its financing of a $35 million construction loan for The Helios Project, a transformative, solar-powered, 186-unit affordable housing development in Virginia’s Henrico County.

“Bank of America was thrilled to work with the Spy Rock Real Estate Group and Crescent Development team on an innovative project that will help revitalize Richmond by delivering much-needed high-quality housing,” said Sam Buzzelli, vice president of community development banking for Bank of America. “The Helios will feature an on-site solar array that generates solar power to operate the property while eliminating tenants’ electricity costs. This was our first project with the development team, but we’re glad to already be working together again.”

The award for Adaptive Reuse Project of the Year, awarded for “the repurposing of a building that’s designed to, or has resulted in, a positive impact for the greater real estate community,” according to Norman, went to GFP Real Estate and TPG Real Estate for acquiring and transforming 222 Broadway from a 750,000-square-foot office tower into an 800-unit residential building. Norman referred to the winning project as “an amazing example of adaptive reuse.”

“We are deeply honored to receive Commercial Observer’s 2024 Breakthrough Award for Adaptive Reuse Project of the Year alongside our partner, TPG, for our work on 222 Broadway,” said Brian Steinwurtzel, co-CEO and principal of GFP Real Estate. “This recognition is a testament to our shared vision and dedication to reimagining and revitalizing urban spaces. Thank you to Commercial Observer for this prestigious recognition, and congratulations to all the other winners who are shaping the future of our industry.”  

Design and Development Project of the Year was awarded to Pacific Retail Capital Partners for developing District Galleria, a $2.5 billion transformation of a regional shopping mall into a dynamic mixed-use, transit-oriented district in White Plains, New York.

The Public-Private Partnership of the Year award then went to RXR and the City of New Rochelle for the opening of the luxury residential tower Two Clinton Park in New Rochelle, N.Y.

“Thanks to Commercial Observer for recognizing this public-private partnership,” said Joseph Graziose, executive vice president of RXR, where he is head of construction and development. “It’s being awarded in 2024, but it’s 10 years in the making, a true testament to what the private and public sectors can do when they put their heads together.”

Next up, Tech Advance of the Year was awarded to Savills for the development of the generative AI tool Savills GPT, which was developed in collaboration with OpenAI.

“Thank you so much for the recognition for this, especially amongst such wonderful and amazing technology partners,” said Sarah Dreyer, executive vice president and chief information officer at Savills. “We’re really taking a collaborative and innovative approach to what we’re doing with our AI with our technology partners, and we’re excited to share more about it.”

The next three awards rewarded firms advancing key asset classes through innovative approaches to design, development, financing and marketing. 

The award for Innovation in Residential went to Avdoo & Partners Development for the development of Bergen, a residential building designed by Taller Frida Escobedo and featuring 105 residences along with 14,513 square feet of indoor and 11,943 square feet of outdoor amenities.

“We’re really excited to be part of such a strong group of peers that were nominated for this award today,” said Krystyn Gatto, Avdoo’s COO. “As you all know, it takes a great deal of effort from a really strong team to be able to make these projects come to life. It was a really unique opportunity to have 400 feet of linear frontage in Brooklyn, which is not very common, and create an urban oasis. Thank you so much for the award.”

The Innovation in Industrial Award went to Alterra IOS, the investment platform for Alterra Property Group, for the redevelopment of 6110 Passyunk Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia from a 5-acre industrial outdoor storage site into a state-of-the-art soil remediation facility. 

The Innovation in Office Award then went to RXR for its RXO tenant experience program.

“The RXO program is about elevating the tenant experience,” said Dave Gise, senior vice president and head of hospitality and amenities at RXR. “I wish my entire team was here today with me, but they’re actually elevating the tenant experience on site. So thank you. This means a lot.”

The team awards kicked off with Gensler winning as the Top Architecture Team of the Year for its work on projects including Disney’s new headquarters, Google’s St. John’s Terminal, and IBM’s flagship office in New York.

“It’s really our pleasure and honor to be a part of such an amazing world-class real estate community, and to help rebuild the fabric of New York,” said Amanda Carroll, managing director and principal at Gensler. “We’re really proud of our physical impact on the city of New York.”

Top CRE Financier of the Year (Banks) was awarded to J.P. Morgan Chase based on more than $120 billion in multifamily loans, over $22 billion committed to affordable housing, and $173 billion in total commercial real estate loans in 2024.

“We’ve carved out a unique niche as a development lender — a transitional lender — in an area which a lot of banks are not competing in these days, and we’re trying to fend off a lot of these non-bank lenders who are here today to be recognized as well,” said Jeremy Hellinger, a managing director at J.P. Morgan Chase. “We appreciate the amazing team and amazing clients that made this easy.”

As a perfect follow-up to his comment, the award for Top Financier of the Year on the Non-Bank side went to Tyko Capital for projects including the provision of the $357 million construction loan for the Flatiron Building conversion project, a $527 million loan for the St. Regis Residences in Miami, and a $555 million long-term, permanent loan for 830 Brickell, Miami’s first new stand-alone office tower in over a decade.

“We started in the advisory business as an unknown commodity 14 years back,” said Adi Chugh, Tyko’s founder & CEO. “And I got up one day and said, ‘We’re done with this business. We’re pivoting.’ And everybody said, ‘We are with you.’ Not one employee left. In 15 months, we’ve been able to deploy more than $5 billion.”

The final award of the night, Law Firm of the Year, was presented to the Real Estate and Land Use teams at Kramer Levin for handling billions of dollars of transactions for clients such as BlackRock, The Carlyle Group, Mount Sinai Hospital, NYU Langone Medical Center, The Nederlander Organization, Vornado Realty Trust and The Walt Disney Company, among many others.

“I want to thank Commercial Observer for the honor, and for bringing greater transparency to our industry,” said Jay Neveloff, partner and chair of the real estate practice at Kramer Levin. “I want to thank my team, which I am incredibly proud to be part of. And I want to thank the other law firms that were recognized. It’s terrific when you have law firms you can collaborate with to get things done efficiently and in the right way.”

In the face of a tumultuous and uncertain period for commercial real estate, the Commercial Observer Breakthrough Awards shined a positive light on the state of the industry, and left attendees with a sense of hope and promise for the future. 

“The general spirit of the room and the fact that it was a sold-out event,” said Freiman, “all indicate that there is a strong confidence in the market as we head into a new year.”