Sunday Summary: Party Like It’s 1925!!

Last week started off reasonably well.

After weeks of dread and suspense, the Trump administration announced it was scaling back on the most draconian tariffs proposed on China. While the number the administration is currently bandying about (30 percent) is still far higher than almost anyone expected a year ago, it’s at least not the head-spinning number that had been thrown out in April (145 percent) which made many reach for the straight bourbon.

Of course, the big reason that the market has been reacting so badly to the tariffs is that the numbers are still very far from solid. There’s a sense that the numbers can turn on a dime. Plus, traditional bulwarks against inflation and recession — like, say, the Federal Reserve — have limited weapons in their arsenal to fight these uncertainties.

Nevertheless, good news is good news. And the vibes were strong enough for Commercial Observer to throw a raucous, splashy, Jazz Era-like party.

We’re talking about our annual ranking of the most impactful names in commercial real estate: Power 100 2025!

Of course, we’re not going to give too much away — we’d rather our readers take a deep dive into all of the names on the list — but in addition to the individual writeups we explained why office leasing got a second wind in our estimation this year.

Why did we dwell so much on dwellings in the ranking? You can read our explanation here.

A ton of buildings suddenly got fresh infusions of capital. The winners who recapitalized were one of the big stories of 2024 and early 2025.

We discussed the figures who jumped higher in our estimation from last year.

We wrote about the newcomers to Power 100.

We dove into why the federal government’s role in commercial real estate has never before been so consequential. (Maybe in a bad way.)

And we paid tribute to the great names of commercial real estate who passed away.

All in all, Power 100 is your guide to where CO thinks the real estate world is in May of 2025. Enjoy!

Party like you just got a big promotion!

One of the big jumps of Power 100 was J.P. Morgan Chase’s Chad Tredway, who went from No. 72 last year to No. 22.

Well, it might not have been a big enough jump, as it turns out.

Last week Tredway was promoted to global head of real estate for J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Which really is one of the very top real estate jobs on planet Earth.

“I am thrilled to be expanding my role within the real estate organization,” Tredway told CO. He also added: “Real estate is expected to be a key growth driver in the next phase of the cycle, and our global real estate platform will continue to provide clients with innovative solutions to meet their evolving investment needs.”

Actually, that really makes us feel better…

But there were other people moves last week.

Chinmay Bhatt, Noam Franklin and Cody Kirkpatrick left their previous perch at Berkadia for managing director positions at Northmarq on its debt and equity platform.

And the newly formed Arrow Real Estate Advisors scooped up Eliott Zeitoune from JLL, where he had been for seven-plus years.

Party like it’s ICSC!!

You might be reading this in glamorous Las Vegas because this week is ICSC!

You should check in on CO’s web site all week as we file reports from ICSC, as well as features about that impenetrable mystery that we call retail. It is an asset with many highs, many lows and many self-reinventions. Look what the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is doing with newsstands for goodness sake! Are newsstands roaring back? (Maybe not commercially…. but artistically! Read the article if you want to get that joke.)

Well, a not-exactly-great report broke from Cushman & Wakefield even before we touched down at Harry Reid International, saying that demand for retail space had dropped 5.9 million square feet in the first quarter of 2025 — with “cautious leasing behavior” thanks to the Trump administration’s anticipated tariffs and consumer sentiment plummeting in April (and again in May, apparently).

Nevertheless, we still saw some impressive retail leases last week in Gotham.

Dov Charney’s Los Angeles Apparel (not to be confused with American Apparel) stitched together a 24,687-square-foot lease at KPG Fund’s 480 Broadway.

The Swedish candy company BonBon gulped up 11,250-square-feet at 47-39 35th Street in Long Island City. (But given that the space is largely industrial, it’s more retail support — i.e. making the candy — than selling it.)

A new Caribbean-Mediterranean restaurant called Bazza has taken not one, not two, but three floors (totalling 5,283 square feet) at 251 West 30th Street. But they weren’t the only eatery making deals: Lin & Daughters, a Chinese restaurant, signed a deal in NoMad and a Dolly Parton-themed bar — Dolly’s Swing & Dive — is coming to 146 Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg. (Which, yes, sounds perfectly awesome.)

And a large, 52,000-square-foot health club (as yet unnamed) is opening at the historic Hotel St. George (now St. George Tower) in Brooklyn Heights. A few blocks away,  CityPickle is set to open a 60,000-square-foot complex under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Actually, a health club is just the sort of thing everyone should do after a bender in Vegas. So have a good time at ICSC. Party like the place is owned by Jay Gatsby.

See you next week!