Sunday Summary: Gary Barnett Has Only Just Begun!

If it’s Friday, that means Gary Barnett just closed a megadeal.

Or any day, really. (We can’t speak for the weekends.)

At the end of last week we learned that Extell Development is shelling out $500 million for a block-long development site at 405-417 Park Avenue between East 54th and East 55th streets. ($500 million for land? What does this guy think this is, Miami?)

Moreover, per The Real Deal which first broke the news, Barnett is also pursuing two adjacent buildings: the Parkoff Organization’s 110 East 55th Street and (maybe) 111 East 54th Street.

What’s he going to do with all of this space? Good question. But one thing Barnett is not starved for is good ideas. The potential rentable office space is 700,000 square feet with air rights, and an additional 527,000 square feet of as-of-right development.

This guy gets around.

Good earners

Oftentimes, CEOs bend over backward not to say anything political on an earnings call — but you don’t know Steven Roth.

The head of Vornado Realty Trust let Mayor Mamdani have a good piece of his mind on Tuesday over the New York mayor’s infamous Tax Day video singling out Citadel head Ken Griffin’s Central Park South condo for special abuse — a video shot right outside the condo itself.

“Let me begin by saying that I cannot and do not speak for Ken, but I do unambiguously stand with him,” Roth said as he opened Vornado’s Q1 earnings call. “The ugly and unnecessary video stunt is personal to Ken and personal to me too. … We are all shocked that our young mayor would pull this stunt in front of Ken’s home and single him out for ridicule. It was both irresponsible and dangerous.”

Roth, more than others, has reason to take umbrage. He’s partnering with Griffin and Rudin on 350 Park Avenue… And the week before we saw some signs that Citadel might just pick up their ball and take it to Florida. Indeed, we learned that Citadel is bulking up the office portion of a tower they’re developing at Miami’s 1201 Brickell.

Much more often an earnings call sounds like KKR’s or Brookfield Asset Management’s … except, with not as much good news. (Of course, if you really want the skinny on the state of the market — at least from the lending perspective — forget earnings reports. Go to CO conferences like this one on April 30 that you can read about here.)

KKR reported $1.3 billion in earnings, which is 19 percent more than the first quarter of 2025, and slightly better than the fourth quarter of 2025 (which was $1.1 billion). In addition to a truly staggering $748 billion of assets under management ($85 billion of which are in commercial real estate), the firm raised $28 billion in new capital this quarter and $127 billion in the last year.

As for Brookfield, the $1 trillion asset manager kicked off its earnings call announcing two fund launches and that BAM’s profits rose 11 percent year-over-year to $772 million. “We have an incredibly positive outlook for 2026,” the recently installed CEO Connor Teskey said on the call. “We expect it to be a record year for fundraising, not by a little bit.”

Macerich’s earnings were less than optimal — the shopping center giant reported a net loss of $36.4 million last quarter — but the REIT is also deep in the process of remaking itself.

“We are now firmly in the execution and conversion stage of our Path Forward Plan in 2026,” CEO Jackson Hsieh announced while releasing the earnings. “Leasing remains ahead of plan with our leasing speedometer reaching 83 percent and the 85 percent target well in sight for mid-year as expected. Our SNO (signed, not open) pipeline has risen to $116 million, and the anchor repositioning program is on track with all 30 anchors committed.” Indeed, Macerich also signed 1.6 million square feet of leases (a year-over-year increase from `25).

Howard Hughes Holdings’ executive chairman, Bill Ackman, was eager to talk about HHH’s pending purchase of private insurer Vantage Group Holdings for $2.1 billion in the company’s earnings release.

“Howard Hughes is building on the strength of its cash-generative real estate platform as we transform the company into a diversified holding company focused on compounding intrinsic value per share,” Ackman said. “Our pending acquisition of Vantage is a key step in that evolution, adding a second engine of long-duration earnings alongside our communities.”

A $51.9 million haul would be an excellent quarter for anyone except maybe Starwood Property Trust. Don’t get us wrong — this was hardly bad. But it is admittedly down from their net income in the fourth quarter of 2025 ($96.9 million) and less than half of what it was this time last year ($112.3 million).

“We continue to make steady progress resolving legacy assets,” noted Starwood President Jeffrey DiModica on Friday’s call. “Non-accrual and REO [real estate owned] balances declined again this quarter, and we have now resolved over $300 million of assets that were previously a drag on earnings.”

Sometimes you’re not 100 percent sure what to make of an earnings call. Cushman & Wakefield, for instance, posted record first-quarter revenue, up 11 percent year-over-year to $2.5 billion, and beating expectations. But they also reported a net loss of $12.6 million, which is notably higher than the $1.9 million net loss in last year’s Q1.

Brand New York

We’re not really worried about C&W. It’s not as though there hasn’t been a ton of leasing in New York lately, including 6.54 million square feet of tech leases, according to a recent report from Colliers.

As if to prove this point, the AI-powered legal and compliance firm Norm Ai took 64,313 square feet at Durst Organization’s One World Trade Center.

And tech is not the only sector hungry for space. The lender Premium Merchant Funding took Lower Manhattan’s second-largest lease in April at One New York Plaza; a gaggle of tenants, including entertainment law firm Kuhn Law Group, took leases at 370 Lexington Avenue.

Yes, the FIRE tenants burn bright. And, while you’re in a legal frame of mind, check out CO’s cover story of Holland & Knight’s Stuart Saft and our profile of Gibson Dunn’s Krystyna Blakeslee in our legal issue. (You can also check out some more legal stories here and here.)

Oh me, oh Mi

Miami was a hive of real estate activity last week.

First up, Catalfumo Companies scored a whopping $401 million in bridge loans from Northwind to finish 106-condominium, the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Palm Beach Gardens along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Property Reserve — the real estate investment arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — put down $240 million for a five-building, 456-unit apartment complex called Uptown Boca Villas in Boca Raton, making the deal the most expensive multifamily sale in South Florida so far this year. (Not South Florida-related, but speaking of so far this year: Up in D.C., law firm White & Case signed for 12 floors at 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW — the city’s largest office lease in 2026 to date.)

The Boca deal was certainly more expensive than the $65.5 million that Bowery Properties paid for the 264-unit Cascades at the Hammocks, south of the Killian Parkway.

Maybe there’s a happy medium — what about the $180 million that the LeFrak Organization dropped on Related Group’s 337-unit 1.4-acre Harbour at New River in Fort Lauderdale?

See you next week!