In-person
2025 Breakthrough Awards Breakfast
December 2, 2025 @ 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM
7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich St, Floor 10, New York, New York 10007
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Celebrating the Adept Dealmakers Behind the Industry’s Largest Transactions
Commercial Observer’s 2025 Breakthrough Awards will recognize the teams, deals, developments, and executives across asset classes and verticals who have succeeded despite economic and urban challenges. Awards will be presented to the winning team at the Breakthrough Awards Breakfast on December 2nd in NYC.
TEAM & LEADERSHIP FINALISTS ANNOUNCED!
Architecture Team of the Year
- Gensler
- H2M Architects + Engineers
- KPF
- ThreeStudio
Law Firm of the Year
- Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
- Fried Frank
- HSF Kramer
- King & Spalding
- Polsinelli
- Rosenberg & Estis, P.C.
Top Financier of the Year (Banks)
- Bank of America
- BankOZK
- Centennial Bank
- JP Morgan’s Commercial Real Estate Lending Solutions (CRELS) team
- Wells Fargo
Top Financier of the Year (Non-Banks)
- Affinius Capital
- Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies
- Bravo Capital
- InterVest Capital Partners
- PACE Equity
- TYKO Capital
Marketing Team of the Year
- Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group
- Elad Group and Douglas Elliman Development Marketing
- Good Company, an affiliate of The Domain Companies
- One Wall Street Marketing & Lifestyle Team
- Silverstein Properties Marketing Team
INVESTMENT & TRANSACTION AWARDS FINALISTS
Retail Transaction of the Year
- Blackstone Real Estate Partners’ acquisition of Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (ROIC), a West Coast-focused shopping center REIT, in a $4 billion all-cash deal
- L&L Holding Company’s lease of 425 Park’s last remaining availability – a premier bi-level retail space – to Ferrari North America, which will open a new showroom at the iconic Plaza District tower
- The Printemps transaction at One Wall Street, the legendary French Department Store’s first U.S. location
- Fortress Investment Group’s $90M loan for Yellowstone’s acquisition of 541 Lexington Avenue Hotel
- Empire State Realty Trust’s $31M acquisition of two adjacent properties that include retail and residential units in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Industrial Transaction of the Year
- Cooper Horowitz’s arrangement of Alterra IOS’s $189M financing in February 2025 from Blackstone Mortgage Trust
- Alterra IOS’ $490 million portfolio sale to Peakstone Realty Trust, executed in partnership with J.P. Morgan Asset Management
- Blackstone’s acquisition of a 95% stake in a $718 million industrial portfolio from Crow Holdings, featuring 25 buildings in top logistics markets
- Prologis’ $197M acquisition of a 1.1M SF portfolio in Monroe Township, NJ
- Link Logistics’ $81.2M acquisition of the fully leased Crossroads Distribution Center in Charlotte, NC
Residential/Multifamily Transaction of the Year
- 140 Jane Street, for the condominium sell-out in the West Village, NYC, totaling $238 million in contracts to date and achieving Downtown Manhattan’s highest price-per-square-foot
- HKS Real Estate Advisors’ closing of a $388.5M construction financing for 30-25 Queens Boulevard in Long Island City, NYC
- Fetner Properties, in partnership with MCB Real Estate and Farallon Capital Management, assumption of the ground lease and acquisition of 240 Willoughby Street, a fully built residential rental building, offering 463 units, 147 of which are designated for affordable housing, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
- Greystone’s arrangement of $525 million in construction financing on behalf of co-developers Charney Companies and Tavros, in partnership with Incoco Capital, for the development of Court LIC, a 55-story condominium tower to-be-built o in the center of Long Island City’s Court Square neighborhood, NYC
- Naftali Group’s close on a $40 million C-PACE financing loan from Nuveen Green Capital for JEM Private Residences Miami, a 67-story luxury condominium tower rising at the heart of Downtown Miami within the landmark Miami Worldcenter development
Life Sciences Transaction of the Year
- Biogen’s consolidation of operations into a single global headquarters in MIT’s first Kendall Common Building in Cambridge, MA
- Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ securing of a 466,598 RSF lease with Novartis at the Campus Point Megacampus in San Diego
- The SPARC Kips Bay Master Plan, a first-of-Its-kind Job and Education Hub, set to create more than 15,000 Jobs and generate $42B in economic impact
- Cresilon’s 55K SF lease expansion in Industry City, Brooklyn
- University Place 3.0 — a 250,000 SF next generation life sciences and office building in University City, Philadelphia, developed by University Place Associates in partnership with Silverstein Properties
- New York Cancer & Blood Specialists’ (NYCBS) 10-year lease for 35,469 square feet at the Radio Tower & Hotel, a 23-story mixed-use development at 500 West 181st Street in Washington Heights, NYC
Office Transaction of the Year
- RXR and Elliott Investment’s $1.1B acquisition of 590 Madison Avenue, a one-million SF office property in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, NYC
- NYU’s 70-year master-lease of more than 1M SF of Vornado’s 770 Broadway, NYC
- Blackstone’s acquisition of stake in 1345 Avenue of the Americas, NYC
- Amazon’s 75,500 SF lease expansion at L&L Holding Co’s Wynwood Plaza, Miami, FL
- Rosenberg & Estis, P.C leadership of a group of R&E attorneys who were able to restructure a legacy $500 million credit facility on behalf of the Durst Organization
- The $443 million sale of 701 Brickell, a trophy Class A office building totaling 685,279 square feet in the heart of Miami’s financial district
Mixed-Use Transaction of the Year
- Igloo’s leasing of 35,000 SF across ten retail spaces at Jasper, a mixed-use, mixed-income development in Long Island City comprising 499 apartments, developed by The Domain Companies, LMXD, the VOREA Group, and Bridge Investment Group
- Centennial Bank’s $117 million senior construction loan to Immocorp Ventures LLC, a joint venture between Gilbert Benhamou of Immocorp Capital and Gideon Friedman of Beachwold Residential, for The District at Northwood, a 382-unit multifamily community in West Palm Beach, FL
- PMG closed on a $413 million construction loan from Ares Real Estate Fund and Monarch Alternative Capital for One Twenty Brickell Residences, a dual-tower mixed-use development rising in the heart of Miami’s Brickell district
- The topping out of Phase One of Willetts Point Redevelopment, Queens, NYC
PROJECT & DEVELOPMENT AWARDS FINALISTS
Adaptive Reuse Project of the Year Finalists
- SoMA (25 Water Street), New York City
- GFP Real Estate
- Metro Loft
- Rockwood Capital
- CetraRuddy Architecture
- Compass Development Marketing Group
- ViVa Center, Tomball, TX
- Lone Star PACE
- Nuveen Green Capital
- ViVaVerse Solutions
- 214 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd., Hallandale Beach, FL
- Fortec
- Terminal Warehouse, New York City
- L&L Holding Company
- Columbia Property Trust
- One Wall Street, New York City
- One Wall Street Sales & Marketing
- Macklowe Properties
- Laura Gonzalez Studio
- Printemps
- KENT Hospitality
- The International Hildreth Meière Association
- 1701 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Alterra Property Group
Public-Private Partnership of the Year
- Greenpoint Central, New York City
- Madison Realty Capital
- Samuel Madden Homes, Alexandria, VA
- Fairstead
- Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA)
- The Communities Group (TCG)
- ALIVE!
- Virginia Tech’s Center for Housing Research
- Boston Financial (BFIM)
- Virginia Housing
- Sterling Bank
- The Peninsula, New York City
- Gilbane Development
- The Hudson Companies
- Mutual Housing Association of New York, Inc.
- Hibiscus Grove, Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Integra Investment (Interurban)
- NoMi Square, North Miami, FL
- Integra Investment
Sustainability Project of the Year
- Needham Ranch, Santa Clarita, CA
- Clarion Partners Industrial Team
- Trammell Crow
- HSBC’s New York Headquarters, NYC
- M Moser Associates
- ViVa Center, Tomball, TX
- Lone Star PACE
- Nuveen Green Capital
- ViVaVerse Solutions
- Greenpoint Central, New York City
- Madison Realty Capital
- 570 Lexington, New York City
- The Durst Organization
Design & Development Project of the Year Finalists
- Hamilton Green, Westchester, NY
- RXR
- 420 Carroll, New York City
- The Domain Companies
- 1428 Brickell, Miami, FL
- Ytech
- Greenpoint Central, New York City
- Madison Realty Capital
- 72 Park by Lefferts, Miami Beach, FL
- Lefferts
INNOVATION AWARDS FINALISTS
Tech Advance of the Year Finalists
- Keyway
- Trepp
- Diald AI
- Altus Group
- Measurabl
- Colliers’ Portfolio AI
- Kinexio
Innovation in Industrial Finalists
- Basis Industrial & BaySpace, for their operational repositioning of a 133,000-square-foot flex industrial property, Deerfield Beach, FL.
- STAG Industrial & PredictAP, for revolutionizing invoice processing systems, achieving significant improvements in efficiency and accuracy for the industrial sector.
- Link Logistics, for their Energy Solutions & Portfolio Solar Program.
Innovation in Office Finalists
- Alchemy-ABR Investment Partners and Cain International’s 125 West 57th Street, a ground-up office building that redefines what office innovation means in the modern era – merging boutique luxury, wellness-centric design, and hospitality into a forward-thinking workplace.
- 545 Madison, Marx Realty’s first-of-its-kind office co-branding partnership with iconic French luxury brand Baccarat, and “The Meeting Galleries” at 10 Grand Central.
- Nuveen & Industrious, for The Nuveen Network, a groundbreaking platform that transforms how office tenants engage with space—not just within their leased footprint, but across an entire national ecosystem.
- Spectorgroup’s design for the headquarters of Fulwell Entertainment, a newly formed company born from the merger of The SpringHill Company (founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter) and Fulwell 73 Productions (founded by Leo Pearlman, Ben Winston, Gabe Turner, Ben Turner, and James Corden) — merging storytelling, flexibility, and cultural resonance into a singular environment.
- Ted Moudis‘ relocation to a full floor at the Chrysler Building, and redesign of their workplace.
Innovation in Residential Finalists
- Post Brothers, for One Thousand One Philadelphia.
- RXR & Korman Communities, for AVE Hamilton Green’s 25 and 5 Cottage represent a breakthrough in residential living, redefining luxury rental living in White Plains by addressing the evolving needs of modern renters.
- Charney Companies & Tavros‘ Gowanus, Brooklyn five-building residential campus spanning four sites with over 2,200 units.
- One Wall Street, the iconic Art Deco tower in the heart of FiDi, has been reimagined as the neighborhood’s premier luxury residential address, and a pioneer in the wave of office-to-residential conversions.
- 420 Carroll Street, developed by Domain Companies, is the first building to open following the 2021 Gowanus Rezoning and started welcoming residents earlier this year.
- Property Markets Group, for Society Brooklyn: The two-tower, 21-story mixed-use development spans more than 594,000 square feet, delivering 517 residential units, 25 percent of which are reserved for Affordable Housing. It also includes 57,000 square feet of retail, with 21,000 square feet dedicated to “Gowanus Mix,” committing to support local makers and creatives.
Innovation in Retail
- Kushner, for the transformation of Monmouth Mall into Monmouth Square.
- The bold reimagining of the 10th floor of the Starrett Lehigh Building – the landmarked, iconic Manhattan office tower, owned by Blackstone and RXR – through the introduction of The Yacht Club and Level 10 concepts.
- Printemps New York and Newmark, for their work on Printemps at One Wall Street.

Host Sponsor

Silverstein properties
Sponsors

125 West 57th At Central Park

ALTERRA PROPERTY GROUP

Basis industrial

COOPER HOROWITZ

Fairstead

Fortec

Fried Frank

HSF Kramer

Keyway

King & Spalding

kushner

LEFFERTS

M Moser Associates

MADISON REALTY CAPITAL

Marx realty

Newmark

NUVEEN REAL ESTATE

PREDICT AP

Polsinelli

Rosenberg & estis, p.c.

RXR

SPECTORGROUP