Sam Charney

Are you going to buy in `25? If so, what asset class?

Most likely. We like land that is vested and entitled under the old 421a program as well as existing multifamily and student housing development opportunities.

Is there a single “good” sign you see in a distressed property that makes you want to buy it?

Not really. New York City is just too sophisticated a market to see real distress, in my opinion. There are too many buyers ready to move in on something if they smell blood in the water, so even if a seller is in distress they most likely can still achieve a market price to exit. Now whether that price is what they paid is an entirely different story.

What real estate or tax policy would you like to see from a Trump administration? 

I’d like to see a separate billionaires bracket. I mean how much money does one really need?

If you could stack the new administration with people you know and do business with, who would you choose?

Head of New York Economic Development Corporation Andrew Kimball; First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer; U.S. Reps. Dan Goldman and Ritchie Torres (New York is very lucky to have all these public policymakers); Jukay Hsu of Pursuit; Anne Pasternak of the Brooklyn Museum; Linda Johnson of the Brooklyn Public Library; and my lawyer Andy Albstein.

Let’s talk about retail. What’s the kind of tenant you want?

Place makers. We want tenants that are accretive to the residential tenancy of the building and are beneficial to the community.

Let’s talk about multifamily. Do you ever see yourself building normal, middle-class rentals again? What would stop you?

Sadly the environment  for “middle-class rentals” doesn’t exist and really hasn’t for a long time, meaning you can’t underwrite “middle-income rents” when land prices and construction costs are so high. The closest we have had was under the 421a and Affordable NY programs, which created blended mixed-income buildings. These buildings have a mix of different AMIs and market rate, which creates a mean or average income across the board that could be classified as middle class.

The mix of market-rate, deeply affordable, and middle-income AMIs were truly the utopian vision of how modern cities should be planned. Unfortunately, construction costs — especially wage rates per the new 485x program — make these types of projects cost-prohibitive, so going forward we are going to see a lot more all-affordable and market-rate condo projects.

Which market (outside of NYC) do you like best? Which market (including NYC) are you most fearful of?

I think San Francisco is still a great market and a great place to live. The natural beauty of California isn’t going anywhere, and as young people look for cities to live in there aren’t many that are walkable, have good climates, have industry driving the local economies, and are global. San Francisco is one of the few.

I’m absolutely frightened by Miami. It’s probably the biggest boom-or-bust market historically in the U.S. over the past 50 years, and there is so much being built there and not enough demand. I don’t know how many people want to live somewhere that gets that hot, and traffic is so bad that it can take 45 minutes to an hour from Brickell to get to the beach. Living in that climate and not being able to get to the ocean quickly sounds like my personal version of hell.

What’s going to be your biggest expense in 2025?

It’s probably an even split between labor, materials and land. That being said, we continue to see costs rise in the insurance space, and that in and of itself can wreak havoc.

Do you still like Eric Adams? (Did you ever like him?)

Yes. I think the mayor has done a lot of really good work, and has an unbelievably smart team working on housing who have helped plan for the future growth of the city in very creative and innovative ways. I’d personally love to see the “blue” highways plan come to fruition to get more seafaring distribution throughout the city and less truck traffic and congestion on the roads.

Lightning Round:

Your social media of choice?
Instagram.

AI: Helpful in CRE or a fad?
Probably useful, but I’m not using it much yet.

Last movie you saw in a theater?
“The Garfield Movie.” Ah, the joys of having kids.

You’re going on a six-month expedition into the Amazon. What’s your last meal before you get on the plane?
Roast beef, fresh mozz and fried eggplant sandwich with extra jus from Defonte’s.

Tesla or BMW?
Tesla.

Will interest rates be below or above 4 percent on July 1, 2025?
Above, but a man can dream.

If you could partner with one person in the business on a property, who would it be?
My former boss Jed Walentas. It’d be fun to go back to “high school.”

What are you tired of talking about?
Explaining to people why you can’t build affordable housing with prevailing-wage labor, The economics are simple. They don’t work.