Mary Ann Tighe

CBRE’s master deal-maker Mary Ann Tighe had few complaints about 2024 and early 2025, helping some of New York City’s most famous names — Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Tishman Speyer — ink major deals. 

“The year was a very good year for the market and for those of us in the market,” Tighe said. “The way I divide things up is by my tenant rep work versus my agency work, and I did a little over 2 million square feet of leasing.”

Two of her team’s biggest projects from last year were representing famed auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s. In August, Christie’s renewed its 400,000 square feet at Rockefeller Center for 25 years, and, in a deal that closed in November, Sotheby’s purchased the historic Breuer Building at 945 Madison Avenue for $100 million.

“The two mega deals I did in 2024, oddly enough, are both auction houses, and it’s very unusual that I represent both of them considering that they’ve been competitors since the 17th century,” Tighe said. “And then I had a small cluster of deals that were in the 150,000-square-foot range.”

Another notable transaction Tighe brokered last year was the Archdiocese of New York consolidating its offices and moving to 488 Madison Avenue after signing a 30-year, 142,308-square-foot lease — a particularly fun deal for a history buff. 

“What makes it special for me is that we were able to move the arch’s offices next to St. Patrick’s Cathedral,” she said. “We effectively gave the archdiocese a little campus of its own.”

Tighe tackled a number of other projects last year, and each came with its own rewards and challenges. “When you’re in the middle of it, everything seems hard,” she said. “But part of the reason New York City real estate is so valuable is because we make it so hard to do anything.”