Gary Phillips and Will Silverman

“The fundamentals in New York have been so strong for quite some time. We’ve been waiting for the capital markets to finally catch up, and they really have,” Gary Phillips said. Ultimately, “it always comes back to New York. You never bet against New York, and we’re seeing that in real time right now.”

In 2024 alone, Phillips and fellow Managing Director Will Silverman racked up $4.43 billion in sales, comprising 31 percent of market share, according to Real Estate Alert’s rankings of New York City’s top sales brokers.

“We worked on multifamily, office and retail,” Silverman said. “Within multifamily, it was everything from rent-regulated to free-market. Within office, everything from conversions of more challenged assets to super trophies. And, in retail, everything from mass market to the most luxurious stores out there. Our activities were a testament to the strength of New York across product types.” 

A small smattering of Phillips and Silverman’s deal sheet includes the $255 million sale of 799 Broadway to Savanna; Ingka Group’s more than $300 million purchase of a one-third stake in Extell Development’s 570 Fifth Avenue; Vanbarton Group’s $95 million buy of 77 Water Street from Sage Realty; Quantum Pacific’s $88 million purchase of 767 Third Avenue, also from Sage Realty; and the $334 million recap of the multifamily building at 3333 Broadway that allowed Brookfield to exit the ownership. 

The wheels of market activity really started whirring, Phillips said, when the team hit the market with 799 Broadway, a boutique, new construction acquisition opportunity in Midtown South.

“That bid sheet ultimately looked like it would have been from a decade ago,” Phillips said. “That deal closed in November, and the momentum that we saw at the end of the year carried over into `25, and we’ve seen it in nearly every process that we’ve run this year, particularly for the higher end of the office market.”

In 2024, sellers came to recognize that 1 percent money wasn’t coming to the rescue anytime soon, and buyers came to the realization that they weren’t going to steal Manhattan, Silverman said.

Silverman and Phillips have become known for introducing foreign buyers to Manhattan, and facilitating deals between landlords and their tenants — such as Prada and Gucci parent company Kering — which want to buy their buildings. Ingka, which owns Ikea, had previously worked with their colleagues in London, and the deal showcases Eastdil’s international integration. 

“It was a two-year process of introducing the market to [Ingka] and introducing new offerings. It’s a process of education, and it’s a process that requires trust,” Phillips said.