Nicholas Silvers

What was your biggest deal of the past 12 months?

175 Third Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn — $840 million, 1.1 million square feet, 1,100 units.

How would you describe your investor base?

Ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, institutional investors — domestic and international. We have long-term, deep relationships established over years of partnerships and successful projects.

How has everything going on in the world and the economy over the past few years affected your investment criteria?

Since 2009, we have seen at least three black swan events and a lifetime worth of lessons in developing and investing. 

Tavros is focused on residential (rental and condo), office and retail projects in New York City. The volatility in the market has surfaced just as the city was getting off the canvas from COVID. This turbulence has necessitated a sharpened focus and a differentiated approach across asset classes, continued conservative underwriting, and applying our investing discipline that has been honed over the past 17 years of developing and investing in NYC. 

The fun part about this business is that you always have to be diligent, you need to continue learning, and you need to stay humble and hungry.

How deeply have higher interest rates affected your investment or development plans?

In Long Island City, Queens, we are currently developing a 700,000-square-foot, 625-unit condo building with a 70,000-square-foot Chelsea Piers Fitness and a 10,000-square-foot Whole Foods. 

This project was initially intended to be a rental project with a reasonable amount of cap rate margin baked into the pro forma. However, we saw the trajectory of rates in the market and simultaneously anticipated the lack of supply of for-sale apartments in the LIC market. As a result, we switched exit strategies and decided to build the best-in-class condo building in one of the hottest rental markets in NYC. 

Rents in LIC over the past four years have skyrocketed from $60 per square foot to over $100. In addition, we will have the best location, best views, best design and best amenity package in the market. 

If you could change one area of global or local tumult, what would it be?

This is easy. The biggest problem is an own goal, and it is a distinctly local problem that needs to be solved urgently: 485-x. The program is broken and is not producing anywhere close to the amount of housing we need to keep New York City well supplied and affordable. This all comes down to the labor requirements that are an albatross for the market. 

Welcome to NYC: the land of the 99-unit building.

Do you think Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood has finally evolved past its toxic reputation in the eyes of New Yorkers?

Gowanus has been lying in plain sight for decades waiting for its moment in the sun, and it has arrived — a true NYC manifest destiny. 

We are proud to be developing 2,200 rental apartments (approximately 25 percent of the market) in partnership with Charney Companies across five buildings at Gowanus Wharf. 

Gowanus is the most dynamic, exciting, culture-rich, burgeoning neighborhood in the city. All at once, the ingredients have come together: The arts culture has always thrived, but is now harnessed and showcased with Arts Gowanus and Powerhouse Arts. The architecture of the canal is highlighted through buildings designed by the likes of Fogarty Finger, Bjarke Ingels Group, Annabelle Selldorf, Handel Architects and FX Collaborative. 

Additionally, the natural beauty of the canal is celebrated by the Gowanus Canal Conservancy’s preservation of the exquisite esplanade and waterfront park into a destination experience.

Do you think unique architectural and design approaches are having any real and increased impact on the multifamily market and how residents and apartment seekers are responding to new developments?

In a city steeped in history and competition across neighborhoods and buildings, architecture and design have emerged as the most critical differentiating factors for the residential experience. 

How do you create the special moments, the emotional attachment, the quality of life that truly defines NYC and shapes a tenant’s sense of belonging? Find an inspirational architect, develop an extraordinary chemistry with their brain trust, and build a spectacular building — which is what we’ve done by working with world-class architects: Bjarke Ingels Group, Fogarty Finger, FX Collaborative and BKSK.

Lightning Round:

Your AI platform of choice? Gemini.

Who would play you in a movie? My opinion: Ben Affleck. My girlfriend Katie’s opinion: Adam Sandler.

One prompt you’d never give AI. Recommend a great country song to listen to on the golf course. Or suggest a great recipe with kale and olives.

Jalen Brunson or Aaron Judge? Neither — Lawrence Taylor.

“Oppenheimer” or “Odyssey”? “Oppenheimer.”

Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire? Tom Holland.

Have you ever eaten pizza with a knife and fork? Is that legal?

The most money you’ve ever spent on a hamburger? $75 at db Bistro.

Bank or non-bank? Love ’em both.

Last book you read? The Slip by Prudence Peiffer.

Borrowing costs — up or down in 2027? Up.

What was your nickname when you grew up/started out? Sicky Nilvers; Slivers; Pledge Name: The Hutt

How long do we have before AI kills us all? Not happening.

Where’s your secret escape compound? (Think Peter Thiel’s New Zealand Plan B.) Sedona, Ariz.