Roy March

Roy March continues putting one foot before the other in finding new investors in Eastdil Secured.

In March, a deal was finalized for Savills to acquire Eastdil from Guggenheim Investments, Temasek Holdings and Wells Fargo for $1.1 billion and provide those investors with equity in Savills.

The deal shifted March’s standing in the company from CEO to executive chairman, and moved D. Michael Van Konynenburg — Mike VK, as he is known — from president to CEO.

The acquisition seems to be symbiotic in nature, giving Savills exposure to New York City capital markets, which it hadn’t dabbled in up until that point, while Eastdil gained a channel to expand into the Asia-Pacific markets that the U.K.-based Savills seems to revel in.

And Savills purchased a name. One of the most storied in the business. Eastdil has long been one of the go-to firms for top players looking to buy, sell or refinance properties in New York, South Florida or Los Angeles. March’s name is legendary as one of the greatest salesmen real estate has ever known. Eastdil’s New York City team led by Gary Phillips and Will Silverman is handling the potential sale of the Waldorf Astoria, which last sold for $1.95 billion in 2014 and was closed for eight years amid a $2 billion redevelopment.

Time will tell if the owner, Dajia Insurance Group, gets a return on that nearly $4 billion investment.

In March, Eastdil’s brokers were involved in what could be one of the largest retail property sales ever in Southern California. Redwood West, Panattoni, Prime Finance and Prism Places paid about $530 million for the Victoria Gardens shopping center in Rancho Cucamonga.

Back on the East Coast, Eastdil helped Eyal Ofer’s Global Holdings secure $450 million of commercial mortgage-backed securities debt from Wells Fargo to refinance 1250 Broadway.

At the end of 2025, Eastdil’s Grant Frankel negotiated a $1.3 billion refinance of 660 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan for Brookfield. That deal brought the office and retail landlord’s total financing activity so far this year to $35 billion.