Richard and Isaac Chera

In the first year since Crown Acquisitions lost its patriarch, retail real estate legend Stanley Chera, the firm found itself adapting and evolving amid a fluid and often uncertain real estate landscape. Brothers Isaac and Richard Chera placed big bets on changing technology and new visions for the future of retail. It was not the easiest task, to say the least, given the disruptions that the pandemic accelerated.

No bet by the Cheras compared to forming a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC)  to merge with Brivo, a leading proptech firm focused on access control and security systems for commercial real estate and other property types, which currently counts Whole Foods and CVS as clients. The move showed moxie, with the new publicly traded firm valued at $800 million, and a prime example of the increasing importance data and analytics play in retail and real estate today.

Crown Acquisitions, though, continues to be best known for its portfolio of prime assets, with stakes in the Olympic Tower at 641 Fifth Avenue, the Cartier Mansion at 635 Fifth Avenue and 450 Park Avenue, where Florida’s BankUnited signed a lease for a splashy new ground-floor space in December. The pandemic retail slump hit Crown hard; in late 2020, a Gap store failed to pay rent at 170 Broadway, leading to a default by Crown.

But increased confidence in New York helped the firm bolster its performance, and it points to potential deals ahead. Recently, SL Green Realty paid $455 million to Crown and Oxford Properties Group for the 33-story office tower at 450 Park Avenue. A win in the office sector is also something to behold.