Jonathan Mechanic

Jonathan Mechanic once declared 2024 “the best year [he’s] ever had,” but 2025 quickly took that prize following another extremely successful annum of deals for his legal team.

Think of any of the biggest office deals in New York City in the past year — Mechanic and his group of 116 real estate attorneys in New York were probably part of it. In fact, his team advised on a total of 131 transactions in 2025 alone, with a total transaction value of $31 billion.

“As good as last year was, this year was extraordinary,” Mechanic said of 2025 versus 2024.

Some of his 2025 deals included J.P. Morgan Chase’s redevelopment of its new 2.5 million-square-foot headquarters at 270 Park Avenue (ever heard of it?); SL Green Realty’s $1.65 billion refinancing for One Madison Avenue and $1.4 billion refinancing for 11 Madison Avenue; Blackstone Real Estate’s acquisition of a 49 percent stake in 1345 Avenue of the Americas; Brookfield’s 460,000-square-foot lease to Moody’s at Brookfield Place; and BXP’s lease agreement with Starr Insurance to anchor its new 343 Madison Avenue development in approximately 275,000 square feet. The list goes on (and on).

And don’t forget Mechanic’s work on Metropolitan Park, the new casino going up in Queens near Citi Field in a joint venture between Hard Rock International and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen. Mechanic helped to complete the ground lease modification, land use entitlements and other project agreements with New York City and New York State to facilitate the $8.1 billion casino development.

Most recently, Mechanic helped complete the largest lease signed so far in 2026: that of American Express, which finalized a deal with Silverstein Properties and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in February to develop a nearly 2 million-square-foot headquarters at 2 World Trade Center.

When it comes to 2026, Mechanic said he’s not only making more deals, but he’s also watching to see how New York City’s housing shortage plays out, as the city “needs to get [its] act together on affordable housing” and “incentivize people to actually want to build here,” he said.