Scott Rechler

When it comes to New York City’s office recovery, Scott Rechler’s RXR has put its stake firmly in the ground — then shored it up with concrete, steel and glass for good measure. 

RXR’s successful 2025 was bookended by progress at 1211 Avenue of Americas, in which RXR acquired a 49 percent stake from Ivanhoé Cambridge in January 2025. In October, it secured a $1.45 billion recapitalization for the tower, sending millions of dollars into capital improvements and renovations.

RXR famously executed the city’s first billion-dollar deal since 2018 when it acquired the 590 Madison Avenue office tower in August of last year for $1.08 billion. Rechler called it “the pinnacle of our office recovery.”

“When institutions look at something and say it’s uninvestable, it usually turns out to be a good time to be an investor in that asset class,” Rechler said. He estimated that he bid on 590 Madison four times throughout his career, but the stars finally aligned in 2025.

One month later, the firm launched its $3.5 billion investment vehicle, Gemini Office Venture, seeded with stakes in 590 Madison, 1211 Avenue of the Americas and Manhattan’s Starrett-Lehigh Building.

To top it all off, RXR, with partners Apollo Global Management and SL Green, got the official go-ahead in May 2025 to convert the 5 Times Square office tower into 1,250 housing units. The mixed-use Midtown project builds upon RXR’s conversions in Lower Manhattan — the general surge of which Rechler attributes to good public policy.

“We’ve actually done, either ourselves or financing, 4,000 units of multifamily,” Rechler said. The firm is also undertaking more multifamily projects in North Carolina and Arizona.

But even a powerhouse like RXR was not immune to continued market resets. In March 2025, RXR lost its office asset at 340 Madison Avenue to a foreclosure auction to Barings, after defaulting on a $315 million mortgage from Barings’ parent company in 2024.

It’s full steam ahead in 2026, however. RXR filed permits this April for a 95-story, nearly 3 million-square-foot office and hotel tower at 175 Park Avenue next to Grand Central five years after the City Council approved the plan.