I was reading about JMB Realty and how they had the defining/biggest deal of the 1980's real estate boom (Cadillac Fairview for $2.6 billion). It got me thinking, what has been the biggest or lost defining deal (or development) of this real estate cycle?
The book mentioned how deals in the 90's were less flashy because the degree to which leverage could be used was constrained because of bank losses from the previous decade. Do you feel this is the case in this cycle as well? Do you think that there has not really been a defining deal because of this?
The Hilton turnaround (Bx) was pretty successful and on a big scale
According to The Real Deal's numbers, Jamestown bought Chelsea market for ~$790MM and sold it to Google for $2.4B.
Maybe not the "Deal of the Era", but I can only imagine what the promote was.
Homerun deal!
They purchased 75% of the building in 2003 and the remaining 25% in 2011. The deal is still a home run anyway you slice, especially with well-timed financings, but if only that hold period would be 5 years.
Hudson Yards
Yeah that would be my vote.
Transbay Terminal and the adjacent properties (like Salesforce Tower) will be up there too
Pretty much all of my family works outside of the high finance/commercial real estate sector, and the only deal mentioned here that I've heard any of them know about is Hudson Yards. It has people talking all across the East Coast.
https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/john-hancock-tower-sells-for-93…</a">https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/john-hancock-tower-sells-for-93…
That's where Barry Sternlicht got his start. They were the place to be in the 80's.
Agree with @blank112" that Hilton has turned out to be a massive success. The BX/EOP deal was pretty solid as well.
Stuyvesant was massive but right after that Starwood bought a $5.3b multifamily portfolio as well so it wasn't completely out there by itself.
Biggest loser of this cycle was probably HNA Group.
I'd agree that Hudson Yards is probably the most iconic of this era. I'm a West Coast guy and I still think that's the case. There are probably 3-4 more that would be equally as important but that were lower profile since they were more M&A/portfolio deals. The KTR acquisition by Prologis comes to mind, that was massive. It wasn't as 'sexy' since it was industrial, but very big.
The stuy town deal was a single asset technically, which is the reason it's impressive. There are a lot of assemblages/portfolios that eclipse it $ wise, but more than one asset or entity level.
We sold a ground lease multifamily deal with bond financing in Fayetteville, NC... I mean, that's gotta be up there!
Playa Vista has a cool history from when Howard Hughes owned much of it, all the way through the boom and bust of the 2000's, to delivery of office/multi/resi that's transformed West LA and made LA more of a tech destination. There's still a phase finishing up development, like 20-30 years after the project began.
I know people who worked on that. Insane how much went into it.
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NYC: Hudson Yards DC: The Wharf
The Chrysler building is for sale but probably Stuyvesant town.
503 Broadway is a pretty crazy deal with the fact that Zara paid over 20k Per SQFT. I Think it was the highest price per Foot paid for a retail condo in NY. The market really went crazy for retail and then it Died in the span of two years
There have been soo many 1bn+ developments and deals in major markets you could almost do a breakdown by major market and then by product type.
I'll go with the deal that Barry Sternlicht, Jon Gray, Tom Barrack, and Wayne Hughes each poured billions into: the institutionalization of US single family housing. The final chapter hasn't been written on this trade/business, but I expect that 20 years from now, this is what people will be talking about when they discuss RE investment in the post-crisis era.
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