🥊 Floyd Mayweather Jr. lands a $637 million real estate deal in Manhattan
🧟‍♂️ Moving from zombie malls to zombie office buildings
🫣 Five years post-pandemic, CRE must confront unexpected challenges
📚 Courses on capital raising, selling into CRE, LP investing & more

Data Viz of the Week: Land Values in the US

One of my favorite maps out there just got updated: a look at US land values nationwide. While it looks a lot like a population map at first glance, a closer look reveals some interesting nuggets.

Iowa, for instance, has higher land values than surrounding states. In Iowa, farmland is taxed based on productivity rather than market value, lowering the tax burden and driving land prices higher. This map also provides a stark reminder of the amount of public land out west—something the current administration is attempting to unlock.

Upcoming Thesis Driven Courses & Classes

Sharpen your real estate IQ on capital raising, selling into real estate owners, developing local real estate projects, and more.

All Upcoming Courses

• March 17: Fundamentals of CRE (💻 Online): A bootcamp providing an insider’s view of “a day in the life” of key industry stakeholders, with real-world insights and applications - Sign up

• March 18 & 19: Fundamentals of Capital Raising (🗽Live in NYC): Insider’s guide to raising capital for real estate projects & platforms–from individuals, family offices and institutional investors - Sign up

• March 31: Selling Into Real Estate Owners (💻 Online): A bootcamp for people selling technology and products into the real estate industry - Sign up

• March 31: Fundamentals of Capital Raising (💻 Online): Insider’s guide to raising capital for real estate projects & platforms–from individuals, family offices and institutional investors - Sign up

• April 7: Introduction to Development (💻 Online): A first-person POV simulation for aspiring developers to learn to source, underwrite and finance a local real estate project - Sign up

• April 8 & 9: Fundamentals of LP Investing (🗽Live in NYC): A bootcamp for individual investors providing the institutional playbook to access, evaluate, and structure direct real estate investments - Sign up

Three Articles We Loved from Last Week

It’s not easy keeping up with everything. Here are three articles we loved from the past week that you may have missed:

1. (The Daily Telegraph) Floyd Mayweather’s knockout $637m property move

   Boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. is making waves in the real estate industry with his latest $637 million investment in a Manhattan multifamily property portfolio. The purchase, which includes 62 buildings comprising over 1,000 residential units, positions Mayweather as a major player in New York City’s rental market. Mayweather’s entry into Manhattan’s multifamily sector comes at a time when institutional investors are showing renewed interest in rental housing amid rising interest rates and affordability challenges for homebuyers. The properties are reportedly a mix of rent-stabilized and market-rate units, presenting potential long-term upside as New York’s rental demand remains strong.

2. (Wall Street Journal) The Investor Who Won Big on Zombie Malls Is Going All In on Empty Offices

   Namdar Realty Group, renowned for profiting from distressed malls, is now targeting underperforming office buildings. Since 2021, the firm has invested over $480 million in acquiring 10 office properties in cities like Chicago, Cleveland, and New York City at significant discounts. Betting on a resurgence of in-office work post-pandemic, Namdar aims to enhance property values through cost-cutting measures. Challenges include necessary renovations to attract tenants and labor disputes with unionized staff. Despite early setbacks, some industry experts believe Namdar’s strategy of acquiring undervalued assets could yield substantial profits. 

3. (Bisnow) CRE Missed The Real Danger During The Pandemic. 5 Years Later, The Painful Fallout Is All Too Clear.

   In April 2020, amidst global lockdowns, the commercial real estate (CRE) industry faced unprecedented uncertainty. Initial fears centered on the potential collapse of sectors like retail due to the pandemic. However, five years later, the industry grapples with unforeseen challenges, including the accelerated shift to remote work, impacting office space demand, and the rapid adoption of technology altering traditional real estate models. The pandemic underscored the difficulty of predicting long-term impacts during crises, highlighting the need for adaptability and resilience in CRE strategies.

Developer of the Week: Shorenstein

Suburban office isn’t dead yet! Shorenstein alongside partner Tritower Financial Group are in contract to buy a 480,000 square foot office campus 20 miles outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Despite the campus being 99% occupied, the seller—Jumbo Capital Management—took a loss on the deal.

With Shorenstein facing distress elsewhere in its office portfolio, it’s nice to see them on the buy side of this life science-anchored campus.

Check out Shorenstein on the Developer Database to learn more.

Know about a developer doing something cool that we should feature? Reach out to [email protected] with the tip!

—Brad and Paul