For the first time ever, New York City Economic Development Corporation is staging a special Investor Summit in collaboration with AFIRE for international institutional capital that's focused on US property investing. With the summit in mind, AFIRE CEO Gunnar Branson sat down with chief operating officer of NYCEDC, Melissa Román Burch, for a pulse check on New York City’s CRE environment.

“New York City is an engine that is always thinking about growth,” says Burch. Currently, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has set a goal of creating 500,000 housing units over the next 10 years, with roughly 30,000 units expected to come from office-to-residential conversions. Meanwhile, two new trophy office skyscrapers have broken ground, totaling about 2 million square feet of new infrastructure. Looking ahead, the city projects 400,000 green-collar jobs by 2040, underscoring New York’s commitment to both economic growth and sustainability.

The conversation covers the key sectors driving momentum—office, housing, energy, and transportation—while also asking the bigger questions: Where are the opportunities hiding? How will office-to-residential conversions reshape neighborhoods? And what will New York look like in five years?

LINKS

Register for the 2025 AFIRE Annual Member Meeting Sept. 9-10 in NYC

https://www.afire.org/events/amm25/

Learn more about NYCEDC’s Business Development team

https://choose.nyc/

Register for AFIRE/NYCEDC Investor Summit

https://www.afire.org/uncategorized/amm25summitreg/

Watch the AFIRE POV series of investor interviews

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOrtO-j6M9aS8Hr7DHeg562A8-HQrxi8o

Read the latest articles from Summit Journal Issue #18

https://www.afire.org/summit/

Access the episode webpage featuring links to audio-only platforms here:

https://www.afire.org/podcast/202514cast/

KEY MOMENTS

00:00 AFIRE CEO Gunnar Branson intro

01:23 Welcome back, Melissa Román Burch, COO of NYCEDC

01:48 AFIRE/NYCEDC Investor Summit Invitation

03:37 Pulse check: what’s happening in NYC?

06:51 How is NYC handling housing shortages?

12:57 How much will NYC change in the next 5 years?

16:14 What’s most exciting for institutional investors?

19:46 Is NYC just a financial center?

23:45 Connecting Brooklyn to the mainland

28:31 How are people reacting to the congestion pricing system?

33:17 What’s happening with green energy?

37:11 What can investors expect in NYC over the next decade?

41:30 Final remarks