This week, we dive deep into the story of Anbang Insurance, the Chinese insurer that went on an epic US trophy real estate buying spree, but flew too close to the sun. We trace the origins of Anbang's founder Wu Xiaohui, his multibillion-dollar acquisition of top US hotels include NYC's Waldorf-Astoria, and Anbang's eventual collapse and government takeover. We then talk about a rare RICO case against a notorious DC landlord, Ali "Sam" Razjooyan, and how such extreme incidents can shape landlord-tenant policy. Finally, we look at why the big CRE brokerages are seeing their stocks getting hammered by the AI question.

We also do a "Punch List" rundown of the newsiest industry happenings: Sumitomo Forestry's Tri-Pointe take-private; Nuveen buying Schroeder's; Kimco's unwanted assets; Fannie looking to wet its beak on license sales; and Adam Neumann invoking the wrath of his Miami neighbors. 

Sponsors:

1) This episode is supported by Bravo Capital, a leading HUD and bridge lender. See how their precision underwriting means quicker approvals and higher proceeds for sponsors by visiting bravocapital.com
2) This episode is supported by LoanBoss, the industry-leading debt management software. Featuring one-click covenant testing, instant cash flow forecasting, and our favorite nerdy delight: Live forward curves! Check them out at loanboss.com

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

For feedback: Write us at [email protected] And please rate us and write a review on Apple.

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote Insider to unlock access to expert CRE breakdowns, behind-the-deal stories, scoops, discounted swag and events and more. Take 10% off annual subscriptions by using this link: https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade?offer_id=b700858f-21e0-47a2-9695-a93055d3ed15

Further reading/listening:

Chinese Shop Trophy Hotels After Decade of Pain

Rise of Wu Xiaohui, Anbang’s low-profile, high-octane chairman

The Waldorf’s Makeover Went a Billion Over Budget—and China Is Footing the Bill

D.C. Attorney General Targets D.C. Slumlord With RICO Lawsuit

How “Landlord” Became a Bad Word 

AI Scare Trade Wipes Out Billions From Commercial Real Estate Stocks

This week, we discuss the House of Brookfield’s new overlord: Connor Teskey has a modest target – double AUM to $2 trillion. We talk about the labyrinth that is Brookfield’s corporate structure – Bruce Flatt's not going away – and what CRE’s role in the ramp-up will be. We then look at the flurry of REIT take-privates, from Peakstone to Plymouth. And finally, we slip into resort casual and discuss a princely condo buyout payoff in West Palm Beach – the goat Steve Ross makes an appearance.   

We also do a "Punch List" rundown of the newsiest industry happenings: Michael Shvo's bitter breakup with German pension fund BVK; Blackstone & DivcoWest's SF triumph; and tranche warfare in the mall space.

Sponsors:

1) This episode is supported by LoanBoss, the industry-leading debt management software. Featuring one-click covenant testing, instant cash flow forecasting, and our favorite nerdy delight: Live forward curves! Check them out at loanboss.com
2) This episode is supported by Bravo Capital, a leading HUD and bridge lender. See how their precision underwriting means quicker approvals and higher proceeds for sponsors by visiting bravocapital.com

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

For feedback: Write us at [email protected] And please rate us and write a review on Apple.

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote Insider to unlock access to expert CRE breakdowns, behind-the-deal stories, scoops, discounted swag and events and more. Take 10% off annual subscriptions by using this link: https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade?offer_id=b700858f-21e0-47a2-9695-a93055d3ed15

Further reading/listening:

Shvo Becomes Wurst Investment

Top-Rated Bonds Hit Hard After Distressed Fund Seizes One of America’s Largest Malls

Anthropic to take over an entire office building in downtown S.F. 

Brookfield revamps unusual ownership structure

Book recc: The Reichmanns: Family, Faith, Fortune, and the Empire of Olympia & York

Brookfield Lines Up a 36-Year-Old Rising Star as Next Billionaire CEO

Jon Gray Is Reshaping Blackstone Into Everybody's Investing Megastore

Brookfield Puts Up $173M To Refinance Brookfield Place Tower

Blackstone eyes more REIT privatizations amid "lagging" public markets

Inside Steve Ross’ buyout of a West Palm Beach waterfront condo

Podcast: Ross takes his talents to [West Palm] Beach

This week, we discuss how the Chrysler Building has laid waste to the best-laid plans of so many global titans. With Tishman Speyer reportedly coming back for another go at the Art Deco icon, we trace its rich and rollicking deal history, from Jack Kent Cooke to Abu Dhabi. We then discuss how the ICE immigration crackdown is putting another big question mark on the Sunbelt multifamily market and leaving landlords in limbo. And finally, we discuss Apollo's sister act: REIT ARI is selling its $9B loan book to insurance arm Athene, and patting itself on the back for doing so.

We also do a "Pardon the Interruption" style rundown of the biggest industry happenings: Carlyle's NYC self-storage mammoth sale to StorageMart; Brookfield's misplaced OZ fund; Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh; and Donald Bren's Chicago tower listing.  

Sponsors:

1) This episode is supported by Bravo Capital, a leading HUD and bridge lender. See how their precision underwriting means quicker approvals and higher proceeds for sponsors by visiting bravocapital.com
2) This episode is supported by LoanBoss, the industry-leading debt management software. Featuring one-click covenant testing, instant cash flow forecasting, and our favorite nerdy delight: Live forward curves! Check them out at loanboss.com

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

For feedback: Write us at [email protected] And please rate us and write a review on Apple.

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote to unlock access to expert CRE breakdowns, behind-the-deal stories, scoops, discounted swag and events and more. Take 10% off annual subscriptions by using this link: https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade?offer_id=b700858f-21e0-47a2-9695-a93055d3ed15

Further reading/listening:

The Chrysler Building: Doomed Art Deco tower of global power

How tycoon behind Chrysler Building and Selfridges was forced out

Curtains for Aby at Chrysler

Immigration Crackdown Creating 'Havoc' For Some Apartment Owners

Me, Myself & Apollo

From Investment to Savings: When Finance Feeds on Itself

This week, we discuss second acts: Ziel Feldman has left the scandal-ridden past of his glitzy New York condo development firm HFZ Capital Group behind, and he's reinvented himself as an affordable housing player through his silent partnership in GoodHomes. We trace the wild arc of his career and his far more below-the-radar new game. Proptech's loudest voice and most prolific fundraiser Fifth Wall is now yelling into the fundraising void; we talk about how the firm's issues are emblematic of the broader sector. We also do a "Pardon the Interruption" style rundown of the biggest industry happenings: S2's REIT hiccups, Charles Cohen's latest foreclosure, Willis Tower woes, and Michael Shvo's media mastery. 

Sponsors:

1) This episode is supported by LoanBoss, the industry-leading debt management software. Featuring one-click covenant testing, instant cash flow forecasting, and our favorite nerdy delight: Live forward curves! Check them out at loanboss.com
2) This episode is supported by Bravo Capital, a leading HUD and bridge lender. See how their precision underwriting means quicker approvals and higher proceeds for sponsors by visiting bravocapital.com

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

For feedback: Write us at [email protected] And please rate us and write a review on Apple.

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote to unlock access to expert CRE content. Take 10% off annual subscriptions by using this link: https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade?offer_id=b700858f-21e0-47a2-9695-a93055d3ed15

Further reading/listening:

Ziel Feldman's Next Act

S2 REIT Makes Capital Call

The Ugliest Divorce in Manhattan Real Estate

How HFZ became the face of Manhattan’s condo woes

Fifth Wall cuts staff, pauses fundraising

Fifth Wall’s Brendan Wallace On What’s Next After Closing $866M Proptech Fund

Proptech graveyard 🪦/infirmary 🤒: Running list

Shvo Business 

This week, we discuss a redemption tour by GVA’s Alan Stalcup, Patient Zero of the Sunbelt multifamily boom/bust. He’s battling PGs, LPs and maybe even the SEC, but Stalcup is unapologetic. He sat down with Hiten for a pretty unplugged conversation, and we chat through our key takeaways. We then dive into the 24-6 world of dealmaking in Skilled Nursing Facilities, a totally undercovered corner of CRE with big numbers and some batshit maneuvering. The Genesis bankruptcy case is all anyone in that world can talk about right now. We also do a "Pardon the Interruption" style rundown of the biggest industry happenings: Soho House Take II, Marty Burger's redo, Summit's Pinnacle deal going through, and a nightmare condo buyout scenario in Miami.

Sponsors:

1) This episode is supported by Bravo Capital, a leading HUD and bridge lender. See how their precision underwriting means quicker approvals and higher proceeds for sponsors by visiting bravocapital.com
2) This episode is supported by LoanBoss, the industry-leading debt management software. Featuring one-click covenant testing, instant cash flow forecasting, and our favorite nerdy delight: Live forward curves! Check them out at loanboss.com

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

For feedback: Write us at [email protected] And please rate us and write a review on Apple.

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote to unlock access to expert CRE content. Take 10% off annual subscriptions by using this link: https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade?offer_id=b700858f-21e0-47a2-9695-a93055d3ed15

Further reading/listening:

The Alan Stalcup Interview: Speaking With Patient Zero of the Sunbelt Syndicator Bust

The Nursing Home Power Roster

Landau Fails SNF Test

Genie Rubbed the Right Way

Dial Tress for Distress

This week, we’re talking a glitch in the Morse code: MCR has failed to come up with the cash to consummate the take-private of Soho House, setting off a mad scramble. There’s more bad chemistry in the life-sciences space, with the venerable Beacon Capital Partners battling its operating partner and lenders in the space losing patience. And finally, we dive into the most closely-watched CRE bankruptcy auction in the country: The Pinnacle rent-stabilized portfolio in New York.

Sponsors:

1) This episode is supported by LoanBoss, the industry-leading debt management software. Featuring one-click covenant testing, instant cash flow forecasting, and our favorite nerdy delight: Live forward curves! Check them out at loanboss.com
2) This episode is supported by Bravo Capital, a leading HUD and bridge lender. See how their precision underwriting means quicker approvals and higher proceeds for sponsors by visiting bravocapital.com

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

For feedback: Write us at [email protected] And please rate us and write a review on Apple.

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote to unlock access to expert CRE content. Take 10% off annual subscriptions by using this link: https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade?offer_id=b700858f-21e0-47a2-9695-a93055d3ed15

Further reading/listening:

Taconic's Lab Leak
Soho House’s $2.7 Billion Deal to Go Private Hits a Last-Minute Funding Snag
Deathbed for life science incubator? Portal Innovations sues partner Beacon Capital
Zohar Levy, the Man who Would be King
Bidder For Pinnacle's 5,000-Unit Portfolio Has Ties To CEO Joel Wiener's Brother

This week, we talk Chicago – America’s Second City is now becoming top of mind for national multifamily players. We break down 2 significant deals: LaTerra’s monster AIMCO portfolio buy and S2’s debut. We then slip into our jerseys and look at the arcane world of stadium development – and all the freebies and surrounding action that comes with it. Finally, we schlep the streets of Brooklyn, where Carlyle & Greenbrook have pulled off a massive Freddie refi of their walk-up empire.

Sponsor: This episode is supported by LoanBoss, the industry-leading debt management software. Featuring one-click covenant testing, instant cash flow forecasting, and our favorite nerdy delight: Live forward curves! Check them out at loanboss.com

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

For feedback: Write us at [email protected] And please rate us and write a review on Apple.

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote to unlock access to expert CRE content. Take 10% off annual subscriptions by using this link: https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade?offer_id=b700858f-21e0-47a2-9695-a93055d3ed15

Further reading/listening:

Deconstructing Data Center Megadeals with DigitalBridge's Marc Ganzi (DB is being acquired by SoftBank)

Carlyle Takes the Stairs

Aimco to sell Chicago-area multifamily portfolio for $455 million as REIT liquidates

Chiefs Get Largest Public Funding Package Ever For New Stadium In Kansas

Freddie Walks Carlyle/Greenbrook Home

Chicago leads the nation in apartment rent growth amid tight supply
 

We're technically off this week. BUT, Business Insider dropped a banger of a read on Floyd Mayweather's tangled financial web, and somewhere at the center of that web is a character of great interest to The Promote Cinematic Universe: Jona Rechnitz was a New York real estate developer who was caught up in a massive NYPD corruption scandal before heading to LA and reinventing himself as a diamond dealer and Mayweather whisperer.  Rechnitz is the archetype of a netherworld character who somehow keeps popping up in real estate: the hustler with the incredible Rolodex and fuzzy origin story, someone who manages to whip up controversy wherever he goes but keeps escaping any real consequences. In May, we dove deep into his fascinating story, and we're re-upping that episode here. In the episode,  we also take a look at "structural corruption" in the development of supertalls, focused on a dispute at 432 Park Avenue.

NOTE: This is a re-run of an episode that originally aired on 5/14/2025

Episode sponsor:  AirGarage – find out more about their full-service parking management solution at Airgarage.com

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

For feedback: Write us at [email protected] And please rate us and write a review on Apple.

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote to unlock access to expert CRE content. Take 10% off annual subscriptions by using this link: https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade?offer_id=b700858f-21e0-47a2-9695-a93055d3ed15

Further reading:
 
Inside Floyd 'Money' Mayweather's lavish, debt-filled post-boxing life

Jona Rechnitz Atavist profile and The Promote's CRE-focused summary

Harry Macklowe profile:

432 Park lawsuit:

Downside to life in a supertall: 

This week, we talk illiquid death – the Bluerock listing debacle says so much about the mark-to-magic happening in the nontraded REIT market. We then head to Hollywood where showbiz is turning into badbiz for Hackman Capital, HPP and others who went all-in on soundstages. And finally, we head to Charm City to check in on Kevin Plank & Goldman Sachs' Baltimore Peninsula megaproject – MAG is out, Hines is in, and Bank OZK is pissed. 

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

For feedback: Write us at [email protected] And please rate us and write a review on Apple.

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote to unlock access to expert CRE content. Take 10% off annual subscriptions by using this link: https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade?offer_id=b700858f-21e0-47a2-9695-a93055d3ed15

Further reading/listening:

Bluerock Total Income Plus - Accredited Insight

When Your Private Fund Turns $1 Into 60 Cents

This Hollywood Property Mogul Stands to Lose No Matter Who Wins Warner

Hines in, MAG at Baltimore peninsula

Steve Ross takes his talents to West Palm Beach
 

This week, we’re talking exotic alts – the far-flung corners of CRE that are starting to catch serious institutional interest. Think car washes, aviation hangars and the like. We're joined by Ian Ross, managing partner of SomeraRoad, to talk through the fascinating niche of aviation infrastructure and how it's been supercharged by the Big Beautiful Bill. Then, we walk through Taconic Partners' failed grand experiment with life science real estate in NYC – $2B deployed, not much to show for it. 

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

For feedback: Write us at [email protected] And please rate us and write a review on Apple.

Follow our guest on LinkedIn: Ian Ross

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote to unlock access to expert CRE content. Take 10% off annual subscriptions by using this link: https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade?offer_id=b700858f-21e0-47a2-9695-a93055d3ed15

Further reading/listening:

Taconic Invested $2B To Be NYC's Leading Life Sciences Developer. Then The Market Froze

Bonus Depreciation Boom Times in Private Aviation

Net Leash Car Wash Sales Surge

AUM Gobbling, Explained