The Promote Podcast

This week, we have a special episode diving deep into the skyscraper that encapsulates our political and financial age: 666 Fifth Avenue. Now known as 660 Fifth Avenue, this tower brings together a dizzying array of characters – from Jared and Charlie Kushner to the former finance minister of Qatar and an imprisoned Chinese mogul – and elements such as cocky scions, insane appraisals, overheated CMBS, hardball pref, media wars, White House wildcards, and so much more. We trace the history of the building from being Jared Kushner's splashy and later disastrous buy to the Brookfield bailout and ultimate redemption. Next, we look at a botched condo buyout in Miami and the opportunities and dangers of that playbook. And finally, we examine how Banco Santander is playing rough with borrowers it inherited from Signature Bank.

Sponsor: This episode is sponsored by Bullpen, a talent shop solely dedicated to the commercial real estate industry. Bullpen can recruit trusted CRE pros at all levels, from analysts to C-suite, and can fill both fractional and full-time positions. The Promote listeners get $1,000 off their first search when you mention who sent you. Check out at bullpenre.com to get started.

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

Promote Insider: Our premium tier for CRE insiders is now live. To lock in Founding Member rates, visit https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade

Further reading:

Jared Kushner profile - NYMAg

Behind the record deal for 666 Fifth Avenue - TRD

Jared Kushner, a Trump In-Law and Adviser, Chases a Chinese Deal - NYT

Kushners, Trump In-Laws, Weigh $400 Million Deal With Chinese Firm - NYT

Charlie Kushner, Unfiltered- TRD

Deal Gives Kushners Cash Infusion on 666 Fifth Avenue - NYT

660 Reasons to Smile - The Promote

Banco Down to Brawl - The Promote

Florida Supreme Court denies rehearing in condo buyout case- TRD

This week, we asked the taboo question about New York office to residential conversions. Do the numbers work? There's been enough distress from some of the OGs, including Nathan Berman, that it warrants that question amid all the private-credit billions flowing into the space. We then look at how a single man, Zara founder Amancio Ortega, can drive pricing across product types and markets – even though his buys may not really be pegged on real-world investment metrics. And finally, we go a little bit tabloid to talk about the case of David Bren, the embattled son of real estate tycoon Donald Bren – some real talk about fundraising and scions in there.

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

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote to unlock access to expert CRE content. Founding memberships open now at https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade

Further reading:

Donald Bren - The Billionaire's Town: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-irvine-california-housing-donald-bren/

A billionaire’s son sold investors on the ‘ultimate man cave.’ Was any of it real?: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-10-06/david-bren-beverly-hills

The Follieri Charade: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/10/follieri200810?srsltid=AfmBOorhtO3gFoiBk5pL3BXDzBXUyPfwoJ-SVNmXUDTBR6Y9h7X_rayD

Caveat Lender: https://www.thepromote.com/p/caveat-office-resi-lender-roosevelt-masala#caveat-lender

A Costly Rescue Recap: https://www.thepromote.com/p/inside-the-debt-fund-game-underwater-rescues#a-costly-rescue-recap

This week, we discuss an intriguing deal in the data-center space – TeraWulf is raising $3B in debt to build data centers for Google, in an intertwined transaction that's becoming a prototype for getting these massive developments going. We dive into the maverick mogul behind Terawulf, Paul Prager, who's using his heft to turn Maryland's Eastern Shore into the new Hamptons. We then take stock of the carnage in San Francisco's multifamily market, where the biggest players are winning and losing thousands of units all at once – and leaving their lenders in the lurch. Finally, we explore why institutional investors are finding alpha between the low-thread-count sheets in the extended-stay space. 

Sponsor: This episode is sponsored by Bullpen, a talent shop solely dedicated to the commercial real estate industry. Bullpen can recruit trusted CRE pros at all levels, from analysts to C-suite, and can fill both fractional and full-time positions. Check them out at bullpenre.com to get started.

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

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

Promote Insider: Our premium tier for CRE insiders launches Oct. 15. To lock in Founding Member rates, visit https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade

This week, we dive into Brookfield's $10B mega-acquisition of manufactured-home player YES! Communities, and how it's emblematic of the next frontier of institutional CRE investing – we chop it up on the liquid debt markets for affordable housing, putting money to work at scale and Stockbridge's FAT upcoming promote. We then examine RXR's OPM masterclass in Manhattan with Gemini, a $3.5B office vehicle that is making splashy buys and generating even splashier fees in the process. We then visit the modest environs of Wilmington, DE, where Buccini Pollin is in the midst of an intriguing office-resi bet.

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]

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

Up your CRE game:  Consider becoming a premium subscriber to The Promote to unlock access to expert CRE content. Founding memberships open now at https://www.thepromote.com/upgrade

Further reading:

https://www.thepromote.com/p/rxr-s-feeapalooza-sobrato-s-sv-sizzle#rx-rs-feeapalooza

Brookfield in talks to buy US landlord from Singapore’s GIC in $10bn deal

This week, we take a closer look at one of the biggest winners from Nvidia's Silicon Valley real estate rampage: The Sobrato Organization amassed a 12M sf portfolio through a combination of guts, vision and HEAVY leverage, and are now reaping the rewards as Nvidia goes shopping. We then look at how some big players, including Toll Brothers, are bowing out of multifamily development, and explore who's stepping into the void. Finally, with his adventures on the high seas on pause, Harry Macklowe is back to adventuring on the Manhattan skyline: But who the hell wants to give the rapscallion developer the cash to do it?

Sponsor: This episode is sponsored by Bullpen, a talent shop solely dedicated to the commercial real estate industry. Bullpen can recruit trusted CRE pros at all levels, from analysts to C-suite, and can fill both fractional and full-time positions. Check them out at bullpenre.com to get started.

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected] 

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

Further reading:

Carl Berg a Man on a Mission: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2010/07/26/focus1.html?page=all
John Sobrato Interview: https://www.nobhillgazette.com/people/the_interview/up-close-and-personal-with-john-sobrato/article_b517646f-dc65-5386-acb2-d3e456e4ee4e.html
Macklowe vs. Macklowe: https://therealdeal.com/magazine/new-york-november-2017/macklowe-vs-macklowe/ 

Like a lot of older guys, Steve Ross moved to Florida. Unlike them, however, the billionaire real estate developer didn't go there to retire, but instead to take on an even more audacious skyline-shaping challenge: West Palm Beach. This week, we trace Ross' whirlwind of big-ticket dealmaking down south that combines real estate, private equity, education, sport, and glamour – much to take away for the aspiring city shaper. We then look at Gary Barnett's latest financing coup: a $1.2B pref commitment for a range of development projects. And finally, we explore the legal challenge to the "nuclear" bill that killed off Texas' most controversial property-tax loophole: The Traveling HFC

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]  

Further reading/listening:

Can This Developer Make West Palm Beach Into the Hottest City in America?
Goat Exits Stage South
Billionaire Stephen Ross Believes in South Florida—and Is Spending Big to Transform It
Gary Barnett: The Father of Billionaires' Row
Inside Gary Barnett's Deer Valley Masterclass

Barnett Prefs Up
The Quiet Kings of Capital
Traveling HFCs: Backlash to the Backlash
The Mother of all Tax Loopholes

This week, it's Tupac vs Biggie, commercial real estate edition: We dive into a deal on each coast that brings together all the things that we think make CRE the greatest show on earth. Rapacious lenders, billion-dollar-dreams, broken capital stacks & creative financing. In New York, we look at the saga of 172 Madison Avenue, Yitzchak Tessler's moonshot condo project that ended in multiple bankruptcies. And in Beverly Hills, we look at the star-studded history of the One Beverly Hills site, and how a motley crew of billionaire Todd Boehly, "Russian James Bond" Vlad Doronin, and Beverly Hills wheeler-dealer Beny Alagem are putting together a $5B hospitality mecca.

Sponsor: This episode is sponsored by Bullpen, a talent shop solely dedicated to the commercial real estate industry. Bullpen can recruit trusted CRE pros at all levels, from analysts to C-suite, and can fill both fractional and full-time positions. Check them out at bullpenre.com to get started.

Which segment did you prefer – Tupac or Biggie? Write us at [email protected] and let us know.

To advertise: Reach out to [email protected]  

Further reading:

New Pacific's Beverly Hills coup: https://behindthedeals.com/2017/01/22/behind-the-deals-the-story-and-lessons-behind-new-pacific-realtys-acquisition-and-sale-of-the-beverly-hills-robinsons-may-for-a-450-million-profit/
Tale of the Tessler Tape: https://www.thepromote.com/p/tessler-tapes-drillman-s-sweet-16#tale-of-the-tessler-tape
Checkmating Tessler: https://www.thepromote.com/p/checkmating-tessler-a-brooklyn-bachur-s-office-feast
One Beverly Hills - a Capstack for the Ages: https://www.thepromote.com/p/meridian-s-nycb-burden-a-capstack-for-the-ages#a-capstack-for-the-ages
How a ‘Russian James Bond’ Conquered the World of Luxury Hotels
Hilton’s Waldorf Beverly Hills Used a Mole to Steal Secrets From Rival, Lawsuit Says

This week, we’re talking the Mormon real estate playbook – how the LDS church built a serious property portfolio and also run it like serious people. We then discuss syndicator Grant Cardone’s intricate plan to rescue a distressed Boca rental – with a Bitcoin twist. We also chop it up on how fund managers' courtship of retail money is leading to pushback from big institutional LPs.

Want to reach our audience of top CRE decision-makers? Reach out to [email protected]

Further reading:

https://www.thepromote.com/p/through-the-cardone-looking-glass#inside-cardones-boca-bankruptcy-bet
https://lrlfinancial.substack.com/p/101-via-mizner-bankruptcy-analysis
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-08/retail-investors-threaten-private-equity-s-aura-of-exclusivity
https://www.thepromote.com/p/private-credit-s-old-gold-another-rabsky-riddle#old-is-private-credit-gold
https://www.ft.com/content/f7387912-1079-43d4-a9a2-2308989400d4
https://www.thepromote.com/p/divine-dry-powder-regional-bank-wildcatting#divine-dry-powder 

We break down the puzzling $2.7B take-private of Soho House – what do Apollo, MCR, Ron Burkle and Ashton Kutcher think they can pull off by revitalizing the famed member's club? The discussion touches on everything from select-service hotels to Tyler Morse's start as "Barry's guy" to the perils of the hospitality business. We then break down the capital stacks on two closely watched Manhattan megadeals: RXR's purchase of 590 Madison Avenue and Miki Naftali's ultra-luxury condo play at 800 Fifth Avenue. Finally, we explore Yieldstreet's latest debacle and ask: Is real estate crowdfunding doomed by design?

Want to reach our audience of top CRE decision-makers? Reach out to [email protected]

Further reading/listening:

https://www.wsj.com/business/soho-house-members-club-nearing-a-deal-to-go-private-fcae011c
https://www.thepromote.com/p/postgame-manhattan-megabets-get-funded
https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2025/08/15/paramount-group-ceo-pushed-for-no-bid-contract/
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/18/yieldstreet-real-estate-bets-customer-losses.html
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tariff-terror-%2411-000-psf-condos-starwoods-land-bets/id1801355295?i=1000703726323
https://www.thepromote.com/p/no-yield-on-this-street-arbor-s-copper-coin#no-yield-on-this-street

We dive into the singular life and multiple dramas of real estate impresario Michael Shvo, the luxury resi broker turned developer who went on one of the most epic commercial real estate buying sprees in the 2020s. Backed by German pension money, Shvo snapped up icons such as the Transamerica Pyramid in SF, Big Red in Chicago, and the sites of boutique ultra-luxury condo projects across gateway markets. Many of those deals are now in big trouble, and Shvo is tussling with his key equity partner. Next, we explore institutional multifamily's biggest legal headache: the federal antitrust case brought against RealPage and some of the country's biggest landlords. We look at how "Big Landlord" became a punching bag for Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike.

Want to reach our audience of top CRE decision-makers? Reach out to [email protected]

Further reading:

https://nymag.com/nymetro/realestate/features/11619/
https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/capital-markets/bavarian-state-parliament-investigates-bvk-as-german-investors-withdraw-from-the-us-126138
https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2020/09/17/shvo-to-hell-inside-the-ugly-dispute-between-michael-shvo-and-his-partner-pal/
https://www.thepromote.com/p/prime-piece-of-park-ave-in-play-a-record-on-rodeo#shvo-comes-at-key-german-backer
https://www.thepromote.com/p/the-promote-shvo-business-a-record-condo-financing#no-business-like-shvo-business
https://www.thepromote.com/p/doj-set-to-sue-megalandlords-the-miami-empire-that-asbestos-built#do-j-to-come-directly-at-megalandlo
https://www.thepromote.com/p/newpoint-s-unwanted-ride-or-die-a-bombshell-yardi-ruling?utm_campaign=doj-set-to-sue-megalandlords-the-miami-empire-that-asbestos-built&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=www.thepromote.com#yardi-ruling-gives-do-j-ammo-in-pri