‘Skyscraper queen’ leaves CBRE as New York property crisis deepens, the Financial Times reported Feb. 5:
Darcy Stacom, one of the most powerful figures in New York City real estate, is leaving brokerage firm CBRE after 22 years in a further sign of the crisis upending commercial property. Stacom, dubbed the Queen of the Skyscrapers for her record-breaking sales of Manhattan towers, is starting a boutique advisory firm, Stacom CRE, to guide clients through a real estate market that is now in turmoil after a generation of rising valuations.The move implies she's winding down a career that includes the sale of the General Motors Building and Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town.
Real estate observer Hiten Samtani called it an "unceremonious exit," adding "Still has a fabulous Rolodex and knowledge and can pull off a big deal here and there, but at least for now chatter is that it won't be a real player in the space."
About Atlantic Yards
"Well, Greenland is building 300 buildings a year, and I think something like 50 of them are over 50 stories, a bunch of them are over 100, so this is an incredibly sophisticated developer," Stacom said in an early 2014 interview with Crain's New York Business, as I reported. "And we looked at who were major players globally and who were major builders globally, that could look at the size and scale of this project, and say This is of interest to me."
"They came in for their first visit. I actually happened to take them out for the tour in Brooklyn and by the time they got done, they said, We'd like to have dinner with Bruce Ratner. Tonight?" she recalled, chuckling. "Actually, MaryAnne Gilmartin, the president, came in, and it just built from there. They were quick, they were decisive. I think they were disappointed it was only 6 and a half million feet."
About Atlantic Yards
Unmentioned in that article--or any of the subsequent coverage--is that Stacom in 2013 brokered the sale of 70% of Atlantic Yards going forward--excepting the arena and the B2 tower--from Forest City Enterprises to Greenland USA, the new arm of Shanghai-based Greenland Holding Corp.
"Well, Greenland is building 300 buildings a year, and I think something like 50 of them are over 50 stories, a bunch of them are over 100, so this is an incredibly sophisticated developer," Stacom said in an early 2014 interview with Crain's New York Business, as I reported. "And we looked at who were major players globally and who were major builders globally, that could look at the size and scale of this project, and say This is of interest to me."
"They came in for their first visit. I actually happened to take them out for the tour in Brooklyn and by the time they got done, they said, We'd like to have dinner with Bruce Ratner. Tonight?" she recalled, chuckling. "Actually, MaryAnne Gilmartin, the president, came in, and it just built from there. They were quick, they were decisive. I think they were disappointed it was only 6 and a half million feet."
Greenland's risks
Asked if Chinese investors might be wary of investing based on Japanese investors' ill-fated foray into New York in the 1990s, Stacom said it was a matter of a short-term focus. "If you invest for the long term," she said, "this market always comes up with new highs."
At the time, I quipped: and now they can take advantage of EB-5 financing, too!
Asked if Chinese investors might be wary of investing based on Japanese investors' ill-fated foray into New York in the 1990s, Stacom said it was a matter of a short-term focus. "If you invest for the long term," she said, "this market always comes up with new highs."
At the time, I quipped: and now they can take advantage of EB-5 financing, too!
It turns out that even that low-cost financing didn't help, and Greenland USA has run aground, facing foreclosure of its interest in six railyard sites, the collateral in its loans from EB-5 investors. (Greenland in 2014 renamed the project Pacific Park and in 2018 took over all but 5% of Forest City's remaining stake.)
Greenland clearly had a flawed crystal ball. That was evident in a November 2013 Wall Street Journal report quoting Greenland Chairman, Zhang Yuliang, who claimed--absurdly, in retrospect--before the Forest City deal closed that they could finish the project in eight years.
Maybe Stacom's right that, in the long term, the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park site will be valuable. In the short term, the cost of the platform and paying for railyard development rights, especially in the absence of a successor to the 421-a tax break, has stymied progress.
Maybe Stacom's right that, in the long term, the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park site will be valuable. In the short term, the cost of the platform and paying for railyard development rights, especially in the absence of a successor to the 421-a tax break, has stymied progress.
But who knows--maybe her new Stacom CRE will get involved in the project's future, helping find new buyers in the foreclosure auction, or maybe its aftermath.
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