Recent CRE Observations

As we start preparing to put the pandemic in the rear view mirror, CRE has not been entirely dead in our experience. Definitely, office leasing is way down, and large deals are hard to come by currently. Furthermore, most tenants are staying put in places where they can negotiate better rent and terms with their existing landlord.

Retail activity has been relatively more robust, accounting for around half (or more) of the deals we are closing. Our sense is that there is demand building out there, but since we haven’t fully turned the corner on the omicron variant, it will be a bit more time before more life in the CRE market is really felt.

Just helped secure an office for my client Millenium Mechanical in the Penn Plaza area of NYC. It felt good to help a small local business stay local, and reduce their overhead by around 30%! It was a little deal, but in a very difficult office leasing environment, any closed deals are welcome, and the satisfaction of being of service to my client goes beyond financial gain.

Luke Elliot