A Piece of the Big Apple... or La Pomme, Manzana, Apfel, etc.

(For confidentiality purposes, I will leave out all names and protect their bad choices).

Some years ago, I boarded a plane with my new dev team. We were on a five-city trip to sell condos - lots of them. We were awarded this $2 billion massive multi-use project downtown a few years before. It was slated to be one of the most significant condominium projects in New York City history. It had one of the most enormous sellout valuations in recent memory. The developer was a salty character who was no stranger to going "all in", especially with other peoples' money.

Many people had attempted this before, but few at this scale, and fewer with any measure of success. I pitched the idea for a "traveling foreign sales experience" to the developer when I realized that the best way to sell out a building with more than 500 apartments would be to cast a wide net, break it down and sell it like a series of smaller buildings. In the best circumstances, selling many apartments is a Herculean task. Given that the developer was far behind in construction and we had no sales office from which to sell in NY, I figured we should take the building to the buyers if we couldn't bring buyers to the building.

It took us 18 months to create a marketing and sales campaign that aligned and resonated with an international audience. In collaboration with the top global firm, we went to work, prepared for the trip, and headed out on the road. When we returned two weeks later, we had completed the most successful international sales initiative in the history of Manhattan condos sales. We probably could have sold the entire project if the developer hadn't put the brakes on sales. He could have been done. Sold the building out and made bank for himself and his investors. What could have been a swift sellout at record prices is now slated to become a decade-long sales initiative erasing any profits. This is precisely how short-sighted developers usually make their mistakes. They ignore the profit and opportunity in front of them, hoping that more money might be ahead. It's called greed. And over my 30+ years doing this, it has been the single biggest reason successful projects have failed.?

In this case, the developer thought he could get even more money from local buyers. Here's the thing. Manhattan, at its heart, is an international market - not a local one. A significant number of our buyers come from somewhere else. We are constantly asked about the global buying trend, and the reality is that we've seen buyers come from everywhere. Sometimes it's in waves from a particular region, driven mainly by instability in their home country and/or diversifying their investments. Other times, it's because they are relocating or have a child attending a nearby college. And what better place to own a piece of America than New York? A melting pot where most people from any background can feel at home.

The strength of the US dollar has made it more expensive for foreigners to buy right now, but they are still coming, and this trend will continue. They will board flights, work with agents, and tour sales offices and apartments until they find one that resonates - unless I take the show on the road again and bring a slice of New York to them.

Side Bar:

Several people recommended "Succession" to me, a show streaming on HBO Max. If you are unfamiliar with the inner workings of corporate New York, you might think this was a work of fiction - oh man, would you be wrong.

Let's do this-

Shaun