There are buildings whose symbolic importance far exceeds their square footage. For New York real estate insiders, 25 Kent was one such project. It was billed as Williamsburg’s first ground-up office in 4 decades, and was a pilot test for Brooklyn’s live-work-play ambitions.

“I started to think to myself, ‘wow, there are people that actually want to work in the neighborhood,’” Toby Moskovits, 25 Kent’s original developer, said in a ‘19 interview about the Williamsburg project. “What if I could buy a site and put up a two-story warehouse building and build open plan space for them?”

Much has happened since then. Moskovits has long been sidelined. The pref has taken over. It’s worth tracing back the journey that got us here – the cast of characters would give The Expendables a run for its money.

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2013: Heritage Equity Partners principal Moskovits, then a 30-something developer v much in the ascendancy, buys the 25 Kent site (Crain’s reports the purchase at $32M). She partners on the deal w/ 2 Brooklyn development bigwigs: All Year Management’s Yoel Goldman (his journey since has also been a trip) & the Rabsky Group’s Simon Dushinsky.

2015: After dueling w/ Goldman & another frequent partner Joel Gluck (Spencer Equity), Moskovits settles the suits and takes full control of 25 Kent. To replace them, she brings in Philly’s Rubenstein Partners (not that one), headed by David Rubenstein (not that one); the latter deal values the project at $130M. Moskovits applies for a special permit that eases zoning req. in exchange for more community-designated space – but Moskovits asks the city to allow that space to be used as office, New York developers watch closely to see how lax the city will be here, as it’ll inform what they might be able to do w/ their own space in former manufacturing zones.

2016: During peak TAMI craze, the partners land $197M in construction financing from Natixis ( 😭) & Wells to build a 500K sf project on spec.

2018/2019: Here comes the pref: Eyal Ofer’s Global Holdings swoops in w/ a $100M check. Ofer is a blue-chip CRE backer, the equity on marquee projects such as the Zeckendorf Bros. 15 CPW and Rudin Management’s Greenwich Lane. The following year, trendy streetwear co Kith signs on as an anchor tenant, followed by Amazon Music in ‘20.

Ongoing: Moskovits’ development empire faces existential threats, w/ creditors coming at her from all angles and marquee projects such as the Williamsburg Hotel being seized via foreclosure.

2022: Rubenstein lands a $178M refi from Apollo. Tellingly, Heritage gets zero ink in the announcement story – it’s as if it’s been erased.

June 2025: Global Holdings takes over the project via the pref.

“How did you go bankrupt?"
“Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” - Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

We started The Promote Podcast 3 months ago, partially because Hiten was missing Will but mostly because we knew CRE was hankerin’ for some real insider talk – not “I agree with Bob” conversations, but nuanced & free-flowing discussions on market-moving stories. And how you guys have responded: We just broke into Apple’s top 100 charts in the Business & Investing category. And we’ve only just begun. Thank you to our producer, to the ten31 team, to the guests who’ve come on and spoken w/ remarkable candor (latest episode w/ Benefit Street’s Mike Comparato on syndicator lending is staggeringly frank), and, of course, to our listeners. As always, the best thing you can do is spread the word: Subscribe and rate us on Apple or Spotify or YouTube. Interested in advertising? Hit us up here. And please, tell Prof G to have us on to talk CRE 🙏

Two months after taking over PM duties at Flow’s distressed Buckhead tower, multi giant Cortland has finally closed on its rescue pref investment, The Promote has learned. Initial reports framed the deal for the 400-ish-unit tower at 3005 Peachtree Road NE as a stake sale, but insiders confirmed that this pref deal basically nukes Adam Neumann’s economics. Flow is shopping 2 other towers (Trace Midtown, Stacks on Main) in Atlanta & Nashville in similar states of undress distress, but again - this is Adam Neumann – numbers are NOT the point. Even as this is all going down, he’s podding w/ his a16z (largest investor in Flow) collaborators, one of whom says: “I'm inspired by Adam tripling down on Flow by putting hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money 🤔 into the company alongside us. That's conviction.” 🦄

See also: We dive deeper into Adam Neumann’s divine Flow on the pod here

Permit me this brief tangent: Was listening to the great Rewatchables pod during dishes last night, and at 19:30 🐐 Simmons & Fennessey are talking through 📽 Spielberg’s script choices in his ‘77 blockbuster “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Spielberg’s feeling was that the protagonist (Richard Dreyfuss’ utility lineman Roy Neary) needed to be an everyman, so that audiences could really feel one w/ him on his extraterrestrial journey. Simmons then drops a truth bomb: “This was Rick Caruso’s problem when he wore a suit every day,” he says, alluding to the billionaire developer’s failed Los Angeles mayoral campaign. “Couldn’t relate.” Caruso is unquestionably competent and would have potentially done big things for LA. But he just couldn’t get himself to ditch the shiny suits🕴 👽

Major West Coast REIT Hudson Pacific Properties is seeking $600M in fresh capital from the public markets, it announced Wed. Investment bigwig Cohen & Steers, a major shareholder in REITs such as SL Green & Simon, hinted that it would seek to bite off a $300M chunk of that HPP offering. HPP will look to use the infusion to pay down loans and rejig its balance sheet – remember that the REIT suspended its dividend in Sept. and saw net losses balloon to $364M in ‘24. CEO Victor Coleman’s total comp, however, got somehow more handsome, jumping to just shy of $25M. 🖖