A lad’s bar mitzvah is to be held in the grand shul of Vienna. The boy’s grandfather, however, has a stroke back in the family’s ancestral village of Beled, Hungary. To include him in this momentous day, the boy’s father, Samuel Reichmann, decides to move the ceremony there.

Samuel arrives in Beled on March 11, 1938. The next morning, Germany's Eighth Army crosses unopposed into Austria. Then come the pogroms. Vienna’s most prosperous Jews are rounded up. Samuel – who would’ve certainly been among the targets – is safe in Beled. The family never again lives in Vienna, and instead embarks on an extraordinary journey that takes them from Paris to the international zone of Tangier, to Toronto and beyond. Spared by a twist of fate, the Reichmanns make epically good on their reprieve, building one of the world’s great real estate empires on their own terms. And that’s just their second-biggest accomplishment. 👇

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The Promote’s special episode on the family behind Olympia & York – which in its pomp had a $25B portfolio and controlled some of the world’s recognizable properties – is now live. It gets into the family’s exit from Europe, its mercantile madness in Tangier, and the early deals in Toronto that created the blueprint for the empire. The characters here – matriarch Renee Reichmann chief among them – are something special, and we hope we do them justice.

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Listen on Spotify here, YouTube here or Apple Podcasts here. Brands: To get in front of our obsessed audience of CRE insiders, reach out here. Pt II drops soon.

“DUSty” Dan Sacks, the perennial top Fannie originator who B’more-based lender CFG Bank tapped in Feb. to run a new multi lending unit, has been placed on Fannie’s do-not-fly list, The Promote understands. Updated guidance was sent around to agency lenders a few days ago. The move comes as CFG and many of its peers have been making a play for a coveted DUS license – Fifth Third beat them out for the Mechanics/HomeStreet one in Dec., and now a Citigroup license is in play in the ≈$125M range, as CMA reported this week. It’s unclear what precipitated Sacks’ icing – could it be Fannie’s way to influence the license-sale process?

We’ve spoken of Harry Skydell & David Werner running riot across America’s offices making basis bets. But in New York specifically, is anyone having more fun in the capstack muck than Kevin Chisholm? The 60 Guilders founder is making good on his proclamation that when it comes to the city’s office buildings, he wants to “to step up to the buffet and eat all I can eat.” 🥓 🥩 🍗 🧆

The 50-something Chisholm started off at now-defunct hedge fund Ritchie Capital, before making his bones at Savanna (Chris Schlank, Nick Bienstock). He is widely seen as the engine on Savanna’s Fund II, the $550M ‘10 vintage fund that hit a good chunk of the firm’s home runs (5 Hanover, 2 Rector). (Savanna’s track record in recent years has been less laudable.) In ‘13, Chisholm left w/ his analyst Bastien Broda to form 60 Guilders, but their initial big bet on Soho retail, much of it w/ Carlyle’s backing, proved less-than-prescient. 60 Guilders then moved into office and multi deals in the boroughs, snapping up stuff like 12 MetroTech and a Rabsky package in Williamsburg. In ‘23, Broda left the firm. The following year, his thesis sharpened, Chisholm partnered w/ Alen Mamrout, a scrappy Syrian immigrant who built a fast-fashion powerhouse before getting into the CRE game through Sentry Realty. And together, they went ham.

60G & Sentry bought 292 Madison in a lender-driven sale 🔒 , their $90M ($450/ 🦶) debt value PP about half what Vanbarton had paid for the property. Then, it was at 1370 Broadway for $76M ($275/ 🦶) , again right above debt value. Next came 1375 Broadway, a building belonging to Chisholm’s old shop Savanna, which the partners took over by buying the $200M note from Aareal (at a haircut obv, D-Rub’s Declaration Partners & Brookfield were wiped) and then converting the debt to a first mortgage. Last May, they bailed out Nathan Berman’s Metro Loft at an underwater office-resi job at 180 Water. The partners, coming in via the defaulted mezz, took a 50% stake at a $335M valuation, compared to the $450M valuation at which Berman had taken full control back in ‘17. And the latest deal appears to be among their biggest: They’re buying 1441 Broadway for $240M ($435/ 🦶) from the estate of LH Charney, per CO. Given their steeply reduced bases, repeatable playbook and the roaring debt markets, the partners have been able to find plenty of debt funds (Bain Capital, Sail Harbor, Fortress) willing to back their capers; Fortress is stepping up again at 1441 w/ a ≈$168M floater, per CO.

Chisholm didn’t respond to requests for comment, but The Promote caught up w/ 3 elite NYC brokers who’ve done deals w/ him to get a read on the man. 

“This cat always impressed me,” said one. “Very interesting mix of old and new school – knows every capital structure, every block/lot, every owner.”

“A real fucking character,” said the second. He described Chisholm(admiringly) as “ferocious,” flagging his ability to stick himself in the thick of the action – he “hovers over things.”

“What Kevin’s really good at is having a very well-researched investment thesis,” said the third, citing his “intelligence gathering in a way that is uncommon.” Collectively, the endorsements make us think of Varys and his little birds.

What will he feast on next?

This is shaping up to be a smart bet by Boston Properties (now officially BXP, but whatever): Last summer, the REIT made the decision to go vertical at 343 Madison even though its equity partner Norges opted out, and even though REIT shareholders don’t love ground-up jobs. But Owen Thomas’ team couldn’t ignore the numbers – Manhattan net absorption was at a quarter-century high, and the market for single-malt buildings ™ 🥃 was feverish. A few months later, it revealed that insurer Starr would anchor the property, which meant a big financing announcement was around the corner. And now we have it: A consortium led by Wells Fargo is providing a $1.2B (that’s a loan basis of $1,300/ 🦶 ) for the 930K sf tower, per Bloomberg. That’s a ≈60% LTC on a project that BXP estimates will cost a whopping $2B ($2,100/ 🦶) to build. But w/ trophy tenant demand being what it is – the chatter is that General Atlantic is discussing a mid-floor lease in the $250s/ 🦶 w/ Related at upcoming 625 Madison – why not go all the way?

We speak of catching strays: SF mayor Daniel Lurie seems to catch whatever the opposite is; gets his 💐 in basically every single article touting the city’s CRE resurgence. The latest is this one about a blighted ballpark being turned into a 7,200-unit development

PS- How I know I’m with the right woman: The missus and I were having a debate yesterday about some extravagant grocery item I wanted. She looks at me dead in the eye and says: “Who do you think we are, the Reichmanns?” 😍