This has been The Promote’s pet topic for about a year now, so we missed the drama in recent months as investors were licking their wounds and figuring out their next moves. Traveling HFCs, the Texas property-tax forgiveness loophole that became a refuge for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of distressed multi deals (and good deals that became great), while providing v little new affordable housing, were killed off in May by HB21. The bill was widely seen by CRE players as the nuclear scenario – not only did it close the loophole, but even had a retroactive ⏪ component that sought to unwind existing deals. (If somehow you haven’t been paying attention to this wildly fascinating topic, start here, then here, then here & here, and def. check out the deep dive in the pod here. )

Those most impacted by the nixing of Traveling HFCs had been fundraising for their legal challenge, and now one’s here. 👇

“It's really like a mix of Lord of War and Blood Diamond.”
“A project like this, it's not like you can walk down the street to your local lender and be like, ‘hello, I would like a $5 billion loan, please.’ You’ve got to form a syndicate.”

This week, it's Tupac vs Biggie, commercial real estate edition: We dive into a deal on each coast that brings together all the things that we think make CRE the greatest show on earth. Rapacious lenders, billion-dollar-dreams, broken capital stacks & creative financing. In New York, we look at the saga of 172 Madison Avenue, Yitzchak Tessler's moonshot condo project that ended in multiple bankruptcies. And in Beverly Hills, we look at the star-studded history of the One Beverly Hills site, and how a motley crew of billionaire Todd Boehly, "Russian James Bond" Vlad Doronin, Cain International’s Jonathan Goldstein and Beverly Hills wheeler-dealer Beny Alagem are putting together a $5B hospitality mecca.

Listen on Spotify here, YouTube here or Apple Podcasts here. A shout-out to our sponsor, Bullpen, a talent shop solely dedicated to the commercial real estate industry. Bullpen can recruit trusted CRE pros at all levels, from analysts to C-suite, and can fill both fractional and full-time positions. Check them out at bullpenre.com to get started.