Justin Ramirez

When news broke that American Express is committing to roughly 2 million square feet at 2 World Trade Center, most of the headlines focused on the obvious angle: the final major piece of the World Trade Center puzzle may finally be moving forward. But the more interesting story isn’t just that a big company signed on. It’s how the deal is structured.

If you follow West Coast office markets the way some of us follow Manhattan condo inventory, you’ve probably noticed a clear theme in the Seattle area: Amazon is slowly trimming back in downtown Seattle while doubling down across the lake in Bellevue. It’s not dramatic. It’s not a headline-grabbing HQ2 situation. It’s more of a steady, deliberate re-balancing.

When the Waldorf-Astoria New York closed its doors in 2017, the expectation was a polished, three year transformation. Instead, Park Avenue watched one of the world’s most famous hotels sit in darkness for nearly eight years. What unfolded behind the scaffolding was not just a renovation, but a high-stakes case-study in converting a 1931 landmark into a modern, mixed-use machine.

New York City’s hotel pipeline is quietly reshaping entire neighborhoods, not just skylines. Across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, a new wave of hotels is opening that reflects how visitors actually use the city today. Travelers are staying longer, working remotely, choosing 'real' neighborhoods over tourist zones, and seeking hotels that feel like destinations rather than places to sleep.

Living in the New York City metro area usually means compromising on space or amenities. But for many, the ultimate "I’ve made it" amenity isn't a doorman or a dishwasher, it’s a swimming pool. Whether you are looking for a morning lap swim or a weekend lounge deck, finding a building with a pool that doesn't cost a fortune is a challenge.

I’ve added Front & York to my ' Condos/Co-ops With Outdoor Pools ' list on Google Maps . Check it out! This is one of the biggest new residential developments in DUMBO, a full-block project at 85 Jay Street , designed by Morris Adjmi Architects. It manages to look both new and contextual, with warehouse-style brickwork, grid windows, and metal detailing that fit right into the area’s industrial streetscape.

A new housing lottery is underway for Ruby Square, a 12-story development in Jamaica, Queens. Designed by Perkins Eastman and developed by BRP Companies, it includes 614 units, of which 185 are slated as “affordable” under the city’s Housing Connect program. But when you dig into the numbers (especially what people actually make in New York) the term “affordable” begins to look like a bait-and-switch.

Since the passage of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA), landlords and politicians have been crying about lost profits, burdensome regulations, and supposed threats to the market. The narrative is always the same: they claim they can’t afford to maintain buildings anymore, that the new laws are “punishing” owners, and that the city will collapse if they can’t raise rents to whatever level they choose.

Donald Trump’s name used to be shorthand for brass-and-glass Manhattan swagger. Today it’s become, for a surprising number of owners and residents, a headache they’d rather be rid of. The Trump Organization still has a visible presence in New York real estate, but the gilded lettering that once announced “Trump” on dozens of buildings has been peeled off, painted over, hidden, or quietly rebranded across the city.

The Pierre is back in the headlines, and not for its famous parties or hotel suites. This time it’s the residents of the legendary co-op tower on Fifth Avenue who are in open revolt. The reason? A plan to sell the entire building for a jaw-dropping $2 billion . According to The Real Deal , billionaire Howard Lutnick—who owns the penthouse and a big chunk of the co-op shares—has been pushing the idea.

The Garment District is continuing its slow but steady transformation, with a planned tower at 515 Seventh Avenue designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. The proposal, currently under review, envisions a 36- to 38-story structure that could serve either as a dedicated office building or as a hybrid of office floors and hotel use.

New York has always built tall, but in the last decade it hasn’t just gone vertical — it has gone super-sized. While most American cities have scaled down, focusing on mixed-use developments or more modest office projects, New York keeps producing mega-towers of two to three million square feet. The result is landscape filled with spaces for corporate giants that few companies can realistically fill.

The luxury watch industry continues to thrive, blending heritage craftsmanship with modern marketing power. Two recent datasets — global rankings from 2017 to 2024 and estimated 2024 market turnover figures — provide a clear picture of where brands stand and how they’ve adapted to shifting consumer demand.

In 2024, New York City logged 2,744 building permit applications, totaling over 71 million square feet of new space and nearly 53,000 planned housing and hotel units. This represents a decline from 2023, when more than 4,300 permits were filed.  Permit activity peaked in January but stayed under 300 per month afterward, marking a cooldown from the late-2023 surge.

When Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin purchased their Palm Beach estate in 2020 and later undertook a large-scale redesign, they joined a growing number of high-profile buyers reshaping Florida’s luxury housing market. Their move highlights several ongoing trends in South Florida real estate.

In the wake of the pandemic, a surge of empty offices in Manhattan has triggered a wave of conversions into apartments. City data shows that by early 2025, some 44 projects were under way or planned, potentially creating about 17,400 new homes (mostly studios and one-bedrooms) from surplus office space.

Looking for affordable housing in NYC? The city’s Housing Connect portal is your go-to platform for applying—to both new and upcoming lotteries. Here are several standout developments and some of their amenities and features.

New York City’s housing lottery system continuously opens new affordable apartments across all five boroughs. Recent lotteries show wide variation in income targets and rents by neighborhood. In Manhattan, for example, new developments offer middle-income units (up to 130% of area median income, or AMI) alongside low-income senior housing.

New York City’s rental market has always been a bellwether of broader economic conditions, but the past six months have been especially dynamic. Rising interest rates, shifting demand, and an ongoing struggle with affordability have pushed rents up in some neighborhoods while softening prices in others.

Let's talk brass tacks about this new two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit at Alma in Hell's Kitchen. It's fresh, it's new, and it's got some modern touches, but let's be realistic about what you're getting.