The 1,000-plus power players who braved the cold to attend the Real Estate Board of New York’s annual gala Thursday night had a lot to celebrate. Not only did 2024 end with a robust leasing surge, but REBNY’s office-visitation tally posted a post-pandemic record last month.
As tabulated by Placer.ai using mobile location data at 350 Manhattan locations, office-building visitations in December hit 72% of 2019 levels, or 5 percentage points higher than the previous high mark set in June 2024. The December count would have reached 82% without the year-ending holiday week.
The meet-greet-and-eat party moved from the stodgy Hilton ballroom to the airy, skyline-wrapped setting of the Glasshouse event space at 12th Avenue and West 47th Street in 2022. The real estate world’s elite feasted on dishes by Le Pavilion chefs Mike Balboni and Yohko Ogata and Ci Siamo’s Hillary Sterling.
Mayor Eric Adams came for cocktails and Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke before the sit-down dinner.
Those on the dais included CBRE executive managing editor Thomas Lloyd, Durst Organization chairman Douglas Durst, Rudin co-executive chairman Bill Rudin, Vornado Realty Trust president Michael Franco and US Rep. Ritchie Torres.
Honorees included RXR chairman Scott Rechler, who received the Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award; Fried Frank real estate chairman Jonathan L Mechanic for the Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership Award; and Tishman Speyer senior managing director of global external relations Michelle A. Adams for the Kenneth R. Gerrety Humanitarian Award.
“The event was awesome,” Mechanic said. “I’ve been coming for 40 years and this was one of the best. Very upbeat mood. The speeches were recorded in video screens and you could actually hear them.”