2025 Year in Review: Stuart Saft, Holland & Knight LLP

What accomplishment, milestone, project or transaction stood out for you or your firm in 2025?

Representing The Naftali Group in the development of Williamsburg Wharf on 3.75 acres of land with 525 ft. of waterfront on the East River containing five, 22-story residential buildings containing 850 residences, retail, amenities, a park and a promenade along the river and transforming a lumber yard and industrial space into a vibrant community in a park-like setting. This complex demonstrates how the private sector can transform underutilized space into a community and act as a magnet for redevelopment of an entire area.

What emerging trends or shifts will shape opportunities for you, your firm, or market sector in 2026?

The proposal to freeze rents and the impact on landlords and their lenders after HSTPA and Good Cause Eviction result in the low turnover of rent regulated apartments and the increased cost of: insurance due to state laws; construction resulting from city and state mandates; and, most construction lenders withdrawing from financing rental construction, will leave condo development as the only source of new housing other than what the government can support. This will be great for our condo development practice although terrible for NYC’s future.

What transaction, project, or key moment best reflected the direction of the New York CRE market this year?

2025’s most significant event was the election of a new mayor with a plan to freeze rents that are significantly below market in a city where there has not been enough housing built in eighty years and while the city and state enact more unfunded mandates for landlords and home owners to pay. This will result in more middle and upper income residents leaving and taking high paying jobs with them. The city is not unaffordable because there are wealthy people living here, but rather because the high paying jobs are leaving and the school system has failed to educate children.

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