Manhattan, NY Around 150 professionals gathered in on July 20th to attend Ariel Property Advisors’ Summer Coffee & Cap Rates event, “Discovering the Upside: Exploring Opportunities in a Challenging Market.”

Shimon Shkury, president and founder of Ariel Property Advisors, kicked off the program with an overview of New York City’s investment sales market in the first six months of this year based on Ariel’s latest industry-leading data and research.

Following Shkury’s presentation, the program shifted to a panel of three industry experts who shared their perspectives on the environment for lending, multifamily and affordable housing investing, and office leasing: Kurt Stuart, managing director, Commercial Term Lending Northeast – JPMorgan Chase; Eleonora Bershadskaya, principal, Real Estate – Vistria Group; and Christopher Balestra, president & CIO – Taconic Partners.

As with previous Coffee & Cap Rates, Ariel donated all proceeds from the event to Legal Outreach, a nonprofit celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year. At the event, Shkury recognized James O’Neal, co-founder and executive director of Legal Outreach, who is retiring in August after 40 years of service to the organization he created to help young people from underserved New York communities gain admission to the country’s most competitive colleges and universities.