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Last week, RXR Realty Chairman Scott Rechler addressed a group of fellow real estate executives and joked that there were so many familiar faces he felt like it was his bar mitzvah. Chuckles followed his instructions to leave the gift envelopes in the corner.
Mr. Rechler certainly isn't hurting for cash. In the past 12 months, RXR has invested more than $3.5 billion in Manhattan real estate, including buying or signing contracts to purchase 4 million square feet of space in four properties. Underpinning the spending spree is a $1 billion-plus fund whose dozen or so investors include the Safra family and Rothschild Realty.
"Over the next 24 months, we are going to be very active," Mr. Rechler told Grain's. "We are making a substantial bet on Manhattan."
That's a switch from four years ago. In January 2007, the then-chairman of Reckson Associates Realty Corp. sold his public company to SL Green Realty Corp. for $6 billion after deciding the market was too frothy. Sure enough, the average price of a Manhattan office tower tumbled 59% between 2007 and 2009.
Mr. Rechler may have shown an excellent sense of timing back then, but some real estate executives...