The Big Apple's Big Commercial Real-Estate Comeback

There are plenty of players sitting high when it comes to skyscrapers and other high-end properties. And according to the Wall Street Journal, several large banks are finally opening up their vaults and becoming more bullish on commercial real estate. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are among those who have upped their ante in the sector. JPMorgan Chase plunked down around $5 billion in loans, with about $1 billion in new construction, while Wells Fargo’s commercial real estate portfolio rose to around $101 billion, up 3.3 percent from the last year’s first quarter.

One of the strongest commercial real estate markets in the country is New York City, where demand and property values are returning to pre-recession levels and vacancy rates are among the lowest in the nation (behind only Honolulu).

• You can’t talk about real estate in New York City without mentioning The Donald. Donald Trump has taken a big bite out of the Big Apple, and through The Trump Organization owns high-end real estate which includes Trump International Hotel and Tower, Trump Tower, and 40 Wall Street. An avid golfer with a low single-figure handicap, The Donald also owns golf courses in Florida, New York, New Jersey, and California.
• Once owned by the late Harry Helmsley and Leona Helmsley (dubbed the “Queen of Mean”), privately held Helmsley Enterprises controls high-profile properties such as the Helmsley Park Lane and the Helmsley Windsor in Manhattan.
• Now owned by Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Estate, Rockefeller Group International, was founded as John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s Metropolitan Square Corporation; it owns Radio City Music Hall and 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
• The family-owned LeFrak Organization is one of the largest landlords in the country, not to mention New York City. In addition to its flagship residential development, LeFrak City in Queens, the company also owns 40 West 57th Street, an office tower in midtown Manhattan that counts Wells Fargo and Nautica among its tenants.
• A subsidiary of Forest City Enterprises, Forest City Ratner is developing Atlantic Yards, a mixed-use project in Brooklyn that will include a new home for the relocating New Jersey Nets NBA franchise.
• Taconic Investment Partners controls around 10 office, multifamily residential, and mixed-use properties, primarily in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Coney Island.

David Ramirez is an editor at Hoover's.