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<v Speaker 1>New Yorkers.

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<v Speaker 2>Toxic. This is the seventy seven WABC Mini Cast. Good morning.

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<v Speaker 2>This is Mike Stolar for the Stolar Real Estate Report.

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<v Speaker 2>Real Estate is a generational business. Many real estate families

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<v Speaker 2>have been involved with real estate, first, second, third, fourth,

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<v Speaker 2>and even fifth generation. Today I have I think it

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<v Speaker 2>would be the fourth generation, correct, okay, of a real

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<v Speaker 2>estate family who are owners and operators of office buildings

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<v Speaker 2>in Midtown as well as involved in residential apartment housing

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<v Speaker 2>in Hudson Valley and around the country. I have Daryl Handler,

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<v Speaker 2>who is the president of Pro real Estate and also

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<v Speaker 2>the co founder of Arena Capital Corp. Yes, okay, So

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<v Speaker 2>tell me what Arena Capital Corp. Is.

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<v Speaker 1>So, Arena Capital is a fully integrated operator developer of

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<v Speaker 1>largely multi family, but multi family and mixed use properties

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<v Speaker 1>starting about an hour north of New York City and beyond.

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<v Speaker 1>So call it north Westchester to around Albany.

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<v Speaker 2>How did you decide on that market?

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<v Speaker 1>You know, it's kind of funny.

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<v Speaker 2>I was.

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<v Speaker 1>It was the depths of COVID. I was stuck in

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<v Speaker 1>New York City. I was walking to the office every

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<v Speaker 1>day and it was pretty dire. It was a twenty

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<v Speaker 1>block walk and I would see nobody on the streets

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<v Speaker 1>and I would see no cars, and I was just

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<v Speaker 1>going to the office every day and I needed to

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<v Speaker 1>touch grass and get some fresh air. I had randomly,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd been up to the Hudson Valley many times in

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<v Speaker 1>my life, but i'd randomly, in the moment booked an

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<v Speaker 1>airbnb upstate and just to kind of just change it

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<v Speaker 1>up and you know, for peace of mind. And when

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<v Speaker 1>I was up there, there was so much going on.

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<v Speaker 1>There was you know, the streets were bustling, the great

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<v Speaker 1>coffee shops, nice cars and in great shopping and amazing restaurants.

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<v Speaker 1>And it kind of dawned on me, like, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I really wanted to do something that was outside of

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<v Speaker 1>office leasing, and I wanted to do that for a

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<v Speaker 1>very long time. It was a kind of an aha

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<v Speaker 1>moment that you know, this was, you know, sort of

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<v Speaker 1>an hour two hours away from where I lived, and

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<v Speaker 1>it was a lot going on. So I had put

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<v Speaker 1>together my first deal.

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<v Speaker 2>It was the deal.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a fourteen unit apartment building in Kingston, New York,

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<v Speaker 1>and I had heard about it through a friend and

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<v Speaker 1>off market, and you know, the numbers made sense, so

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<v Speaker 1>I put a deal together with friends and family money,

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<v Speaker 1>and we bought that deal and I want to say

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<v Speaker 1>middle end of twenty twenty maybe early two, twenty twenty one,

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<v Speaker 1>and we were off to the races. So you know,

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<v Speaker 1>we were we you know, I'd been looking at markets

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<v Speaker 1>for a long time, but that was sort of like

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<v Speaker 1>a kind of punched me in the nose.

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<v Speaker 2>And you know, but you had never really been involved

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<v Speaker 2>with the community up there.

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<v Speaker 1>No other than going there, you know, from time to

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<v Speaker 1>time throughout you know, my childhood or young adulthood. And

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<v Speaker 1>but no, it was it was sort of I wouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>say completely random, but it was on the random side.

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<v Speaker 2>So what do you see is the opportunities in the

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<v Speaker 2>Hudson County.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think that there is a lack of there's

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<v Speaker 1>a tremendous lack of new supply there. Uh, there's a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of you know, a lot of inbound migration there

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<v Speaker 1>due to COVID. But even before COVID, there was a

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<v Speaker 1>great renaissance of the Hudson Valley sort of. I always say,

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<v Speaker 1>it's sort of like the Brooklyn you know, the Brooklyn

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<v Speaker 1>fication and hipster sort of movement had happened at the

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<v Speaker 1>same time. It was happening in Williamsburg is happening up

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<v Speaker 1>there because the same community of creatives who you know

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<v Speaker 1>made Williamsburg super cool. They weren't going to the Hamptons,

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<v Speaker 1>they weren't going to the Jersey Shore. They were looking

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<v Speaker 1>for a sort of a more creative community that they

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<v Speaker 1>can call their own. So there was a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>you know, win at our sales going into COVID. Then

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<v Speaker 1>COVID had happened, and that that displacement helped out the market,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, tremendously.

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<v Speaker 2>What have you been doing recently up in the Hudson.

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<v Speaker 1>Can We we have a massed a portfolio of you know,

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<v Speaker 1>largely multi but there's definitely some mixed use aspect to

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<v Speaker 1>our portfolio.

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<v Speaker 2>Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>And we have bought in many of the major river

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<v Speaker 1>towns along the Hudson Valley. There's a huge portion of

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<v Speaker 1>our portfolio that's you know on main Street, so real

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<v Speaker 1>walk ability, real uh, you know, triple A locations within

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<v Speaker 1>the context of those markets, as well as like you know,

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<v Speaker 1>pure workforce housing.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, so where are the opportunities you.

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<v Speaker 1>Know, we we we were really bullish on the you know,

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<v Speaker 1>the river towns along the Hudson Hudson I mean specific

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<v Speaker 1>we we we spent a lot of time in Hudson,

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<v Speaker 1>New York. We spent a lot of time sobrityes Beacon,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we are spending a lot of time in

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<v Speaker 1>Dutchess County and in general at large, and uh we

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we're we're exploring some additional markets, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>we we we've we've spent a lot of time in

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<v Speaker 1>Albany and the surrounding markets there, and a couple of

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<v Speaker 1>markets that are east of the river as well.

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<v Speaker 2>What about the rent freezes and the regulations would effect

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<v Speaker 2>on it.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so you know, in the state of New York,

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<v Speaker 1>it's not you know, it's not you know, statewide rent

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<v Speaker 1>control or rent stabilization. There are certain markets that get affected.

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<v Speaker 1>You haven't been affected by it that we have navigated.

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<v Speaker 1>We steer clear of that as much as we can.

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<v Speaker 1>There is good cause in a lot of these markets,

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<v Speaker 1>good cause eviction, which is you know, I think important

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<v Speaker 1>protection for the tenants. But also you know, you can

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<v Speaker 1>navigate through uh you know throughout that you know, on

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<v Speaker 1>the business in front front.

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<v Speaker 2>And now let's take the hat back to the handler.

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<v Speaker 2>Absolutely tell me what's going on in the office market.

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<v Speaker 1>So in the office market at large, I think it

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<v Speaker 1>has been as hot as it's been since I've been

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<v Speaker 1>in the industry. You know, good space in any sub

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<v Speaker 1>market is leasing fairly quickly and at a at an

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<v Speaker 1>increased rent. Comparably we're year or two years ago. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>half of that is just purely the market. I think

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<v Speaker 1>work from home some tenants still do that, but there's

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of tenants that don't. There's an aspect of

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<v Speaker 1>it that there's a less you know, a smaller denominator

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<v Speaker 1>of opportunity or options. So like there's a supply shock,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the demand is up and the supply is

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<v Speaker 1>down due to you know, conversion to RESI or you

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<v Speaker 1>know largely that there's been you know, I think fifteen

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<v Speaker 1>plus million square feet of RESIE conversions, which will I

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<v Speaker 1>think will only increase.

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<v Speaker 2>So what's happening in the buildings they do own.

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<v Speaker 1>We're we're very least, we're extremely occupied. We're probably ninety

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<v Speaker 1>seven ninety eight percent occupied throughout the you know, across

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<v Speaker 1>the board. You know, we're we're we I always say that,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, in our sub market, we're a premier option,

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<v Speaker 1>so you know, we are not the plaza district Triple

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<v Speaker 1>A new buildings. But we are within our sub market,

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<v Speaker 1>which is you know, transit oriented, value oriented tenets and

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<v Speaker 1>just a total market at large. I always think that

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<v Speaker 1>we are offering the best, you know, best quality in

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<v Speaker 1>those markets. So we've been able to attract great tenants

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<v Speaker 1>at a rent that's not as what we were getting

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<v Speaker 1>in twenty nineteen, but certainly a healthy rent. And you know,

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<v Speaker 1>we we have very little vacancy and I think that'll continue.

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<v Speaker 2>And on the pure brokerage business, what's going on with you?

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<v Speaker 1>And Yeah, so we spend a lot of time doing

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<v Speaker 1>you know, transacting throughout the city, not just specifically in

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<v Speaker 1>the market Midtown West, and we do a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>work in Soho, a lot of work in the Plaza district.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think the story is sort of the same

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<v Speaker 1>throughout any sub market. The top quality options are leasing

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<v Speaker 1>at a at a great premium and at a really

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<v Speaker 1>rapid pace, and there's there's a huge need for you know,

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<v Speaker 1>high end built space like you know, if if a

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<v Speaker 1>space you know pre COVID handro particularly. We never pre

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<v Speaker 1>built anything, We never furnished anything before the attraction was

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<v Speaker 1>come to our buildings. And we'll custom build the space

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<v Speaker 1>to you how you want it, and you know that

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<v Speaker 1>was gonna that's gonna take a you know, six to

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<v Speaker 1>nine month lead time and plan ahead and you know

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<v Speaker 1>you'll move in a year from now or whatever it was.

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<v Speaker 1>Now it's we want space, we want space, you know tomorrow.

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<v Speaker 1>We want to build, we want to furnish, want at

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<v Speaker 1>high end. And so you know in you know, in

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<v Speaker 1>let's call it Midtown South, you know, in bigger floor

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<v Speaker 1>plan or floor plates that were never sort of pre

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<v Speaker 1>built before the pre built ones are moving rapidly and

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<v Speaker 1>in many cases there's you know, there's a you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a competition to get the best space.

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<v Speaker 2>In the market. What about sharing.

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<v Speaker 1>It's interesting, like you know, I think that there was

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<v Speaker 1>way too much of it pre COVID, and maybe there

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<v Speaker 1>was a market for too but you know now, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>five years after COVID, a six year after COVID, it's

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<v Speaker 1>it's still it's still a very important, I think, piece

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<v Speaker 1>of the puzzle of the market. Where there's tenants that

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<v Speaker 1>are either have a hub here or they're still too

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<v Speaker 1>young or nason to have their own office that needs

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<v Speaker 1>something and they want to not be in their apartment

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<v Speaker 1>and they want to you know, be have some flexibility.

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<v Speaker 1>So I think there's a huge need for it going forward.

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<v Speaker 1>I think maybe there was there was a little too

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<v Speaker 1>much that kind of got you know, worked out through

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the market over the last five years. But

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<v Speaker 1>you know, I think that you know, you know, before

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<v Speaker 1>there was you know, dozens of providers. Now there's you know,

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<v Speaker 1>three or four providers that I think have done a

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<v Speaker 1>really good job and have you know, pretty substantial and

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<v Speaker 1>high occupancy.

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<v Speaker 2>So overall, it sounds like things are pretty good up

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<v Speaker 2>in the Hudson County.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, we're bullet We're very bullish on the on

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<v Speaker 1>the region.

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<v Speaker 2>The office market in New York is very strong today.

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<v Speaker 1>I would say so yeah. I'm you know, I think

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<v Speaker 1>you now more than ever it's been you know, I

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<v Speaker 1>always say, like, you know, the last five or six

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<v Speaker 1>years has been challenging. You know, last year and a

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<v Speaker 1>half the market has been really strong for office Lea saying,

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<v Speaker 1>I think, you know, it'll continue that way.

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<v Speaker 2>I'd like to thank Daryl I had much for being

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<v Speaker 2>here today.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for having me. Great to see you.