Rumors Fly at REBNY Gala About Possible Merger of Cushman & Newmark

By:  Serach Nissim

There was a rumor going around at the Real Estate Board of New York gala on Thursday night.

The event, featuring real estate’s most illustrious figures, was held at the sixth floor of Glasshouse event space above the Hudson River. The much anticipated gala cost $1,400 a ticket per attendee, with opportunities to meet and greet with NY’s real estate players.  This year TF Cornerstone’s Tom Elghanayan was honored at the gala, as well as CBRE’s Darcy Stacom. The newly set come-as-you-are dress code, informal standing-room-only format and small entre’ plates to nibble on left attendees with little else to do other than gossip.

As reported by the NY Post, the topic of interest at the glitzy gala seemed to surround an unconfirmed merger between Cushman & Wakefield and Newmark.  Ranked the number 2 and 3 commercial brokerage firms as far as leasing and sales volume, if a merger were really to happen, it may potential contest brokerage CBRE for its number one ranking.  “I think that (deal) cratered a long time ago,” one insider at the event told the Post.  Another chimed in to say, “It did fall apart but now it’s on again.”  Such rumors have been circulating for quite a while.  In 2020, a Bloomberg story had inaccurately reported that Newmark had rebuffed a Cushman takeover bid.  A Cushman representative declined to comment.  Newmark didn’t respond to request for comment by the Post.

The rumor got steam added with an inside tip to Realty Check, saying that Cushman & Wakefield secretly inked a lease to move its offices to 220,000 square feet at Brookfield’s 39-story office building at 660 Fifth Avenue.  The unconfirmed story said the lease is hush-hush pending the outcome of the Cushman-Newmark merger talks. A Brookfield representative confirmed that there were “talks” for a possible lease but denied that any deal was reached. A Cushman rep also denied it. As per the Post, another lease deal for 660 Fifth Ave. would be a coup for Brookfield, who poured $400 million into redeveloping the building and into the new glass façade.

Macquarie Group recently signed a lease for a similar amount of space, at the building which boasts a total of 1.25 million square feet of commercial space. Coincidently, a dynamic Cushman team that includes global brokerage chairman Bruce Mosler has been tapped as the leasing agent for 660 Fifth. If the tale were to be true, the move would be an expansion for Cushman, which is currently taking up 180,000 square feet of space at Vornado’s office tower at 1290 Sixth Ave.  Cushman’s lease in the Sixth Ave building does expire in 2025, and earlier in June The Real Deal had reported that the real estate firm would be interested in leaving when the lease is up.

The storied Cushman-Newmark merger would prospectively benefit Newmark most. CBRE, JLL, Cushman and Newmark are the top four-ranked firms in the world.