The seven-story constructing on the Northeast nook of Walker and Church streets in Tribeca is generally scaffolding — for now.
However behind the scenes of beams and blue netting, the staff at 32 Walker Road has been busy. Serhant’s Peter Zaitzeff has been quietly purchasing 5 full-floor condos, one in every of which has already bought after asking near $10 million.
Zaitzeff, who’s heading gross sales on the mission, mentioned his objective is to lock in three consumers earlier than placing up any public listings.
The quiet gross sales course of is just not a one-off, and is changing into one thing of a perk supplied by the highest shelf in New York new growth. After some brokers in 2023 declared the dying of the gross sales gallery, the newest wave of initiatives got here on-line with little to no public listings, gross sales workplaces akin to Harry Potter’s elusive Platform 9 3/4 and scarce Web presence.
This consists of a number of of the town’s “It buildings,” like 80 Clarkson, Zeckendorf Growth and Atlas Capital Group’s buzzy growth, and Aurora Capital Group’s and William Gottlieb Actual Property’s unique boutique at 140 Jane Road, which found a buyer for a penthouse asking $87.5 million.
When The Actual Deal reached out to Corcoran’s Tara King-Brown, who’s main gross sales at 140 Jane together with Corcoran Sunshine, a spokesperson for the mission responded, saying that “within the spirit of a quiet new growth gross sales technique, the staff is not going to be commenting for the story.”
At 80 Clarkson, which has eschewed publicity right down to submitting piecemeal providing plans with the Legal professional Common’s Workplace that solely revealed a handful of models at a time, the mission is properly on its technique to a $2 billion sellout. The mission has not even recorded contracts, an much more excessive degree of stealth than rivals. In December, TRD reported that the constructing discovered a purchaser prepared to pay $129 million for a number of models within the constructing, which might smash the report for priciest sale downtown.
Representatives for 80 Clarkson didn’t reply to requests for remark.
They actually don’t have any must. Town is bursting on the seams with rich consumers who’re solely getting richer but aren’t discovering sufficient houses that meet their requirements. Quiet gross sales have additionally created a hierarchy amongst brokers, with the choose few who acquire entry due to the caliber of their shoppers signing contracts at locations that the remainder of the market hasn’t even heard about.
The pattern has sparked massive market strikes even at smaller initiatives. At a nondescript brick storage within the West Village, 4 consumers have already signed contracts for houses in what is going to change into a seven-unit boutique apartment at 125 Perry Road. Considered one of them purchased a unit asking $57.5 million, making it among the many most costly downtown condos.
Compass’ Stephen Ferrara, one of many brokers advertising the constructing, mentioned that as quickly because the gross sales staff began speaking in regards to the mission, that they had a “appreciable inbound response.”
“I feel folks actually underestimate how deep the shopping for pool is,” he mentioned.
Nothing to purchase
Earlier than 2020, it was commonplace to see a number of developments trying to promote greater than $500 million — or in some instances, $1 billion — in condos.
Throughout these heady days, buildings needed to do what they might to interrupt by means of the noise: splashy spreads within the New York Occasions, elaborate launch events and gross sales workplaces designed to stay out amid the gang.
In 2012, Gary Barnett’s first Billionaires’ Row tower, One57, had a mannequin of the constructing’s library with a 24-foot aquarium put in in a single wall in its gross sales workplace. When HFZ launched its twisting towers alongside the Excessive Line often known as XI in 2018, the mission’s gross sales workplace had items put in by the stage designer for Kanye West and Woman Gaga, together with a lobby with a eucalyptus wall and screens with simulated river views.
Six years later, the sport has modified.
The mission at 80 Clarkson is the primary to try to do greater than $2 billion in gross sales because the XI, now often known as One Excessive Line, and no different authorized apartment mission this yr even topped $400 million. The years of shrinking developments have pushed unsold apartment models to a 10-year low, in keeping with information shared by Corcoran Sunshine Advertising and marketing Group.
“It’s the Hermès bag that no person else can get.”
The vanishing competitors has given gross sales groups free rein to deal with their processes as they see match.
“It put sellers within the driver’s seat,” Zaitzeff mentioned of the restricted provide of latest condos. “I really feel like I might promote a C-plus mission proper now. The dearth of stock offers us much more leverage to get a greater worth and likewise to promote out much more rapidly.”
Corcoran’s Nicole Hechter has bought six buildings for the event agency Grid Group, all with a typical public-facing gross sales rollout.
However for the seventh, a 22-unit boutique constructing known as The Myles, she’s as an alternative taking appointments on the growth’s VIP gross sales gallery. (Corcoran denied The Actual Deal entry to the workplace.)
Hechter mentioned the choice was made after seeing the success of different downtown developments and the inbound calls she obtained earlier than even doing any advertising.
“There’s simply such a scarcity of stock on this particular section of the market that I feel we’re getting an incredible quantity of outreach,” she mentioned.
An 18-unit boutique at 220 East ninth Road, Ferrara had over 1,000 registrations on the “Coming Quickly” web site earlier than placing up a single itemizing. “It caught all of us unexpectedly,” he mentioned.
Brokers mentioned that initiatives with models asking at the least $3,000 per foot or $10 million are a typical threshold, the place the client is already inherently restricted by the worth.
“We’re going to a small community of consumers,” Zaitzeff mentioned. In that worth bracket, “it’s the 5 % of brokers who do 95 % of offers.”
However past being costly, it appears that evidently initiatives want a sure one thing — a name-brand architect or developer, a superprime location or a very superior product (one thing each advertising staff says it has).
Every mission has an unreplicable promoting level. At 80 Clarkson, consumers have the possibility to select up a bit of a revolutionary phenomenon: a Billionaires’ Row-caliber providing, downtown. The prime models in 125 Perry Road and 140 Jane Road supply incomparable location, and the design from Leroy Road Studio have been main attracts. There is just one triangle-shaped Flatiron Constructing.
Mass advertising can nonetheless work for initiatives with a wider potential pool of consumers, at a sure threshold, the exclusivity turns into one other promoting level.
“It’s the Hermès bag that no person else can get,” Zaitzeff mentioned. “That’s the notion that we’re attending to the market with a product like this.”
Nevertheless it’s not a easy plug-and-play for buildings that cater to the excessive finish of the market.
On the Aman Residences at 730 Fifth Avenue, the OKO Group eschewed a public-facing gross sales workplace and launched only a handful of its authentic 22 models in 2017. Developer Vlad Doronin informed the Wall Road Journal on the time that the restrained gross sales technique spoke to the model’s exclusivity. However by 2022, the constructing nonetheless had 17 unsold condos, in keeping with an replace filed with the Legal professional Common’s workplace.
Luxurious housing report creator Donna Olshan mentioned the technique on the time was to market to overseas consumers with model loyalty — however she’s skeptical of the entire proposition.
“In my over 45 years of expertise, the perfect outcomes are achieved by pricing the property accurately, presenting it in its finest mild, and instantly advertising to the complete brokerage group to generate most exercise and create an public sale impact,” she writes on her web site.
Desperate cash
It stays to be seen simply how restrictive incoming additions to New York’s new growth scene will be. However the pattern is probably going right here to remain within the metropolis the place the richest have gotten richer in the previous couple of years.
After the primary half of 2025, Wall Road companies had been on tempo for greater than $60 billion in earnings, after having already seen these numbers bounce 90 % the earlier yr, to $50 billion. The bonus pool hit report numbers in 2025 as properly, and might be on tempo to take action once more this yr, in keeping with a report from the state comptroller’s workplace.
The cash flowing by means of the town has been mirrored in a powerful luxurious market, the place contracts for houses asking at the least $4 million rose 51 % in November in comparison with a yr earlier.
Builders are poised with a brand new playbook to entice future massive spenders.
Some buildings have rolled out pricing on a handful of models, giving builders extra flexibility to up the pricing of different models later if the market appears to name for it. “Psychologically it’s simpler to push pricing should you haven’t already acknowledged what your pricing goes to be,” mentioned Stephen Kliegerman, president of Brown Harris Stevens Growth Advertising and marketing.
In a market flush with money consumers and tight stock, builders can then pitch consumers on getting in early — earlier than the remainder of the market comes flooding in.
A quiet gross sales course of can be a technique to attraction to these consumers, Kliegerman mentioned, setting off a win-win-win state of affairs for builders, brokers and consumers.
“Folks of nice means love shiny new gadgets that only a few different folks can afford, or avail themselves of,” he mentioned. “Like-minded folks wish to know that they’re particular and so they wish to know that their dealer or their title carries sufficient weight to get them entry.”
