CREtech Special Report: Day 2 Delves Into NYC, Sustainability

October 23, 2025

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The local office market remains strong, panelists said, particularly among Class A assets.

On day two of CREtech New York 2025, panelists and speakers broke down the state of the New York City office market and discussed sustainability trends in commercial real estate.

In a panel of New York City real estate developers and investors, speakers discussed how the city has seen a strong comeback following the pandemic. Class A assets in particular are seeing especially high demand.

In fact, demand for Class A assets is “spilling over into the (Class) B’s, and even buildings that don’t have a lot of amenities are seeing demand for their space,” said Alexander Durst, principal & chief development officer for The Durst Organization.

Because of this spiking demand, one way for property owners to differentiate their assets from the rest of the market is to add unique amenities, Durst said, with the most popular amenities being conference areas and fitness centers.

“It is the first question that a prospective tenant will ask when they are touring space,” he said. “What kind of amenities does the building have?”

The recent completion of JPMorganChase’s new 2.5 million-square-foot headquarters is also likely to be a boon for the city’s market, according to Sam Chandan of the NYU Stern Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance, who moderated the discussion.

“JPMorgan just cut the ribbon yesterday, setting a precedent for large institutions to motivate folks to be back in the office five days a week,” Chandan noted.

Sustainability is not going anywhere

Speakers throughout the day also touched on the state of sustainability in 2025, in light of recent pullbacks by the Trump Administration from efforts to mitigate climate change. In a panel moderated by Heather Widman, partner at Building Ventures, speakers emphasized how corporate sustainability initiatives should continue, despite the views of whoever leads the government.

“Whatever might be happening for any moment of time outside in the universe is an interesting point to talk about, but it’s not changing very long duration decisions,” said Jonathan Flaherty, global head of sustainability for Tishman Speyer. “We’re going to make those decisions the way we think is appropriate.”

Whether by reducing energy usage or adding value for prospective buyers or tenants, sustainability efforts can be a revenue driver, the speakers emphasized. Robert Schiffer, executive vice president of development at SL Green Realty Corp., said he anticipates that all new office developments will (and should) be all electric.

“Tenants are demanding it,” Schiffer explained in an earlier session. “It’s a great calling card and marketing card.”

Another panel brought together construction experts to break down ways of developing new buildings cheaper and more sustainably. Sydney Mainster, vice president of sustainability and design management at The Durst Organization, described how her firm is expanding its urban mining efforts, which refers to extracting materials from current or old assets and upcycling them to be used in a new development.

“This is not just demolition,” explained Steve Weikal, industry chair at MIT’s Real Estate Transformation Lab and panel moderator. “This is being really thoughtful about these urban mining resources.”

As a pilot program, Durst is looking at using glass from previous assets and using it to construct fiberglass insulation and carpet backing. To make urban mining practical, however, construction and design teams must take the “end of life” of their materials into consideration.

Mainster gave the example of carpeting; in order to be urban mined and used in future projects, the carpet should be placed using an alternative to traditional adhesives, so that it can be easily removed. This requires the buy-in of the original designers and installers.

“Pre-thinking what (materials) you’re choosing for who is going to make use of them at the end of their life” is important, Mainster said, “but also the detailing of how you are actually assembling or attaching something is just as critical.”