Posted Dec 28, 2025, 4:54 PM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
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https://therealdeal.com/national/202...tt-2026-plans/
Inside Gary Barnett’s end-of-year dealmaking boom
By Mike Romano
Dec 28, 2025
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For most of his career, Gary Barnett has preferred to let his buildings do the talking.
Extell has never been flashy about its dealmaking. Projects tend to simmer quietly, assemblages can stretch on for years and filings often appear only after the hard parts are settled. But over the past several months, Barnett has been unusually visible, moving multiple big bets forward at once.
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The clearest example came at 655 Madison Avenue. Extell closed on a $1.13 billion construction financing package for the proposed 74-story residential tower, the largest construction loan in New York City this year. JP Morgan provided the senior mortgage, Tyko Capital delivered the mezz and the deal was done without brokers. It followed a July rezoning push that doubled the project’s height and turned what began as a more modest plan into a 1,162-foot tower with luxury residences, office and retail. A Chanel-controlled retail condo is also in play, reportedly priced in the mid-$400 millions.
The financing capped months of groundwork that included land buys along East 60th Street, air-rights transfers and subway improvement negotiations. Barnett used a similar playbook a few blocks west at the former Wellington Hotel site, where Extell is now pursuing a 71-story mixed-use tower after initially filing for a far smaller hotel.
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At the same time, Extell’s long-running Upper West Side saga is turning a corner. Closings at 50 West 66th Street have accelerated, including a recent $46.75 million sale for a nearly 7,000-square-foot combination unit. The building is now more than 70 percent sold, a meaningful milestone for a project that spent years tied up in opposition and litigation.
Just across the street, Barnett is laying the groundwork for what could be his most controversial project yet, a 1,200-foot supertall at the former Disney campus. Over the past year, Extell has filed plans in stages, including smaller residential buildings with affordable housing and demolition permits, while Barnett has shown up to community board meetings to pitch trading height for peace. That effort is now backed by capital. In September, Extell disclosed a $1.2 billion preferred equity infusion from a hedge fund covering nine projects, including the Disney campus, the Wellington site and 655 Madison.
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Elsewhere in Midtown, Extell’s Fifth Avenue assemblage is finally snapping into place. After paying what Barnett called a “stupid price” to secure the final parcel at 576 Fifth Avenue, the developer is nearing a roughly 700,000-square-foot lease with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett at 570 Fifth, one of the largest office deals of the year. Anchored by Ikea’s first Manhattan flagship, the project marks a shift from Extell’s earlier supertall vision to a more tenant-driven office play.
For Barnett and Extell, 2025 brought a steady drumbeat of financings, filings, closings and strategic positioning across asset classes. He’s still playing the long game, just with more pieces moving on the board at the same time than we’re used to seeing.
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