Editors’ Weekly News Roundup July 28 – August 1
The past week’s most-read story may have been the first of its kind, and certainly among the saddest ever reported in commercial real estate: a prominent executive was one of the casualties of a man who opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle in the lobby of a Manhattan office building. Blackstone REIT CEO Wesley LePatner Among Those Killed in Midtown Manhattan Shootings was posted as breaking news as details about the previous night’s rampage emerged.
LePatner, who left behind a husband and two children, was remembered by colleagues as embodying “the best of Blackstone.” Before turning his rifle on himself, the shooter reportedly killed another member of the CRE industry: an employee of Rudin Management, which owns the Park Avenue tower where Blackstone is headquartered. Neither company was the gunman’s target, though; he reportedly intended to storm the offices of the National Football League in the same building.
The circumstances behind the week’s second most-read story were far happier: the markup of federal legislation that could spur more housing supply nationwide. As reported in ROAD to Housing Act Advances in U.S. Senate, industry groups found much to applaud in the bipartisan Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act of 2025.
“By aligning federal investment with local pro‑housing policies, Congress can help renters see real relief while spurring the private capital needed to build 4.3 million new apartments this decade,” said National Multifamily Housing Council President Sharon Wilson Géno.
The setting moved from the nation’s capital to the Pacific Northwest for the week’s third most-read story. A familiar presence in Southern California and the Southwest, In-N-Out Burger is now looking elsewhere to expand.
In-N-Out Plans First Location in the Portland Area provided a status report on that initial restaurant, to be located along a highway in the Portland suburb of Beaverton, OR. However, the chain has been looking beyond the first location for some time: the article detailed actions taken toward building at least three more in the region.
Our fourth most-read story of the past week, Liberty Mutual Buys Back Wellesley Offices at Auction,suggested a scenario that has become more common over the past couple of years. However, whatever the reasons for the property going back to its lender, high vacancy isn’t one of them. The Boston Business Journal reported that the property at 93 Wooster St. in Wellesley, MA, formerly the headquarters for Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan, is now mostly full following Harvard Pilgrim’s departure.
Regardless, the outcome of the auction does fit the current paradigm in another way: depressed pricing for many office assets. Liberty Mutual paid $65 million for a property that the Town of Wellesley most recently assessed at $121 million.
There wasn’t much surprise in the topline outcome reported in the past week’s fifth most-read story, but there was an unusual detail. Originally posted on Connect Money, Connect CRE’s sister website, Fed Keeps Rates Steady; Waller and Bowman Dissent was sent out as breaking new minutes after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced there would be no change this month in the federal funds rate.
The Federal Open Market Committee’s vote for the status quo had been widely expected. However, the dissenting votes cast by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller and Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman marked the first occasion for two sitting governors to disagree with the majority’s vote since 1993.