"No one knows the minutia of New York real estate like the team at The Real Deal. In THE NEW KINGS OF NEW YORK, they step back and also take in the big picture of what Adam Piore calls New York's second Gilded Age, from the depths of the late 1970s to the Icarus-like defiance of all limits by developers in the oughts. Neither a slow wet kiss nor a spitball, it's a sweeping epic of cupidity and civic generosity, visionary brilliance and abject stupidity. Even if you can't afford a penthouse overlooking Central Park, you can still get a great view in these pages."--Michael Gross, New York Times bestselling author of 740 Park and House of Outrageous Fortune
"To fully understand New York real estate, one must know the developers and financiers who power the industry. THE NEW KINGS OF NEW YORK is a captivating account of the characters who have reshaped the modern skyline through a combination of vision, chutzpah, and bare-knuckle tactics." --Eliot Brown, bestselling co-author of The Cult of We
"The New Kings of New York is a juicy deep dive into the moguls and monsters of Manhattan real estate. Only The Real Deal could tell a story like this with such authority (and get away with it.)" --Steven Gaines, bestselling author of The Sky's the Limit and Simply Halston
"It's not often one feels sympathy for the real estate moguls of New York, a ruthless, uber-competitive bunch of men whose buildings are essentially a public display of their own phallic imaginations. But in Adam Piore's masterful, detailed reporting and storytelling, their humanity and complexities come to life. The story of Kent Swig, woven throughout, roots out the bigger yarn of the city's changing skyline in a personal drama that will surely engender sympathy from the most cynical reader. It's rare for a book about real estate to read like a thriller - but this does. I read it in one sitting, and already, I can't wait for the sequel.--Vicky Ward, bestselling author of The Liar's Ball and Kushner, Inc.
"The New Kings of New York" sheds new light on the byzantine intersection of politics and real estate in New York, through reporting on the backroom deals and high-wire acts that shaped the city. Just as the robber barons turned Fifth Avenue into Millionaires' Mile 140 years ago, their successors have taken up residence along Billionaires' Row, reinventing New York in their own image with lookalike glass towers, Diller Island, The Shed and the High Line. This book belongs alongside "Skyscraper Dreams" and "Working-Class New York" on the shelves of serious students of the city. --Charles Bagli, New York City's longest-serving real estate reporter and author of "Other People's Money"