Namdar Realty Group hasn’t necessarily shed its reputation as a bottom feeder while swallowing whole chunks of America’s troubled real estate.
But the Great Neck, New York-based firm — led by a family that’s among a bevy of heavyweight real estate players from a Long Island enclave about an hour by train from Manhattan — is also creating a whole new profile outside its traditional penchant for distressed retail. From discounted office building deals in Chicago to huge development plays on the East Coast, Igal Namdar’s firm is on a dealmaking streak approaching 10 figures.
Over the past year, Namdar emerged as one of the country’s most dependable buyers of properties in need of a turnaround, with Chicago as its new favorite hunting spot. Between deals in the Windy City it has landed large construction loans to add residential towers to the landscapes of Jersey City and Miami.
In the Loop, Namdar and frequent collaborator Mason Asset Management just struck a deal for 190 South LaSalle Street after a previous buyer backed out, marking their latest in a string of acquisitions across the city’s wounded office and retail sectors. The duo also is snapping up State Street retail at a steep discount, and earlier this year bought debt on another LaSalle Street office tower for pennies on the dollar.
Their retail ambitions have stretched from the Magnificent Mile, where they took control of retail space at 701 North Michigan Avenue last year, to the region’s struggling malls, where they’re battling municipalities and potentially even selling to a group planning to reinvent dead space as a logistics play. Namdar sued Calumet City earlier this year over its attempt to seize the River Oaks Center, while Ford City Mall, another Namdar property on Chicago’s Southwest Side, is now slated for a sale to Bridge Industrial for redevelopment as a warehouse conversion.
If Chicago is Namdar’s playground, the Bay Area is its frontier — this week the firm picked up the Southland Mall in Hayward from Brookfield, continuing its national spree of buying distressed regional malls once considered crown jewels of suburban retail. Namdar’s willingness to buy where others won’t — and insistence on prices only the most desperate sellers will accept — has become its signature move.
Back east, the company has evolved into enormous leverage. This summer it locked in a $358 million financing package for two massive Jersey City projects, followed by $460 million from Scale Lending for Florida multifamily developments. Those loans pushed Namdar’s construction and redevelopment pipeline into the billions, cementing its transition from retail scavenger to full-spectrum builder and turnaround player.
But wherever Namdar goes, friction tends to follow. The firm’s aggressive style has sparked repeated legal fights and political backlash. Cities from Bloomingdale in Chicagoland to suburban New York jurisdictions have accused Namdar affiliates of neglecting retail assets, while the company touts new investments and partnerships. For every big closing, there’s usually a courtroom battle not far behind.
Igal Namdar didn’t return a request for comment.
Still, in a market paralyzed by high interest rates, dwindling numbers of equity partners and lender anxiety, few players are making moves at Namdar’s scale and pace. The firm’s website as of Friday claimed it owns 376 properties totaling nearly 79 million square feet across 37 states.
Whether it’s opportunism or overreach depends on who you ask — and only time will tell.
As the firm buys, borrows and brawls coast to coast, one thing is clear in any case: in 2025’s high-stakes real estate landscape, the house of Namdar is playing every hand it can get.
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