Romel C. Cañete joined Newmark in 1989 and currently leads the firm’s Financial Services group as its Vice Chairman. In this capacity, Cañete provides full range of financial services for Newmark’s diverse clients. He specializes in quantitative analyses and structured finance solutions pertaining to corporate real estate occupancy and investments in commercial, hospitality and multi-housing real estate.
Cañete successfully launched Real Estate Index Linked Structure (REILS) in late 2017. REILS is an innovative structured finance product that provides tax-efficient cross-border investments in U.S. real estate.
Partial Transactions List
Capital Market Transactions:
- Las Vegas Raiders HQ and Training Facility: $100 million sale-leaseback
- REILS placement: $18 million REILS placement on $82 million portfolio of six multi-family properties in New Orleans, LA, and Jackson, MS
- ThePad on Harvard: 109-unit multifamily ground-up development
- Mak Real Estate Investment (Kuwait): $18 million disposition of a 120,000-square-foot office property in Charlotte, NC
- Tippin Corporation: €48 million equity placement on the acquisition of 500,000-square-foot office tower and 800-parking-space facility in Budapest
- Goldman Sachs - Whitehall Funds: Conducted financial due diligence services for the acquisition of more than $2 billion of office properties, and involved in negotiations for more than 1 million square feet of firm’s leasehold facilities
Office Leasehold Transactions:
- Morgan Stanley: 1.2 million square feet renewal/expansion
- Credit Suisse: Advised Sapir Organization (landlord) in 1.2 million-square-foot headquarters - complex landlord cash neutral/tenant P&L uplift structure
- NYC Health and Hospital: 500,000-square-foot consolidation of six locations
- New York City law firms: Provided analytical and tax-efficient lease structure analysis for top NYC law firms’ leasehold of more than 5 million square feet
- United Nations: 700,000-square-foot relocation and consolidation of the headquarters master capital plan
- AXA: 400,000-square-foot and 700,000-square-foot headquarters relocation
- Bloomberg LP: 700,000-square-foot headquarters relocation
- Mitsui Fudosan Inc. (New York City): Exclusive leasing agent to 2.3 million-square-foot office tower at 1251 Avenue of the Americas
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Southern Region-Atlanta: Renewal of 225,000-square-foot headquarters lease
Financial Advisory Consulting Services:
- Broad Group (Changsha, China): Consultant for the company’s U.S. roll-out of BSB and Broad Core pre-fab construction technology
- PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC): 800,000-square-foot HQ relocation
- The Hartford: 620,000-square-foot headquarters lease review and purchase option valuation
- Zurich Financial Services: 1.1 million-square-foot hotel/condo/office highest and best use valuation for the arbitration process and 500,000-square-foot headquarters acquisition
- Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Hudson Yard Development Corporation: Financial consultant for the RFP/bid evaluation of more than 40 million square feet of mixed-use development of a Manhattan railyard
- Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA): Highest and best use analysis of various train station
In 2012, Cañete received the coveted Henry Hart Rice Achievement Award for the Real Estate Board of New York’s “Most Ingenious Deal of the Year” on the Morgan Stanley transaction. He was a second time recipient of the award in 2020 for the NY Health and Hospital transaction.
Additionally, Cañete has served as guest lecturer on several occasions for the Master of Science in Real Estate program at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.
Awards & Recognitions
In 2012, Cañete received the coveted Henry Hart Rice Achievement Award for the Real Estate Board of New York’s “Most Ingenious Deal of the Year” on the Morgan Stanley transaction. He was a second time recipient of the award in 2020 for the NY Health and Hospital transaction.
He was the recipient of the Aaron Gural Award in 2023 for outstanding contributions in the areas of ethics, teamwork, collaboration, professionalism and best representation of the company brand.
Education
Cañete holds a Master of Business Administration degree from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he concentrated in Investment Banking and Real Estate Finance.