Commercial real estate newspaper to start in New York

Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times writes about how the New York Observer is about to launch a commercial real estate paper in the city called The Commercial Observer. The first issue will be Sept. 15.

Perez-Pena writes, “The Commercial Observer, with 24 to 28 pages an issue, will be delivered free to 10,000 people in the city’s real estate business. The new paper will sell subscriptions for $240 a year, and it may eventually charge industry insiders, as well, Mr. Kusher said, but ‘what I care about most is that the right people are getting it.’ There will be no newsstand sales.

“The paper will have plenty of competition from publications like The Real Deal, a monthly magazine, and Real Estate Weekly, which both cover the region’s commercial and residential real estate markets; and from more mainstream publications like Crain’s New York Business, a weekly, and the city’s daily newspapers.

“Observer executives decided that they would fare best with a narrower subject area, commercial property, and avoid cannibalizing the gossipy, popular and Manhattan-centric residential real estate coverage The Observer is known for.”

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