Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 74

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a restful holiday break.

Katharina Fritsch's Madonnenfigur is one of the most iconic and polarizing works of contemporary German art. Based on a 12-inch, mass-produced souvenir statuette of the Madonna she found while traveling, Fritsch's version stands 170 cm tall (her own height) and is coated in saturated, matte fluorescent yellow paint. This changes your perception of what would otherwise be a deeply familiar object (to most, at least). As far as I know, the artist has never clarified whether her work is intended to be religiously respectful or satirical — so that's for you to decide.

Art: Katharina Fritsch , Madonnenfigur | Madonna Figure, 1987

Photo: Ivo Faber

2025 was a tough year to be a real estate developer in Toronto. And it was a tough year for a whole host of reasons, not all of which you might immediately expect. In addition to it being challenging (and in some cases impossible) to underwrite new projects, raise capital, sell pre-construction homes and many other things, it was also a challenging market from a psychological standpoint.

Real estate development is a business that arguably attracts "Type-A" personalities. These are people who stereotypically tend to be ambitious, driven, competitive, and impatient. Said differently, they tend to have a strong bias toward action and a strong internal locus of control. I'm certainly programmed this way. I have a real problem with free time, and I'm at my happiest when I'm achieving things. I'm sure that many of you are the same way.

However, when the market is soft or shut off, the primary modus operandi of action gets neutralized. And since people with a strong internal locus of control believe that it is their individual actions that directly lead to successes and failures, this can create a psychological crisis. Am I the one failing? Is there anything else that I could be doing to create action, right now? (Simply waiting could be the correct answer.)

The older I get, the more I realize that an important skill in life and business is managing your own psychology. In fact, it may be the most important skill of all. So, what I have been doing as of late is continually reframing the current market. Rather than focusing on what's not happening, I like to remind myself that this market is surely presenting the greatest set of opportunities that I have seen in my real estate career.

It may not feel like the typical kind of action right now, but everything is strategic preparation.

Cover photo by Jānis Beitiņš on Unsplash

It has now been almost a year since New York City implemented its congestion charge for the area of Manhattan south of 60th Street and, despite all of the critics, the results are overwhelmingly positive. Here are some of the most important data points :

• Pollution is down by as much as 22% in the congestion zone area.

• Traffic has declined by about 11% in the zone. As a reminder, traffic improved basically immediately following the $9 charge.

• An average of 71,500 fewer vehicles entered the zone each day from January through to November 2025, totalling nearly 24 million fewer vehicles.

• The congestion charge is forecasted to bring in $548.3 million in 2025, beating the initial goal of $500 million. (This revenue will be used by the MTA for bond issuances that will in turn fund further infrastructure improvements.)

• Importantly, foot traffic in the zone is also up year-over-year compared to Manhattan as a whole (3.5% versus 1.4%, respectively).

• Storefront vacancies in the zone declined more rapidly compared to Manhattan as a whole and the rest of the city. (Though the vacancy rate is still the highest in this area, presumably because of the higher rents in downtown and midtown.)

• New York City's sales tax revenue is also up 6.3% this year compared to the same period last year, outperforming all neighboring counties. This suggests that the congestion charge is not keeping shoppers away.

So, why shouldn't other North American cities follow New York's lead?

Cover photo by ian dooley on Unsplash