Own Manhattan is the latest addition to Netflix’s growing empire of reality shows set in the world of luxury real estate. The show follows Ryan Serhant (formerly of Bravo’s Million dollar listing) and a dozen hand-picked agents from his real estate brokerage SERHANT, who strive to close million-dollar deals across New York City. As with any show set in the Big Apple, the city and all of its eclectic residents are as entertaining as Serhant himself.
One of New York’s most notorious figures is mentioned surprisingly in Episode 2: Anna Delvey. The notorious con artist posed as a wealthy heiress to make a name for herself in the highest circles of the city’s art scene. Over the course of four years, Anna Delvey defrauded and swindled banks, hotels and former friends out of $275,000. She served four years in prison for attempted grand larceny, second-degree theft and theft of services and later became the subject of a Netflix miniseries. The invention of Annastarring Emmy winner Julia Garner.
Let’s set the scene. SHERHANT agent Jade Shenker is a rarity in the brokerage business because she’s interested in commercial real estate. “My goal at SERHANT is to run the best commercial division New York has ever seen and make it sexy,” Jade tells the audience in one of her confessionals. As Ryan Serhant notes, commercial real estate in NYC is a “$20 trillion industry,” so it’s a no-brainer that he would allow Shenker to get into that space.
The building in question is a unique commercial property in Hell’s Kitchen. The silver building on 11th Avenue has many windows of different sizes and is intended for the performing arts. A unique building needs a unique buyer, and Jade has found that in her client Fation. Although he is impressed with the building, he is not impressed with the $10 million list price. “I would be happy at $7 million,” Fation tells Jade. “Maybe I’m willing to pay $7.4 million.”
Even with a legitimate offer in hand, Jade knows it’s her duty to get the seller as many offers as possible. To do that, she throws a party in the building to showcase its assets, like the gorgeous rooftop views and a ground floor perfectly set up as an art gallery. On the night of the party, the space is covered in provocative artwork. As people flock to check out the scene, one of the agents, Jordan H, becomes intrigued by a particular painting as he walks through the space with Jade.
The camera pans to a wall with a piece of art depicting a familiar-looking girl with caramel brown hair and thick black glasses. In one painting, the girl looks over her shoulder at a brick house where a smaller, but fancier version of herself is painted beneath the words “Nobody is safe.” Jordan H looks at the piece and asks Jade, “So who is this artist?” “It’s Anna Delvey’s art,” Jade reveals. “Seriously!” Jordan H says in disbelief. “I can’t believe this.”
In his confessional, Jordan H notes, “Jade has a very interesting clientele.” As the show cuts to Jade’s guests admiring Anna’s art, Jade has her own confession. “I’m friends with (Anna’s) manager and PR agent,” Jade explains. “And through that, I built a relationship with her.” We return to the party and focus on another Anna Delvey work – a woman in a chic black hooded trench coat, out and about.
“While she was in prison, she decided to start painting,” Jade explains. She adds, “It was all over social media and I thought, ‘Okay, let’s put her paintings up and get people interested so they’ll get their phones out and take videos of this art.'” Like a true salesperson, Jade knows that when people post Anna Delvey’s work on social media, they also capture “the walls of this building and the lighting and the incredible ceiling height.” In that moment, it’s very clear why Jade is a rising star at SERHANT.
In the next episode, Jade meets up with Fation and his wife Cathy for drinks and some good news. Their offer of $7.4 million has been accepted by the seller! “This will be one of many deals we do together, I promise,” Fation says. “I will definitely be closing my deal for you in the future.” Jade smiles and cheers her client on, basking in the knowledge that she just earned a $444,000 commission on the deal. “You don’t need a boring guy in a suit to sell commercial real estate,” Jade says confidently to the camera.
