70th Anniversary Special Coverage

The year 1946 saw the beginning of what eventually became known as the Baby Boom, although the term wouldn’t be used to describe it until 1970, six years after the postwar spike in the US birth rate had ended. Fittingly, Dr. Benjamin Spock’s touchstone manual on baby and child care was published in July of 1946. The year saw Winston Churchill coining another phrase to describe current events, declaring that “an iron curtain has descended” across Eastern Europe. The comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis took the stage for the first time that year, the world’s first general-purpose computer was introduced at the University of Pennsylvania and the country’s first drive-up teller windows opened at 10 bank branches in Chicago.

It also marked the year Real Estate Forum began publishing, concentrating initially on New York City commercial property. Both the magazine’s focus, and the nature of commercial real estate, would undergo dramatic changes over the next seven decades.

In honor of our 70th Anniversary, we have taken a look back at some of the people, deals and decisions that have helped to shape the industry, and took a look ahead at the trends that will likely impact its future evolution. Click the links below to read our special coverage.