Consensus politics would have led to deals with miners, steelworkers, British Leyland, the print unions.
But Mr. Stein said that he had had several conversations that could lead to deals later on.
"For me the bottom line is this: My business is about developing relationships, and relationships lead to deals," he said.
After Republicans took control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections, Mr. Obama grew exasperated by talks that rarely seemed to lead to deals.
There are stresses, meanwhile, within the new coalition government that have led to deals apparently done by the country's finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, then being undone in Berlin.
"You start talking, and someone will say let's go outside for a chat, and this can lead to deals and things," Mr. Adler says.
"Historically, large gaps between downtown and Midtown have led to deals downtown," said Michael Gottlieb, a senior managing director of Grubb & Ellis, a real estate services company.
Mr. Black's startling success in part led to deals like the one made in 1990 with an unknown writer named Kathy McWorter.
He said a lot of prospective tenants are tromping through buildings downtown, which could lead to deals later in the year.
Meanwhile, bargainers for both sides this week felt their way toward something missing from their stalled talks: the kind of unofficial conversations that led to deals in the past.
