The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Dunkin’ Donuts plans 60-store rollout in Manhattan over next 3 years

Posted: 23 May 2018 03:00 PM PDT

Dunkin’ Donuts plans to substantially increase the number of Manhattan coffee outposts over the next three years, several sources familiar with the plans told The Real Deal. The mid-price coffee chain is looking to open 60 new or relocated stores in the borough which would be part of the company’s modernized concept called Next Generation, which is targeting new customers and millennials with coffee brews on tap and a new layout. The increase in […]

This REIT made $300M selling Facebook a bunch of tear-downs

Posted: 23 May 2018 02:53 PM PDT

Prologis had about 300 million reasons to smile after its 2015 deal with Facebook. The industrial landlord’s sale of a 21-building campus of warehouses in Menlo Park to Facebook made the company about $300 million, according to Bloomberg. Prologis bought the site for $110 million about 10 years ago, and Mark Zuckerberg’s company ended up doubling its first offer for the complex to roughly $400 million. The site’s warehouses are now being torn down so Facebook […]

Rockwood is majority partner on Midtown Equities’ Broadway buy

Posted: 23 May 2018 01:55 PM PDT

Rockwood Capital has been revealed as the majority equity partner on Midtown Equities’ pending deal to buy and reposition the landmarked Financial District office building known as “Number One Broadway.” Rockwood and Midtown recently entered contract to acquire the property, located at 1 Broadway, for $140 million. Sources told The Real Deal the firms are now in the market for a $120 million loan, which would go toward the acquisition and repositioning of the 12-story […]

EDC has spent half of its $700M rezoning fund money on just four neighborhoods

Posted: 23 May 2018 01:24 PM PDT

The city might run out of money in a neighborhood improvement fund well before improving all of the neighborhoods it is supposed to help. City officials announced the $1 billion Neighborhood Development Fund in 2015, which aims to make sure parts of the city getting rezoned for more housing also receive additional money for amenities and infrastructure. The money was roughly split between $300 million for the Department of Environmental Protection and $700 million for […]

Epstein Becker & Green inks 80K sf lease on Third Ave.

Posted: 23 May 2018 12:55 PM PDT

Health care-and-employment law firm Epstein Becker & Green is relocating its offices from the Grand Central area to 80,000 square feet on Third Avenue. The “super-boutique” law shop signed a lease for three full floors at Global Holdings Management Group’s 875 Third Avenue, representatives for the building told The Real Deal. EBG, as the company is known, will be relocating from AEW Capital Management’s 250 Park Avenue, which it has called home for more than 30 […]

Madison invests $90M in 111 West 57th

Posted: 23 May 2018 12:30 PM PDT

Josh Zegen’s Madison Realty Capital agreed to invest $90 million in the troubled condo project 111 West 57th Street. The deal allows developers Michael Stern and Kevin Maloney to retain stakes in the project, Crain’s reported. Madison’s investment is set to plug a funding hole that sent the tower into foreclosure in August. Spruce Capital Partners, the most junior mezzanine lender, took control of the building through the foreclosure, but behind the scenes talks continued […]

A look at the luxury market’s biggest builders

Posted: 23 May 2018 11:45 AM PDT

Having expertise in a highly specialized field — whether it’s building ultra-luxury skyscrapers or renovating prewar townhomes — gives a general contractor an edge when initially bidding on a development. It also proves beneficial when trouble arises mid-project. Last year, Harry Macklowe swapped Gilbane for JT Magen Building Company on his office-to-residential conversion of One Wall Street. The challenge was that the project required an extensive reconfiguration of the building’s layout and a deep understanding […]

Lower Manhattan office concessions rose 42% in 2017

Posted: 23 May 2018 11:30 AM PDT

Residential Rentals | RentHop Apartments near subways stops are getting cheaper. Between February and April, around half of the areas near Manhattan subway stations saw declining rental rates. This includes 34th Street-Herald Square (8.2 percent year-on-year drop to $3,350) and Chambers Street (10.2 percent drop to $3,550). The trend also covered Brooklyn, with many stops in Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant posting year-on-year declines. Read the report here. Sales | Olshan There were 21 contracts […]

Tavros seeking partner for Meatpacking redevelopment project

Posted: 23 May 2018 10:35 AM PDT

Tavros Capital Partners is looking to bring in an equity partner at its Meatpacking District mixed-use redevelopment, sources told The Real Deal. The developer recently hired Hodges Ward Elliott to market the property for a recapitalization, which sources said would likely see a partner take a majority stake. The deal would value the property at 44 Ninth Avenue at about $125 million, according to sources. Tavros is planning to reposition the three four-story retail-and-residential walk-ups […]

Opendoor’s trade-up program opens up to all developers

Posted: 23 May 2018 10:05 AM PDT

Opendoor is expanding its home trade-up program, extending it to all developers. The house-flipping company expanded the program to all markets last summer and added homebuilders including Taylor Morrison and Meritage Homes, Inman reported Wednesday. Now the company is letting any builder in any Opendoor market participate. Opendoor formed a partnership with Lennar earlier this year for the program. In the process, the customer finds a home from a builder that they want to move […]

Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: RXR Realty hit with construction lawsuit in Yonkers … & more

Posted: 23 May 2018 09:35 AM PDT

Gateway Loft hits Larkin Plaza developer RXR Realty with $2M lawsuit over alleged construction damage The developer of a $200 million project in downtown Yonkers is facing a lawsuit, which claims that construction has damaged neighboring buildings. Gateway Loft Associates and Alma Realty Corp. filed the $2 million suit against RXR Realty claiming construction activities at RXR’s Larkin Plaza development have “caused substantial physical damage” to their buildings, which are adjacent to the project, the Westchester […]

The Real Deal’s first-ever golf outing in Broward County is almost here!

Posted: 23 May 2018 09:05 AM PDT

The Real Deal is pleased to announce we will be teeing off on our first golf outing at Grande Oaks Golf Club in Davie, Fla. — home to the filming of the cult classic “Caddyshack” — on Monday, June 4. To purchase tickets or foursomes, please visit our site The outing will benefit the Orphaned Starfish Foundation, an advocacy group dedicated to working with orphans, victims of abuse and at-risk youth through computer technology. Please look […]

One Wall Street’s latest target: Target

Posted: 23 May 2018 08:15 AM PDT

UPDATED, 2:33 p.m., May 23: Big box retailer Target is in advanced discussions with Macklowe Properties to open a location at One Wall Street, The Real Deal has learned. Target is looking to take about 35,000 square feet at the base of the building, sources said. The company recently signed on to a 22,500-square-foot store at Essex Crossing, which will be its first location on the Lower East Side. One source said that Target has […]

These are the top leasing brokerages in the country’s four major markets

Posted: 23 May 2018 07:40 AM PDT

Property owners seem to be willing to get a bit unconventional these days to keep rent payments rolling in amid the ongoing waves of store closures. Indoor amusement parks, doctors’ offices, movie theaters, gyms and even discount stores — once considered undesirably downmarket — are plugging holes in vacancy-riddled shopping centers and storefronts as rents decline, leases shorten and concessions spike, brokers and owners say. The Real Deal’s ranking of the top leasing deals and […]

Cover Girl to open first store in easy, breezy, beautiful Times Square

Posted: 23 May 2018 07:15 AM PDT

Times Square is going to get its first Cover Girl store at SL Green Realty’s 719 Seventh Avenue. The brand is owned by the cosmetics manufacturer Coty, which inked a 10-year, 10,040-square-foot deal at the five-story building earlier this month for its flagship location, according to the Commercial Observer. The deal includes 5,800 square feet of LED billboards, and the asking rent was $6.5 million per year. The Cover Girl store should open sometime this […]

First Republic Bank expanding by 130K sf in Rockefeller Center

Posted: 23 May 2018 06:50 AM PDT

First Republic Bank will increase its footprint in Rockefeller Center by 130,000 square feet, almost doubling its space. The bank will now occupy 280,000 square feet across two buildings, after signing a lease for a 100,000-square-foot space on the third and fourth floors of 10 Rockefeller Plaza, according to the New York Post. The medical providers EHE and a Rockefeller wealth management firm are currently on those floors and will move to other parts of […]

Knotel lands more office leases in NoMad, Flatiron District

Posted: 23 May 2018 06:00 AM PDT

Knotel is continuing to rack up its leases in New York City. The flexible-office company has landed a 43,000-square-foot lease at 156 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District and a 40,050-square-foot lease at 105 Madison Avenue in NoMad, according to sources familiar with the deals. Elie Reiss of Skylight Leasing served as the broker for Knotel at both buildings, and Brett Rovner and Randolph Lewis of The Ashtin Group represented landlord A&R Real Estate at 105 […]

Build, baby, build: NYC’s most active developers say the city still needs resi and office space

Posted: 23 May 2018 05:30 AM PDT

 ​ Despite more than 2.5 million square feet of space coming to Manhattan’s office market each year, some of the city’s top developers believe it still could use a little more. ​During The Real Deal‘s 11th annual New York Showcase, Silverstein Properties’ Marty Burger, HFZ Capital founder Ziel Feldman, Alchemy Properties president Ken Horn and developer Bentley Zhao, largely rejected the idea there is too much supply. As for the availability of debt for […]

“Limestone Jesus” 15 CPW is New York’s top-performing condo tower: report

Posted: 23 May 2018 05:00 AM PDT

The best performing condominium project in New York City isn’t a glossy new development — it’s two decade-old towers, according to a new report. The average price per square foot of units that sold at Zeckendorf Development’s 15 Central Park West in the past year — from April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018 — was $6,045, according to the latest CityRealty 100 report. The limestone towers also saw a compound annual growth rate of […]

These are the top 5 general contractors for large multifamily projects

Posted: 23 May 2018 04:30 AM PDT

Smaller or less-known firms emerged as the dominant players in the hotel and mid-sized multifamily markets on The Real Deal‘s latest ranking of most active general contractors. For mid-sized multifamily projects, with 25 to 199 units, a few affordable housing builders topped the list. Mega Contracting Group, an Astoria-based firm that does a lot of supportive and affordable housing work, was the No. 1 contractor, with 1.6 million square feet. Joy Construction, which also builds […]

Airbnb’s Josh Meltzer on REBNY, the hotel industry and housing affordability

Posted: 23 May 2018 04:00 AM PDT

New York City’s short-term rental war is at full swing, and Josh Meltzer is right in the middle of it. Last week, news broke that City Council is working on a bill that would force Airbnb hosts to share their names and addresses with the Mayor’s office and disclose whether they are renting out a room or an entire apartment. Meltzer, who serves as the company’s head of public policy for the Northeast region, is […]