The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Williams Real Estate vets discussed leaving Colliers for rivals

Posted: 24 May 2018 04:37 PM PDT

The heirs to the Williams Real Estate dynasty recently considered leaving Colliers International, which became a player in New York City commercial brokerage after merging with the family firm. Colliers brokers Michael T. Cohen, Andrew Roos and Robert Getreu have held talks in recent days with rival brokerages including Avison Young and Cushman & Wakefield about changing companies, sources told The Real Deal. It’s not clear where those talks ended up, and at least one […]

De Blasio sought to sneak past press at 2014 REBNY gala: emails

Posted: 24 May 2018 03:11 PM PDT

“Subject: Let’s minimize press activity at REBNY” The email came from a City Hall spokesperson in January 2014, as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s handlers prepped for the Real Estate Board of New York’s annual gala. “He has private entrance and will skip reporters on the way in, and REBNY said they’re going to limit access to the VIP reception,” wrote then-City Hall spokesperson Marti Adams to other public relations staff, including outside publicist Jonathan Rosen. […]

Walter & Samuels lands $70M refi for Midtown office building

Posted: 24 May 2018 03:00 PM PDT

Walter & Samuels refinanced its Midtown office building at 500 Eighth Avenue with a $70 million mortgage from Allegiant Capital Funding. Allegiant took over an existing $60 million loan from Citibank and issued a $10 million gap mortgage as part of the deal, property records show. David Berley’s Walter & Samuels bought the 12-story, 250,000-square-foot building in 1996 for an undisclosed amount, according to Commercial Observer. Tenants at the property, which sits two blocks from […]

These are the top 5 general contractors for mid-sized multifamily projects in NYC

Posted: 24 May 2018 02:30 PM PDT

Smaller or less-known firms emerged as the dominant players in the hotel and mid-sized multifamily markets. 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 a lot of work in the sector, ranked second with 1.5 […]

Brookfield, Park Tower developing two more towers at Greenpoint Landing

Posted: 24 May 2018 02:00 PM PDT

Brookfield Property Partners is bringing two more rental towers to the Greenpoint waterfront, further expanding its footprint on New York. The Toronto-based firm, in partnership with the Park Tower Group, announced plans on Thursday for two more buildings at Greenpoint Landing with a total of 1,240 units — one-third of which will be set aside as affordable housing. The towers will cost around $1 billion and construction is expected to start in 2019. Park Tower […]

Rybak converting former East Village drag cabaret into apartments

Posted: 24 May 2018 01:30 PM PDT

The former home of drag show venue Lucky Cheng’s will soon become a venue for construction. According to a permit application filed with the city Thursday, Rybak Development plans to erect a seven-story residential building at 101 East 2nd Street and First Avenue in the East Village. Rybak, mostly a condominium developer in Brooklyn, plans for a 19,000-square-foot building with 22 apartments. The ground floor will include a “recreation space.” Sergey Rybak did not immediately […]

Forest City exec joins Oxford Properties as head of NY development

Posted: 24 May 2018 01:00 PM PDT

Oxford Properties Group has hired Forest City executive Kate Bicknell as a vice president and the head of its New York development team. Bicknell officially joined on Monday, the Commercial Observer reported. She will guide the redevelopment of the 1.3 million-square-foot St. John’s Terminal, part of which Oxford and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased for $700 million. The St. John’s Terminal project coincided with a leadership shake-up at Oxford. CEO Blake Hutcheson is leaving […]

National Cheat Sheet: Developers could make bank from Dodd-Frank rollback, Blackstone bids $4.8B for LaSalle Hotel Properties … & more

Posted: 24 May 2018 12:30 PM PDT

Developers could make bank from rollback of Dodd-Frank New legislation passed by the House of Representatives would relax restrictions on thousands of smaller lenders, potentially opening up the spigot for developers seeking commercial loans. The bill, which is awaiting President Trump’s signature, would remove provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act that many community and regional banks had deemed too costly and unfairly burdensome. [TRD] Blackstone bids $4.8B to buy LaSalle Hotel Properties Just days after […]

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Posted: 24 May 2018 12:00 PM PDT

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Amazon’s competitors are wondering what’s next for the notoriously secretive e-tailer

Posted: 24 May 2018 11:30 AM PDT

Ask any broker who’s dealt with Amazon to tell you what it was like, and they’ll present you with an airtight nondisclosure agreement prohibiting them from speaking. “Under the radar” doesn’t even begin to describe the company’s ultra-discreet approach to its real estate deals, especially as it’s bought up, or leased, more and more property with each passing year. Second only to Apple as the world’s most valuable company, Amazon, with an estimated worth of […]

Vanbarton lands $61M loan for Albano Building buy

Posted: 24 May 2018 11:00 AM PDT

The Vanbarton Group landed a $61 million loan from M&T Bank to fund the acquisition of the Albano Building at 305 East 46th Street. Vanbarton signed a contract to buy the 16-story, 187,000-square-foot office building in April, as The Real Deal first reported. The closed purchase was $118.5 million and the new loan replaces a $65 million mortgage from Anglo Irish Bank, property records show. The building is currently leased by the United Nations, which […]

Developers could make bank from rollback of Dodd-Frank

Posted: 24 May 2018 10:30 AM PDT

Nearly a decade after bad real estate loans helped thrust the U.S. economy into a major recession, the House of Representatives passed a bill to roll back a number of regulations for banks. The changes, experts said, could become a catalyst for increased commercial real estate lending, opening up many new sources of funding to developers. On Tuesday, the House voted 258-159 in favor of a bipartisan regulatory relief bill that would remove some provisions […]

Fifth Wall raising another $200M for retail tech startups

Posted: 24 May 2018 10:00 AM PDT

Real estate tech startups may have a busy summer ahead if they are looking to seize more venture capital money. Fifth Wall Ventures, the Los Angeles-based venture capital firm that has pooled money for real estate tech firms Industrious and Airbnb rival AJJK, has already raised $60 million from two unnamed investors, according to an SEC filing issued this month. The fund, aptly named Fifth Wall Ventures Retail Fund, L.P., could suggest where the money […]

Nonbank lenders are cashing in on government-insured mortgages for the poor

Posted: 24 May 2018 09:30 AM PDT

Independent mortgage companies are making almost half of new home loans in the U.S., mirroring lending practices from the subprime crisis. Nonbanks, more loosely regulated than large banks such as JPMorgan Chase, dominate the market for providing loans to borrowers with weak credit and lower incomes, Bloomberg reported. These alternative mortgage providers are particularly active lenders to first-time home buyers — a segment of the market that largely relies on financing backed by government institutions […]

Housing affordability has worsened as city fails to meet growing demand: report

Posted: 24 May 2018 09:00 AM PDT

Housing supply failing to keep up with rising demand has fueled the affordability problem in New York. Between 2000 and 2016, the housing stock grew by about 8 percent while the adult population rose nearly 11 percent, according to a new report from the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. At the same time, jobs were up more than 16 percent — a sign of growing demand. Meanwhile, median rents have gone […]

NY congressional hopeful’s hotels have years of labor complaints

Posted: 24 May 2018 08:30 AM PDT

Hotels owned by New York congressional candidate Suraj Patel have racked up labor complaints in the past few years. The U.S. Labor Department has issued dozens of unpaid wage and overtime violations against hotels that Patel and his family partly own or operate, the New York Daily News reported. Patel is challenging Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the Democratic primary. Patel is president of hospitality company Sun Development & Management Corp., which his father founded in […]

Two Trees completes Gowanus assemblage with $62M deal

Posted: 24 May 2018 08:00 AM PDT

Two Trees Management has closed on part two of its $115 million Gowanus assemblage. The company purchased 1-37 12th Street for $62 million, according to TerraCRG, which brokered the sale. The site includes a former Pathmark store, and it is right next to the roughly 400,000-square-foot Lowe’s site at 118 Second Avenue that Two Trees closed on in April for $53 million. The assemblage spans almost 15 acres and about 1.25 million buildable square feet overall. […]

Corcoran taps Bill Cunningham as president of sales

Posted: 24 May 2018 07:30 AM PDT

Bill Cunningham has been promoted to president of sales at the Corcoran Group, a new role that consolidates oversight of sales for the firm’s Manhattan, Brooklyn, Hamptons and South Florida markets. Sales managers overseeing the Brooklyn and Hamptons regions previously reported to Pam Liebman, CEO of the firm. “This is hugely productive for the company,” Liebman said Wednesday. “It gives me more time to be more strategic and focused on the future of the company.” […]

City issues first affordable housing RFP requiring modular construction

Posted: 24 May 2018 07:00 AM PDT

The city’s requests for proposals often come with affordable housing requirements, but this one has a rare proviso: The vision for an L-shaped lot will need to be a modular one. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development is issuing an RFP on Thursday for a mixed-use modular building in East New York. The city-owned site — which spans 49,397 square feet — sits on Eldert Lane between Pitkin and Glenmore avenues. The RFP calls […]

TIAA arm shopping stake in Gehry-designed 8 Spruce

Posted: 24 May 2018 06:30 AM PDT

TH Real Estate is seeking to sell its 49 percent stake in 8 Spruce Street, a Frank Gehry-designed luxury rental tower once valued at $1 billion. The company, which is an affiliate of asset manager TIAA, tapped CBRE to market the 898-unit tower, which rises 800 feet above Lower Manhattan brokerage sources confirmed. The pension fund-backed firm bought into the building in 2012, reportedly paying Forest City Ratner (now Forest City New York) $250 million. […]

Before mass layoffs, Keller Williams NYC saw $1M in annual profits

Posted: 24 May 2018 06:00 AM PDT

Before Keller Williams NYC was roiled by a management crisis, layoffs and agent defections, the franchise was pocketing million-dollar profits each year. Keller Williams NYC — founded by Ilan Bracha and Haim Binstock in 2011 — generated around $1 million in profits each year since 2014, according to archived issues of OutFront magazine, the Texas-based franchise brokerage’s quarterly magazine. Although results varied each quarter, the firm’s Manhattan offices saw a three-year period between 2014 and […]

WATCH: Top CRE brokers talk about the impact of brokerage IPOs

Posted: 24 May 2018 05:30 AM PDT

 Now that Newmark Group is trading on Wall Street and Cushman & Wakefield is headed toward an IPO, pretty soon all of the big commercial real estate brokerages in New York will be public companies. “I think other brokers have benefited from these public companies and their significant war chests,” Dustin Stolly, co-head of the debt and structured finance team at Newmark, said during a panel on commercial brokerage at The Real Deal’s 11th […]

Roommate-matching startup Roomi expands internationally

Posted: 24 May 2018 05:00 AM PDT

On the heels of acquiring yet another rival, online roommate finder Roomi is looking to grow its global presence. The startup is launching in London, with other cities to follow, Roomi said in a statement. The service has previously been available in the U.S. and Canada. As part of its international expansion, Roomi acquired Study Abroad Apartments, a platform for international students to book housing online. Roomi said plans to eventually enter other European markets […]

New York’s top commercial loan brokerages

Posted: 24 May 2018 04:30 AM PDT

This month, The Real Deal ranked the top 15 commercial real estate debt brokerages as rivalries between giant brokerage houses and rising firms continue to heat up. Meridian, the Manhattan-based debt and investment sales brokerage co-founded by Ralph Herzka in 1991, led the pack, fueled by a booming multifamily mortgage business. The firm brokered a whopping $15.23 billion across 1,657 loans last year, according to TRD’s analysis. That’s up from the $8.9 billion it brokered […]

Cresa settles gender, sexual discrimination suit with broker

Posted: 24 May 2018 04:00 AM PDT

Cresa has reached a settlement with a former office-leasing broker who accused the firm’s principals of sexual harassment and lewd and discriminatory conduct. Last summer, Jamie Addeo, then a vice president in the tenant-focused commercial brokerage’s New York office, filed a lawsuit claiming that “the work environment within Cresa is openly hostile toward women and geared toward promoting and advancing only male employees.” Addeo alleged she was subject to a “slew of retaliatory and further […]