The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Red Apple Group subsidiary signs lease at SL Green’s 800 Third Avenue

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 03:15 PM PDT

United Refining Company, a subsidiary of John Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group, signed a 20,000-square foot lease at SL Green’s 800 Third Avenue. The firm, which operates gas stations and convenience stores, is moving to its parent company’s office from 823 11th Avenue. Its new lease runs for 10.6 years, according to a supplement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. United Refining’s new location is a 41-story office tower that sits between East 49th and […]

Newmark claims former broker stole trade secrets, shared them with competitor

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 03:00 PM PDT

A former broker in Newmark Knight Frank’s debt and finance group stole company information on his way out the door and then shared it with a competitor, the brokerage claims in a lawsuit. Steven Sperandio, who started working at the firm in early 2016, violated the terms of his confidentiality agreement by sending “vast amounts” of highly confidential documents to his personal email address and Dropbox account before he left the company earlier this month, […]

SL Green will redevelop One Madison Avenue when Credit Suisse lease expires in 2020

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 02:30 PM PDT

Architect Daniel Libeskind’s design for a 600-foot-tall condominium tower at One Madison Avenue was one of the most talked-about projects in the city when details leaked in 2007. Elad Group would construct the glassy tower, and reportedly had a deal to buy excess air rights from SL Green Realty above the 16-story limestone building, which runs along 23rd Street from Madison Avenue to Park Avenue South. That deal fell apart amid the global financial crisis. […]

Specialty REITs record big gains and attract big dollars

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 02:00 PM PDT

Speciality real estate investment trusts are posting strong gains and attracting an increasing amount of investment dollars. These nontraditional REITs home in on particular property types, like data centers and self-storage warehouses. Many have posted double-digit growth in so-called funds from operation, a general measure of cash flow into the trust. That compares to 2.5 percent to 3 percent growth in the broader REIT market, according to National Real Estate Investor. Green Street Advisors counts […]

All Year Management plans mixed-use complex at contaminated Greenpoint site

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 01:30 PM PDT

Yoel Goldman’s All Year Management plans to build a 244,000-square-foot mixed-use development on a contaminated site in Greenpoint. A representative for the developer filed plans on Thursday for two adjacent six-story apartment buildings at 22 and 26 Clay Street. The complex will have a total of 325 units. Goldman agreed in April to buy the two sites, along with eight others, from a group of investors led by Bo Jin Zhu and Joseph Folkman. The […]

Anti-money laundering reform needs more Republican support: Sen. Grassley

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 01:05 PM PDT

As the Treasury Department increases its efforts to crackdown on money laundering in real estate, legislation that would force shell companies to disclose their true ownership is stalling in Congress. “All I can say is I’ve been working on this for four years,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told The Real Deal on Wednesday. “I need more Republicans. I think all but one Democrat would support it.” There are two bills, one in each the House […]

Battle of the billionaires: Doronin sues Hakim over Crown Building lease

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 12:30 PM PDT

UPDATED, Jul. 19, 4:32 p.m.: Russian billionaire Vladislav Doronin accused Iranian-born billionaire Kamran Hakim of derailing his Crown Building condo conversion. Doronin is converting the Midtown property’s office portion into luxury apartments, and has been buying out current tenants. But one of the tenants, Adelson Galleries, is holding out for a bigger offer, and Doronin blames Hakim. In a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court Wednesday, Doronin’s OKO Group (through the entity 730 Fifth […]

Compass is spending “billions” of dollars on an end-to-end platform

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 12:00 PM PDT

UPDATED, July 19, 3:50 p.m.: By 2028, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin wants agent commissions to account for only 20 to 30 percent of their earnings. The rest can come from title and mortgage, escrow and move-in services — and even furniture sales. To get there, the venture-backed brokerage will spend “billions” of dollars to create a platform for agents so that buyers will go to Compass for more than just homes. “You, today, are at […]

Title insurance startup Spruce raises $15.6M

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 11:30 AM PDT

Following the annulment of strict marketing regulations on title insurance firms, startup Spruce has raised $15.6 million. The firm, which bills itself as the first digital-native title company, filed a notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. Last May, Spruce raised $4.5 million in Series A funding from investors including Third Prime Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Omidyar Network. The company is based in Lower Manhattan at 50 Broad Street and led by […]

Tee off with The Real Deal at our annual NY golf outing

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 11:00 AM PDT

The Real Deal is pleased to announce that we will be hosting this year’s golf outing at The Muttontown Club in East Norwich, New York. Muttontown is a beautiful private country club available exclusively to members and their guests and offers the perfect setting for meeting and mingling with NYC’s real estate elites. The day will include breakfast, a shotgun start and cocktails and meals, including a semi-formal dinner. For the first time ever, a […]

Airbnb complaints reach record high

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 10:30 AM PDT

Airbnb complaints saw a 152 year-over-year increase, according to this week’s market reports. The short-term rental provider has been battling the City Council, and on Wednesday, the legislative body passed a bill requiring hosts to register with the city. Residential Airbnb Complaints | ValuePenguin Illegal hotel complaints relating to Airbnb reached an all-time high last May. The city’s Department of Buildings received 720 complaints that month, up 152 percent compared to the same time last […]

Knotel to buy 42Floors amid blockchain push

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 10:00 AM PDT

Knotel agreed to buy the office listing site 42Floors, moving the flexible office company a step closer to launching its own, blockchain-based listing platform. The acquisition has yet to close, TechCrunch reported. Knotel’s co-founder Amol Sarva told TechCrunch that the idea behind the deal is to get “access to data and technology on over 10 billion square feet of office space, driving further liquidity to Knotel’s marketplace while also accelerating its plans for a blockchain […]

A very Brady house lists for $1.9M

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 09:30 AM PDT

The home that helped make the “Brady Bunch” an iconic show is on the market for the first time. The longtime owners of the split-level home in Studio City are asking $1.9 million, according the Los Angeles Times. The house was used for the exteriors of the Brady household during all of its original run from 1969 to 1974. Sounds like a steal for a Los Angeles home that can fit an eight-member family and […]

Monadnock files plans for 251-unit rental in West Farms

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 09:00 AM PDT

Prolific affordable housing builder Monadnock Development is planning a 16-story, 251-unit rental building in the West Farms neighborhood of the Bronx. The developer will build a nearly 200,000-square-foot structure at 1923 West Farms Road, near the West Farms Square-East Tremont Avenue 2 and 5 train subway station and a block from the Bronx River, a construction permit application filed with the Department of Buildings Thursday shows. Dattner Architects, which has designed other Monadnock buildings, is […]

Business consulting firm expands to 150K sf at 600 Madison Ave

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 08:30 AM PDT

Business consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal, the largest tenant at Ruben Companies’ 600 Madison Avenue, expanded its footprint in the Plaza District building to just shy of 150,000 square feet. The company, which specializes in turning around troubled companies, expanded by about 22,000 square feet at the 26-story building at the corner of East 58th Street, sources told The Real Deal. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately available. The 330,000-square foot building is […]

Cammeby’s secures $58M loan for 9-story LES resi building

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 07:45 AM PDT

Cammeby’s International Group has landed a $58.4 million loan for its Lower East Side apartment building at 10 Stanton Street. The loan comes from Capital One Bank, which assumed the existing $39.5 million loan on the building and provided an $18.9 million gap mortgage, according to property records. The residential property stands nine stories tall and contains 146 units. Capital One and Cammeby’s did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Earlier this year, Taconic […]

How one unit helped Moinian be among the first to receive new 421a tax break

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 07:15 AM PDT

The Moinian Group’s Sky development is among the first to qualify for the revamped 421a tax abatement, even though the developer was already mostly done with construction of the building. The rental tower at 605 West 42nd Street was recently approved for a 35-year property tax break, Crain’s New York reported. In exchange, 295 apartments will be allotted for affordable housing. Developers can apply for the tax break up to one year after the Department […]

The Javits Center is already leaking

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 06:45 AM PDT

Even a pricey renovation can’t stop the sky from falling at the Javits Center. Tuesday’s rain caused significant roof leaks at the venue, the New York Post reported. The water was leaking for around 45 minutes, a security guard told the Post. A spokesperson said the cause was a drainage issue, which a roofing company is repairing, according to the report. Following a $500 million renovation, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced another overhaul — costing at […]

Bon Jovi’s old condo sells at a $7.5M loss

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 06:05 AM PDT

The owner of a duplex condo that once belonged to Jon Bon Jovi just took a steep loss on the unit. Ivar Mitchell, a managing director at Andlinger and Company, sold the apartment at 583 Broadway for $26.5 million, according to New York City Department of Finance records. Austrian-American businessman Gerhard Andlinger bought property through JDA 2015 Investments LLC in 2015 for $34 million. But Andlinger died in December — and Mitchell sold the unit […]

Cranes up: US big cities report more crane activity but Toronto tops them all

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 05:30 AM PDT

The U.S. likes its construction projects, but the latest count of crane activity around North America shows that Canadian cities are in the middle of a building boom. Toronto had 97 active cranes in the air, up from 88 in January, according to Rider Levett Bucknall’s twice-annual survey of crane activity. The latest survey was conducted last month. The capital city of Ontario had more cranes in use than New York, Los Angeles and Chicago […]

Perchwell strikes deal with Toll Brothers, marking first developer client

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 05:00 AM PDT

Perchwell — the analytics and listings management firm that’s brought on brokerage clients like Sotheby’s International Realty and CORE — has struck its first developer deal. Toll Brothers City Living has signed on to use the startup’s platform for sales at its New York City projects, the companies said in a statement. The developer will begin using Perchwell’s services later this month. The deal with Toll’s City Living division comes in the midst of its […]

Chinese investors want their money back.

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 04:30 AM PDT

UPDATED, Jun. 19, 12:18 p.m.: When eager Chinese citizens invested in the Times Square Edition Hotel through the EB-5 visa program roughly four years ago, they expected to secure green cards within five years. But the controversial program, which has brought billions into New York City real estate projects, is facing a major backlog in applications that has driven up wait times. Some Chinese investors, now facing waits as long as 15 years, have enlisted American […]

Dollar volume in Brooklyn is on the upswing

Posted: 19 Jul 2018 04:00 AM PDT

The Brooklyn commercial market got off to a good start in the first six months of 2018, with the first increase in deal volume in over two years. The borough saw 597 commercial deals during the first half of the year worth a total of about $4 billion, according to a report by TerraCRG. This is a roughly 44 percent increase in dollar volume compared to the first half of 2017. The number of deals […]