The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Real estate takes center stage in Manafort trial

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 03:00 PM PDT

As prosecutors in the criminal trial of lobbyist Paul Manafort make the case that the former Trump campaign manager repeatedly lied to financial institutions in order to fund his lavish life style, real estate has come into focus as one of the principle ways Manafort allegedly made his multi-million dollar deceptions. One of Manafort’s accountants, Philip Ayliff testified Wednesday at the Alexandria Federal Courthouse in Virginia that Manafort told banks his Trump Tower condominium was […]

Day in the life of: Enzo Morabito

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 02:30 PM PDT

Hamptons broker Enzo Morabito begins and ends his day in much the same way: socializing in Westhampton Beach. The 70-year-old Douglas Elliman broker — who moved to Suffolk County from Italy when he was 10 and now lives in Westhampton Beach — is regularly among the East End’s top agents. According to The Real Deal’s latest ranking, he did 36 sell-side deals totaling about $111 million between April 2017 and March 2018. And as of […]

RockFarmer, RWN buy Jackson Heights building for $56M

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 02:00 PM PDT

RockFarmer Properties and RWN Real Estate Partners picked up a retail-and-office building in Jackson Heights for just shy of $56 million. Little Neck-based RockFarmer and Ari Shalam’s RWN paid $ 55.9 million to buy the nine-story, 128,000-square-foot property at 82-11 37th Avenue, the investors told The Real Deal. “It’s probably the most prominent building in the Jackson Heights market,” said John Petras, a partner at RockFarmer. “This is the first trade for this building since […]

Jay Suites to Knotel: Stay out of my house

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 01:30 PM PDT

When two flexible office companies sign leases in the same building, things can get messy. Jay Suites plans to file an injunction to block its landlord at 30 Broad Street, Tribeca Associates, from bringing its rival Knotel into the property. Jay Suites, the co-working company founded by brothers Jack and Juda Srour, has occupied the 14th floor of the 47-story office tower since 2011. Its lease prohibits the landlord from “leasing or subleasing of space […]

Kayne Anderson lands $200M loan for former Jehovah’s Witnesses building

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 01:00 PM PDT

The building, at 21 Clark Street, is currently undergoing a $100 million renovation. Kayne Anderson bought the 15-story apartment building for $200 million last November and announced plans to create a luxury senior housing facility. The new debt replaces a $106.7 million loan from Wells Fargo. The lender for the new mortgage, Chicago-based BMO Harris Bank, assumed the existing loan on the property and provided a $52.9 million construction loan and a $40.4 million project […]

Brookfield to take control of 666 Fifth from Kushner Companies in 99-year lease deal

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 12:31 PM PDT

Kushner Companies is nearing a deal to lease the office portion of 666 Fifth Avenue to Brookfield Asset Management for 99 years. Brookfield had reportedly been in talks to buy a 49.5 percent stake in the troubled office tower and invest $700 million in equity to turn it around. But now, Kushner Companies is on the verge of striking a deal to sell a leasehold position in the office condominum to Brookfield, the Wall Street Journal […]

Red tape nightmare: Inside the public agencies struggling to keep pace with NYC’s multibillion-dollar RE industry

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 12:00 PM PDT

UPDATED, March 2, 5:17 p.m.: It was the spring of 2015, and New York City developers were madly rushing to get their residential projects approved before the popular 421a tax abatement program expired. But in the midst of the frenzy, the city’s development world hit an unexpected snag: A government employee went on vacation. While that might seem like the punch line of a joke, for developers with millions of dollars of tax breaks on […]

Mark your calendars: These are New York’s top real estate events next week

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 11:30 AM PDT

There will be one new real estate event in New York City next week. On Aug. 8, REDinNYC is hosting its Exclusive Real Estate Developers, Investors and Family Offices Networking Event from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Dream Downtown, 355 West 16th Street. Attend and network with over 600 real estate professionals who will be in attendance. To search for future industry events or browse past ones, click here. And to submit more industry […]

All Year Management secures $55M loan for Crown Heights rental building

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 11:00 AM PDT

Yoel Goldman’s All Year Management scored a $54.9 million loan for the Dean, a rental building in Crown Heights. The lender is Greystone Servicing Corporation, which provided a $9.9 million gap mortgage on top of the existing debt on the property, according to records filed with the city Friday. The property, at 1040 Dean Street on the corner of Franklin Avenue, is an eight-story building with 120 apartments. A total of 24 apartment units in […]

Chetrit Group out at 9 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn’s tallest development

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 10:07 AM PDT

Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group is taking full ownership of the supertall development at 9 Dekalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn. The developer bought out partner Chetrit Group for nearly $60 million, sources told The Real Deal. Chetrit acted on a “put option” in the ownership agreement, which allowed the firm to sell its stake, according to sources. JDS declined to comment, and a representative Chetrit did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The […]

Oil heiress Helen LaKelly Hunt sells Riverside Drive mansion for 41% discount

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 10:00 AM PDT

An opulent Upper West Side mansion owned by oil heiress Helen LaKelly Hunt has sold for $11.6 million, almost half of the amount it was listed for. Hunt, who is the daughter of Texas oil baron H. L. Hunt and is a philanthropist, sold her five-story home at 352 Riverside Drive to anonymous LLC, according to property records filed last month. The property was first listed in 2015 for $19.8 million. Built between 1899 […]

Homebuyers are seeing glut of inventory in more expensive areas

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 09:30 AM PDT

Home inventory is going up in some of the most in-demand areas in the country. A Realtor.com report found that listings in the California area of San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara rose by 44 percent year-over-year, the country’s largest increase, according to Mansion Global. In Seattle and its suburbs, there were 29 percent more homes on the market this July than last July. Other cities that saw large inventory increases were San Diego—18 percent—Dallas—15 percent—Boston—5 percent. New […]

Realogy doubles down on recruiting — and franchise expansion

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 09:02 AM PDT

Realogy is chasing more growth. The conglomerate — which includes Corcoran Group, Citi Habitats, Sotheby’s International Realty and Coldwell Banker — is ramping up recruiting efforts and plans to launch at least one new franchise brand next year. The change comes as the company had vowed to become a “recruiting machine” — and amid the challenging backdrop of a housing inventory shortage. “We are not satisfied with NRT’s recent direct financial results,” CEO Ryan Schneider […]

Second time’s the charm: Michael Shvo is buying 685 Fifth Avenue. Again.

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 08:30 AM PDT

It took about three years longer than expected, but Michael Shvo has purchased the office portion of 685 Fifth Avenue from General Growth Partners, according to sources familiar with the deal. Shvo has partnered with the Wings Group, BLG Capital and Deutsche Finance America to purchase floors five through 20 of the building for $135 million—the same price Shvo had planned to purchase the building for in 2015. The partners purchased the building in an […]

Escrow-free loans raise credit-risk questions

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 08:00 AM PDT

Do you really need an escrow account attached to your mortgage? Aren’t you capable of remembering when it’s time to pay tax and insurance bills? These questions suddenly are more controversial than you might guess. A new program offered by one of the country’s highest-volume lenders allows a wide swath of borrowers to say no-thanks to escrow accounts, at no charge. More importantly, the escrow-free option is open to borrowers who have dings in their […]

Are billion-dollar listings the new normal for Chelsea?

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 07:30 AM PDT

Google made New York history in March with its $2.4 billion purchase of the Chelsea Market building, the city’s second priciest sale of a single building ever. This week, Chelsea saw another massive deal thanks to L&L Holding Co. and Normandy Real Estate Partners’ roughly $900 million buy of Terminal Stores. Brokers say that while deals of such scale will remain rare — simply because the number of massive buildings in Chelsea is in short […]

It looks like a 21-story tech building could be coming to Union Square

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 07:04 AM PDT

The City Council’s land use committee voted unanimously on Thursday in favor of bringing a 21-story tech building to Union Square. The building is known as the Union Square Tech Training Center and comes from RAL Development. It will span 240,000 square feet at 124 East 14th Street, currently the home of a P.C. Richards, according to Commercial Observer. Tech training nonprofit Civic Hall will be the anchor tenant on the fourth through seventh floors, […]

Acuity Capital secures $95M loan for UWS rental building

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 06:30 AM PDT

Acuity Capital secured a $95 million mortgage for Upper West Side rental building The Greystone. The property, located at 212 West 91st Street at the corner of Broadway, is a 14-story residential building with 363 apartments and three commercial units, city records show. Acuity paid $139.1 million for the property in 2013. It was previously owned by Brack Capital Real Estate. The new loan replaces an $88.4 million from Santander Bank. The lender for the […]

City considers opening new jail downtown

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 06:30 AM PDT

A massive new jail could be on its way to Lower Manhattan as part of the city’s plan to shutter Rikers Island. The jail would rise at 80 Centre Street, which currently houses the city’s marriage bureau and offices for the Manhattan District Attorney, along with multiple other government agencies, according to the Daily News. The building spans 700,000 square feet and stands nine stories tall, but if it were converted into a jail, it […]

Compass launches commercial brokerage

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 05:45 AM PDT

UPDATED, Aug. 3, 4:58 p.m.: Compass is going after a bigger chunk of the real estate market: commercial brokerage. The venture-backed firm, which has upended the residential world since launching in 2012, is launching Compass Commercial, the firm announced Friday. The new division will focus on investment sales nationwide, the company said. Like it did on the residential side, the New York-based firm is launching the new division by going after big fish. In New […]

WATCH: CBRE’s Mary Ann Tighe on rebuilding Lower Manhattan after 9/11

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 05:30 AM PDT

CBRE tri-state CEO Mary Ann Tighe recalls running into Larry Silverstein on the evening of Sept. 11, 2001 and rebuilding Lower Manhattan following the terrorist attacks during a recent interview with The Real Deal‘s Hiten Samtani.

National Cheat Sheet: Fed keeps interest rates steady, Brookfield to shell out $6.8B for Forest City … & more

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 05:00 AM PDT

Fed keeps interest rates where they are, with a rate raise expected next month While the Federal Reserve held off in raising interest rates this month, many expect that it will raise them in September, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Fed has raised interest rates twice so far this year — most recently in June — and is expected to raise them again at least twice. In a statement, it said that “[e]conomic activity has […]

The VC vice: Why some in the industry see venture cash as a mixed blessing

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 04:30 AM PDT

The surge in venture investment has been a boon to real estate tech startups, nurturing hope that the industry can finally catch up to more technologically advanced sectors like finance. But some see the flood of venture cash as a mixed blessing. For starters, raising millions of dollars early can make it harder to raise money later — that’s because the initial money can come with a high valuation that future investors may balk at. […]

NY State close to renewing huge lease at Piedmont’s 60 Broad

Posted: 03 Aug 2018 04:00 AM PDT

New York State is in “advanced discussions” to renew its lease at 60 Broad Street, landlord Piedmont Office Realty Trust said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The State currently occupies nearly 481,000 square feet under a lease expiring in the first quarter of 2019. According to Piedmont, a new long-term deal could come with a “potential modest square footage contraction.” Other tenants in the 1.03-million-square-foot tower include co-working company Bond Collective. […]