The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Off the market: 70 Vestry unit sells for $24M

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 03:15 PM PDT

A unit at 70 Vestry Street sold for $24 million. The buyer is a trust tied to lawyer Robert Frankel, according to New York City Department of Finance records. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The apartment, which was previously listed for $26 million, spans roughly 4,900 square feet. It has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. Designed by Robert A.M. Stern, 70 Vestry includes an 82-foot swimming pool, a private regulation […]

Heskel Group’s Queens retail project temporarily shut down by activists

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 03:00 PM PDT

A local advocacy group has forced a stop work order on the Heskel Group and Sun Equity Partners’ controversial development of a Target store in Jackson Heights, Queens. The plans relate to the redevelopment of an area known locally as “The Shoppes” at 40-31 82nd Street to make way for Target, variously reported to be around 20,000-square-feet in size. The city’s Department of Buildings handed the developers the order after activist group Queens Neighborhoods United […]

Introducing TRD’s tri-state quarterly issue

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 02:45 PM PDT

The Real Deal is expanding our coverage of the tri-state area with a quarterly issue looking at the real estate markets in Long Island and the Hamptons, New Jersey, Westchester and Fairfield counties. Each issue will be divided into market-specific sections and packed with the data-driven reporting, analysis and profiles the industry relies on from TRD. The tri-state issues will be published in February, May, August and November of 2019 and 55,000 copies will be […]

TerraCRG partner Adam Hess leaves firm

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 02:05 PM PDT

TerraCRG partner Adam Hess has resigned from the firm. Ofer Cohen, founder and CEO of the brokerage, announced on Thursday that Hess was leaving. He will be going to Meridian Capital Group, where he will work as a senior managing director, according to Meridian. Hess worked on multiple major deals during his time at the company. These included the $16 million sale of 427-433 Dean Street in Park Slope to Akelius Real Estate, the $23 […]

Landmark Bed-Stuy townhouse sells for record-setting $6M

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 02:00 PM PDT

The historic John C. Kelley mansion in Bedford-Stuyvesant has sold for $6.3 million, a record price for a single-family home in the neighborhood. The brownstone at 247 Hancock Street almost doubles the previous record sale for the neighborhood of $3.3 million in 2017, according to the Wall Street Journal. It has 10 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms, and it was built for John Kelley, a water-meter magnate, in 1887. It includes a basement, a bar and a […]

Still ready for their closeup: These once aspiring actors became broker stars

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 01:45 PM PDT

It’s clear in the mannerisms. It shows in the pretty face. It shines in the hair. And most of all, it flashes in the ego. In Los Angeles, real estate agents and executives often seem as as glamorous and sensational as movie and television stars. That’s because some of them were actors — or, at least, tried to be. “Most realtors are out-of-work actors,” said Beth Styne, a regional executive at Coldwell Banker and former […]

Columbia Property Trust hires advisor following takeover offer

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 01:30 PM PDT

Columbia Property Trust has sought an advisor after the real estate investment trust was approached by multiple companies for an acquisition. The Atlanta-based firm, which owns a 19-property portfolio with 9 million square feet, has hired Morgan Stanley to consult for a possible acquisition after it was approached with several offers, according to Bloomberg. However, none of the offers appear promising, the outlet reported. By midday Thursday, the company’s stock climbed 5 percent to $24.73, […]

Here are the details of Brookfield’s first Bronx development

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 01:15 PM PDT

Brookfield Property Partners plans to make 30 percent of its massive South Bronx development affordable housing. The company officially closed on its $165 million purchase of 2401 Third Avenue and 101 Lincoln Avenue from Somerset Partners and the Chetrit Group on Wednesday, according to representatives for Brookfield and Somerset. The parcels span 189,000 square feet of land in Mott Haven, and Brookfield will build about 1,300 residential units on the site across seven buildings. Brookfield […]

Tish James refunds $10K contribution from Rivington House’s Joel Landau

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 01:00 PM PDT

New York Attorney General candidate Letitia James refunded a $10,000 campaign contribution from Joel Landau, a nursing home landlord who was recently disciplined by the state’s top prosecutor. In 2015, Landau’s Allure Group paid the New York City government $16 million to lift a deed restriction on the Rivington House facility for HIV/AIDS patients so it could sell the building to Slate Property Group, a developer that sought to convert the property into luxury housing. […]

City and MSG look like they’re headed toward showdown over stadium relocation

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 12:45 PM PDT

UPDATED, Sept. 6, 5:22 p.m.: The City Council and James Dolan’s Madison Square Garden Company appear to be headed toward another clash over plans to relocate the iconic sports stadium. Madison Square Garden is now at the midway point of the 10-year timetable the city laid out in 2013 for the stadium to relocate and make way for a modern Penn Station. But with five years left on its special operating permit, MSG appears to have […]

Closings have begun at 520 Park

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 12:10 PM PDT

Zeckendorf Development’s 520 Park Avenue just got its first closing. Unit 18 closed at the building for $16.9 million, according to New York City Department of Finance records. The buyer is Ronn Torossian, founder of 5WPR, sources said. He purchased the unit through a limited liability company, RAFEMA LLC, sources confirmed. Attorney Edward Mermelstein helped to broker the deal and Petro Zinkovetsky was the signatory on the deed. Sources said Zeckendorf has received the TCO […]

Penn Station will get a new entrance but total overhaul awaits Gateway

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 11:55 AM PDT

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday announced plans to create another entrance to the Long Island Rail Road as a way to cut down on congestion in Penn Station. But the remainder of a Penn Station overhaul will have to wait for the long-stalled Gateway project to get off the ground. Cuomo said the new entrance will be at 33rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The project would permanently close that section of the street […]

GDC Properties lands $52M loan for Dumbo rental building

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 11:30 AM PDT

Westchester-based GDC Properties landed a $52 million loan for a Dumbo rental tower. The property, at 220 Water Street, is a four-story building with 135 apartment units and one commercial unit, according to city data. GDC completed the residential conversion of the building in 2012. It was fully leased nine months after hitting the market. The rental property replaced two loft buildings that were built as a shoe factory in the early 1900s. The lenders […]

Resi scorecard: July saw $817M in condo plans approved in Manhattan

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 11:00 AM PDT

NEW DEVELOPMENT CONDO REPORT MANHATTAN •Inventory increased slightly as new filings outpaced sales •Developers filed four plans with a total of 238 units •Five plans were approved for sale in July with 524 units and a total projected sellout of $817 million •Buyers purchased 144 units valued at $595 million. Supply Demand

National Cheat Sheet: LaSalle calls off the deal with Blackstone … & more

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 10:31 AM PDT

Blackstone to get $112M breakup fee as LaSalle opts for Pebblebrook’s bid Pebblebrook, on behalf of LaSalle Hotel Properties, will likely be handing $112 million over to the Blackstone Group after LaSalle rejected Blackstone’s $4.8 billion dollar bid to acquire the firm. LaSalle Hotel Properties on Wednesday officially announced it would be choosing Pebblebrook’s offer. LaSalle is required to pay the breakup fee for choosing not to go with Blackstone after all, but Pebblebrook previously […]

Broker confidence on the decline: REBNY

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 09:41 AM PDT

A rough rental market is weighing down brokers’ confidence. Residential leasing brokers say renters and landlords have been more resistant than ever over the summer — typically the busiest time of the year for rentals — when it comes to broker fees, according to the Real Estate Board of New York’s latest broker confidence index. “Almost 15 years in the business and I have never gotten the amount of push back on fees during the […]

Fried Frank partner Stuart Gelfond dies following battle with cancer

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 09:00 AM PDT

Stuart Gelfond, partner at Fried Frank and co-head of the company’s capital markets practice, died on Thursday, August 30 at age 55 following a lengthy fight with cancer. Gelfond spent his entire career with Fried Frank, joining the company in 1986 and getting promoted to partner in 1993 at age 30, according to Real Estate Weekly. He represented every major investment bank during his career and was well-known among his co-workers for writing “Gelfond Practice […]

Torres calls for a probe into city’s $1.5B in unpaid fines

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 08:31 AM PDT

After a report about the city being owed $1.5 billion in unpaid fines, one official is calling for a probe. Council member Ritchie Torres and the head of housing activist group Housing Rights Initiative sent a letter to the Department of Investigation that called for an investigation into the city’s “embarrassingly inept” efforts to collect the fines. “Whether one is evading debt or taxes, the effect is the same: delinquents, like Kushner Companies, are evading […]

Park planned near Hudson Yards poised to be the city’s priciest

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 08:00 AM PDT

The planned park near Hudson Yards would be the city’s costliest. The city plans to spend $374 million on the project, Crain’s reported. That’s more than $124 million per acre. “That is an astounding price tag,” Adrian Benepe, a senior vice president at the Trust for Public Land and a former city parks commissioner, told Crain’s. “It blows out of the water by far the previous most-expensive park that I had ever heard of, which […]

Here’s how Keller Williams plans to take on Zillow and Redfin

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 07:30 AM PDT

Keller Williams wants to compete with Zillow and Redfin. The brokerage acquired SmarterAgent, a platform that connects more than 650 multiple listing services and allows brokers and agents to create branded real estate search apps, Inman reported. It’s part of a larger effort from the company to invest in technology, Josh Team, Keller William’s chief innovation officer, told Inman. He said the firm has acquired other tech platforms in the past four months. “We’re going […]

Heinz heiress’ Sutton Place home hits the market for $21M

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 07:00 AM PDT

A Sutton Place townhouse is hitting the market for $21 million. The seller is the estate of Drue Heinz, who was married to heir Henry John Heinz II, the Wall Street Journal reported. Heinz died in April and the property is owned by a trust established in 1986. Mary Kent of Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing. The townhouse, on the corner of East 57th Street and Sutton Place, spans about 7,000 square feet. It […]

Tencent, Warburg Pincus are betting big on China’s housing market

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 06:30 AM PDT

Chinese internet giant Tencent is betting $1 billion on one of the country’s largest brokerages. Beijing-based Lianjia is planning to raise about $2 billion from investors including Tencent and private equity firm Warburg Pincus, the Wall Street Journal reported. The fundraising round would value the company at roughly $13 billion. Warburg Pincus is investing $500 million, the report said. Lianjia, whose formal name is Homelink Real Estate Agency Co., has a website for sale and […]

Does house flipping still pay?

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 06:00 AM PDT

Yes, home flipping still pays from coast to coast, particularly in New York. It just doesn’t pay as much as it did. Returns for the quick buying-and-selling of a home dropped to a near four-year low from April to June, attributed to a reduced inventory of distressed houses available and fewer interested buyers. But profits remained. In real numbers, a home flipped in the second quarter sold for an average of $65,520 above what a […]

Cushman reports improving financials in first earnings since IPO

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 05:30 AM PDT

Cushman & Wakefield reported improving financials in its first quarterly earnings report since going public last month. Adjusted EBITDA was $168.9 million for the quarter, up 30 percent from the same time last year. The brokerage reported a net loss of $32.2 million during the second quarter, which was an improvement from the net loss of $43.7 million the company recorded a year earlier, its financial statements show. Cushman’s been operating at a net loss […]

The rise of the anonymous LLC: Tracing the history behind New York’s favorite property investment vehicle

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 05:00 AM PDT

For more than four years, nobody knew who bought the only $100 million apartment in Manhattan. Real estate agents and architects who worked with the buyer were all sworn to secrecy, according to the Wall Street Journal, and even after several rounds of building permit applications to renovate Michael Dell’s 11,000-square-foot penthouse at One57, the name of the billionaire behind “P89-90 LLC” only became known after a loose-lipped insider told a reporter. Since becoming legal […]

WeWork continues its hunt for investors at $850M Lord & Taylor building

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 04:30 AM PDT

Almost a year after WeWork announced the $850 million acquisition of the Lord & Taylor building in Midtown Manhattan, the co-working company still hasn’t closed on the deal and is on the hunt for an equity partner, according to sources familiar with the situation. WeWork Property Advisors, the real estate investment vehicle managed by WeWork and private equity firm Rhone Group, was scheduled to close on the acquisition of 424 Fifth Avenue in August. Instead, […]

The Real Deal’s September issue is live!

Posted: 06 Sep 2018 04:00 AM PDT

CoStar has a reputation for going to extremes to protect its data: From raiding a rival’s office to filing dozens of lawsuits. “With their customer base, the real estate market, going to hell, their ability to survive was in jeopardy,” said Wayne Pierce, an attorney who has represented companies sued by CoStar, including LoopNet and Field. “I had the definite impression that they were happy to squeeze the little guys to send a message, so that […]