The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Toll Brothers co-founder Robert Toll is stepping down as chairman

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 03:30 PM PDT

Toll Brothers’ co-founder and executive chairman is stepping down at the end of the month. Robert Toll will remain on the company’s board of directors and serve as a special adviser effective Nov. 1, the homebuilder said in a statement. CEO Douglas Yearley will be chairman of the board. “Doug Yearley’s appointment to the role of chairman of the Board of Directors represents the culmination of the leadership transition process we began when Doug assumed […]

Orbach sells five UWS buildings for $57M

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 03:00 PM PDT

The Orbach Group is continuing its Upper West Side selling spree. The multifamily investment firm headed by Meyer Orbach has sold five buildings for $57 million to an unnamed 1031 exchange investor, the sellers told The Real Deal. The 120-unit portfolio includes 4 Manhattan Avenue, 8 Manhattan Avenue, 10-16 Manhattan Avenue, 3-5 West 108th Street and 7-9 West 108th Street, The purchase price is a 57 percent premium over the $36.15 million the investment firm […]

WeWork inks lease for 57K sf by Times Square

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 02:15 PM PDT

WeWork has signed yet another lease in Manhattan, this time for about 57,000 square feet at Zar Group’s 1450 Broadway, right by Times Square. The co-working giant will take four floors in the building, and plates will range between 13,829 and 14,385 square feet, according to WeWork. The company signed the lease last week and expects to open the new Midtown location during the first six months of next year. Mitch Konsker of JLL represented Zar […]

This vacation rental platform just raised $64M

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 01:45 PM PDT

A startup that manages over 10,000 vacation rental properties just raised more than $60 million in a funding round. Vacasa, a vacation rental management company, closed $64 million in a round led by existing investor Riverwood Capital and others, the company said in a statement. That brings its total capital raise to $207.5 million. Portland, Oregon-based Vacasa launched in 2009 and has grown to overtake Wyndham Vacation Rentals as the largest vacation rental property manager […]

Alexandria to build 550K sf life-sciences tower at East Side campus

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 01:10 PM PDT

Alexandria Real Estate Equities reached an agreement with the city that allows the company to move forward with plans for a 550,000-square-foot tower at its East Side life-sciences campus. The California-based real estate investment trust announced Thursday that it signed an amendment allowing it start development on the north tower at its 1.3 million-square-foot campus along the FDR Drive between East 28th and East 30th streets. The deal increases the size of the north tower […]

Richard Wallgren, the legendary sales director at 432 Park and 15 CPW, dies at 68

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 12:30 PM PDT

Richard Wallgren — whose fabled Rolodex and deep market knowledge allowed him to become one of the most successful condominium sales directors in New York City history — has died. Wallgren died in his home in Washington, Connecticut last month, following a battle with ALS. He was 68. Before becoming a broker and sales director, Wallgren had a successful career as an investment banker. In the 1990s, he transitioned to residential real estate at Stribling, […]

Beverly Hills mansion with ties to Hollywood legends seeks $125M

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 12:00 PM PDT

A newly built, modernist mansion in the Beverly Hills Flats with ties to Frank Sinatra and several other Hollywood heavyweights, has hit the market asking $125 million. Casey Wasserman, grandson of legendary agent and studio executive Lew Wasserman, is selling the 18,500-square-foot mansion, dubbed the Foothill Estate, the Wall Street Journal reported. The new residence sits on three former lots, two of which belonged to his late grandparents, Lew and Edie Wasserman. After they died, […]

William Blair leaving 666 Fifth for Edward Minskoff tower on Sixth Ave

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 11:40 AM PDT

Financial services firm William Blair & Company is leaving 666 Fifth Avenue for Edward Minskoff’s newly renovated office tower on Sixth Avenue. William Blair signed a lease for slightly more than 40,000 square feet at Minskoff’s 1166 Sixth Avenue, the property’s leasing agents told The Real Deal. The Chicago-based company is relocating from 666 Fifth Avenue, which Brookfield Office Properties took control of in August when it signed a long-term lease covering the office portion […]

Lonicera files plans for 160-unit apartment complex in DoBro

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 11:10 AM PDT

Lonicera Partners is looking to build a 160-unit apartment complex in Downtown Brooklyn. The firm, headed by Demetrios Yatrakis, filed permits for a 23-story mixed-use property at 308 Livingston Street, just a few blocks away from the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Plans call for a 115,790-square-foot building with 109,331 square feet of residential space and 6,459 square of commercial space. Planned amenities for the building include bicycle storage, a fitness center, a tenant amenity room […]

Who is Tejon Ranch? A NY-backed firm plots massive communities in California

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 10:30 AM PDT

Just off the Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles, a vast swath of California named after a dead badger boasts thousands of acres of orchards and vineyards set among rolling hills and land suitable for grazing cattle. If one developer, backed by institutional Wall Street money and a scion of the billionaire Tisch family, has its way, massive chunks of the undeveloped land will be replaced with housing, offices and the makings of a new […]

The selloff continues: SL Green getting $144M for UES properties

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 10:00 AM PDT

After taking control of 1231 Third Avenue from Thor Equities this summer, SL Green Realty is selling the property and an assemblage down the street. The real estate investment trust has gone into contract to sell its fee interest in 1231 Third Avenue and 31,000 square feet of development rights, as well as an assemblage at 252-254, 257, 259 and 260 East 72nd Street for a total of $144 million. The buyer’s identity was not […]

Check out TRD’s interactive map of developments along the High Line

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 09:30 AM PDT

The Real Deal publisher Amir Korangy is cycling the streets of Chelsea with some of our digital subscribers to tour the hottest new developments popping up on the High Line. Check out our 19-block bike ride below, including a map of projects with details about the developers, architects and more. GUIDED TOUR Block 646: 40 10th Avenue (b/w West 13th and West 14th) aka the Solar Carve, which is being developed by William Gottlieb Real […]

Titans and their toys: How real estate’s A-listers spend their wealth

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 08:00 AM PDT

There were live camels, trapeze artists, a 12-minute fireworks display and an enormous birthday cake carved in the shape of a Chinese temple. Blackstone boss Stephen Schwarzman’s 70th-birthday party, hosted at his Palm Beach mansion in February, drew dozens of high-profile guests including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, art dealer Larry Gagosian and billionaire businessman David Koch. Many of them cheered as Gwen Stefani crooned “Happy Birthday” at the end of the night. The party, which […]

Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: Inventory’s up but residential sales just hit a 4-year low … & more

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 07:30 AM PDT

Residential sales hit 4-year low in Westchester County Residential sales in Westchester between July and September were lower than they have been for the past four years, LoHud reported. The county saw 3,022 sales in the third quarter of this year, down from 3,189 in the same quarter last year, according to a report issued by Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors subsidiary Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Services. Inventory, meanwhile, was up from 4,135 last year […]

Mark Lapidus out at WeWork amid real estate leadership shakeup

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 06:55 AM PDT

Mark Lapidus, WeWork’s former head of global real estate and one of the company’s earliest employees, has left the company amid a leadership shakeup in the real estate department, sources told The Real Deal. A spokesperson for WeWork confirmed that Lapidus left the company. The departure comes as WeWork is in talks with SoftBank for an investment that could total $20 billion. Lapidus, who had been with the company since 2012, oversaw WeWork’s expansion from […]

Related opening the biggest grocery store in the Bronx

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 06:30 AM PDT

Goodbye, Toys “R” Us, hello massive food emporium. Food Bazaar Supermarket is opening an 80,000-square-foot location in Bronx Terminal Market, Commercial Observer reported. It’s slated to open in spring 2019 at the spot previously occupied by Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us, which closed following bankruptcy. Ripco’s Brian Schuster and Peter Ripka represented Related Companies in the deal. The brokers said the lease is “long term” but declined to specify the length or asking […]

Family feud: Rosenberg siblings tussle over Manhattan office properties

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 06:00 AM PDT

Real estate executive Aron Rosenberg is facing a $3 million lawsuit from a brother who claims he was cut out on the profits of a Manhattan office portfolio. Rosenberg, the head of family-run commercial landlord Rose & Berg Realty Group, was sued by his brother Michael, who has stakes in several Rose & Berg-owned entities. His shares in the LLCs range from 20 percent to 50 percent, according to the lawsuit. The entities mentioned in […]

Port Authority puts the kibosh on selling Red Hook Container Terminal

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 05:40 AM PDT

The real estate dreamers hoping to unlock 80 acres of prime Brooklyn waterfront are going to have to wait a while — the Red Hook Container Terminal will remain open under Port Authority control for at least five more years. In the deal, Port Authority agreed to pay the company operating the money-losing terminal $2.75 million per year in management fees and $1 million a year to subsidize operations. The Port Authority lost at least […]

Trump brand is done at 200 Riverside

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 05:20 AM PDT

Upper West Side condominium owners have won their fight against a Trump Organization sign. The group of residents at 200 Riverside Boulevard is getting a sign reading “TRUMP PLACE” removed from the building, the New York Times reported. It’s joining three neighboring buildings in removing the Trump branding. The building bought the right to use the Trump name in 2000, according to the report. But many residents haven’t wanted to be associated with the president’s […]

The crypto conundrum: Is the hype legit?

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 04:30 AM PDT

At Consensus 2018 — a conference where cryptocurrency die-hards convened to plot the future of blockchain — two pioneers in the budding industry battled over whether the encrypted database technology had a future at all. Bitcoin enthusiast and entrepreneur Jimmy Song faced off onstage against Joe Lubin, the soft-spoken co-founder of Ethereum, one of the more popular platforms for creating blockchain services. “Blockchain is not going to solve all your problems for you. That’s the […]

SCG America buys out Kuafu’s MiMA stake

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 04:00 AM PDT

SCG America — the U.S. arm of Shanghai Construction Group — has bought out Kuafu Properties’ stake at Manhattan View at MiMA, a 147-unit condominium conversion in Manhattan West. SCG and Kuafu partnered up in 2015 to buy the top floors of the building from Related Companies and TIAA for $260 million. SCG said it bought out Kuafu’s 30 percent stake in June — a move that gives the Chinese construction firm more decision-making power. […]