The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

New player in town: South Florida lender closes first NYC deal in Queens for $7M

Posted: 02 Dec 2018 01:30 PM PST

Boynton Beach-based commercial real estate lender Trez Forman Capital Group completed its first transaction in New York. Brett Forman, president and CEO of Trez Forman, arranged the apartment construction loan, which closed on Nov. 20. “Our team is aggressively monitoring the market for additional opportunities in New York and throughout the tri-state area,” Forman said in a prepared statement. Trez Forman closed a loan of nearly $7 million to fund construction of a 20-unit apartment […]

Airbnb to start designing homes next year with new “Backyard” business

Posted: 02 Dec 2018 01:08 PM PST

Airbnb is officially getting into the business of home design with a new initiative called Backyard. Prototypes of the housing developed for Airbnb Backyard will be revealed in 2019 and the models are expected to range from guest houses to single-family and even multifamily homes, according to Fast Company. Airbnb’s chief product officer and co-founder Joe Gebbia, who also leads the company’s futures division, Samara, said Backyard will focus on designing prototypes of a living […]

Lingering listings: Manhattan’s five slowest resi markets

Posted: 02 Dec 2018 12:30 PM PST

It’s no secret that the market slowdown has kept listings on the market for longer. But the shift in a few Manhattan neighborhoods has been particularly pronounced. The median number of days on market for listings in Manhattan is up to 96, according to StreetEasy Market Reports. That’s a week longer than last year. Time on market in Battery Park City, however, has shot up by four weeks to 99 days. The median sale price […]

Manafort transferred Palm Beach house to his wife for $10 after plea deal with Mueller

Posted: 02 Dec 2018 12:00 PM PST

Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman of President Trump, signed a deed transferring his house in Palm Beach Gardens to his wife, Kathleen, for $10. The house at 10 St. James Drive was excluded from a list of properties that Manafort agreed to forfeit in a plea agreement with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. In September, Manafort pleaded guilty to charges arising from his consulting work in […]

Who owns Palm Beach’s highest taxed estates?

Posted: 02 Dec 2018 11:00 AM PST

Who pays the most property taxes in Palm Beach? Citadel founder Ken Griffin is No. 1. His nearly $250 million assemblage in the South Ocean Boulevard corridor generated $3.66 million in property taxes this year. That’s according to an analysis of new tax rolls in Palm Beach by the Palm Beach Daily News. Griffin’s estate includes 1290 South Ocean Boulevard (also known as 1265 South Ocean Boulevard), 70 Blossom Way, and 1285 South Ocean Boulevard. A […]

Former Fugees rapper accused of trying to thwart the DOJ’s 1MDB probe

Posted: 02 Dec 2018 10:30 AM PST

Former Fugees rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel is accused of helping fugitive financier Jho Low move $73 million into the U.S. in a bid to influence the U.S. Department of Justice’s 1MDB probe. The accusations were made in a civil lawsuit filed Friday by the DOJ, according to the New York Post. Court documents reportedly allege Michel worked with a former DOJ official named George Higginbotham to move the money into four American bank accounts and […]

Frank Sinatra’s Malibu pad designed his way — with his wife — hits market

Posted: 02 Dec 2018 10:00 AM PST

A Malibu home that legendary crooner Frank Sinatra, and his wife Barbara, designed their way, went on the market, four months after being offered as a pricey rental. The home, listed for $12.9 million was built in 1992 for the Sinatras; Frank Sinatra died in 1998. The couple worked with architect Ted Grenzbach on the design, according to the Los Angeles Times which first reported on the listing. The home had been listed as a […]

Lil Wayne buys Miami Beach mansion for $17M

Posted: 02 Dec 2018 09:00 AM PST

Young Weezy’s got money, and he just spent nearly $17 million of it on a waterfront mansion in Miami Beach. Property records show Lil Wayne is behind the buying entity, 6480 Allison Road Ventures LLC, using his real name Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. Spec home developer Laurent Harrari sold the 10,6320-square-foot, seven-bedroom home at 6480 Allison Road. The Wall Street Journal first reported the purchase. Harrari’s company paid $4.4 million for the 23,760-square-foot lot in […]

Town where GM tore down 1,500 homes to build a plant responds to news of its closure

Posted: 02 Dec 2018 08:00 AM PST

GM’s decision to shutter five factories and shed 15,000 jobs will hurt towns across the Heartland. But for one town GM is leaving, the pain is even more severe. That’s because GM leveled a full neighborhood in suburban Detroit to build a then-state-of-the-art plant that was to build the Chevrolet Volt hybrid among other products. About 465 acres were cleared in the 1980s to make way for the plant, including 1,500 homes, 140 business, a […]

LA will be home to the largest U.S. building occupied exclusively by cannabis tenants

Posted: 02 Dec 2018 07:00 AM PST

When selling and smoking marijauana was illegal, having a dealer in the neighborhood didn’t boost property values, but that could change now that marijuana is licit in California. In Downtown Los Angeles, Bow West Capital will open its Green Street Building development in a month’s time, according to Forbes. Located in the Jewelry District, the project will be occupied exclusively by businesses in the cannabis industry. The Santa Monica-based developers are hoping the building will help […]

Florida’s governor-elect may support Israel with a state ban on using Airbnb for official travel

Posted: 02 Dec 2018 06:00 AM PST

Florida Governor-elect Ron DeSantis may push for a ban on state employees using Airbnb while traveling on official business because the home-sharing network has stopped operating in the West Bank region of Israel. Airbnb last week announced that it delisted short-term rental properties in the West Bank because it is a that Israelis and Palestinians have claimed, a move that Palestinians praised and Israelis protested. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said the Israeli government […]