The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

JPMorgan buys 667K sf of air rights from Grand Central for 270 Park

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 03:30 PM PST

JPMorgan Chase just purchased nearly 700,000 square feet of air rights from Grand Central Terminal for its planned tower at 270 Park Avenue. The bank bought 666,766 square feet of development rights, 1,234 square feet less than what was expected based on the company’s application to the city in September. JPMorgan paid $208 million to Grand Central’s owners, TF Cornerstone and MSD Capital, according to documents filed on Thursday with the city’s Department of Finance. […]

Maverick Real Estate Partners closes another NYC distressed debt fund

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 03:15 PM PST

When the defaults come, the vulture investors get to work. Maverick Real Estate Partners announced on Thursday that it closed another fund that targets defaulted commercial mortgages in New York City. The latest fund has $200 million at its disposal, and appears to be the largest of Maverick’s distressed debt vehicles. The announcement from the distressed private equity firm comes amid jitters about some segments of New York City real estate, particularly from those who […]

Compass launches West Coast tech campus in Seattle

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 03:00 PM PST

Compass is launching a technology campus in Seattle geared toward building “real estate’s first-ever end-to-end platform,” and plans to hire at least 100 engineers. The SoftBank-backed brokerage, which has been in expansion mode, announced the West Coast Product & Engineering Campus in a Facebook post this week, according to Geekwire. The move came about two weeks after Compass brought on former Microsoft and Amazon executive Joseph Sirosh as its new chief technology officer. The firm’s […]

In time for the holidays, former Croman tenants will begin receiving checks

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 02:15 PM PST

UPDATED, Dec. 13, 5:55 p.m.: The first round of payments are being issued to former tenants of infamous landlord Steve Croman, the New York state Attorney General’s office said Thursday. Checks are being mailed to eligible current or former tenants who last month submitted claims to the restitution fund, according to the statement. The first batch of payments follows the landlord’s initial $2 million payment to the fund, which totals a record $8 million. “I’m […]

Las Vegas, Phoenix, showing signs of imminent housing slowdown

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 01:00 PM PST

In Los Angeles and San Francisco, many homebuyers are still facing a competitive bidding process. But other pockets of the country are facing a growing glut of unsold homes. In markets like Las Vegas and Phoenix, home sales have significantly slowed in the last year, signaling a potential shift nationwide, the Wall Street Journal reported. Existing home sales in Las Vegas, for example, have decreased nearly 12 percent in November compared to the year prior. […]

Clarion Partners buys Bryant Park-area office building from EQ Office for $282M

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 12:05 PM PST

The Blackstone Group sold one of its Bryant Park-area office buildings in a $282 million deal with Clarion Partners. Blackstone’s EQ Office subsidiary sold the nearly 350,000-square-foot office-and-retail building at 114 West 41st Street to the Park Avenue-based investors, brokers who negotiated the deals said. The sale works out to slightly more than $800 per square foot. Newmark Knight Frank’s Edward “Woody” Maher, who worked on the brokerage team that marketed the building for EQ […]

Tech firm leases more than 20K sf in DoBro’s Pioneer building

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 11:40 AM PST

Tech firm Blue State Digital is leaving Soho for DoBro. The company, which specializes in online fundraising and social networking, has inked a 21,000-square-foot lease in the Pioneer Building at 41 Flatbush Avenue, according to landowners Quinlan Development Group and Building and Land Technology. It will be moving there from its current New York office and global headquarters at 101 Avenue of the Americas. The real estate investment firm Merit Hill Capital also recently inked a […]

Harry Macklowe keeps $82M in real estate in divorce; $700M in art to be sold

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 10:42 AM PST

In the end, the judge overseeing developer Harry Macklowe’s bitter divorce ordered his fortune split down the middle. Nearly 12 months to the day after the bitter court proceeding ended, Judge Laura Drager ordered Linda and Harry Macklowe to sell their contemporary art collection, worth approximately $700 million, and split the profits evenly because the two sides could not agree on how much it is worth. “It is an extraordinary collection and the achievement of […]

Vornado moves forward with redevelopment of Penn Plaza

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 10:15 AM PST

Vornado just moved one step forward with its major overhaul of Penn Plaza. The company filed plans with the Department of Buildings on Thursday to add 140,000 square feet of space to the 31-story Two Penn Plaza. Vornado plans to build a new three-story, lobby with retail space, modify the building’s existing entrance to Penn Station and expand the office floors. Vornado CEO Steve Roth said on his company’s third-quarter earnings call that they are […]

Follow The Real Deal’s Deal Sheet on Instagram!

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 09:30 AM PST

Shaya Sonnenschein and Shaya Ackerman of Meridian Capital Group represented the owner, Marx Development Group. The loan was issued by Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies. #commercialrealestate #nycrealestate #trdny #trddealsheet #nyc #nycloans #trdloans A post shared by The Real Deal’s Deal Sheet (@trddeals) on Jun 20, 2018 at 10:17am PDT The Real Deal’s Deal Sheet is on Instagram! Our latest social media channel features snaps of retail and office leases, financing acquisitions and commercial and residential […]

TSX Broadway developers land more than $780M in new equity

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 09:02 AM PST

The developers behind Times Square’s TSX Broadway have raised more than $780 million in new equity, valuing the entertainment-and-hotel project in excess of $2 billion. Among the new investors is a group of ultra-high-net-worth and family office clients of UBS Group AG, which provided roughly $400 million of new equity, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported on the new financing. “We have seen a substantial increase in interest from our ultra-high-net-worth and family office […]

Amazon is in no rush to add workers in LIC and Arlington

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 08:30 AM PST

Amazon caused a stir with its plan for two new campuses in Long Island City and Arlington — but don’t expect a quick move. It will take several years, if not a decade, for the tech giant’s employees to shift into the new locations, the Wall Street Journal reported. Amazon said it plans to hire workers slowly and has told its Seattle employees that they won’t be required to relocate. The company expects to have […]

The Koan of Michael Cohen

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 08:00 AM PST

Gene “The Taxi King” Freidman’s bromance with Michael Cohen began in small claims court in the 1990s. The two men, sparring over a stolen client, had more in common than they knew: They owned rival taxi businesses, but were also both lawyers and came to court prepared to fight. What played out in front of the judge was a legal dance better suited to a more intricate case than a $5,000 claim. “The judge said, […]

Apple is planning a $1B campus in Austin

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 07:30 AM PST

Apple is planting its flag in Austin, with plans for a new $1 billion corporate campus. The company said the move could eventually create 15,000 jobs at the 133-acre development, the Wall Street Journal reported. Apple already has two offices in the city — and will initially hire 5,000 workers. The tech giant is also planning new offices in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City. It is poised to add more than 1,000 employees to […]

NYCHA aims to raise $3B by selling land and air rights to developers

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 07:00 AM PST

The New York City Housing Authority plans to sell air rights and open some land to private development in order to raise money for repairs. NYCHA aims to raise $3 billion through the plan, the Wall Street Journal reported. It’s part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s $24 billion plan to help the authority upgrade its 170,000 apartments. NYCHA will need an estimated $32 billion in repairs over the next five years, the report said. Deputy […]

The Amazon effect hasn’t touched the Queens rental market yet: Elliman report

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 06:30 AM PST

Amazon’s announcement that it would come to Long Island City may have set off shockwaves throughout New York, but it has not impacted the rental market in Northwest Queens just yet, according to the latest report from Douglas Elliman. The borough is rather seeing the continuation of many preexisting trends, including another increase in concessions and new leases. A total of 59.2 percent of new deals included concessions in November, up from 44.5 percent last […]

Queens plumbing supplier pays $23M for Woodside industrial site

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 06:00 AM PST

The pipe and valve supply company Mayer Malbin is purchasing a Woodside property for $22.75 million, just one year after the seller bought it for about $9 million. The industrial property is located at 62-25 30th Avenue, and LSC Development purchased it last year with plans to develop it as a storage facility. However, Mayer Malbin was able to persuade them to sell the property instead, according to Jaffe Realty president, who brokered the deal. […]

Photos: Madison Realty Capital’s 2018 holiday bash

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 05:30 AM PST

Instead of its usual stomping grounds high above the Meatpacking District at the top of the Standard Hotel, the firm hosted guests this year at the Spring Studios event space last Wednesday night. The event – which is always one of the livelier of the real estate industry’s holiday-party circuit – drew a crowd of movers and shakers, as per usual. Madison Realty Capital decorated the entrance to their party space with renderings of the […]

Manhattan rental concessions keep growing — especially in new dev

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 05:00 AM PST

Manhattan’s median rents took a hit as the market share of leases with concessions continued its rising streak. And the state of the market — rampant with incentives and listing discounts — is unlikely to change anytime soon. “I don’t see how you could say otherwise,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel and author of Douglas Elliman’s rental report. “It’s more of the same.” Median net effective rent fell 1.9 percent year […]

Former Casper, HuffPost execs launch home renovation startup Block

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 04:30 AM PST

Block Renovation, a new startup founded by former Casper and HuffPost executives, wants to shake up the home renovation industry. The platform, launched Thursday, allows users to choose between design packages online and pick materials and a contractor with one click. Block claims that its product is 25 percent cheaper than traditional home renovation booked directly with a contractor, in part because it hopes to save money by buying materials in bulk and negotiating for […]

Down but not out: A look at the top retail brokerages in Manhattan and Brooklyn

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 04:00 AM PST

When the discount store Five Below opened a flagship location on Fifth Avenue last month, it caused something of a stir in the Manhattan retail world. The brand, which sells all of its goods for $5 or less, does not exactly fit in with luxury retailers like Gucci and Prada that have given the strip its high-end reputation. But times, they are a-changing. “It would have been harder years ago for a discounter to get […]