The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Zillow revenues are up, but losses are widening as it pivots to home-flipping

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 04:21 PM PST

New Zillow CEO Rich Barton is shooting for the moon, but the company’s latest financials might have him crashing down to earth. On the same day that Spencer Rascoff stepped aside as CEO, Zillow disclosed in an earnings report that it collected a record $1.33 billion in revenue last year, a 24 percent gain over 2017. But the Seattle-based real estate tech firm also racked up a net loss of $120 million in 2018, well […]

NRT CEO goes after Compass for “taking advantage” of its agents

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 02:45 PM PST

With a $4.4 billion valuation and a massive national expansion, Compass has become a major player in the brokerage landscape — and attracted its share of criticism. This time, it’s coming from NRT CEO Ryan Gorman. In an email to his executives, Gorman claimed Compass was “taking advantage” of its agents and said that brokers should be skeptical if recruited by the firm, Inman reported. NRT, the brokerage-owning entity of Realogy, includes Corcoran Group, Citi […]

Naftali in contract to buy one of the last large dev sites on Williamsburg waterfront

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 02:15 PM PST

The Naftali Group, which has been ramping up its development activity following a quiet period, is lined up to buy one of the last large development sites on the Williamsburg waterfront. The Midtown-based development firm is in contract to buy the Rose Plaza site at 470 Kent Avenue from Abraham Rosenberg, sources told The Real Deal. The contract price is somewhere between $180 million and $185 million, sources said. The company, headed by founder Miki […]

Exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui sues Soho China for $300M

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 02:04 PM PST

Exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui is suing Soho China — China’s largest office developer and a partial owner of the General Motors Building in Manhattan — for damages totaling $300 million. Guo, who made his fortune in real estate in China, is now an outspoken critic of what he calls rampant corruption in the Chinese Communist Party. He has been seeking asylum in the United States since 2014. He bought a $67.5 million co-op at […]

Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff is stepping down as his co-founder takes over

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 01:38 PM PST

Zillow Group is replacing CEO Spencer Rascoff with co-founder and former CEO Rich Barton, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday. Rascoff, also a co-founder, led Zillow as CEO from 2010 through its IPO — and will remain with the company until March 22. He’ll stay on the board of directors after Barton takes over. Barton has been executive chairman since stepping down as CEO in 2010. Barton also founded Expedia […]

Behind the demise of Advisors Commercial Real Estate

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 01:30 PM PST

Newly-rebranded Advisors Commercial Real Estate did not get off to a great start. Just months after the brokerage formerly known as Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors was acquired by Sacramento-based First Capital Real Estate, vendors started to complain. Data giant CoStar shut off its service for nonpayment. Phone and furniture-leasing companies threatened to do the same. And finally, towards the end of last year, the company was evicted from its New York office at 1407 Broadway […]

The Mountain of Beverly Hills just got a $350M price chop

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 01:00 PM PST

When the so-called “Mountain of Beverly Hills” hit the market seeking a record-breaking $1 billion last summer, it drew snickers from real estate industry experts who balked at the price tag of the undeveloped land. Now, less than a year out, its sellers have cut its ask by 35 percent to $650 million, The Real Deal has learned. It re-listed on the Multiple Listing Service Wednesday. The 157-acre mountaintop spread in Beverly Hills Post Office […]

In bizarre saga of Bo Dietl’s MeToo investigative platform, Douglas Elliman is apparently not a client

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 12:19 PM PST

On Wednesday morning, an unexpected email hit the inboxes of New York media reporters. It said that Bo Dietl, the private eye and former mayoral hopeful, had created a “MeToo investigative platform” that would allow employees to report sexual misconduct and harassment. The email also said that Douglas Elliman was a client, and there would be a joint press conference on Thursday featuring Dietl and two top staffers at Elliman. There was one significant problem: […]

Lyft signs 100K sf lease at Cove Property’s 441 Ninth Avenue

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 11:30 AM PST

Ride-share behemoth Lyft has signed a 100,000 square foot lease at the Hudson Commons new development on the Far West Side. The San Francisco-based firm will move into Cove Property Group’s 700,000-square-foot new development building at 441 Ninth Avenue, according to the Commercial Observer. The lease signing follows reports the company is racing Uber to an IPO, with an expected launch before the end of March. JLL represented Lyft in the deal. Asking rents at […]

Use TRD’s new 3-D development map to get a jump on the competition

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 11:05 AM PST

 Trying to keep up with the latest projects underway in New York City? Check out The Real Deal’s new interactive map, where you can track more than 16,000 buildings in various stages of development across the five boroughs. This critical resource is for subscribers only, so if you haven’t joined us yet, sign up now. The map is updated daily by TRD’s data team and shows projects in every phase of development, from the moment plans […]

Thomson Reuters CEO snags Jade Signature condo in Sunny Isles Beach

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 10:15 AM PST

The CEO of Thomson Reuters bought a condo at Jade Signature in Sunny Isles Beach for $7.8 million. Jim Smith and his wife, Pam Kushmerick, bought the 4,361-square-foot unit at ‎16901 Collins Avenue for about $1,788 per square foot, records show. The condo, unit 5001, has five bedrooms and six-and-a-half bathrooms. Smith has been the CEO and president of the Toronto-based news and data service company Thomson Reuters since 2012. The company owns Reuters, which […]

Will a tech giant’s huge appetite transform a vibrant slice of Manhattan?

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 09:30 AM PST

It started as a lease expansion. But Google — in its quest for dominion over Chelsea and the Meatpacking District — wanted more. The technology giant first moved into the Chelsea Market building in 2007 with 108,000 square feet of office space at the 1.2 million-square-foot property. Five years later, it sank its teeth into another 94,000 square feet. As leases expired and tenants moved out, Google showed a level of hunger not even found […]

Heinz heiress’ 1 Sutton Place manse in contract

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 09:10 AM PST

The historic 1920s townhouse, built for a Vanderbilt and owned by a Heinz heiress, now has a buyer. The six bedroom Georgian-style mansion at 1 Sutton Place is now in contract. The last listing price was $18.5 million, a 12 percent discount from its original listing price of $21 million in September. Spanning 7,000 square feet over five stories, the mansion has views over the East River, a 32-foot high drawing room, and access to […]

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Posted: 21 Feb 2019 08:40 AM PST

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Savanna struggling to recapitalize emptyting LIC office tower: report

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 08:10 AM PST

One Court Square landlord Savanna can’t refinance the Long Island City office tower after losing a 1 million-square-foot tenant in Amazon. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company’s talks to either borrow more money or sell stakes in the property are now dead, as any deal had been contingent on Amazon moving workers into One Court Square as part of its new campus in Long Island City. As The Real Deal reported previously, Amazon […]

The rental rush: Developers in Westchester are on a multifamily building spree

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 07:45 AM PST

Westchester County is playing catch-up. “We’ve really had very little development over the last 20 years,” said Martin Ginsburg, founder of Ginsburg Development Companies and one of the county’s most active developers. “From a luxury apartment point of view, there has been almost nothing.” That’s rapidly changing. Dozens of large multifamily projects — especially in the lower and central parts of Westchester closer to New York City — are currently under construction or being planned. […]

NYCHA’s new monitor has some very interesting political ties

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 07:00 AM PST

The federal government has tapped Bart Schwartz, chairman of powerful and influential investigations firm Guidepost Solutions, to monitor the beleaguered New York City Housing Authority, a new report claims. Schwartz, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York’s Southern District, has ties to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Rudolph Giulliani as well as controversial activist and fiery Bill de Blasio critic Lenora Fulani, New York Magazine’s The City reported. Under federal oversight, NYCHA will have to meet […]

It looks really bad for Purplebricks right now

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 06:30 AM PST

All is not well for rapidly expanding discount brokerage Purplebricks. The company’s shares fell the most on record after the brokerage lowered its outlook for the second time since early December. The company slashed sales guidance for the year by 20 percent — as it expands in the U.S. and Australia, where the housing markets have slowed. Its chief executives in the U.S. and U.K. are also leaving the firm, Bloomberg reported. Shares fell as […]

As investors fear reforms in Albany, Rego Park multifamily portfolio hits market asking $210M

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 06:00 AM PST

Could this be the litmus test for the multifamily market in a Democratic-controlled Albany? A family with a portfolio of Rego Park apartment buildings is testing investor interest for rent-regulated apartments as state lawmakers weigh reforms. The Kestenbaum family — which has owned 18 adjacent properties along Queens Boulevard for the past 75 years — has hired Paul Massey’s B6 Real Estate Advisors to market and sell the package. The buildings have 539 apartments, all […]

Massive Sunset Park site in Opportunity Zone just hit the market for $150M

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 05:30 AM PST

A group of Flushing-based developers who have struggled with the rezoning process in Sunset Park have put their large development site on the market. The developers had planned a 1.3-million-square-foot mixed-use project in Sunset Park. The site at 6208 Eighth Avenue is now on the market for $150 million, Commercial Observer reported. Cushman & Wakefield’s Stephen Preuss has the listing. The move by the ownership group, 8208 Realty LLC, comes after years of pushback from […]

AOC says rents went up $200-$300 after Amazon selected Queens. That appears to be untrue

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 05:00 AM PST

Rising Democratic star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose congressional district borders Long Island City, was one the most prominent politicians to oppose the Amazon “HQ2” deal. Now that the deal has really fallen through, the congresswoman continues to defend her stance against detractors. In addition to the politics of providing billions of dollars in tax abatements to the world’s richest man, Ocasio-Cortez has cited rising rents as another reason for opposing the Amazon deal. And not just […]

Is Modern Spaces CEO Eric Benaim the brokerage king of Queens?

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 04:30 AM PST

Almost immediately after city and state officials announced their deal with Amazon to build half of its “second headquarters” in Long Island City, the criticism came pouring in. Many were upset about the nearly $3 billion subsidy package the e-commerce giant will receive, the lack of transparency throughout the process and the glaring provision to build a helipad for Jeff Bezos on the planned office tower’s roof. In LIC’s real estate market, though, the news […]

EB-5 money up in the air after Greenland agrees to sell Pacific Park site

Posted: 21 Feb 2019 04:00 AM PST

UPDATED, Feb. 21, 11:07 a.m.: Another EB-5 loan has hit a snag — this time at Brooklyn’s 22-acre Pacific Park megaproject. Roughly a quarter of a $249 million mezzanine loan that Chinese EB-5 investors pooled together for the next phase of the project will have to be redeployed after one of the development sites traded hands, sources told The Real Deal. A joint venture between the U.S. arm of China’s Greenland Group and Forest City […]