The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Cuomo confirms pied-à-terre tax is off the table, transfer tax could replace it

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 03:56 PM PDT

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday confirmed that the controversial pied-à-terre tax, an annual levy on nonresidents’ homes valued at $5 million or more, is off the table. During a press conference Friday evening, the governor said he and the legislature are working on an alternative to replace the tax in the proposed state budget. Instead of an annual tax, officials are working on a proposal for a one-time transfer tax on “high-end properties, residential and […]

City books plans for housing development at Inwood Library site

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 02:45 PM PDT

The city is planning a 174-unit affordable housing project at the Inwood Library site. The development at 4790 Broadway would span about 145,000 square feet and stand 14 stories and 143 feet tall, according to plans pre-filed with the Department of Buildings on Wednesday. The structure will be split between roughly 118,000 square feet of residential space and 26,000 square feet of community space. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which filed the […]

More brokerages are promoting whisper listings — and REBNY isn’t happy about it

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 02:00 PM PDT

The year was 2016. The billionaire was Len Blavatnik. And the house was the Wildenstein mansion, a 20,000-square-foot property at 19 East 64th Street. After a handshake deal, Blavatnik thought the house was his — until heirs to the art gallery fortune accepted an offer for $79.5 million from HNA Group. Blavatnik sued and lost. But the story doesn’t end there. With the Chinese conglomerate under pressure to sell off its assets, the billionaire pounced, paying […]

Mark your calendars: These are NYC’s top real estate events next week

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 01:15 PM PDT

Here are a few real estate events worth attending this week! On April 2, the Mortgage Bankers Association of New York is holding its 5th Annual Strategic Real Estate & Lending Summit at the Fordham Lincoln Center, 150 West 62nd Street, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Attend for featured discussions on the outlook of the commercial and residential market. Ryan Severino of JLL and Dan Alger of Goldman Sachs will be among the speakers […]

WATCH: What’s at stake with Albany’s proposed pied-à-terre tax

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 12:45 PM PDT

UPDATED, March 29, 2018, 6:35 p.m.: What’s behind the sudden revival of Albany’s proposed pied-à-terre tax and why is the real estate industry so concerned? Gov. Andrew Cuomo has expressed his commitment to the legislation following a recent report that suggested the momentum behind the tax was waning. Under the current original proposal, nonresidents who own homes with a market value of at least $5 million would be charged an annual fee. Brokerage executives have […]

Magna Hospitality picks up Sam Chang’s Garment District hotel for $274M

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 12:17 PM PDT

Magna Hospitality Group has closed on its buy of Sam Chang’s newly built hotel in the Garment District. Sam Chang’s McSam Hotel Group sold the property for $274.3 million, according to property records filed Friday. The parties were reported to have entered contract last month. Deutsche Bank provided a $185 million refinanced loan to buyer Magna Hospitality Group, headed by CEO Robert Indeglia. The lender declined to comment. Chang and Rhode Island-based Magna Hospitality did not […]

This art collector’s Connecticut compound just hit the market for $20M

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 11:30 AM PDT

A sprawling Connecticut estate, complete with its own private art gallery, could eventually become the priciest home sale in Litchfield County. The compound in Sharon, Conn. is on the market for $20 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The property is being sold by the estate of Melva Bucksbaum, a longtime trustee of the Whitney Museum of American Art who died in 2015. Klemm Real Estate’s Graham, Carolyn and Peter Klemm have the listing. The […]

Adam Hochfelder appears back in court to plead guilty to misdemeanor fraud charge

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 10:51 AM PDT

Adam Hochfelder was back in court on Thursday, where he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor fraud charge in a scheme involving Knicks season tickets, a false order from a fashion retailer and a Manhattan apartment building, according to court documents. The case arose out of Hochfelder’s 2008 fraud case, when he was accused of defrauding banks, friends and family out of more than $18 million and sent to prison for about two years. A victim […]

Schrager, Witkoff snag $173M refinancing of Public hotel

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 09:45 AM PDT

The Witkoff Group and hotelier Ian Schrager refinanced their luxury Public hotel-condominium project on the Lower East Side. Deutsche Bank provided the firm with a $173.25 million loan for the property at 215 Chrystie Street, according to property records filed Thursday. The debt replaces previous financing from Starwood Capital Group, which in 2017 provided the same amount for the project. Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Schrager and the Witkoff Group did not immediately return requests […]

Guggenheim and Singapore fund make move to buy Eastdil: report

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 08:34 AM PDT

A partnership between Guggenheim Investments and Singapore sovereign-wealth fund Temasek Holdings is in advanced talks to buy Eastdil Secured from Wells Fargo, according to the Wall Street Journal. As part of the deal, Eastdil CEO Roy March and senior management would take an ownership stake in the commercial brokerage, according to the Journal. Eastdil was long the leader in the New York investment-sales market, but has struggled over the past two years after losing key […]

Former MHP exec David Greene joins LSL Advisors

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 08:30 AM PDT

David Greene, the former head of brokerage at MHP Real Estate Services, is joining a boutique leasing and investment sales firm. He will serve as a principal at LSL Advisors, which was founded by Daniel Lolai in 2014, Commercial Observer reported. Greene told CO he “preferred a boutique rather than a big company.” He has been working with LSL Advisors since last year, but officially joined in January. Previously, Greene spent two decades at MHP, […]

These middlemen want to negotiate tenant buyouts — for a commission

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 08:00 AM PDT

There’s a new kind of broker in town. Middlemen companies are emerging to broker buyout deals between landlords and rent-stabilized tenants, according to a new report from Gothamist. Lease Buyout Advisors and Metro Tenant Advisors are two companies offering to negotiate buyouts, and both say they don’t charge upfront fees. Instead, they charge commissions of between 15 and 18 percent for closed buyouts. While that’s more than double the typical 6 percent charged by a […]

Homebuyers with heavy debt might find it tougher to get a mortgage

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 07:45 AM PDT

First-time and move-up homebuyers with heavy debt loads, low credit scores and small down payments face a daunting new mortgage hurdle: The Federal Housing Administration is toughening its underwriting standards. Large numbers of applications could be turned down in the coming months as a result. Industry estimates vary about the impact of the agency’s abrupt changes, but mortgage company executives told me last week that they are bracing for reductions in their FHA business by […]

Emmes and Hello Living head to court over $12M Bronx warehouse deal

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 07:00 AM PDT

It’s a face-off between a real estate investment firm, a developer and now, a title insurance companyk Real estate investment firm Emmes Asset Management is suing Eli Karp’s Hello Living after the developer didn’t turn up to close on a $12 million deal on a Bronx warehouse, according to Commercial Observer. Emmes went into contract with Hello Living on the roughly 30,300 square foot property at 580 Gerard Street in November 2018, but did not […]

Wave of NYC hotel openings see operators trying new tactics to boost business

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 06:31 AM PDT

There are an unprecedented number of new hotel projects opening in New York City. And operators are exploring news ways to lower prices — and raise them. Two major trends have emerged among these new hotel offerings, according to Bloomberg. Firstly, a slowing market has encouraged residential developers to work with luxury hotel brands. For hotels, the sale of expensive condos in the building can offset development costs. That’s the case at the Crown Building […]

Private equity bigwig makes CRE play

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 06:00 AM PDT

Private-equity firm Insight Venture Partners has made its latest bet in the commercial real estate technology space, acquiring a New York-based software company focused on building operations. Through Property Brands, a holding company in which Insight is the lead investor, it bought SiteCompli, The Real Deal has learned. The acquisition closed earlier this year, sources confirmed. On Thursday, Jason Griffith and Ross Goldenberg, who founded SiteCompli in 2008 and led it during its time as […]

National Cheat Sheet: HomeServices named largest US resi brokerage, housing starts hit 8-month low… & more

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 05:30 AM PDT

Warren Buffett’s HomeServices named top US resi brokerage Berkshire Hathaway’s HomeServices of America is now the largest residential brokerage in the country, according to a new ranking from Real Trends. It’s the first time the Minneapolis-based, Warren Buffett-owned firm has outranked Realogy’s NRT. HomeServices closed 346,629 transactions in 2018, while NRT closed 337,235, according to Real Trends. Despite being ousted from the top spot, NRT still had a higher dollar volume than HomeServices, with the […]

Louise Sunshine on selling out the Four Seasons projects and going on nine dates in one day

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 05:00 AM PDT

Sitting on a couch in a model residence at the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences at the Surf Club in Surfside, Louise Sunshine interrupts a sales pitch about its sister project in Fort Lauderdale. “Never use a rendering of a ballroom again,” she said, bluntly but not critically, to Dan Teixeira, a Douglas Elliman director of sales, regarding a slide in his presentation. Potential buyers don’t want to be reminded of event spaces like ballrooms […]

This month in real estate history

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 04:30 AM PDT

1916: Chelsea’s housing market catches industrial windfall With local industry booming, developers were “hastening” to build up Chelsea’s housing stock, the New York Times reported 103 years ago this month. While the area had been known as a hub for metalworks and manufacturing since the mid-1800s, burgeoning publishing companies were increasingly setting up shop there. And as trades spread north from Lower Manhattan, landlords and large homeowners in the neighborhood eagerly watched. At that time, the […]

Taking off: Hudson Yards now has flying cars for CRE tenants

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 04:00 AM PDT

Flying cars have landed at Hudson Yards. Through a partnership with Blade, a $150 million transportation startup, office tenants at Related Companies’ megadevelopment have access to a five-minute shuttle service to John F. Kennedy International Airport. As of this week, the four-year-old aviation company is running a continuous weekday flight service from the West 31st Street Heliport — one of three in the city — for $195. For a glimpse at what the journey is […]