The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Blackstone is opening an upscale food hall in Flushing

Posted: 22 May 2019 03:50 PM PDT

Blackstone Group is sinking its teeth into Flushing’s dining scene with a new food hall. The development of the concept is being led by Colicchio Consulting, a boutique firm that brokers food & beverage deals between property owners and its in-house network of top chefs and restauranteurs. Phil Colicchio, the firm’s executive managing director, said the new Flushing food hall at the Shops at Skyview would span 30,000 square feet and feature upscale “chef-driven” and […]

Ben Ashkenazy is the secret ingredient in Nightingale, Wafra’s Coca-Cola deal

Posted: 22 May 2019 03:21 PM PDT

Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. is joining Nightingale Properties and the Wafra Group on their $907 million bid to buy the Coca-Cola building on Fifth Avenue. Ben Ashkenazy’s investment firm, a major player in high-street retail is putting $50 million worth of equity into the deal, sources told The Real Deal. Elie Schwartz and Simon Singer’s Nightingale Properties teamed up with Wafra Group – the investment vehicle owned by Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security pension fund […]

Abraham Brach, Parkview Management land $50M loan for Williamsburg condo project

Posted: 22 May 2019 02:30 PM PDT

Madison Realty Capital has provided a $50 million mortgage for a condominium project in Brooklyn’s Broadway Triangle, the firm announced on Wednesday. The money is for developer Abraham Brach’s project, addressed at 58 and 66 Gerry Street and 25 and 33 Bartlett Street. The property includes a nearly finished condo project with two adjacent seven-story buildings and ground-floor retail, an office building spanning about 7,500 square feet and a vacant residential development site. Brach is […]

Google scoops up another Jamestown property in Chelsea

Posted: 22 May 2019 02:00 PM PDT

Got Milk? Google is further expanding its footprint in Chelsea by picking up the Milk Building at 450 West 15th Street from Jamestown Properties, according to Crain’s. The building is connected by a bridge to another former Jamestown property now owned by Google — the Chelsea Market building at 75 Ninth Avenue. “This purchase will help us meet our short-term growth needs in Chelsea-Meatpacking,” said William Floyd, Google’s director of external affairs. The price of […]

These are some of the most notable resi sales of the week

Posted: 22 May 2019 01:30 PM PDT

The sale of two ultra-luxury pads at Vornado Realty Trust’s 220 Central Park South — to two fairly similar Luxembourg-based companies — wasn’t the only New York City residential sale that caught our eye this week. Other top deals include the sale of a townhouse in the East Village that dates to the late 19th century and a sponsor unit at The Shepherd condominium in the West Village. Source: A TRD review of public records […]

Torkian agrees to pay city $300K to settle massive illegal short-term rental case

Posted: 22 May 2019 01:00 PM PDT

The Torkian Group has agreed to pay the city $300,000 to settle claims that the landlord wrongfully marketed and leased illegal short-term rentals at three of its buildings. The agreement, finalized on Tuesday, settles allegations against the landlord but not the individuals who were accused of running a scheme through altered listings at Torkian properties on Airbnb, HomeAway and TripAdvisor. As a condition of its settlement, Torkian must cooperate with the city against other defendants […]

Former NFL star’s Greenwich home heads to auction, Dressbarn shuts its doors and more Westchester & Fairfield real estate news

Posted: 22 May 2019 12:30 PM PDT

Former NFL All-Pro Matt Birk’s Greenwich home heads to auction In what has been billed as an increasingly popular alternative to more traditional listings, former National Football League center Matt Birk’s Greenwich home is hitting the auction block, Patch reported. Birk bought the home at 26 Cobb Island Drive for $3.85 million in 2014, a year after the former All-Pro retired from the NFL, so he could get sacked for a loss when the property near Cos Cob Harbor […]

Party on? Companies host extravagant bashes at ICSC, while others temper their own events

Posted: 22 May 2019 12:00 PM PDT

On the descent into the Wynn Hotel and Resort’s Intrigue nightclub, brokers and real estate folk were greeted by two people dressed in kaleidoscopic mirror-glassed suits, one on stilts, the other balancing on an oversized gym ball while juggling batons. “It’s like the real estate market on steroids,” said Sam Viskovich, Reonomy’s vice president of marketing, who was attending the party hosted by Marcus & Millichap, and is a first time attendee of the […]

DOJ demands CoreLogic hand over MLS data amid antitrust concerns

Posted: 22 May 2019 11:30 AM PDT

The U.S. Justice Department is demanding multiple listings service vendor CoreLogic hand over data, as scrutiny intensifies over antitrust claims in the sector. CoreLogic, a financial services and analytics firm, notified clients of the request this week, according to Inman. The company stated that the Justice Department had asked for MLS data relating to buyer broker commissions and its policy language around the appropriate handling of the data. Other vendors have also received similar requests, […]

As rent regulation deadline nears, RSA suggests reforms to individual apartment improvements program

Posted: 22 May 2019 10:45 AM PDT

With less than a month until New York’s rent regulation laws expire, a real estate trade group plans to float reforms to a controversial program as an alternative to its elimination. The Rent Stabilization Association plans to propose changing the reporting requirements surrounding Individual Apartment Improvements, a program that allows landlords to increase rent on a regulated apartment they’ve renovated. RSA president Joseph Strasburg hasn’t yet discussed his suggested reforms with legislators but told The […]

No longer New Yorkers: Some are fleeing the tri-state and heading to lower-tax areas

Posted: 22 May 2019 09:35 AM PDT

It was early January — just weeks after President Trump’s tax bill went into effect — when Colby Gaines, a producer of the reality TV show “Pawn Stars,” approached his wife with a radical idea. The couple, he said, should move from New Jersey back to his native Texas, where they could save $500,000 a year on taxes. “It was just so stark,” said the founder of Back Roads Entertainment. “It’s undeniable to anyone who […]

Paul Manafort’s former real estate fixer is the driving force behind $3.5B Bronx megaproject plan

Posted: 22 May 2019 08:05 AM PDT

Brad Zackson, the optimistic former real estate point man for Trump presidential campaign manager Paul Manafort, is pitching an ambitious $3.5 billion plan to develop 5 million square feet along the Bronx waterfront. The project, which is bordered by Fordham Road and the University Heights Bridge, would feature a huge portfolio of space and amenities, including an e-sports stadium, a 700,000-square-foot Life Science Center and around 2,800 residential units. There would also be retail, a […]

Fire breaks out at Feil Organization’s 570 Lexington, leaves two injured

Posted: 22 May 2019 07:30 AM PDT

A fire broke out at the Feil Organization’s 570 Lexington Avenue — the home of the Real Estate board of New York — on Monday afternoon, leaving two people injured. The fire started on the 23rd floor of 570 Lexington Avenue, and 126 fire and emergency services personnel responded, according to Bloomberg. Several law offices appear to have space on the 23rd floor. The two injured people refused medical attention. The Feil Organization bought the […]

Carmelo Anthony might bring a basketball facility to the South Bronx

Posted: 22 May 2019 06:45 AM PDT

Carmelo Anthony might convert a Bronx warehouse into a basketball facility. The ten-time NBA All-Star met recently with Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr. to discuss plans for the site at 845 East 136 Street in Port Morris, The City reported. EXR Somerset is representing Anthony. The 94,000-square-foot property is currently seeking an asking rent of $14 to $21 a square foot, according to Loopnet. The building, which is owned by Tuck-It-Away Associates, is currently […]

Trio charged in bribery scheme at Mitchell-Lama complex in Coney Island

Posted: 22 May 2019 06:15 AM PDT

Three people have been charged with taking $874,000 in bribes from co-op owners in Coney Island who sought to leap over lower-income residents on a waitlist for affordable housing. The scheme, which took place at the 1,574-unit Luna Park housing complex, involved the doctoring of applications submitted to a government waitlist, and allowing those willing to pay a bribe to jump the queue, according to the New York Daily News. The property has long been […]

Tech and disruption underline ICSC’s 2019 Las Vegas retail conference

Posted: 22 May 2019 05:30 AM PDT

The welcome message plastered above the Las Vegas convention center said what people in the retail industry have had a hard time coming to terms with in recent years: “Less traditional. More innovative.” As bankruptcies, store closings and e-commerce have increasingly dragged revenues away from retailers, attendees of this year’s International Council of Shopping Centers convention expressed unwavering optimism. “Retail has always had to reinvent itself,” said Dan Spiegel, the managing director of Coldwell Banker […]

Hamptons resi brokers remain resolute, despite a slumping luxury market

Posted: 22 May 2019 05:00 AM PDT

For Bespoke Real Estate’s Vichinsky brothers, sitting atop a ranking of the top residential brokers in the Hamptons is not unfamiliar territory. The duo landed in the No. 1 spot in The Real Deal’s 2019 ranking of ultra-luxury brokers — those who closed the highest sales volumes of homes priced at $10 million or more. And in years past, the Vichinskys sat atop previous TRD rankings that included sales of homes priced under that amount on […]

Abu Dhabi’s Chrysler crash

Posted: 22 May 2019 04:30 AM PDT

Two months after the Chrysler Building was put up for sale in January, Aby Rosen, the flashy developer and co-founder of RFR Realty, emerged as the buyer behind a $151 million deal that surprised many seasoned real estate professionals. The building’s seller, a secretive sovereign wealth fund known as the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (the Council), took an 80 percent discount on the $800 million investment it had made more than a decade earlier. The […]

Inside the Taxi King’s collapsing empire, and his secret investment in the Brill Building

Posted: 22 May 2019 04:00 AM PDT

A few blocks north of Times Square, the Brill Building at 1619 Broadway was once the center of America’s popular music industry. But more recently, it was at the center of an odd sequence of events that saw a group of investors bid for the entire building, then settle for a minority stake in the building, and eventually lose their entire investment to foreclosure. Two years later, at least one investor still isn’t over it. […]