The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

JDS’ Michael Stern lists Walker Tower pad for $28M

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 03:45 PM PDT

Walker Tower’s newest listing comes with the developer’s personal stamp of approval. JDS Development Group’s Michael Stern listed his own duplex at Chelsea condominium for $27.8 million — around $11.8 million more than he paid for the pad in 2014. Spanning 4,749 square feet, the unit features a 686-square-foot terrace, four bedrooms and a media area. The asking price works out to around $5,855 per square foot, according to a listing from Compass’ Vickey Barron, […]

Mack-Cali committee to review strategic options, Kushner Companies trumps Jersey City in legal fight & more North Jersey real estate news

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 03:30 PM PDT

Mack-Cali to form new committee ahead of stockholder meeting The Mack-Cali board of directors at Jersey City-based Mack-Cali Realty is planning to form an independent committee to explore its strategic options, including a potential sale of the real estate investment trust, NJBIZ reported last week. Only 10 days after spurning activist investor Bow Street, the board Mack-Cali board said it would extend offers to join its ranks to two individuals nominated by the New York-based […]

These were the top 10 NYC retail leases in May

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 02:45 PM PDT

May was a good month for NYC’s restaurants, which secured three of the top retail leases. The rest of the list is a bit of a mixed bag, including some of the usual mainstays like pharmacies and banks. All together, May’s top 10 retail lease deals totaled less than April’s in terms of square footage, falling for the second month in a row. The top 10 signed last month totaled 103,500 square feet, down 74,700 […]

Resi scorecard: Manhattan condo inventory through April 2019

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 02:30 PM PDT

NEW DEVELOPMENT CONDO REPORT MANHATTAN • Inventory contracted as developers filed fewer units than were purchased • Developers filed six plans with a total of 163 units • The state approved five plans with 612 units valued at $1.6 billion • Buyers purchased 171 units valued at $639 million SUPPLY MANHATTAN NEW DEVELOPMENT CONDO SUPPLY MOST EXPENSIVE CONDO PROJECTS APPROVED Source: TRData analysis of plans submitted to the NYS Attorney General in April LARGEST CONDO […]

With 421a ending, more condo owners are selling their apartments

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 02:15 PM PDT

The time is up for apartments that benefitted from 421a developer tax abatements, and condominium owners are running for the door. Owners of Manhattan condos with those property-tax breaks are now trying to get rid of their pricey pads since those benefits will expire soon, a new survey found. In January 2016, 421a stalled out and, in April 2017, was replaced with a whole new program, Affordable New York. StreetEasy took a look at five […]

Greg Corbin leaving Besen & Associates for Rosewood

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 02:00 PM PDT

Greg Corbin and his team are saying goodbye to Besen & Associates and hello to Rosewood Realty Group. Corbin has joined Rosewood as executive managing director and will continue leading the Corbin Group at his new firm, Rosewood and Corbin announced on Tuesday. Brokers Aaron Kline, Brandon Serota and Chaya Milworn will join him in the move. Rosewood president Aaron Jungreis said in a statement that he is particularly excited to bring Corbin’s skills handling […]

Dozens of tenants arrested at rent reform protest outside assembly chamber

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 01:37 PM PDT

Protestors were arrested on Tuesday after blocking the entrance to the state Assembly chamber, as they demanded that the state legislature pass a package of nine bills aimed at reforming rent regulation laws. Similar protests and arrests took place outside the Senate chamber and Gov. Cuomo’s office, in an effort by tenants to pressure lawmakers to pass the measures with only 11 days before rent laws expire. The protests occurred as Assembly Speaker Andrea Stewart-Cousins […]

With Chinese investment drying up, EB-5 debt isn’t nearly as cheap

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 12:45 PM PDT

EB-5’s go-go days are a thing of the past, and now developers are searching for —but rarely finding — cheap debt through the federal visa program. Chinese investors who had accepted near-zero returns in order to secure a green card through EB-5 have pulled back, leaving developers without an alternative form of financing, according to the Wall Street Journal. Investors from other countries including India and Vietnam now make up a larger pool of EB-5 […]

You can buy Tony Soprano’s NJ mansion for $3.4M

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 12:15 PM PDT

If it’s good to be in something from the ground floor, as the fictional mobster Tony Soprano once said in the HBO television series bearing his last name, prospective home buyers in New Jersey might want to consider a roughly 5,600-square-foot mansion now on the market in North Caldwell. The property and its long blacktop driveway made famous by the critically acclaimed show “The Sopranos” — a prequel film is now being filmed in Newark and […]

Chetrit Group lands $133M refi for Williamsburg resi, hotel project

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 11:45 AM PDT

Chetrit Group has received a $133 million refinancing package for its development at 500 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg, according to sources familiar with the deal. The money comes from the Korean firm Hangang Asset Management. Galaxy Capital Group’s Henry Bodek brokered the deal. Chetrit’s 500 Metropolitan Avenue development stands 14 stories tall and has a 187-key hotel and 42 residential units. The project was built in 2018, according to StreetEasy, and was one of many […]

Hilton chief talks China, the Waldorf Astoria and tipping at NYU hospitality conference

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 11:22 AM PDT

Hilton Worldwide Holdings’ dealings with the Chinese government, the Waldorf Astoria and tipping practices were all topics of conversation during a lunchtime interview with the hotel company’s chief executive. Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta got up on stage at the annual NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference with New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin for the one-on-one chat under rote circumstances: Hilton was a major sponsor and the company’s centennial was a few days earlier. […]

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos pays $80M at 212 Fifth

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 10:28 AM PDT

Amazon may have scrapped plans for a campus in New York City, but CEO Jeff Bezos is still very, very bullish on Manhattan. The e-commerce chief is paying nearly $80 million for a three-unit spread at 212 Fifth Avenue, sources told the Wall Street Journal, in the priciest deal to date below 42nd Street. Bezos’ purchase reportedly includes the building’s top penthouse — once asking $74 million. The unit was last priced at $58 million, […]

Brooklyn’s luxury market saw 18 contracts above $2M signed last week of May: Stribling

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 09:30 AM PDT

There were 16 contracts signed in Brooklyn’s luxury market last week for a total of about $44.6 million. The properties included three condos and 13 townhouses with an average price of $2.8 million, according to the latest report from Stribling & Associates. The firm classifies luxury properties as all homes priced at $2 million or higher. The market was down from the previous week, which saw 20 contracts signed for a little over $63.6 million. […]

McCann inks 450K sf extension at Cohen Brothers’ 622 Third Ave

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 08:30 AM PDT

Advertising agency McCann Worldgroup is in for the long haul. The firm, now a subsidiary of Interpublic Group (IPG), has signed a 15-year extension of its lease at Cohen Brothers Realty’s 622 Third Avenue, the New York Post reported. The lease was set to expire in 2021. McCann has called the 39-story, nearly 1 million-square-foot tower home since 2000, and now occupies 450,000 square feet on floors 2-5 and 16-28. The asking rent for the […]

Trump’s move to take Fannie and Freddie private could mean higher mortgage costs

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 07:45 AM PDT

The Trump administration’s plan to return Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to private ownership, which the president has called a “pretty urgent” issue, may come with some politically inconvenient truths for 2020. Mark Calabria, the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, insists that the companies raise capital buffers before his agency releases them from government control. One result of these requirements will likely be higher fees for lenders that the companies insure, which […]

Is the hotel market under siege? Execs point to political climate as “a big concern”

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 07:06 AM PDT

Hotel investors at NYU’s annual hospitality conference say they’re hungry for good deals despite a slowing economy, rising costs and uncertain politics. Local hotelier Richard Born of BD Hotels tried to capitalize on NYU’s International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference early: After registration on Sunday, Born hosted an exclusive invite-only event at the rooftop bar in his nearby Pod Times Square Hotel, complete with tropical drinks, hula dancers and a live band. Guests included IHG’s Robert […]

Sapir Corp. posts $7M loss in first quarter of 2019

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 06:30 AM PDT

Developer Alex Sapir’s Israeli real estate company Sapir Corp. reported a loss of 26 million shekels in the first quarter, the equivalent of roughly $7.2 million. The company’s revenue in the first quarter totaled 23 million shekels, or about $6.4 million, which grew from nearly zero the previous year, Globes, an Israeli financial newspaper, reported. Revenue was up year-over-year because Sapir Corp. bought out partner Gerard Guez’s stake in the NoMo Soho hotel at 9 […]

NoMad Hotel owners settle feud to save property from bankruptcy auction

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 06:00 AM PDT

Billionaire investor Ron Burkle and the business partner he once threatened to “go thermonuclear” on, hotelier Andrew Zobler, have ended their feud in order to save a flagship property from foreclosure. Burkle’s Yucaipa Cos. agreed late last week to buy back $40 million in mezzanine debt from Colony Capital, holding off a UCC foreclosure auction of the NoMad Hotel at 1170 Broadway that was scheduled for Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The hotel’s owners […]

GDS in talks to buy Midtown East co-op for $200M in office-conversion play

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 05:30 AM PDT

Another new office project could soon be coming to rezoned Midtown East. GDS Development is in talks to acquire the 100-plus-year-old co-op building at 417 Park Avenue for about $200 million, Crain’s reported, citing several sources. The proceeds from a sale of the 28-unit building would come out to about $7 million per apartment. CBRE has been marketing the 13-story property at the corner of East 55th Street for several months. Under the rezoning, GDS […]

A look at the Garden State’s biggest real estate projects

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 05:00 AM PDT

Amid all the construction across northern New Jersey, a handful of real estate projects stand out for the sheer size of their ambition. From new, gleaming waterfront towers that rival New York City’s skyline to massive redevelopments of former factory sites, developers are placing large bets that people and companies will buy into a new New Jersey. Some projects have taken long and winding roads toward completion. The American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, which […]

Heirs unapparent: How RE firms plan — or don’t — for futures without the founder

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 04:30 AM PDT

One of the main criticisms of the 2020 presidential race could apply to the New York real estate industry as well: A lot of the key players are very old. Just as the quest to evict the 72-year-old Donald Trump from the Oval Office has been dominated by the likes of the 77-year-old Bernie Sanders, the 69-year-old Elizabeth Warren and the 76-year-old Joe Biden, the high-octane world of New York real estate is lorded over […]

Zach Aarons talks pouring gasoline on a proptech fire

Posted: 04 Jun 2019 04:00 AM PDT

The “treacherous B” is the put-up or shut-up period for property tech firms, awash in money but lacking a proven business model. Speaking at The Real Deal‘s 12th annual New York Showcase, MetaProp co-founder Zach Aarons said many prop-tech startups make it to the Series B funding stage because they’ve demonstrated they can raise gobs of money in short windows. But investors have a philosophical struggle: offer them more money and hope they can become […]