The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

At years’ halfway point, Westchester sees a rebound in residential sales

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:45 PM PDT

While the single-family market in Westchester County has rallied from its 2018 slowdown, a report released Thursday shows that the residential scene in one of New York’s priciest suburbs still has a ways to go before achieving a full recovery. Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel and author of the Douglas Elliman’s second quarter report, told The Real Deal that year-over-year sales rose 14.5 percent, to 2,495, in Westchester over the […]

General Contractors Association’s leader to leave post by end of summer

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:15 PM PDT

The longtime chief of the General Contractors Association of New York is leaving her role. It is not yet known who will replace Denise Richardson as executive director of the construction industry trade group, according to the Crain’s. The GCA represents construction workers in New York City who focus on public works projects, including work undertaken by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Richardson’s plans or reasons for stepping down also weren’t immediately known. In a statement […]

Spitzer sells UES apartment building

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 01:36 PM PDT

Eliot Spitzer sold another property built by his late father in the 1970s as he continues to forge ahead with a new generation of developments. Spitzer’s family firm, Spitzer Enterprises, sold the 147-unit rental building at 220 East 72nd Street on the Upper East Side to a partnership led by the Dermot Company for $160 million, sources told The Real Deal. “The Spitzer family built an incredible building and did an impressive job maintaining it […]

Billionaires’ rule the world, NYC real estate edition

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 01:30 PM PDT

As the overall luxury real estate market has sagged in New York City, the billionaire set is still on the make, sending handlers to scout out penthouses and townhouses and finalizing transactions left and right. Here’s a look at some key numbers surrounding the set of buyers who make top NYC developers and high-end sellers salivate. And for more on NYC’s billionaire buying frenzy read the full story here. 2,604 The number of billionaires worldwide […]

Naftali Group lands $176M for (another) Upper East side project

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 01:00 PM PDT

The Naftali Group has landed another major financing package for another large project on the Upper East Side. HSBC loaned the company $176 million in new financing for its condominium project at 200 East 83rd Street, according to property records. The package consists of a $117 million building loan and a $59 million project loan, and it also includes a $90 million refinanced loan, bringing its value to $266 million overall. Naftali Group and Rockefeller […]

Jeffrey Epstein’s attorneys want him on house arrest inside $77M mansion ahead of his trial

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 12:40 PM PDT

Financier Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers want him on house arrest in Manhattan as he waits to go on trial over charges of federal sex trafficking. The vilified billionaire posted a bond that places a $77 million value on his Upper East Side mansion, which the federal Justice Department wants to seize following his arrest Saturday. Epstein’s attorneys have argued that he is not a serious flight risk and proposed a bail package that includes electronic monitoring, […]

BHS’ chief of tech, communications out amid internal shakeup

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 12:30 PM PDT

Brown Harris Stevens’ chief technology officer and head of communications are out amid an internal shakeup at the luxury brokerage. Sources said Jim Cahill — who worked for BHS’ parent company, Terra Holdings — will remain in a consulting role through the end of the year. Amy Gotzler, the firm’s former senior vice president of corporate communications and brand strategy, was let go on Monday. Robert Marane, the firm’s vice president and director of operations, […]

Gym chain creator looks to part ways with Westchester County compound

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 11:20 AM PDT

Nearly three decades after co-founding the deluxe gym chain Equinox Fitness, Vito Errico is looking to pull off another heavy lift — selling a suburban home in a down market. Errico recently listed his custom-built stone residence in Westchester County for $8.89 million, the New York Post reported. He told the outlet that the 11,423-square-foot Armonk abode is an assemblage of smaller buildings. “It wasn’t about building a grand, in-your-face mansion, but a home where […]

Why fewer Brooklyn and Queens tenants are moving

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 10:30 AM PDT

Landlords offering incentives to renters in Queens and Brooklyn are increasingly in the minority as prices rise and a rising number of tenants renew rather than move. Concessions fell for the sixth consecutive month in Brooklyn, while in Northwest Queens it was the fourth month running where tenant perks declined, according to Douglas Elliman’s latest rental market report. Meanwhile, both boroughs saw rents tick up. The median rental price, including concessions, in Brooklyn rose 5.9 […]

For the first time in a century, this East Hampton home is on the market

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 09:00 AM PDT

An East Hampton home built in 1884 has hit the market for the first time in more than a century. Known as the Apaquogue and located at 72 Apaquogue Road, the home was listed on July 1 for $16.9 million, Behind the Hedges reported. In the middle of the 19th century, the property’s former owner, Abraham Candy, ran a boarding house on his farm. E.A. LaForest took over the property in 1882, but the boarding house […]

A ‘deathblow’ or a market saver? Carpenters’ union inks new contentious contract

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 08:30 AM PDT

In its latest bid to compete with the rising tide of nonunion workers, New York City’s carpenters’ union on Wednesday approved a controversial deal with interior construction contractors. The delegates of the New York City District Council of Carpenters voted unanimously in favor of a collective bargaining agreement with the Association of Wall-Ceiling & Carpentry Industries, a trade organization that represents interior contractors. The five-year contract sets new wage rates and worker ratios for commercial, […]

Why Amazon HQ2 is already rattling the local housing market

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 08:00 AM PDT

They don’t call it the Amazon effect for nothing. The online retail giant has been causing some consternation in Northern Virginia, even though it has yet to start work on its corporate campus there. The company announced in November it would open its HQ2 in Arlington, and residents say they have been inundated with interest in the months following, according to the New York Times. Many say Amazon’s plans have already driven up property and rent […]

Real Housewife Ramona Singer parts with UES home for $4M

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 07:35 AM PDT

Bravo TV’s Ramona Singer has officially said goodbye to her longtime Upper East Side home. Singer, a star on the “Real Housewives of New York” series, sold her apartment at the Richmond Condominium at 201 East 80th Street for a little over $4 million, or $1,630 per square foot, property records show. The buyer was recorded as Blake Bhatia, who could not be immediately reached for comment. Singer and her ex-husband Mario Singer had bought […]

Manhattan homebuyers continue “camping out” in the rental market: Elliman

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 06:45 AM PDT

Peak “camping” season for Manhattan’s rental market is in full swing. With the caveat of last month’s rent law changes, “overall, June was a positive month for landlords,” according to appraiser Jonathan Miller, who authored the Douglas Elliman’s most recent monthly rental report. Summer is typically known as the busiest period of the year for rental transactions, however new leases were down 15 percent compared to May and 9.6 percent year over year. Last month, […]

Upper East Side developer funded “lavish lifestyle” through mortgage fraud: Manhattan district attorney

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 06:00 AM PDT

Manhattan developer Penny Bradley has been arrested and charged with allegedly running a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scam and using the proceeds to fund her “lavish lifestyle.” Prosecutors from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. alleged that Bradley, 54, illegally obtained millions of dollars in loans against an LLC established to buy, renovate and sell a 7,400 square-foot property at 46 East 82nd Street. She was the sole managing member of the company, […]

Why resi sales didn’t surge in Brooklyn and Queens ahead of mansion tax

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 05:30 AM PDT

June was a busy month in New York’s residential market, as buyers rushed to close deals ahead of the mansion and transfer taxes that came into effect on July 1. Sales surged in Manhattan, data showed. But in Brooklyn and Queens, it was a different story. According to the latest Douglas Elliman market reports, year-over-year Brooklyn sales declined in June for the sixth consecutive quarter, while listing inventory went up. The figures stood in sharp […]

Airbnb competitor Sonder says after new funding round it’s now worth $1B

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT

A hotel-room-style listing startup just obtained unicorn status. Sonder, a San Francisco-based startup with a platform that leases apartments and transforms them into furnished short-term rentals, closed on a $210 million funding at a $1 billion valuation, the company said Thursday. Sonder’s big funding round signals confidence in the hospitality startup that is competing with Airbnb, which largely draws income from fees it charges renters and hosts. Unlike Airbnb, Sonder relies on an asset-heavy model […]

Billionaire buyers: The one group picking up NYC real estate while the rest of the luxe market is squishy

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 04:30 AM PDT

Nikki Field felt certain that she’d already laid eyes on the buyer of the penthouse at 212 Fifth Avenue. Looking with a forensic lens at her sign-in sheet last May, the Sotheby’s International Realty agent calculated that uber-wealthy buyers were waiting a minimum of eight months before signing contracts. “I said to Bob Gladstone, ‘There’s going to be no one new,’” she recalled, referring to the founder of Madison Equities, who converted the former manufacturing […]

The juiciest claims in the Realogy v Compass lawsuit

Posted: 11 Jul 2019 04:00 AM PDT

The incendiary lawsuit Realogy filed Wednesday accuses Compass of “illicit” business practices, “predatory” poaching and attempts at price-fixing. The 68-page suit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, provides a raft of detailed examples for how the $4.4 billion Softbank-backed firm allegedly operates — from making “inflated” job offers to flouting co-brokerage rules. In a statement, a Compass spokesperson said its competitors are “using the court system to stifle competition” and noted that past attempts […]