The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

HFF brokers hit the ground running at JLL in New Jersey, SALT cap hurts Lower Hudson Valley housing market & more Tri-State real estate news

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 03:30 PM PDT

JLL brokers bevy of New Jersey building trades A team of brokers from HFF, having just seen their firm close on its $2 billion merger with JLL, have hit the ground running at their new digs. A JLL capital markets team led by senior managing director Jose Cruz and directors Marc Duval and Jordan Avanzato, all of whom just joined the brokerage from HFF, recently handled the sale of a vacant office building with a three-story […]

Colony Capital’s Thomas Barrack will exit as CEO as part of deal to buy digital infrastructure firm

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 03:00 PM PDT

Nine months after returning as CEO of Colony Capital, founder Thomas Barrack has given himself a term limit: 2021. Barrack will step down as the investment firm’s chief executive, returning to his post as executive chairman. The move was announced Thursday, as part of a $325 million deal to acquire digital infrastructure investment firm Digital Bridge Holdings. As of Thursday afternoon, Colony’s stock price was at $5.41. It was at $6.11 on Nov. 8, when […]

Turnbridge scoops up another industrial site for $40M

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 02:00 PM PDT

Turnbridge Equities has continued its industrial property buying spree with the $39.5 million purchase of a 129,000-square-foot warehouse in Queens. The company bought 58-95 Maurice Avenue in Maspeth from CMJ Realty, according to property records. Ares Commercial Real Estate provided a $24 million mortgage for the deal, and Turnbridge partnered with an unnamed institutional investor on the purchase. “We’re excited to add this Class AA industrial building to our last mile portfolio,” Turnbridge managing principal […]

Amazon considers We Company’s HQ in New York office search

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 01:14 PM PDT

The We Company may not actually occupy its own global headquarters after all. The co-working firm has discussed leasing the entire 11-story building at 424 Fifth Avenue to Amazon, according to the Wall Street Journal. The talks were part of a wider search Amazon is conducting to find office space in New York, the Journal reported. Amazon has also considered leasing portions of the building, though the current state of talks couldn’t be determined. One […]

SL Green renews two huge tenants, city wants to track retail vacancies: Daily digest

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 01:00 PM PDT

Every day, The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., and 4 p.m. ET. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com This page was last updated at 4 p.m. The biggest real estate VC will reportedly invest $40 billion into a new tech megafund. The Wall Street Journal reported that SoftBank’s latest […]

What you need to know about Airbnb, pre-IPO

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 11:00 AM PDT

Airbnb has been an almost perfect embodiment of Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” culture since it burst onto the scene in 2008. The company — which claims to have more than 6 million listings globally (a number it says is more rooms than the six largest hotel groups combined) — became very popular very fast with the public. But it’s also faced aggressive opposition from the city government and the hotel industry since the […]

All aboard! Former rail tycoon’s Hamptons estate pulls in $60M ask

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 09:30 AM PDT

The family of James Evans, the former chairman of the Union Pacific railroad empire, has put their waterfront estate in East Hampton on the market for $60 million. Evans, a lawyer who died at 94 in 2015, bought the 6.7-acre property at 32 Windmill Lane in 1986 and built a home on it, his daughter, Carol Jepperson, told the Wall Street Journal. While the family often used the property as a gathering place when Evans was alive, […]

The Daily Dirt: Shorting Zillow Group and other residential companies

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 08:00 AM PDT

Shorting public residential companies might be the latest craze. Here’s why. “The Big Short 2”: We open the scene with investor Steve Eisman (played by Steve Carell) sitting alone in his office, watching Zillow Group’s stock price climb. He smiles to himself because he knows what goes up … must come down. You’re probably thinking there’s no way that people are going to watch a second movie about a recession and someone who benefits from […]

The real estate industry’s biggest VC to invest $40B into a new tech megafund

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 07:31 AM PDT

SoftBank Group’s board is reportedly planning to meet Thursday to approve a $40 billion investment into its new technology fund. The investment comes after SoftBank secured backing from an unusual configuration of investors that includes Apple, Goldman Sachs, and the government of Kazakhstan. The Wall Street Journal reported that an anticipated merger of Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile — poised for approval by regulators — will wipe away billions of dollars in SoftBank debt and make […]

Here are the week’s top luxury sales

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 06:45 AM PDT

Each week, The Real Deal and CityRealty look back at Manhattan’s priciest apartment sales.

Lightstone gave its neighbors $7M to build a hotel. Then the neighbors secretly went to war, suit claims.

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 05:30 AM PDT

In 2015, the Lightstone Group paid $6.75 million to the people who run condominium next door in exchange for the development rights to build a new, 35-story Moxy Chelsea Hotel. But as the work progressed, the developers were hit with a series of inspections from the city’s Department of Buildings that delayed the project. Throughout the building’s construction and the first months of its operation, the inspectors looked into dozens of complaints — such as […]

Hamptons’ priciest summer rental to host MAGA extravaganza next month

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT

Having already hosted Rudy Giuliani’s 75th birthday party in May, top Hamptons homebuilder Joe Farrell is getting ready to raise the Make America Great Again stakes at his East End estate. Farrell’s 17,000-square-foot “Sandcastle” mansion in Bridgehampton, which hit the market last year seeking $50 million before slashing $10 million from its asking price in June, will be the scene of a fundraiser on Aug. 9 for President Donald Trump. Business Insider, citing data from […]

New rents laws mean big changes for some brokers in the multifamily biz

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 04:30 AM PDT

With New York’s new rent laws jolting the real estate business, commercial and residential brokers that focus heavily on multifamily properties are feeling the pressure and quickly changing tactics. Two brokers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, singled out Rosewood Realty Group and Ariel Property Advisors as firms that could be hit especially hard by the host of new tenant protections — as both have been entrenched in areas with a heavy supply of rent-stabilized […]

Another victim of the new rent law: International students

Posted: 25 Jul 2019 04:00 AM PDT

Brokers are sounding the alarm on one unintended potential consequence of the new rent law— and it most acutely affects those new to New York. Since apartment owners are no longer allowed to charge more than one month’s rent as a security deposit, landlords may not be able to rent to the droves of international students in New York City who come to study at universities like NYU and Columbia. Adam Frisch, managing principal at […]