The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

U.S. home mortgage surge past pre-recession record

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 03:00 PM PDT

Home mortgage debt surged to a new high in the second quarter, leaving the pre-recession 2008 peak in the dust. The total mortgage balance grew during the second quarter by $162 billion to $9.406 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. That’s more than the 2008 record of $9.294 trillion. Mortgage debt has been climbing since 2013, when it fell by 15 percent in the […]

Beny Steinmetz, reported backer of Chrysler Building owner and HFZ, to be tried in Guinean bribery scandal

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 02:57 PM PDT

Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz — the embattled diamond mogul who has been a silent backer of New York real estate — will be tried by Swiss prosecutors for allegedly bribing officials to win a lucrative mining contract in Guinea. Prosecutors who have been investigating the case for more than six years said Steinmetz and his mining company, Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), used Swiss bank accounts in part to bribe officials and land the mining […]

Brookland Capital loses control of another Brooklyn development

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 01:52 PM PDT

Brookland Capital is no longer the sponsor on one of its many Brooklyn condo projects. Boaz Gilad, the company’s founder, was terminated as a sponsor at 850 Metropolitan Avenue in East Williamsburg earlier this year, according to property records. The new principals are the architecture firm ROART and BHM Realty LLC. The 32-unit project on the site of a former condensed milk factory has a projected sellout of slightly more than $34 million, according to […]

Tony Malkin accused of age discrmination, FBI raids Jeffrey Epstein’s private island: Daily digest

Posted: 13 Aug 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., 12:30 p.m., and 4 p.m. ET. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com This page was last updated at 4:00 p.m. A tax firm is taking four-plus floors at Durst’s 733 Third Avenue. Accounting and advisory firm EisnerAmper signed a lease for nearly […]

Ex-Empire State Realty Trust exec claims she was fired after complaining about age discrimination

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 12:15 PM PDT

A former Empire State Realty Trust executive alleges that she was fired after complaining that the head of the company repeatedly called her “too old” and “a fossil” and gave her responsibilities to a younger woman based solely on her age. Audrey Pass, former chief marketing officer at the real estate investment trust, filed a lawsuit against ESRT and CEO Anthony Malkin, alleging that she was fired as retaliation for reporting age discrimination at the […]

The price of admissions — at the Hamptons swankiest golf clubs

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 10:50 AM PDT

Real estate’s bigwigs do not mess around when it comes to where they golf. From Stephen Ross to Harry Macklowe to Arthur Zeckendorf, he’s a look at the exclusive courses that they belong to — and at the very steep price of admission they pay for that privilege. See the full story “Gone golfin’” here Atlantic Golf Club Bridgehampton Established: 1992 Cost: $200K initiation Members: Harry Macklowe, Bill Rudin, Richard LeFrak National Golf Links […]

Tax firm EisnerAmper relocating large East Side office

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 10:00 AM PDT

Accounting and advisory firm EisnerAmper is relocating its offices to a new, big space on Third Avenue. The company signed a lease for nearly 125,000 square feet at the Durst Organization’s 733 Third Avenue at the corner of East 46th Street, the landlord told The Real Deal. EisnerAmper took the sixth through ninth floors, plus part of the 10th floor in the 15-year deal. Asking rent for the space was $69 per square foot. Durst […]

Yoel Goldman sells majority stake in Gowanus dev site to Rabsky for $80M

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 09:12 AM PDT

Yoel Goldman’s deal to sell a Gowanus development site has closed, and it turns out Goldman’s All Year Management will be retaining a minority stake in the project. The buyer, a partnership led by Rabsky Group, is paying $80 million and leaving a 12.5 percent stake to Goldman’s firm, according to a disclosure filed with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange late Monday afternoon New York time. The transaction has yet to be recorded in city […]

Scion of construction behemoth Bechtel launches $100M construction tech fund

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 09:00 AM PDT

A venture capital firm led by a scion of one of the world’s largest construction companies has launched a $100 million fund to invest in construction tech. The fund, launched by San Francisco-based Brick & Mortar Ventures, is the largest to focus exclusively on construction-technology startups, and will target seed and Series A funding rounds, the firm said Tuesday. Led by Darren Bechtel, Brick & Mortar Ventures raised $97.2 million from a dozen limited partners, […]

The Daily Dirt: City cracks whip on troubled crane company

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 08:00 AM PDT

With the first construction training deadline looming, the city is cracking down on a company with a series of safety issues. In April, a crane rigger was crushed to death at 570 Broome Street, the site of a 54-unit condo building in Soho. Three months later, a crane operated by the same company — United Cranes and Rigging — at an apartment building at 749 FDR Drive in the East Village partially collapsed. That happened […]

The economic realities behind the city’s “storefront tracker” bill

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 07:15 AM PDT

A new law passed by City Council last month will require landlords to register the status of their commercial storefronts, as the city seeks more data in its efforts to combat retail vacancies and support small businesses. Meanwhile, new research has questioned whether the phenomenon of empty storefronts is as widespread as feared, and some in the industry note that rents have already begun adjusting to the new retail reality, Bloomberg reported. “Landlords still have […]

Where do NYC’s real estate bigwigs tee off?

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 04:30 AM PDT

Anyone who’s tried to do business with a serious golfer on a summer Friday — or Monday, for that matter — may be on a fool’s errand. With an abundance of storied golf clubs in the metropolitan area, the same is true of real estate’s biggest players. Built on hundreds of acres of rolling hills in Westchester, New Jersey and the Hamptons, golf in the tri-state area is unquestionably a real estate story — sharing […]