The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Hello, lawsuit: Spurned Inwood dev site buyer Hello Living sues ex-partner

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 03:31 PM PST

The Arden Group and Hello Living started out as partners on the acquisition of an Inwood development site. Now, the two developers are adversaries in court, having filed lawsuits against each other this week over their failed venture. After the partnership over 4650 Broadway broke down, Arden went ahead with the deal alone. Last week, it paid $54 million for the site that spans 47,000 square feet and is in an Opportunity Zone. Arden wants

Avery Hall pays $30M for Gowanus site

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 03:01 PM PST

Avery Hall Investments has snapped up another property in Gowanus ahead of the neighborhood’s planned rezoning. The development firm founded by Brian Ezra and Avi Fisher paid $30 million to buy the development site at 204 Fourth Avenue, sources told The Real Deal. The deal for the property, currently the site of a Speedway gas station, closed last week. Representatives for Avery Hall and Speedway could not be immediately reached for comment. Andrew Sasson and

StreetEasy hikes rental listing fees, forces manual entry

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 02:56 PM PST

StreetEasy’s already working on making its 2020 resolutions a reality. As of Jan. 1, 2020, the listings platform will begin charging agents $6 per day for rental listings and require that all agents manually enter their listing data. The new pricing and entry format was released to agents Tuesday afternoon and a representative for the company, which is owned by listings giant Zillow Group, said via email the double-barrelled announcement was coincidental. “The value of

A&E Real Estate buys huge rent-stabilized portfolio at deep discount

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 01:11 PM PST

The frozen market just melted. One of the city’s biggest multifamily landlords just purchased hundreds of Queens apartments in what appears to be the largest acquisition of rent-stabilized apartment buildings since the state’s new rent law passed in June. Doug Eisenberg’s A&E Real Estate Holdings bought the 539-unit Kestenbaum family portfolio in Rego Park for $129.5 million, sources told The Real Deal. That represents a 38% discount from the $210 million the seller sought upon

Zillow president to step down, Compass buys AI startup

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 12:30 PM PST

Every weekday, The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news. We update this page throughout the day, starting at 9 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com. This page was last updated at 3:30 p.m. Long Island politicians want HUD to investigate real estate discrimination. U.S. representatives Kathleen Rice and Thomas Suozzi are drafting a letter to HUD Secretary Ben Carson to call for an investigation into the “steering” Newsday found

Kate Spade’s UES co-op sells for $5.8M

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 12:19 PM PST

The Upper East Side home of late fashion designer Kate Spade has found a buyer. Public records show Shaila and Mamoon Zamir shelled out $5.8 million for the Lenox Hill co-op. Spade and her husband and business partner, Andy Spade, purchased the third-floor unit at 850 Park Avenue in 1999. The home spans 3,000 square feet with three bedrooms, a corner library, a chef’s eat-in kitchen and a wood-burning fireplace. Kate Spade was found dead

Day in the Life: Frances Katzen

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 11:35 AM PST

Douglas Elliman powerhouse agent Frances Katzen, 44, runs a 10-person team of luxury brokers that has closed $2.5 billion in total sales and sold more than $250 million annually since 2010. Her team also produces the Katzen Report, a monthly newsletter that covers trends and data in New York City real estate. Katzen was born in Cape Town, but when she was five, her family left South Africa due to the apartheid regime, and her

Aby Rosen makes it two Lever House lawsuits in two weeks

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 10:23 AM PST

The relationship between Aby Rosen and his new landlords at the Lever House, Brookfield and Waterman, just went from bad to worse. Rosen and Michael Fuchs’ firm, RFR Realty, sued the other two real estate giants Monday after being warned that it could lose its lease on the well-known Midtown office building. Six days earlier, Rosen had sued Waterman Interests’ principal, Philip M. “Tod” Waterman III, for going behind his back to become one of

Abu Dhabi fund to sell 330 Madison for as much as $900M

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 09:44 AM PST

The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund that offloaded the Chrysler Building this year at a huge loss has struck a deal to sell another Manhattan trophy property. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is selling its 40-story office building at 330 Madison Avenue to the huge German reinsurance firm Munich RE, sources told The Real Deal. Munich RE has a contract to buy the 1960s-era high rise for somewhere between $850 million and $900 million, according to

Proptech startup Eden completes $25M Series B

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 06:00 AM PST

Eden, a proptech startup that helps landlords manage parts of the workplace like scheduling cleaning services and ordering snacks, raised $25 million in its Series B funding round. Soho-based venture-capital firm Reshape led the funding round, Eden announced Tuesday. San Francisco-based Eden launched in 2015. Its technology is available in 25 major U.S. metro areas, the company said. Eden targets “the enormous workplace market that we believe can be radically transformed,” Reshape partner Vik Patel

Nightmare on E. 72nd Street raises question: Are small condos risky?

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 05:15 AM PST

The financial mess dragging down an Upper East Side building has triggered warnings about buying into a small condominium. In the case of 40 East 72nd Street, three buyers spent about $11 million apiece for residences in the luxury building and the sponsor claimed the penthouse, but the remaining three units went unsold for years. Now the condo is mired in a legal dispute and out of cash. “Just one reason we never recommend buying

After WeWork’s spectacular fall, it’s crunch time for Katerra

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 04:30 AM PST

Katerra CEO Michael Marks strolled onto the Las Vegas stage, his name and title projected onto a giant black screen. In a style that’s become a cliché among Silicon Valley startups, he was about to unveil the construction firm’s new products to an audience of more than 200 people. “We’ve been working hard, quietly behind the scenes for the last few years,” Marks said at the February event. “This is our coming-out party.” At the

NYC brokers slam bias, promise action after Newsday exposé

Posted: 19 Nov 2019 04:00 AM PST

New York City’s top residential brokerage firms sharply condemned widespread race discrimination in Long Island’s housing market found by an undercover investigation. Many used terms such as “appalling,” “alarming” and “tragic” to describe the findings of the three-year investigation by Newsday. Some said they were a call to action, and urged the industry to do better. And one firm took exception to the probe. The Real Deal asked 26 brokerages for their reactions to the

New York AG is investigating WeWork: report

Posted: 18 Nov 2019 08:04 PM PST

The New York State Attorney General’s office has launched an investigation into WeWork, Reuters reported. The embattled office-space company, which is soon set to lay off thousands of workers, confirmed to the news outlet that it had received a request from the state’s AG office, led by Letitia James. James’ office is reportedly looking into multiple transactions involving former CEO Adam Neumann that were scrutinized for potential self-dealing. One arrangement involved millions of dollars paid