The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Trader Joe’s heading to Long Island City, brokers confirm

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 03:45 PM PST

Trader Joe’s is on its way to Long Island City, according to multiple brokers who work in the neighborhood. The popular grocery store will open a location of about 17,000 square feet at 22-43 Jackson Avenue. Construction should begin early next year. News of the opening was first reported by LIC Post. Circle F Capital is developing the Andres Escobar–designed building, which is known as the Prime. It will include 71 residential units. Representatives for

Two bitter rivals compete for WeWork castoff

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 03:29 PM PST

Eight months after selling his office-services firm to WeWork for $220 million, Dan Teran is raising money to buy Managed by Q back at a fraction of the price. But another interested bidder is threatening his successful takeover. Eden, a San Francisco-based startup and one of Managed by Q’s biggest competitors, has bid on the sale of the company, people familiar with the matter told The Real Deal. According to those involved, Teran and Eden

Bel Air megamansion sells for $150M, setting LA record

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 03:00 PM PST

A massive Bel Air mansion that belonged to the late media mogul Jerry Perenchio is being sold for $150 million, setting a new record for Los Angeles County. The Chartwell estate is being purchased by an unidentified buyer, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the deal. The home was by far the largest property in the extensive portfolio owned by the Perenchio estate. The billionaire was a former chairman and chief executive

E-commerce company inks pricey deal at Vornado’s High Line office space

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 02:44 PM PST

Loyalty-rewards company Next Jump inked a pricey lease at Vornado Realty Trust’s boutique office development on the High Line. The company completed a deal to take 41,300 square feet at 512 West 22nd Street, Crain’s reported. Next Jump is paying nearly $160 per square foot for the space across the 11-story building’s top three floors, according to Crain’s. Vornado co-developed the 172,000-square-foot building in partnership with the Olayan Group and the Albanese Organization. Earlier this

Contractor in alleged mob scandal worked on major NY projects

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 01:14 PM PST

It’s a nightmare for any builder: Mobsters connect with an employee in your company who steers them business and receives kickbacks. That allegedly happened recently to three New York metro area companies, according to federal prosecutors. The Department of Justice accused three men associated with a subcontractor, carpentry company CWC Contracting, of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. In return, the department alleged, the bribed employees would pad CWC’s bottom line

The $2.5B plan to lure millennials into new houses

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 12:15 PM PST

A development team has a $2.5 billion plan to lure millennials — and some Gen Xers — out of amenity-filled apartments and into thousands of new houses across the country. Miami-based Partners Global City Development and Brazil-based Leste investment management firm want to construct 10,000 new houses and townhomes in the build-to-rent space, The Real Deal has learned. The plan is on an aggressive timeline, with the venture aiming to build the houses in 30

Madison Realty Capital throws merry bash

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 10:30 AM PST

Madison Realty Capital invited a few hundred friends to the Lower East Side Thursday night for its annual holiday party — one of the hottest events on the schedule of year-end celebrations. Josh Zegen, Brian Shatz, and Adam Tantleff hosted the event at the Lightstone Group’s Moxy Hotel on East 11th Street, which opened in September.

Westchester group lobs its own constitutional challenge to New York’s rent law

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 10:10 AM PST

A group of landlords from the affluent suburbs outside New York City has joined the growing list of challengers to the state’s new rent law. A law firm representing Westchester’s Building and Realty Institute — a trade association that represents 300 landlords and managers of 17,000 rental units in Westchester County — filed a complaint in New York’s Southern District Tuesday that contends the law is arbitrary and irrational. The argument echoes that of a

Macerich lands nearly $500M refi for Kings Plaza Shopping Center

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 10:00 AM PST

Retail giant Macerich has landed a $487 million refinancing for its Kings Plaza Shopping Center amid a bleak environment for malls. The money for the recently redeveloped Brooklyn mall came from JPMorgan Chase and includes almost $60 million in new financing, according to property records. Macerich had alluded to an expected refinancing of Kings Plaza in its third quarter earnings call, but the company did not specify the lender or the price. Representatives for Macerich

WeWork in talks to sell off Managed by Q to free up some cash

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 09:49 AM PST

WeWork is in talks to the sell the biggest acquisition it made in its free-spending days. The co-working company is in discussions to sell the workplace management company Managed by Q to a group including one of the company’s co-founders, Bloomberg reported. It’s one of three companies WeWork put on the chopping block as it looks to cut costs. Co-founder and former chairman Dan Teran is working with a group of investors and executives to

What you need to know about investing in healthcare real estate

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 08:45 AM PST

In fragmentation, there is real estate opportunity. And that makes healthcare one of the most interesting spaces for private equity real estate investors, generating billions of dollars in trades over the past year, according to top players and advisers in the space. “As we are reaching the end of the cycle, people are seeing healthcare as a safe place to invest capital and find enhanced yield in healthcare as compared to other asset classes,” Ben

Square Mile Capital provides $180M loan for Brooklyn tower

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 08:00 AM PST

Square Mile Capital Management has provided a $180 million construction loan to the developer behind a planned 29-story tower in Brooklyn. The financing will allow Manhattan-based Hope Street Capital to complete a planned 280,000-square-foot property at 550 Clinton Avenue in Clinton Hill. The project will include 284 residential units, 60,000 square feet of retail space and an outdoor pool, according to the Commercial Observer. The landlord’s design won approval from New York’s Landmarks Preservation Committee

Aurora Capital pitches free rides for Meatpacking shoppers

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 07:30 AM PST

Aurora Capital Associates has an idea to drive more shoppers to the Meatpacking District — literally. And there’s a twist. The real estate investment firm is exploring how the district could reimburse shoppers’ rideshare if they spend a certain amount of money. It’s a modern version of the old practice of reimbursing parking-garage fees based on mall receipts, with a new element: data-sharing. The neighborhood’s Business Improvement District, property owners and perhaps a corporate sponsor

Carpenters vs. activists: Industry City’s $1B expansion brawl begins

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 06:45 AM PST

A $1 billion plan to expand Sunset Park’s Industry City complex was met with fierce opposition by local residents this week as the owner wades through a fraught approval process. Industry City is pushing for a rezoning of the 35-acre complex to allow for more retail, academic space and offices at the Third Avenue site in Brooklyn. The landlord launched the seven-month land-use review process in October, and it is to be voted on by

All eyes are on the last new mall: Norwalk’s SoNo Collection

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 06:00 AM PST

After more than five years of development, and much fanfare and nail-biting along the way, Brookfield Properties’ SoNo Collection opened in October in Norwalk, Connecticut. To say that a mall launch in 2019 is unusual would be quite the understatement. SoNo’s opening defies current market wisdom regarding the precarious nature of the retail sector. Malls are shrinking their footprints, and it’s been a record-breaking year for store closings, according to U.S. retail tracker Coresight Research.

Here’s why “Steady-Eddie” REITs are having a standout 2019

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 05:30 AM PST

In an uncertain U.S. economy, real estate investment trusts have had a standout year. Overall, the sector has notched better than 25 percent total returns year-to-date, among its best performances of the decade. Those strong 2019 results came as the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates three times this year, U.S. gross domestic product grew at a slow but even pace and there remained lingering concerns about the global economy, said Haendel St. Juste, a REIT

Manhattan condo builders pull back as market sinks

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 05:00 AM PST

In a sign of the times, Manhattan’s priciest condo project this year doesn’t expect to crack $1 billion in sales. Facing an oversupply of new development condo units in the borough, this year’s most expensive condo projects have set the pricing bar far lower than in 2018, according to a TRD analysis. The total sellout price for the 10 most expensive Manhattan condo projects this year was just $3.1 billion, a 57 percent plunge from

Tech leasing is on fire — and it’s not just the Facebook deal

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 04:30 AM PST

After months of rumors and speculation over where Apple and Facebook would plant their flags in New York, Mark Zuckerberg’s firm showed its hand. The social media giant signed a lease for more than 1.5 million square feet of office space across three buildings at Hudson Yards in mid-November, a major coup for developers the Related Companies, Oxford Properties Group and Mitsui Fudosan America. Related’s Stephen Winter, senior vice president of commercial leasing, said his

Real estate’s nemesis may now be its best hope in Albany

Posted: 11 Dec 2019 04:00 AM PST

The New York State Assembly for years passed tenant-friendly bills, and the Senate killed them. But now the Assembly — and its speaker, Carl Heastie — may represent the real estate industry’s best chance in Albany. With the Senate lurching from the Assembly’s right flank to its left last session, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s priorities shifting, what had long been dead-end legislation started reaching the governor’s desk — and getting signed. When the legislature reconvenes