The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Rent-stabilized portfolio in Harlem trades for $118M

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 03:06 PM PST

Another sizeable New York City rent-stabilized apartment portfolio traded before the end of 2019. An entity tied to Yechiel Newhouse paid about $118 million for a 407-unit portfolio of 31 mostly rent-stabilized buildings in Harlem in a deal that closed on Dec. 20, according to public records. The portfolio also includes retail. The seller was Ben and Jon Soleimani’s ABJ Property, which assembled the Harlem buildings in pieces over the years, records show. The firm

Brookfield scores $479M refi on Manhattan West resi tower

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 02:53 PM PST

Brookfield Property Partners and the Qatar Investment Authority refinanced their Manhattan West residential tower, the Eugene. Bank of China provided $479 million to refinance the residential portions of the 62-story tower, located at 3 Manhattan West, according to property records filed with the city Friday. The deal includes $33 million in new financing. Brookfield and QIA representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and a representative for Bank of China could not be

Future City newsletter: Compass falls short of 20/20 goal, a proptech house hunt in Nigeria & more

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 02:00 PM PST

Proptech is a $20 billion industry that’s already reshaping and upending traditional real estate as we know it. And this is just the beginning. Each Thursday, The Real Deal’s Future City newsletter breaks down the biggest news in proptech across the globe, from 3-D printer homebuilders in Long Island, to emerging tech brokerages in India, to crowdfunding property startups in San Francisco. Of course, we also cover the intrigue around firms backed by SoftBank. There are lots of them.

Brad Zackson deal included in this week’s mid-market investment sales

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 01:27 PM PST

Brad Zackson’s Dynamic Star closed on another parcel for its $3.5 billion Fordham Landing project, and a trio of Greenpoint buildings traded hands for $29 million in the mid-market investment sales made public this week. Here are the details: 1. An LLC linked to investor Alberto Smeke Saba purchased three Brooklyn apartment buildings for $29 million from Red Brick Properties. The buildings are located in Greenpoint at 107, 111 and 115 Greenpoint Avenue. ReadyCap Commercial

Big-box stores dominated NYC biggest retail deals in December

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 12:30 PM PST

Gyms and fitness clubs were once again conspicuously absent from the 10 largest retail leases made public in December. Instead, Best Buy narrowly beat out a new food hall for the top spot on the list. December’s 10 biggest retail leases made public totaled 290,200 square feet, up 120,500 square feet from November’s total of 169,700 square feet. The total is also a considerable step up from that of the top 10 leases in December

Manhattan office leasing just had its most active year since 2001

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 11:15 AM PST

Led by a surge in activity Downtown and massive tech leases in Midtown South, Manhattan’s office leasing market wrapped up 2019 with more leasing volume than any year since 2001, according to new research from Colliers International. Total leasing activity in Manhattan increased for the fourth year in a row to reach 42.97 million square feet, up 2.9 percent year-over-year and 28.4 percent above the ten-year average. After hitting an all-time high of $79.77 per

Brooklyn megachurch sues Thor for “putrid” leaks from Dallas BBQ

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 10:45 AM PST

A Brooklyn megachurch’s dreams of a new chapel to accommodate its 10,000 members were dashed by a leaking barbecue joint. The Brooklyn Tabernacle is suing Thor Equities and Dallas BBQ for “catastrophic damage” to their condo unit caused by liquids emanating from the restaurant, according to a complaint. The church had planned to construct a chapel, a computer lab and space for community classes in the more than 56,000 square feet of undeveloped subterranean space

Editor’s note: Blood, sweat and fears

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 10:30 AM PST

They call it “deadline” for a reason. At the end of every month, for the past 250 issues, we’ve raced to close the magazine on time, with the most ambitious stories we could muster and the fewest mistakes. If you’ve ever seen a newsroom, you’ll know the pressure of filing a story by deadline hangs over reporters like the Sword of Damocles, and fear of a correction makes editors sweat in equal measure during the

Co-working will outlive WeWork

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 09:30 AM PST

WeWork’s valuation has collapsed, and now the company is selling off acquisitions. Knotel is grappling with nearly 1 million square feet of vacancies. WeWork and other co-working companies are slashing their workforces. With headlines like that, you might think the whole sector is in trouble. But flexible office space isn’t going anywhere — and will likely continue expanding. The number of co-working spaces worldwide is expected to double by 2025, according to estimates, with growth

Lawyer argued façade was safe 3 months before fatal accident

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 08:20 AM PST

Three months before architect Erica Tishman was struck and killed by a chunk of debris from a midtown building, a lawyer representing the building’s owner argued the façade was safe. Jonathan Weiss, an attorney at the real estate consulting firm Jack Jaffa & Associates, made the argument at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings on September 12, according to the Wall Street Journal, which obtained a recording of the hearing. “The photos and the

Clarion Partners group lands $372M refi on FiDI tower

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 08:00 AM PST

Clarion Partners and MHP Real Estate Services landed a $372 million loan package on an office building in the Financial District. ING Capital provided the debt, which includes a nearly $334 million refinanced loan and a $37.8 million building and project mortgage for the property, according to records filed with the city Thursday. Eastdil Secured brokered the deal, which has a five-year term, according to a source with knowledge of the transaction. The refinancing stemmed

Celebrity property group caught in $11M construction dispute

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 07:28 AM PST

A Manhattan building that counts LeBron James and Arnold Schwarzenegger among its investors is now the subject of a messy and expensive construction dispute. Georgetown Company has been renovating the building at 787 11th Avenue in recent years, according to Crain’s — a plan that involved erecting two new floors and an outdoor tennis court. But things got messy when the operator of two car dealerships on the ground floor filed for bankruptcy in 2017.

Does Chicago still have an appetite for food halls?

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 06:15 AM PST

Remember the cupcake craze? Or when doughnuts had their major moment in Chicago? Shops popped up all around the city, and then most of them closed after a few years. Amid the city’s steadily increasing supply of food halls, one can’t help but wonder, will that be the next food fad to fizzle out? If so, the blowback would be much worse on real estate given the large amount of space they occupy. “Food halls

Cuomo kills Pier 40 redevelopment plan

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 05:45 AM PST

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vetoed plans to develop commercial office space at Hudson River Park’s Pier 40 — the latest in a series of setbacks at the troubled site. Cuomo rejected a bill on New Year’s Eve that would have greenlit the development of office space up to eight stories high on the West Village pier, according to Curbed. In a memo about the decision, he argued the pier’s recreational space needed to be preserved.

CW Realty plans luxury rental at controversial Vinegar Hill site

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 05:00 AM PST

A luxury developer is taking a crack at a controversial Vinegar Hill development site. CW Realty paid $20 million for the largest undeveloped site in the Brooklyn neighborhood, The Real Deal has learned. JLL’s Brendan Maddigan and Ethan Stanton brokered the sale. The Williamsburg-based CW Realty, led by Cheskie Weisz, plans to construct a five story, 59-unit luxury rental complex at 251 Front Street. But it may not be easy. The seller, Tocci Brothers, tore

Pricey Manhattan home sales dropped nearly 40% in Q4

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 04:45 AM PST

In real estate — as in life — multimillion-dollar outliers are often touted as a bellwether. But that didn’t hold water in Manhattan last quarter. While sales for properties priced at over $5 million tumbled about 38 percent year over year, properties below that threshold accounted for more than 95 percent of the fourth quarter’s transaction volume and saw sales rise by 1.6 percent, according to appraiser Jonathan Miller, author of Douglas Elliman’s latest sales

The Real Deal celebrates 250 issues

Posted: 03 Jan 2020 04:05 AM PST

It may be hard for some to imagine now, but there was a time when Columbus Circle was gritty, Williamsburg was more Hasidic than hipster and west of 10th Avenue was a no-man’s-land. Over the past 17 years, The Real Deal has churned out 250 issues, chronicling the changing real estate landscape — from the slew of supertalls on Billionaires’ Row to the WeWork saga and everything in between. In that time, this publication has