The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Cuomo orders real estate agents to stop showing homes

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 04:30 PM PDT

After a week of debate about whether brokers should continue showing homes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ruled them out. The governor’s action Friday — part of a sweeping ban on activities that risk spreading the coronavirus — put some agents at ease but also could temporarily erode their incomes. Douglas Elliman broker Lauren Muss seemed relieved. “It’s the right thing,” she said. Earlier in the day she’d conducted what will now be her last showing

Feds looking to lease warehouses for coronavirus triage, testing centers

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 03:45 PM PDT

The federal government is reaching out to commercial property owners and brokers to lease empty warehouse space for temporary triage centers, as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases nationwide continues to grow. As of Friday afternoon, more than 15,00 people had tested positive for the virus in the U.S., with more cases expected as the number of testing sites increases. President Trump, in a press conference earlier this week, said the government is considering taking

All hotels, short-term rentals in Miami-Dade ordered to shut down due to coronavirus

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 03:40 PM PDT

Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami Beach ordered all hotels, motels and short-term rentals shut down effective Monday, March 23, in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19. Guests and renters must be out of all commercial lodging establishments by midnight on Monday night, according to the city of Miami Beach’s order. “Our hotels have always been the lifeblood of our economy, so shuttering them is not something to do impulsively. But right

REIT declines outpace stock market amid shutdowns nationwide

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:45 PM PDT

Another barrage of bad news on the coronavirus front led to another rough week for the markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average erasing its past three years of growth and real estate investment trusts getting hit particularly hard. The FTSE Nareit All REITs index was down 21.74 percent through the first four days of the week, outpacing the Dow Jones, which declined by 13.35 percent over the same period. The tally from the All

The bills that wouldn’t die!

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:15 PM PDT

The only political victories the real estate industry could claim last year were fending off the pied-à-terre tax and the “good cause” eviction bill. But growing momentum to pass both measures in the current legislative session shows that the industry failed to drive a stake through their hearts. Though killed last year through intense lobbying, the dreaded “good cause” eviction bill championed by state Sen. Julia Salazar has risen from the dead and advanced to

Columbia offers small businesses free rent for April and May

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 01:45 PM PDT

Columbia University is giving its Upper Manhattan business tenants two months of free rent. Small businesses in the school’s retail portfolio will not have to pay rent for April and May to help them endure the coronavirus pandemic, the school announced Friday. The move applies to qualifying small businesses in Columbia’s 600,000 square feet of retail space across Morningside Heights, Harlem and Washington Heights. “This is the hardest of times for everyone, and noticeably for

Cuomo’s foreclosure, mortgage moratorium has no teeth

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 01:40 PM PDT

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s foreclosure and mortgage moratorium is little more than a strong suggestion to lenders. At a Thursday press conference, Cuomo touted the suspension, saying, “if you are not working, or working only part-time, we will have banks and financial institutions waive mortgage payments for 90 days.” But guidance issued by the Department of Financial Services several hours later reveals that the department would only “urge” lenders to “do their part” by suspending mortgage

Landlords extend building workers’ benefits in light of pandemic

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 01:00 PM PDT

Landlords and union building employees have reached an agreement to provide the workers extended benefits in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations and 32BJ SEIU agreed to a package of health benefits and protections for residential and commercial building workers, the groups announced Friday. It allows workers who were laid off or ineligible for health care on or after March 6 to get an additional 30 days of coverage

Illinois to issue shelter-in-place order: report

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 12:15 PM PDT

Illinois is expected to become the second U.S. state to issue a shelter-in-place order in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Gov. J.B. Pritzker plans to announce the directive, effective Saturday, during a news conference Friday afternoon, sources told the Chicago Tribune. Pritzker’s order means all Illinois residents must stay in their homes unless they’re performing essential activities, such as grocery shopping, going to the pharmacy, gassing up their cars and taking a walk outside.

Brookfield-backed Convene lays off fifth of its workforce

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 11:31 AM PDT

Convene, the shared office-space provider that is backed by the likes of Brookfield Asset Management and RXR Realty, has laid off a fifth of its workforce, or about 150 employees, in response to the slowdown in business brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic “has had a huge impact on the hospitality and meetings and event industries, and Convene has not been immune to that,” Simonetti told Business Insider in a statement. “After closing

Retailers tell landlords they could stop paying rent soon

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 11:00 AM PDT

Restaurants and other retailers that have seen business screech to a halt because of coronavirus shutdowns are warning their landlords that they may soon stop sending rent checks. Sandwich chain Subway sent a “force majeure” letter to landlords earlier this week saying that it may cut off rent payments if franchisees have to curtail business as government entities order them to shut down or significantly pull back services. “In the event this pandemic compels the

Daughter of Goldman exec nabs Fifth Avenue co-op for $25M

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:30 AM PDT

The daughter of Goldman Sachs’ head of merchant banking paid $25.3 million for a full-floor Fifth Avenue co-op. Jacqueline Friedman Brogadir bought the 10th floor unit at 993 Fifth Avenue in a sale recorded this week in property records. Brogadir, the daughter of Goldman’s Richard Friedman, could not be reached for comment. The seller was Ted Janulis and his wife Barbara. The couple purchased the residence in 2005 for $10.3 million. The 5,000-square-foot apartment overlooking

De Blasio says he will pursue rent moratorium

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:02 AM PDT

Mayor Bill de Blasio threw his support behind a rent moratorium Friday in light of the coronavirus pandemic and said he will pursue the idea “immediately.” “We have to figure out how to do some kind of moratorium for both residents and small business,” he said on his weekly call-in show with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer. “I’m going to find out if that’s anything within the power of the city or if that can only be

Cuomo announces drastic rules: No gathering, no going to work

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:26 AM PDT

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday barred all employees of non-essential businesses from reporting to work, and laid out what amount to shelter-in-place rules for New Yorkers, though he avoided the phrase. The order exempts food businesses and others deemed essential. As part of what he dubbed “New York on Pause,” the governor urged New Yorkers to avoid taking public transportation unless absolutely necessary and remain six feet from all other people when in public. “This

Cuomo authorizes notaries to sign virtually

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:20 AM PDT

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has authorized notaries in New York State to sign documents virtually — a move that will keep real estate moving on the heels of an announcement that only essential workers may go to work. In an executive order signed Thursday night, Cuomo allowed notaries to sign documents using video conferencing through April 18, provided the parties can interact during the call. The order said notaries may need to present valid photo ID

Coronavirus hits New York’s homeless shelters

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 08:45 AM PDT

The coronavirus has hit New York City’s homeless shelter system. Thursday evening, six cases of Covid-19 emerged in six separate shelters, Pix 11 reported. Three of those who tested positive were hospitalized, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Social Services, and another is at a Department of Homeless Services quarantine location for the next two weeks. New York’s homelessness problem was a crisis well before the emergence of a highly contagious virus that

WeWork sues NY firm over botched development deal

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 08:17 AM PDT

WeWork is suing a New York firm to recoup a $20 million fee it paid for a San Francisco development. WeWork blamed Maximus, a firm led by Stellar Management alum Robert Rosania, for not not closing on WeWork’s proposed investment in the project and not returning an “exclusivity fee,” Crain’s reported. The embattled co-working firm had envisioned putting a WeWork and WeLive on the 150-acre, 3,000-unit campus. Maximus was planning to increase the unit count

California issues statewide “stay at home” order, allowing only essential businesses to remain open

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 07:49 AM PDT

Gov. Gavin Newsom is ordering the state’s 40 million residents to stay at home in an urgent effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, a directive that follows Los Angeles’ move to strictly limit bars, restaurants and other high-trafficked businesses, and that imposed a moratorium on evictions. “A state as large as ours, a nation-state, is many parts, but at the end of the day, we’re one body,” Newsom said Thursday evening. “There’s a

Second-home tax would be “multiples worse” than Amazon loss: Howard Lorber

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:45 AM PDT

Douglas Elliman executive chairman Howard Lorber warns that a tax on second homes for the rich could be “multiples worse” than Amazon’s exit from New York City. In an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Lorber said a pied-à-terre tax would “be a disaster, not just for real estate, but for the economy in New York.” But the market in New York overall is “not so bad,” Lorber said, and even the state searches for additional

Landlords brace for impact of pandemic

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:11 AM PDT

Landlords are scrubbing down their apartment buildings, but no amount of Clorox is going to help when the rent checks stop. In a series of interviews, owners of multifamily portfolios said they have responded to the coronavirus outbreak by stepping up cleaning in their properties, staggering their employees’ shifts and having them work remotely. What they cannot control, though, is the loss of income their tenants are suffering as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc with

Shadow bankers could be left picking up the tab if hotels fail

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 05:30 AM PDT

Billionaire investor Leon Black went big on hotels in the years following the Great Recession, as alternative lenders like his Apollo Global Management stepped into the void left when banks curtailed some of their riskiest lending due to new regulations. But now, as the Covid-19 pandemic slams into the hospitality industry, Apollo, Starwood Property Trust, Blackstone Mortgage Trust and others in the shadow banking system stand to lose more as their search for risky, higher-yielding

Construction industry fears prevailing-wage bill still in play

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PDT

With less than two weeks until the deadline to pass New York’s state budget, concern is growing in construction and business circles that a bill requiring union-level wages will be included. In his proposed budget, Gov. Andrew Cuomo tucked in legislation that would require owners to pay construction workers prevailing wages on projects where public funds cover at least 30 percent of construction costs and such costs exceed $5 million. The bill includes carve-outs for

Pension fund money is getting tangled in some controversial housing deals

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 04:30 AM PDT

Madison Realty Capital, a private real estate investment firm heavily backed by public pension money, has been stuck with a nearly half-empty rental portfolio in Manhattan’s East Village. When the New York-based firm financed controversial landlord Raphael Toledano’s purchase of the 16 buildings in 2015, critics called the deal overleveraged. Madison lent $124 million for a portfolio that cost $97 million. But the lender had its reasons. The firm, led by Josh Zegen, Brian Shatz

Hotel startup Selina’s fantasy pitch meets grim reality

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 04:00 AM PDT

It’s a millennial’s dream: traveling the world while working, drinking, exploring and meeting like-minded nomads in chic hotels. That’s what Selina is selling. Backed by high-profile investors including WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann, the London-based startup operates dozens of hostels with co-working space in vacation spots across the globe. But after a bungled launch in the United States, Selina’s millennial fantasy is colliding with financial reality. For months its executives have been unable to persuade investors

Coronavirus cascade: How Covid-19 disruption could impact multifamily landlords, lenders

Posted: 20 Mar 2020 03:30 AM PDT

With industries like lodging, retail and beyond experiencing mass layoffs, millions of Americans face the prospect of no longer being able to afford rent. And while local, state and federal authorities have introduced eviction moratoriums across the country in response to the coronavirus crisis, where does that leave landlords with mortgages on their properties? Property owners of “low- to moderate-income” multifamily housing will feel the financial pain first, said Roy Chun, a managing director with