The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff leaves board

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 03:20 PM PDT

Fourteen months after being replaced as Zillow’s chief executive, co-founder Spencer Rascoff is leaving the company’s board of directors. The Seattle-based listings giant disclosed the move in a regulatory filing Tuesday, just ahead of the market’s close. In the filing, it said Rascoff notified Zillow’s corporate secretary of his decision to step down on Monday. “Mr. Rascoff’s departure is not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations,

Top resi agents dish on second homes, virtual showings

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 03:00 PM PDT

With New York real estate shut down, the industry’s residential agents have had time to think about how their market recovered after 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis. The comeback from Covid-19 could be different, some say, in that shelter-in-place has reinforced the importance of our abodes. “As tragic as it is, this moment is probably the first trillion-dollar PR event to broadcast the meaning and value of having a home,” said Compass’ Leonard Steinberg

A quarter of Prologis’ tenants request a break on rent. Most won’t get it

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 02:42 PM PDT

Even the booming industrial real estate sector isn’t immune from the effects of the pandemic. Prologis, one of the biggest logistics real estate companies in the world, announced this week that nearly a quarter of its tenants are seeking rent relief. On average, 24 percent of tenants are requesting 69 days of rent relief, Prologis chief investment officer Gene Reilly told analysts on a conference call Monday. Despite the volume of requests, only about a

The Closing: Simon Ziff

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:00 PM PDT

Simon Ziff has been at the helm of Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group since 1995. As one of the most prominent boutique real estate debt and equity brokerages in the country, the company closed more than $7 billion in deals last year and about $85 billion in total since Ziff became president. The advisory firm dates back to 1926, when Herman and Bert Ackman initially founded it as Ackman Brothers. It has since worked on financing

Does “essential” status jeopardize brokers’ unemployment claims?

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 12:15 PM PDT

As brokers come to terms with the state’s reclassifying some of their work as essential, many are worried it will prevent them from collecting unemployment benefits. In late March the federal government offered “pandemic unemployment assistance” to people affected by the outbreak. Independent contractors — a group typically denied state unemployment support — were made eligible. The Real Deal asked New York’s Department of Labor to clarify whether last week’s classification change, which let brokers

New York pols want to extend eviction moratorium

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 11:35 AM PDT

Three progressive politicians are seeking to prevent a “tidal wave” of evictions when housing court re-opens. New York State Sens. Brad Hoylman and Liz Krueger and Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz are proposing legislation that would extend New York’s three-month eviction moratorium for six months after the state of emergency ends. The “Tenant Safe Harbor Act” would prevent landlords from seeking evictions for unpaid rent during that period. Landlords would still be able to bring claims

WeWork sues SoftBank for scrapping $3B bailout

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 11:18 AM PDT

It’s official — WeWork is suing its biggest backer. And this probably won’t be the last time. The embattled co-working giant is alleging that SoftBank wrongfully pulled out of an agreement to buy $3 billion worth of WeWork shares. That infusion would have helped stabilize WeWork as it worked to rebound from its failed IPO, as it faces a wave of vacancies brought on by the global coronavirus pandemic, the company said Tuesday, in a

Sharks circle as mortgage lenders shed portfolios at steep discounts

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 11:00 AM PDT

With mortgage lenders under pressure as homeowners miss payments, you better believe the sharks are circling. Opportunistic funds including Elliot Management and Appaloosa Management are reportedly in talks to buy discounted assets from troubled real estate investment trusts, according to Bloomberg. Oaktree Capital Group and Apollo Global Management are also reportedly interested in some of those assets. Some REITs have sold off mortgage portfolios to raise cash. Others are in discussions with hedge funds to

MTA: We gave builder a break, then he sued us

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:30 AM PDT

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is firing back against a judge’s order allowing construction of a Manhattan hotel to continue. It is also accusing a developer of being “selfish” and ungratefully suing after the transit agency cut it a break — a charge the builder refutes. The agency plans to appeal the March ruling preventing the MTA from halting work at 50 Trinity Place, a 173-key hotel being developed by FIT Investment. The MTA had ordered

Tonight on TRD Talks: Maintaining multifamily in a tumultuous time

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:25 AM PDT

With much of the nation staying indoors, the home is now where everyone is. For many, especially in New York and other big cities, that usually means a multifamily building rather than a single-family house. Apartment landlords and developers are facing new and unexpected challenges created by the coronavirus epidemic, like an increasing number of tenants struggling to pay the rent and others who cannot leave their homes. Live at 5p.m. tonight, TRD reporter Georgia Kromrei will moderate

“I can’t imagine the grief we’ve caused you:” Redfin furloughs 41% of agents

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 09:55 AM PDT

In the most drastic cuts seen in residential brokerage since the pandemic began, Redfin said Tuesday that it would furlough 41 percent of its agent workforce. In addition to the furloughs, the Seattle-based discount firm, an outlier in the brokerage industry for employing salaried brokers, said it plans to reduce its staff by 7 percent, or roughly 236, according to a regulatory filing. Citing the impact of Covid-19 on the housing market, CEO Glenn Kelman

Badgley Mischka is getting into real estate development

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 09:30 AM PDT

Beverly Hills-born fashion brand Badgley Mischka has inked a deal to brand real estate developments across the nation. The company is working with Brands Lab International to develop boutique residential and hospitality projects, The Real Deal has learned. Brands Lab International, with offices in Miami, London, Munich and Lisbon, is currently working with Diesel in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood to build a branded condo building and working with the Martha Stewart brand to develop projects across

Congress fixed tax code “retail glitch” and gave real estate a tax windfall

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 08:45 AM PDT

Real estate owners can thank a fix to the “retail glitch” — rectified in the $2 trillion economic bailout — for a new tax windfall. The economic stimulus package that the federal government passed last month corrected what is widely considered to be a drafting error from President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which allowed businesses to write off the costs of certain improvements right away. The 2017 legislation, however, excluded retailers from receiving the tax

Coronavirus distress is “opportunity of the century” for real estate investors

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 08:00 AM PDT

As the coronavirus crisis sends property values tumbling, real estate investors sense an even greater buying opportunity than the 2008 financial crisis. Hotels, retail properties and mortgage-backed securities in particular present ripe targets for distressed-asset investors, the Wall Street Journal reported. As of December, private real-estate funds focusing on opportunistic and distressed-asset investments held $142 billion in dry powder, according to Preqin. “There are people that do have dry powder, like us, and that will

RedSky puts Greenpoint dev site on market asking $165M

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 07:00 AM PDT

Brooklyn-focused real estate investment firm RedSky Capital has put another property on the market amid uncertainty over the valuation of its massive portfolio. The company, along with its London Stock Exchange-listed partner JZ Capital Partners, are asking $165 million for the full block development site at 1 Java Street (a.k.a. 18 India Street) on the Greenpoint waterfront, Commercial Observer reported. “The 1 Java Street development site offers unique large-scale conversion or ground-up development possibilities,” JLL’s

For second week, Manhattan records just two luxury contracts

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 06:30 AM PDT

It was a gloomy, if not somewhat expected result for the city’s brokers, who are feeling the effects of a tumbling economy. Two weeks earlier, there had been 14 contracts signed. The week before that, 21. The most expensive deal last week was for a 5,252-square-foot penthouse at 56 Leonard Street, which went into contract asking $24.5 million — down from $29.5 million, — according to the latest market report from Olshan Realty. Broker Elizabeth

Airbnb raises $1B from private equity firms

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 06:01 AM PDT

As its global host network struggles and its planned initial public offering faces uncertainty, Airbnb is landing a financial lifeline to help it weather the coronavirus storm. The home-sharing company is raising $1 billion in equity and debt from private-equity firms Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners, the Wall Street Journal reported. About $5 million of that total will go towards a Superhost relief fund, used to provide $15 million in grants to hosts who

Landlords locked out of $350B Paycheck Protection Program

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 05:30 AM PDT

The federal loan program meant to help small businesses weather the coronavirus’ economic impact leaves landlords out. Owners of apartment buildings, mobile-home parks and even campgrounds are ineligible to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program, which is administered by the Small Business Administration. Such enterprises are in most cases deemed “passive businesses” by the agency, which determines eligibility for the loan program. If a real estate firm can show that more than half of its

Williamsburg biz takes 53% more space to meet demand

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 05:00 AM PDT

A digital pharmacy significantly increased the size of its new lease in Williamsburg because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to sources familiar with the deal. Medly Pharmacy recently inked a 43,500-square-foot lease at Express Builders JB’s 46 Cook Street for $45 per square foot, according to sources familiar with the deal. The firm initially planned to lease 28,500 square feet at the building but added about 15,000 more to deal with an anticipated increase in

What other nations’ coronavirus experiences predict for us

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:30 AM PDT

The United States is now at the forefront of the coronavirus pandemic, after weeks of watching from a distance as it engulfed one country after another. China, South Korea and Italy took turns as epicenters of the outbreak with cases spiraling out of control and their economies shuddering to a halt. It’s now America in the spotlight with the most cases in the world and escalating containment measures threatening higher unemployment than during the Great

The top 10 biggest real estate projects coming to NYC

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:00 AM PDT

At least some developers are still filing projects, even as New York City remains on lockdown. Overall, permit filings with the Department of Buildings were down 37 percent from March 1 through March 28 compared to last year, but a few large projects are still their way to the city. They include a mixed-use development on the Lower East Side from the Gotham Organization — the largest project filed in March — and a mixed-use