The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Bill would cap emissions at many rent-regulated buildings

Posted: 28 May 2020 03:30 PM PDT

Last May the city enacted sweeping legislation that required buildings to cap carbon emissions — but it spared properties with even one rent-regulated unit. Now that may change. A new City Council bill would broaden the law to require certain rent-regulated apartment buildings to also meet those standards. The measure, sponsored by Queens Democrat Costa Constantinides, would amend the landmark Local Law 97 to include buildings where up to 35 percent of units are rent-regulated.

StreetEasy threatens to yank Elliman’s rental listings

Posted: 28 May 2020 02:20 PM PDT

Call it a declaration of war? StreetEasy has threatened to yank Douglas Elliman’s rental listings in what the portal has described as a contract dispute. The Zillow-owned company alerted Elliman’s nearly 2,500 New York City agents on Thursday that the brokerage’s rental listings would be pulled unless the dispute is resolved by June 19. StreetEasy also sent the email to landlords represented by Elliman agents. “Douglas Elliman agents will also no longer be able to

British aristocrats sue to quit Park Ave purchase

Posted: 28 May 2020 02:00 PM PDT

A couple whose family has been part of the British aristocracy for generations wants out of a $5.5 million Park Avenue co-op purchase. Lady Eva-Marie Houstoun-Boswall and Sir Alford Houstoun-Boswall argue in a lawsuit that the pandemic made it impossible for them to move in and that they are entitled to their $535,000 deposit back. The Houston-Boswells are baronets in the United Kingdom, a rank in the British aristocracy. Their family’s title was created in

Survival of the Fullest: Restaurants fear capacity constraints will kill them

Posted: 28 May 2020 12:45 PM PDT

As restaurants move to open, owners are agonizing over capacity constraints and social distancing guidelines, which are expected to result in a decline in sales. In turn, their landlords are sure to suffer from heartburn wondering whether the rent checks are coming. Of the 30 states that have allowed restaurants statewide to resume serving customers indoors, 15 have limited capacity to 25 percent or 50 percent, according to market-research firm Gordon Haskett. Restaurant executives expect

Tallying crisis’ toll on MRR Development’s Hotel Indigo

Posted: 28 May 2020 12:10 PM PDT

Unlike many New York hotels, Hotel Indigo Lower East Side has kept its doors open during the coronavirus pandemic. But new financial disclosures show the last few months have cut deeply into the MRR Development-owned property. In March, following the shutdown of bars and restaurants across the state, the hotel furloughed 80 percent of staff, according to the company’s first quarter earnings report published Wednesday on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. And while the hotel

The biggest new tenant in New York City is… TikTok

Posted: 28 May 2020 11:18 AM PDT

TikTok is coming to Times Square. The parent company for the video-sharing app has inked a lease with the Durst Organization for 232,000 square feet at One Five One, formerly known as Four Times Square, according to the Commercial Observer. It is the first six-digit office lease in Manhattan since the onset of the pandemic. Lenders still need to sign off on the deal to complete it, which should happen in a few weeks. The

Hotel occupancy hovers around 35% after Memorial Day boost

Posted: 28 May 2020 11:00 AM PDT

Hotels are slowly clawing their way back from pandemic purgatory. National occupancy rates climbed to 35.4 percent between May 17 and 23, according to weekly data released by STR. That’s up from 32.4 percent the week prior, and it marks the sixth consecutive week that rates have improved. Occupancy hit a low of roughly 21 percent in early April, and crossed the 30 percent threshold in the first week of May. Jan Frietag, STR’s senior

Pandemic takes a Toll: Builder’s profits drop 42%

Posted: 28 May 2020 10:35 AM PDT

As coronavirus battered the residential market, Toll Brothers said its second-quarter profits dropped nearly 42 percent from a year ago, to $75.7 million. The luxury home builder reported that signed contracts dipped 22 percent as buyers complied with stay-home orders. Home sale revenue was $1.52 billion, down 11 percent from $1.71 billion in the second quarter of 2019. The results were a reflection of “complex and challenging” circumstances sparked by the pandemic, CEO Douglas Yearley

Naftali closes on large Williamsburg development site for $100M

Posted: 28 May 2020 10:30 AM PDT

The Naftali Group closed on one of the last large-scale development sites on the Williamsburg waterfront. Miki Naftali’s development firm purchased the Rose Plaza site at 470 Kent Avenue for just over $102 million, the company announced Thursday. Naftali acknowledged the challenges the Covid-19 pandemic has presented to the development market, but said he sees strong demand for when the 470 Kent project eventually comes online. “These types of projects take years to design and

Tensions brew on WeWork’s board with appointment of new members

Posted: 28 May 2020 10:10 AM PDT

A brewing dispute at WeWork is set to intensify after a Delaware court approved the co-working company’s decision to appoint two new directors. WeWork told the court Wednesday that the company’s board planned to meet Friday to vote on the new appointments, the Financial Times reported. The candidates for the vacant board seats are Alex Dimitrief, formerly of General Electric, and Frederick Arnold, formerly of Convergex. The appointments are expected to ramp up tensions between

Industrious adds first female board member and eyes IPO

Posted: 28 May 2020 10:08 AM PDT

Flexible-office startup Industrious is moving closer to an initial public offering despite the perils of the coronavirus, which led the company to slash 20 percent of its workforce in early April. The Brooklyn-based firm has added real estate veteran Mary Hogan Preusse to its board of directors and has been interviewing investment banks ahead of a potential spring or summer IPO, according to Bloomberg. CEO and co-founder Jamie Hodari said the date could change, the

Assembly speaker fast-tracks rent relief bill

Posted: 28 May 2020 09:39 AM PDT

A rent-relief bill facing an uphill battle in the Assembly’s housing committee will head to the chamber floor for a vote after Speaker Carl Heastie abruptly canceled the committee meeting this morning. The Rent Relief Act of 2020 would provide $100 million in rental vouchers to landlords whose tenants can prove they qualify, but apparently would not have made it past the housing committee. “They were worried they didn’t have the votes in the committee,

“Large pools of talent”: Mark Zuckerberg touts remote-work plan

Posted: 28 May 2020 07:45 AM PDT

After announcing that Facebook will move toward more working from home, Mark Zuckerberg has detailed why the plan will work in his company’s favor. “The biggest advantages I think are access to large pools of talent who don’t live around the big cities and aren’t willing to move there,” the CEO told Andrew Ross Sorkin during a segment of CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “And there are a lot of people in the U.S. and

Eviction-ban bill passed by lawmakers as landlords object

Posted: 28 May 2020 07:13 AM PDT

State lawmakers have approved a moratorium on evictions for the remainder of the Covid-19 emergency. The bill, which still needs to be signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, covers tenants who have been financially affected by the pandemic. Its passage Wednesday was signaled by legislators the day before. The legislation prohibits residential evictions for non-payment of rent by tenants who have endured financial hardship between March 7 and an unknown future date. It does not cancel

Colony Capital reconsiders hotel portfolio in bid to shift from traditional properties

Posted: 28 May 2020 05:45 AM PDT

Colony Capital is weighing its options for its portfolio of hotels. The Tom Barrack-led company has hired Moelis & Co to evaluate alternatives for the holdings, which include full-service, extended-stay and select-service hotels, according to Bloomberg. Sources familiar with the matter told the publication that Colony was looking to move away from traditional commercial real estate to focus more on digital infrastructure properties. Colony declined to comment on the report. Earlier this month, it said

TRD Insights: Home lending in the United States was solid before the coronavirus pandemic hit

Posted: 28 May 2020 05:00 AM PDT

Home lending in the United States entered the coronavirus pandemic on solid footing, according to a quarterly report from real estate data provider Attom Data Solutions. With interest rates hitting all-time lows in the first quarter, refinancings enjoyed the steepest annual growth, and also made up nearly half of all loans originated. Although the dollar volume of refinancings dropped by 16 percent from last quarter, it doubled from last year, reaching $329 billion. The number

Mitsubishi International renews big lease at Durst’s 655 Third Avenue

Posted: 28 May 2020 04:30 AM PDT

Mitsubishi International has renewed its lease at the Durst Organization’s 655 Third Avenue, a space it has occupied for more than a decade. The Japanese Corporate giant has extended its lease term for up to another three years, the landlord announced Wednesday. The company, which first moved into the building in 2004, occupies 120,000 square feet, taking up the tower’s entire second through sixth floors. Asking price for the space was $70 per square foot.

Sutton Place co-op in turmoil over terrace fees

Posted: 28 May 2020 04:00 AM PDT

It’s not just New York City parks where tensions about open space are boiling over. At a co-op building on Sutton Place, the owners of a penthouse unit sued their board Wednesday, claiming “discriminatory and disparate treatment” over maintenance fees for the building’s terraces. Alixandra and Stuart Baker say the board voted last year to effectively shift the responsibility for maintaining terraces from the building as a whole to the few residents who have access