The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Building collapses in Brooklyn: FDNY

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 02:50 PM PDT

A three-story building at 348 Court Street in Brooklyn collapsed Wednesday evening. The New York City Fire Department received reports of the crumbled structure at 5 p.m., according to a spokesperson for the department. One person was inside the Carroll Gardens building just before it collapsed and suffered minor injuries, according to Council member Brad Lander. Property records indicate that the building is owned by Union & Court Realty Corp., an entity tied to Kihyo

LA County ordered to shut indoor dining for 3 weeks as Covid cases climb

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 02:30 PM PDT

With coronavirus cases on the rise again, Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered Los Angeles County to shut indoor dining at restaurants for three weeks, another blow to business owners following the recent reopenings. Newsom’s order on Wednesday took effect immediately and includes 19 counties throughout the state, according to the Los Angeles Times. The governor also ordered movie theaters to close, along with wineries, zoos and museums, all of which had been recently reopened. Restaurants

Why the City Council abandoned affordable housing

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 02:13 PM PDT

The speeches began shortly after 10 p.m. and dragged on for more than two hours. One City Council member after another explained why they were supporting or opposing the city’s $88 billion budget. Most of them talked about defunding the police. Many cheered programs for young people that had been saved. But only one even alluded to the 21,000 units of affordable housing eliminated from the original spending plan. (Brad Lander lamented the $2.3 billion

Bad to worse: Manhattan office leasing sees slowest quarter since 2009

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 01:00 PM PDT

When coronavirus slammed Manhattan’s office leasing market at the end of the first quarter, it was enough to drag quarterly leasing activity to a seven-year low. Now that numbers are out for the first full quarter in the shadow of Covid-19, things look even worse. Manhattan office leasing activity in the second quarter of 2020 totalled just 3.18 million square feet, according to the latest quarterly report from Colliers International. That’s half what it was

Former Hearst home in Huntington Bay hits market for $2.2M

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 12:15 PM PDT

A mansion once owned by William Randolph Hearst has hit the market for $2.2 million, according to the New York Post. The manse on Long Island’s North Shore was built in 1906 outside the BeauxArts Casino, now known as the Bay Club. The 52-year-old publishing mogul is said to have bought the home around 1917 for his then-20-year-old mistress, Marion Davies. While the couple spent time at the famous Hearst Castle on California’s coast, Davies

Sapir Corp’s earnings highlight challenges facing NYC hotels

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 12:00 PM PDT

As the coronavirus crisis led many New York City hotels to close their doors, some properties have managed to boost their occupancy with government contracts to house frontline workers and others in need of housing. For the rest, business has been dismal. The situation at Sapir Corp.’s 264-key NoMo Soho hotel at 9 Crosby Street is a striking example. As revealed in the Alex Sapir-led company’s latest quarterly earnings report, the hotel had an occupancy

Keller Williams to cut ties with top franchise owner following sexual harassment allegations

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 11:35 AM PDT

Keller Williams is cutting ties with Seth Campbell, the owner of several of the brokerage’s market centers with approximately 500 agents under his supervision, following a months-long investigation into multiple allegations of sexual harassment. Campbell is accused of sending illicit text messages, using sexually explicit language directed toward younger women in the office and making sexual advances towards an agent, according to a report by Inman. “The safety and well-being of our associates is paramount

All Year and David Werner renegotiate deal for $300M Brooklyn portfolio sale

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 11:00 AM PDT

Not all coronavirus-impacted real estate deals need to go to court, after all. After the pandemic slammed the brakes on All Year Management’s sale of a 74-building, $346 million multifamily portfolio to investor David Werner in May, the parties negotiated for nearly two months in efforts to salvage the deal. The new transaction is slightly smaller than before, and significantly more complex. Under the new agreement, Werner has agreed to acquire 68 buildings for about

New York City indoor dining postponed indefinitely

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 10:35 AM PDT

Restaurants suffered a major blow as officials announced Wednesday that indoor dining would remain forbidden indefinitely. Only six days ago Mayor Bill de Blasio had given thumbs-up for indoor dining to begin July 6 as part of reopening’s phase three. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo had second thoughts as Covid-19 cases began to spike in other states and social distancing began to break down in the city, and decided to reverse course. Before the governor announced

NYC’s ghost towers: How many Manhattan luxury condos are owned by people who don’t live there?

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 07:40 AM PDT

Over the course of three head-spinning weeks in January, billionaire Ken Griffin went on what can only be described as a real estate buying binge. First there was a $59 million penthouse on Chicago’s Gold Coast. That was followed by a $122 million mansion overlooking St. James’s Park in London. Then, for the hedge funder’s pièce de résistance, he bought the record-breaking $238 million condo at 220 Central Park South. Griffin obviously isn’t the first

Aby Rosen to build sprawling gym in Seagram Building

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 06:45 AM PDT

Fitness centers have closed across the state, but Aby Rosen is building one in the Seagram Building. The developer and owner of RFR Holding is replacing the Park Avenue tower’s parking garage with a 35,000-square-foot playground that can be home to a variety of sporting activities or corporate gatherings, the Wall Street Journal reports. The area is slated to have yoga and spin studios, a climbing wall, basketball courts, a weight room and even a

Home loans are getting bigger, even as application volume drops

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 05:47 AM PDT

Homebuying demand is dropping off, but those still in the market are applying for larger loans, according to a weekly report tracking mortgage applications. An index that follows applications to buy single-family homes fell by 1 percent, seasonally adjusted, compared to the prior week. It marks the second week in a row that the Mortgage Bankers Association’s survey, known as the purchase index, declined. Joel Kan, MBA’s executive at the helm of industry forecasting, called

CW Realty purchase makes TRD’s mid-market i-sales list

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 05:00 AM PDT

UPDATED, July 1, 10:37 a.m.: CW Realty’s purchase of a property in Vinegar Hill that it will develop into a luxury rental building was among the city’s two mid-market investment sales last week. The other was for a development site in the Bronx acquired by Wildflower. Here are the details: 1. Wildflower Ltd, through the LLC WF Industrial VIII, paid $26.5 million for the property at 1340 East Bay Avenue in the Bronx. It spans 120,000

Evictions begin to trickle in

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 04:30 AM PDT

New York City’s Housing Court opened last Monday, but evictions are proceeding at a trickle, for now. Despite warnings from tenant advocates that as many as 50,000 eviction cases would be filed, the court’s limit on evictions has so far stopped that from happening. The court had received just seven new eviction filings as of Monday, according to a court spokesperson. Confusion surrounds the feasibility of moving forward with cases. Evictions still cannot be executed,

TRD Insights: What a record month for contracts says about the US housing market

Posted: 01 Jul 2020 04:00 AM PDT

Pending home sales in May sported the biggest monthly gain since the National Association of Realtors (NAR) began keeping track. The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) in May jumped 44.3 percent over the April level. That doesn’t mean activity is back to usual levels – May pending home sales were still about 5 percent below their May 2019 level. “The outlook has significantly improved, as new home sales are expected to be higher this

Cuomo signs bill to extend eviction protections

Posted: 30 Jun 2020 06:41 PM PDT

A state bill extending eviction protections for some tenants — but allowing money judgments for nonpayment of rent — was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday evening. The Tenant Safe Harbor Act, sponsored by Sens. Brad Hoylman and Liz Krueger and Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz, prohibits evictions of eligible tenants if any part of the county is still shut down by government as a result of Covid-19. “Now that the Tenant Safe Harbor

City’s housing plan suffers major blow in “painful” budget

Posted: 30 Jun 2020 06:11 PM PDT

New York City’s affordable housing program is about to take a hit. The $88.1 billion budget deal approved by the City Council Tuesday night includes a $457 million cut to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s next capital budget. Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday morning announced the agreement to balance the budget in face of a $9 billion revenue shortfall. Some City Council members have estimated that the cuts — along with a