The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Former home of Jennifer and Fotis Dulos hits market

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 02:30 PM PDT

A six-bedroom home in Farmington, Connecticut, tied to an infamous criminal case is up for sale. The spacious abode where Jennifer Dulos and Fotis Dulos lived prior to their divorce has been listed for $1.75 million, according to the New York Post. The couple moved there in 2012, seven years before Jennifer disappeared. Fotis, a developer, died by suicide earlier this year, shortly after being charged with her murder. The couple lived there until 2017,

CoStar plots international push with Emporis buy

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 01:49 PM PDT

Commercial real estate data giant CoStar Group has acquired real estate data company Emporis, a move that will boost its European presence. Germany-based Emporis has data on 700,000 buildings records across 100 countries, CoStar said Tuesday. CoStar did not disclose the purchase price, which founder and CEO Andy Florance described as “de minimis” on the company’s earnings call. He said the deal would allow CoStar to “jump start” its international data collection efforts. “We believe

Colliers’ profit rebounds

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 01:28 PM PDT

Colliers International reported an 11.5 percent jump in net income during the third quarter, despite a pandemic that has significantly slowed commercial real estate activity. The real estate firm reported a profit of $32 million, up from $28.7 million in the same period last year, according to its third-quarter earnings report. It was also a significant improvement from the second quarter, when net income was just $6.5 million. That increase came despite third-quarter revenue dropping

Under water: Shipping magnate’s troubled UES condo is bankrupt

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 01:01 PM PDT

After a yearlong deadlock that saw its property on the verge of financial ruin, the sponsor of a six-unit condo at 40 East 72nd Street is officially bankrupt. Axia Realty LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, with 50 percent equity owner Antonia Milonas acting as sole manager. The owner of the other 50 percent, Antonia’s husband Spiros Milonas, was “judicially declared unable to manage his own affairs” in August under the Mental

Here are the most active players in the loan workouts space

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 12:30 PM PDT

Barneys’ former space on Madison Avenue was hanging by a thread. A $76 million balance on the building’s debt, which Ashkenazy Acquisition took out in 2010, was set to mature in July. And after Barneys filed for bankruptcy and shut down all of its stores this February, Ashkenazy was forced to tap the retailer’s letter of credit to make debt service payments on its securitized mortgage backing the property at 660 Madison Avenue. The private

Camber Creek closes $155M fund

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 12:15 PM PDT

Camber Creek — an early backer of proptech startups including VTS and WhyHotel — has raised $155 million from investors for its third and largest fund. The venture capital firm said the fund was oversubscribed; it set out to raise $120 million last year. Institutional investors including the Texas Employees Retirement System invested in the fund, which is four times the size of Camber Creek’s first two funds combined. Launched in 2011 by cousins Casey

JPMorgan eyes $600M valuation for Third Ave office tower

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 11:30 AM PDT

Manhattan’s premier office district is about to get one of its biggest tests since the start of the pandemic. JPMorgan is putting up for sale its stake in the 44-story office tower at 605 Third Avenue — the first big trophy office listing to come to market in the Plaza District since Covid-19 hit. The bank’s asset management arm is looking to sell its 49 percent stake in the circa-1963 tower it co-owns with Fisher

Spencer Rascoff says Zillow IPO was “facepalm” moment

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 11:05 AM PDT

Zillow’s 2011 IPO should have been a day for popping champagne and plenty of high-fives. Instead, employees and investors experienced a “facepalm moment” when the stock price shot up 200 percent within minutes of trading, according to former CEO Spencer Rascoff. “I was bothered by that spike for years to come,” Rascoff tweeted Monday, as he touted the benefits of an investing tool that’s recently gained popularity on Wall Street: the SPAC. Special-purpose acquisition companies

US home prices jump 5.2% in August

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 10:09 AM PDT

More good news for the U.S. housing market: Home prices continue to climb. Prices increased 5.2 percent year-over-year in August, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, which tracks the housing market in 20 cities including New York City, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago. Detroit is typically included in the index, but pandemic-related delays recording sales have temporarily excluded it. The index’s August growth beat July’s annual gain of 4.1 percent. The

Hundreds of storage units in New York heading to auction

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 09:20 AM PDT

Executive orders in New York state prevent landlords from evicting tenants, but no similar protections exist for self-storage units. That may spell trouble for people currently unable to pay the fees on those units. The contents of hundreds of self-storage units will head to auction in the next few weeks, The City reported. About 175 units at Public Storage facilities are set to go up for auction this week with another 849 up for bid

Five solutions to save restaurants this winter

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 08:45 AM PDT

With a few weeks left until cold weather scares away outdoor diners, many are questioning whether the current 25 percent capacity limit on indoor dining will be enough for restaurants to keep operating. In a report, the think tank Center for an Urban Future asked more than 20 city leaders and experts how to give eateries a realistic shot at survival, and potentially even success. Here are five of their plethora of solutions. 1. Incentivize

KABR sells New Jersey building for reported $60M

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 08:00 AM PDT

A New Jersey office building acquired at a deep discount during the Great Recession sold in the middle of the pandemic — and reportedly for a premium. The KABR Group, a New Jersey-based private equity real estate firm, announced Tuesday that it sold a 233,000-square-foot building at 85 Challenger Road in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, to Asia Investment Management, which is based in Seoul, South Korea. KABR will continue to manage the building on behalf

Rent debt could reach $70B by year’s end: Moody’s

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 07:35 AM PDT

Thousands of renters could be evicted from their homes in the next few months, leading to a housing crisis that could have major ripple effects on the economy. A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, which surveyed unemployed Americans, found that outstanding rent debt would climb to $7.2 billion before the end of 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported. Meanwhile, Moody’s Analytics projects that the rent debt could reach close to $70

Manhattan theaters sue Cuomo, de Blasio over Covid restrictions

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 07:00 AM PDT

Eight small performing arts venues have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio for closing their spaces during the pandemic. The lawsuit, which was filed Friday in federal court, seeks to overturn executive orders from Cuomo that have barred theaters from reopening, the New York Times reported. The complaint argues that shutting down the theaters “interfere[s] with plaintiffs’ deeply-rooted liberty and property rights, including the right to work, right to

Cushman’s $3B debt load poses default risk

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 06:30 AM PDT

Cushman & Wakefield, which is under water on its $3.2 billion debt load, could be headed toward a default if its Covid-battered earnings continue to decline. The Chicago-based real estate services firm is the most highly leveraged company among its major competitors, thanks to a pile of debt loaded on by the private equity firm TPG Capital in the lead-up to Cushman’s 2018 initial public offering. A big part of that financing — Cushman’s $2.7

Here’s what tenants pay at 601W Cos.’ Old Post Office in Chicago

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 05:50 AM PDT

Before Chicago’s Old Post Office opened its doors to tenants last fall, the former massive mail terminal had sat empty for two decades since it was decommissioned in 1997. New York-based 601W Companies acquired the 2.3 million-square-foot Downtown property from eccentric British millionaire Bill Davies for $130 million in 2016, and embarked on an $800 million overhaul that included adding a green roof and replacing 2,200 windows. Walgreens signed on as the first major tenant

Ved Parkash picks up Fordham Heights apartment building

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 05:00 AM PDT

The Bronx captured the only two commercial property trades between $10 million and $30 million last week. Notorious landlord Ved Parkash bought an apartment building in Fordham Heights and a school bus provider snapped up two parcels in Westchester Square. Below are the details of the middle-market sales recorded during the week ending Oct. 23. 1) School bus company GVC Ltd. purchased 1400 and 1416 Ferris Place in Westchester Square for $12.5 million. The first

For struggling condos, the pandemic proves the ultimate test

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 04:30 AM PDT

A partially built condominium in Manhattan’s Financial District cuts a melancholy figure on an overcast Saturday in August. The front of the building, an exposed checkerboard of unfinished apartments, stretches 912 feet upward into a fog of gray cloud. Two security guards mill about on the deserted pavement opposite. Construction at 125 Greenwich Street has been stalled for months, and the developers, a group that includes Davide Bizzi’s Bizzi & Partners and Howard Lorber’s New

Urban flight, job losses will hurt apartment REITs: Report

Posted: 27 Oct 2020 04:00 AM PDT

Apartment real estate investment trusts that are heavily invested in older multifamily properties and residential complexes in gateway cities are likely to see net income fall through next year. According to a new Fitch Ratings report, the REITs are becoming increasingly vulnerable to drops in cash flow because of job losses among lower-income tenants and on the opposite end, tenants leaving big cities for markets that offer more space. Lower-income workers comprise a large share