The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Brookfield and Swig land $1.3B refi of Grace Building

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 03:45 PM PST

Brookfield Property Partners and Swig Company has secured a $1.3 billion CMBS loan on their 49-story Grace Building in Midtown. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank originated the 10-year refinance on the tower at 1114 Sixth Avenue, according to Commercial Observer. Bank of America and JPMorgan each took about 30 percent, while Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank each took 20 percent, according to the report. The fixed-rate, interest-only loan was marked

Prospect of divided government rallies real estate stocks

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 03:20 PM PST

During a week of uncertainty for the country, the stock market had its best performance since April. Real estate stocks were among the big gainers as votes for president and Congress were cast and counted. Top performers in the industry included large service companies and asset-management firms, proptech and residential home builders. Gains were lower for office, retail, and travel and leisure, as the pandemic continued to weigh on those sectors. Brookfield Asset Management’s stock

Zillow profits soar to $40M during third quarter

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 02:36 PM PST

Zillow’s profits soared during the third quarter as iBuying deals dried up. The Seattle-based real estate giant reported $40 million in profits, compared to a loss of $64.6 million during the third quarter of 2019. On the company’s Thursday earnings call, co-founder and CEO Rich Barton said he was “pleased to offer some counter-programing to the election news drip torture.” During the third quarter, the company’s total revenue dropped 12 percent year over year to

Mall-pocalypse now: Minnesota mall loan sells for huge discount

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 02:08 PM PST

If you want to gauge investor demand for suburban mall properties, head to Burnsville, Minnesota. Last week, a $63 million loan secured by about half of a 1 million square foot mall in the Minneapolis suburbs hit the auction block. The collateral backing the loan was valued at $137 million in 2010. When the auction started, the opening bid was $7 million. When the loan finally sold, the winning bid was just $17 million, or

Which law firms will come out on top in 2020?

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 12:30 PM PST

“Anything out of the ordinary causes work for lawyers,” says Jay Neveloff, a partner at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel. 2020 has been anything but ordinary, with major shifts at political and social levels affecting nearly every industry. So which law firms came out on top in 2020? On November 18th, TRD will launch our annual ranking of the top NYC law firms. Last year, Fried Frank held the top spot in all of our

Contractor accuses Alchemy Properties of trying to damage reputation

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 12:00 PM PST

A contractor who worked on converting office space to luxury condos at the Woolworth Building has accused the developer of failing to pay its bills and threatening to damage the contractor’s reputation, Crain’s reported. Alchemy Properties bought the top 30 floors of the building at 233 Broadway from Witkoff Group and Cammeby’s International in 2012, and made plans to convert the space into 32 high-end units. Alchemy hired CNY Construction in 2016 to carry out

WATCH: “It’s going to take longer, and it’s going to cost more”: Craig Solomon on the real estate capital stack

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 11:30 AM PST

Craig Solomon is one of the most active lenders and investors in a market that’s rife with uncertainty. His firm, Square Mile Capital, has made some recent big bets on last-mile real estate and is quickly becoming one of the country’s largest owners of soundstage space, with acquisitions such as Silvercup Studios in New York City and CBS Television City in Los Angeles. (Watch more of The REInterview, a series of in-depth conversations with real

Newmark reports Q3 earnings down 25%

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 11:00 AM PST

Newmark reported earnings of $152.1 million in the third quarter, down 25 percent from the same time last year. The brokerage said it experienced a drop in sales and leasing commissions due to Covid-related challenges. On Thursday’s call with investors, the company’s chief executive addressed a question on potential mergers and acquisitions. CEO Barry Gosin likened Newmark’s M&A activity to an elite stealth operator. “We kind of consider ourself more in the Navy SEAL category,”

OneTitle set out to change the title industry. Now it’s out of business

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 10:25 AM PST

In 2014, OneTitle launched with an audacious goal: eliminate agents and offer title insurance for much less. Six years later, the VC-backed startup is being liquidated, the apparent victim of an opaque industry controlled by a handful of players. Last month, a New York judge approved OneTitle’s liquidation, which was being sought by the state Department of Financial Services, the agency that oversees the insurance industry. All policies will be canceled, effective Nov. 5. According

Elliman reports $12M profit in third quarter after a year of heavy losses

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 10:20 AM PST

UPDATED, Nov. 5, 2020, 4:10 p.m.: Douglas Elliman is still reeling from New York City’s struggling residential sector, but activity in its other markets has buoyed the brokerage’s earnings. The firm reported $11.8 million in net income during the third quarter, driven by surge in closed sales in Los Angeles, Aspen, the Hamptons and South Florida markets. That’s up 521 percent from the $1.9 million in net income the brokerage reported in the third quarter

Real estate is a “four-letter word” in the capital markets: Sternlicht

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 10:15 AM PST

Barry Sternlicht is confident the hotel and office markets will come back to pre-pandemic levels, saying that adults and kids “want to go back to the lives they had before.” Still, the Starwood chairman and CEO criticized New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, without referring to him by name, saying the mayor is “bordering on insanity” as indoor dining remains restricted in the city. “New York City is in a world of hurt. I’m really

America doesn’t yet have a new president. But Opendoor does

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 09:59 AM PST

Opendoor is shaking up its C-suite — again — ahead of its closely-watched IPO. On the heels of naming its first chief investment officer, the iBuyer tapped GoDaddy executive Andrew Low Ah Kee as president, co-founder and CEO Eric Wu said in a blog post Thursday. Julie Todaro, Opendoor’s president of homes and services, is taking early retirement after a year on the job. In the blog post, Wu said Todaro, a former Amazon and

Keller Williams reports 25% surge in Q3 sales

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 09:30 AM PST

Buoyed by the national housing rebound, Keller Williams’ third-quarter sales volume grew 25.4 percent year-over-year, hitting $127.5 billion, the company said Thursday. The brokerage franchise saw a sharp drop in sales during the second quarter as the pandemic froze homebuying. But it’s since rebounded: The number of contracts inked during the third quarter was up 21.1 percent year-over-year. As of Sept. 30, listings were up 5.2 percent. For Keller Williams agents outside the U.S., sales

Witkoff to advise on Downtown Brooklyn project

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 07:45 AM PST

UPDATED, Nov. 5 2020, 3 p.m.: Witkoff has come on board as a development partner on Downtown Brooklyn’s “Brooklyn Bowtie” project, Commercial Observer reported. The 36,290-square-foot assemblage at 547-557 and 559-589 Fulton Street, which RedSky Capital and JZ Capital started acquiring in 2012, was marketed for sale after the project’s $154.6 million loan went into default in March. “It’s very early days,” a source told the publication. “Options are now being explored as to what

Mitch McConnell signals limited aid package by end of year

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 07:05 AM PST

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled he wants another economic relief package passed in the next two months. But with Republicans poised to retain control of the Senate, Democrats lack leverage to demand approval of their multi-trillion-dollar stimulus bill, which McConnell opposes. “We need another rescue package,” the Kentucky senator said Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Hopefully the partisan passions that prevented us from doing another rescue package will subside with the

Jersey City voters approve property tax to support arts

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 06:00 AM PST

Voters in Jersey City have endorsed a new property tax designed to fund the arts, offering a boost to an industry with many now out of work. The referendum, which was voted on Tuesday along with a statewide decision about legalizing marijuana, received support from 64 percent of voters, according to the New York Times. It now heads to the City Council for final approval. The surcharge is relatively small, just half of a penny

Manhattan home sales improving as suburban hot streak continues

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 05:30 AM PST

Manhattan, the problem child of New York’s housing market, may be turning a corner. New contracts for residential properties edged closer to 2019 levels last month as buyers returned to the city and brokers saw an uptick in interest and activity. Buyers purchased 510 co-ops in Manhattan last month, just 4 percent below the same period last year, according to a market report from Douglas Elliman. Contracts for single-family homes actually increased, from nine last

Staying ahead on the life science leasing curve

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 05:00 AM PST

Life science lease deals and building conversions have been popping up across New York City and other major commercial real estate markets — perhaps in surprising places. At 450 West 126th Street in Manhattanville, a former bakery is getting a fresh start as the Taystee Lab Building, Janus Property’s planned 350,000-square-foot life science hub. At 125 West End Avenue on the Upper West Side, Taconic Partners and Nuveen Real Estate are converting a former Disney-owned

Four things Biden could do for New York real estate that Trump didn’t

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 04:00 AM PST

When Donald Trump became president in 2017, leaders of New York City’s big real estate firms and other businesses thought they could get him to do nice things for his hometown. He was one of them, after all. Stephen Ross, the chairman of megadeveloper Related Companies, said that was why he hosted a Hamptons fundraiser for Trump last year. “I’ve gotten requests from the governor and people in different parts of the administration to help

Lendlease exec jumps ship for Suffolk Construction

Posted: 05 Nov 2020 04:00 AM PST

After more than two decades with Lendlease, the head of the company’s eastern region is heading to a firm that set up shop in New York five years ago. Ralph Esposito, president and general manager of Lendlease’s East Region construction division, will serve as president of Suffolk Construction’s Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region operations, company representatives told The Real Deal. Esposito said he has been impressed by Suffolk’s growth since it first opened its New York