The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Vince Viola’s UES mansion was Manhattan’s priciest deal last week

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 02:15 PM PDT

Last week, Manhattan’s luxury residential market had its best week since March 2013, thanks to three large deals that went into contract. The top deal was the renovated Upper East Side mansion owned by billionaire Vince Viola, which reportedly sold for $28 million below ask, followed by two condos in Robert A.M. Stern buildings: a penthouse at 15 Central Park West and the first resale at 220 Central Park South. The three deals were the

Blackstone, Starwood strike $6B deal for Extended Stay America

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 02:00 PM PDT

A long-in-the-works deal for an extended-stay hotel chain is finally coming to fruition. Blackstone Group and Starwood Capital Group have acquired Extended Stay America for about $6 billion, Bloomberg News reported. The two private-equity firms are paying $19.50 per share for the hotel operator, according to the report. Both companies have previously invested in the hotel chain. Starwood, headed up by Barry Sternlicht, recently paid $136.8 million for an 8.5 percent stake. Blackstone — which

Senate, Assembly hit real estate industry in budget proposals

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 01:38 PM PDT

State lawmakers proposed new taxes on the second homes and income of the wealthy, defying the real estate industry’s warnings, and omitted a building emissions provision it sought. The Assembly’s proposal would raise an estimated $7 billion and the Senate’s more than $8 billion. The Assembly also included a tax on second homes valued over $5 million and condo and co-op units with assessed values of more than $300,000 (the rough equivalent of a $5

Under Armour to sublease planned Fifth Avenue flagship

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 01:00 PM PDT

It wasn’t so long ago that the sportswear brand Under Armour had big plans for a flagship store in the former FAO Schwarz at 767 Fifth Avenue. But more than two years ago, Under Armour pushed the store’s opening back to 2021. Now, it may not open in the General Motors Building at all. The retailer is subleasing 24,403 square feet of its total 53,000 square feet of space between East 58th and 59th streets.

Serena Williams lists Beverly Hills mansion; may be eyeing Montecito

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 11:45 AM PDT

Tennis great Serena Williams is looking to sell her Beverly Hills Post Office home. The 23-time Grand Slam winner and her husband, Alex Ohanian, are asking $7.5 million for the 6,000-square-foot mansion on Summit Circle, according to the New York Post. Williams bought the Spanish-style home in 2017 for $6.7 million, shortly after it was built. It has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms. The couple also recently shuffled some of their Florida real estate. In

Mezz lender purchases 10 units at Gramercy condo

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 11:15 AM PDT

Mountbatten Equities has sold 10 units at its Gramercy Park condominium, Rutherford Place, to an entity that identifies itself as its mezzanine lender. The buyer, a limited liability company called 305 Second Avenue Mezz Lender, bought the units for $18.64 million in early March, property records show. Alexander Zabik, the managing director and credit portfolio manager of private equity firm Pennybacker Capital, signed the deed for the LLC. The deal works out to roughly $1.86

Newmark’s bid to acquire Knotel is nearly complete

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 10:30 AM PDT

Newmark’s bid to acquire Knotel is nearly complete. The bankrupt flex-office provider was scheduled to be sold on Friday afternoon in an auction, but no other qualified bidders submitted an offer, the Commercial Observer reported. A subsidiary of Newmark, which established a stalking-horse bid in advance of the auction, became the winner, according to the report. Newmark’s takeover is subject to the approval of the United State Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which

Nearly half of NYC workers won’t return to offices until September

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 09:00 AM PDT

It’ll still be some time before Manhattan’s office buildings are even close to being full again, according to a new survey of big employers. Nearly half of the companies surveyed expect that employees will be back in offices by September, according to the report from the Partnership for New York City, which was first reported by Gothamist. But 14 percent of the companies that responded said they were unsure when a majority of their employees

Proposed sale of Fifth Avenue mansion upsets Irish Americans

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 07:52 AM PDT

Some Irish Americans are crying foul at the proposed sale of a storied Fifth Avenue mansion that they see as a symbol of their community. The five-story Gilded Age building at 991 Fifth Avenue is for sale at $52 million. Built in 1901, the property has belonged to the American Irish Historical Society since 1940. Its sale would be a windfall for the organization, which would relocate the archives kept there. Dozens of prominent Irish

Housing Rights probe accuses brokerages, landlords of Section 8 discrimination

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 06:55 AM PDT

The watchdog group Housing Rights Initiative has filed its most wide-ranging lawsuit yet, alleging that 88 landlords and residential brokerages in the city — including Corcoran and Compass — discriminated against prospective tenants trying to use Section 8 housing vouchers. The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court, is based on dozens of conversations secretly recorded by undercover investigators posing as prospective tenants, the New York Times reported. In the recordings, many landlords and real estate

Canadian VC firm launches $100M proptech fund

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 06:05 AM PDT

A Toronto venture capital firm has launched a $100 million proptech fund backed by one of Canada’s largest pension funds. Greensoil Proptech Ventures — which previously invested in construction tech company Procore, and Dealpath, a deal management startup — said the Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s PSP Investments committed to its second proptech-focused fund. An affiliate of Starlight Investments, a multi-family and commercial real estate company with $20 billion in assets under management, also committed

Why Procore’s IPO is back on, View’s foggy Nasdaq debut

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Procore’s IPO, redux The country was in lockdown when construction startup Procore shelved its IPO in May 2020. Ten months later, the public offering appears to be back on the table. Bolstered by a housing boom and uptick in construction, Procore filed an updated S-1 registration statement on March 2. In the filing, the company said its revenue grew 38.4 percent last year to $400.3 million. Its customer base is also on the upswing: Procore

Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach house sells for $19M

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 05:00 AM PDT

The former Palm Beach home of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sold to developer Todd Michael Glaser for $18.5 million. The closing follows news that Epstein’s former Upper East Side home also sold for $51 million. Epstein was accused of sexually abusing dozens of young girls in both homes. He died in his Metropolitan Correctional Center jail cell in New York in August 2019. Spec home developer Glaser had been in contract to buy the

Here’s what tenants pay at the redeveloped Hudson Commons

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Hudson Commons, a former warehouse, underwent a transformation in recent years, just in time for the surge in tech tenant interest in Manhattan’s Far West Side. Cove Property Group and hedge fund the Baupost Group acquired the building at 441 Ninth Avenue for $330 million in 2016. The duo carried out an “adaptive reuse” plan that added 17 new office floors with outdoor terraces and higher windows. In 2018, indoor-fitness firm Peloton inked a lease