The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

De Blasio admin at crossroads with Gowanus rezoning suit

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 03:34 PM PDT

When Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order approving virtual rezoning hearings, the administration thought it was a matter of time before its application to rezone Gowanus would advance. Then Brooklyn Judge Katherine Levine threw a wrench in that plan. In a similar case, she ruled last week that the city must increase public access to hearings before a proposal to rezone a site in Crown Heights could move forward. Community groups battling both

Buyer of $59M townhouse closed on $8M condo at same time

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 02:10 PM PDT

It turns out Vincent Viola’s mansion wasn’t the only property on Alan Howard’s mind. Howard, a hedge fund manager at Brevan Howard Asset Management, paid $8.25 million for a Soho condo unit at 70 Greene Street, or $2,058 per square foot, property records indicate. The deal closed March 10, about the same time that the British investor agreed to pay $59 million for the Florida Panthers owner’s 20,000-square-foot Upper East Side townhouse. Michael Graves, a

Charter school inks 70K sf lease in Downtown Brooklyn

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 01:18 PM PDT

A charter school is taking over a former Catholic high school building in Downtown Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Prospect Charter School inked a 30-plus year lease for 70,000 square feet at the former St. Joseph High School at 80 Willoughby Street, Crain’s reported. United American Land recently acquired the building from the Sisters of St. Joseph for $23.2 million. It will be renovated and open as a charter school in time for the next school year,

Modular housing startup Veev raises $100M to build homes faster, cheaper

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 12:46 PM PDT

Modular home builder Veev has raised $100 million to further its goal of speeding up residential construction. The startup, which uses prefabrication and 3D printing, raised the new cash on TASE UP, a platform launched by the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that lets tech companies receive funds from institutional investors while remaining privately held. Veev is the first company to raise money on the platform. Investors including More Investment House, Migdal, Psagot Investment House and

Office sector to keep sinking until 2024, Moody’s predicts

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 11:30 AM PDT

The office market is looking at three more years of pain until it turns the corner, according to a new report. Moody’s Analytics and CWCapital note that long-term leases saved landlords from a mass exodus but downsizing will continue to erode their tenant base. As a result, the rise in subleasing and vacancy and the fall in rents will continue before starting to ease in 2024. “It is not likely that office space will ‘die’

Miami condo craze returns as developers look to seize the moment

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 11:00 AM PDT

With half the business elite seemingly moving to Miami, South Florida’s residential developers are betting that migration momentum will overcome even the market’s significant supply glut. They’re launching major condo towers set to bring thousands of new luxury units to the area, citing the spillover from booming single-family sales. That’s despite persistent questions about whether the market is deep enough to absorb all the high-end product being built. Miami-based Related, often the first developer

Israeli bond market rule changes could hinder U.S. developers

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 09:46 AM PDT

Over the past decade, U.S. developers have flocked to the Israeli bond market to obtain cheap financing for real estate projects — but that could change if new rules governing bonds are enacted. The Israel Securities Authority has proposed changes that would affect how bonds issued by foreign companies, such as real estate firms, are rated, the Wall Street Journal reported. If the proposed regulations are finalized, they would go into effect in January. U.S.

Lev Capital raises $10M from JLL, Trulia co-founder Pete Flint

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 08:38 AM PDT

Lev Capital, an online financing platform for commercial real estate, has raised $10 million from investors that include brokerage JLL and former executives from Trulia and LoopNet. The New York City startup said the funding will allow it to meet growing demand for its services, which has surged over the past year. NFX, a venture capital fund started by Trulia co-founder Pete Flint, led the round, with participation from JLL Spark and Canaan Partners, where

Lawsuit accusing Vincent Viola of violating rent laws can proceed

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 08:15 AM PDT

Tenants at 2 Pierrepont Street, a Brooklyn Heights rental building, filed a lawsuit against billionaire businessman Vincent Viola last summer, alleging he flouted rent-stabilization laws. Now, a judge has denied Viola’s motion to dismiss the suit. Kings County Supreme Court Judge Karen Rothenberg ruled that the lawsuit can proceed, Crain’s reported. Attorneys for Viola, the founder of Virtu Financial and the owner of the Florida Panthers, unsuccessfully argued that because the building was renovated, it

Compass seeks $10B tech valuation

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 07:36 AM PDT

Compass is aiming to go public at a $10 billion valuation, positioning itself as a tech company rather than a traditional brokerage. The New York-based firm said it will offer 36 million shares priced between $23 and $26 apiece, according to an updated S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At that price, Compass will raise $936 million in its public debut. Founded in 2012, Compass has been a fast-growing competitor to traditional

WeWork lost $3B in 2020: report

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 07:17 AM PDT

Investors betting on WeWork’s second act just got a wake-up call. The co-working company lost $3.2 billion last year as the Covid-19 health crisis slashed the demand for flexible office spaces, the Financial Times reported, citing documents shown to possible investors. The pandemic caused WeWork’s occupancy rates to fall 47 percent in 2020, down from 72 percent at the beginning of the year, according to the documents reviewed by the publication. Its losses shrunk from

NYC to city workers: Come back to the office

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 06:15 AM PDT

Companies like Twitter and Zillow may be letting their employees choose to work from home forever, but the city of New York isn’t following their lead. The de Blasio administration plans to end remote work for municipal employees on May 3 and will require workers to return to their physical offices, the New York Times reported, citing internal planning documents. The move is expected to impact about 80,000 employees, including caseworkers, computer specialists and clerical

Gotham faces rent overcharge lawsuit in Hell’s Kitchen

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Tenants allege that the Gotham Organization overcharged them by revoking utility credits in leases at three large Hell’s Kitchen apartment buildings — credits that the landlord says were issued by mistake. Attorneys representing the tenants filed the lawsuit in state court Friday seeking class-action status for tenants at three complexes. At nearly 800 income-restricted units, Gotham nixed utility credits in thousands of leases starting in June 2019, the suit says. In response, some tenants have

Inwood i-sales bring in $26.5M

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Compared to last week, the middle range of New York’s real estate investment market was downright sluggish for the week ending March 19. Four mid-market deals, most of which were around $10 million, were recorded, for a total sales volume of just under $47 million. Last week, there were six closed sales for a total of $147 million. Mid-market sales involve properties that change hands for between $10 million and $30 million each. Three deals

Weird flex but OK: How CRE giants hope to cash in on the future of the office

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 04:30 AM PDT

As a vision of the post-vaccine future of the workplace began to emerge late last year, Industrious co-founder Jamie Hodari was nearing a new funding round with a private equity firm in October. Then, CBRE came calling. The entrepreneur sat down for a socially distanced dinner with CEO Bob Sulentic and Andrew Kupiec, head of CBRE’s in-house co-working platform, Hana. They left him convinced that his IPO-bound startup was better off partnering with the world’s

The REInterview: VTS’ Nick Romito on the power of knowing your office tenant

Posted: 23 Mar 2021 04:00 AM PDT

One of Blackstone’s smallest bets in real estate became a landmark vote of confidence in proptech — a fledgling sector at the time. In 2015, the investment behemoth paid $3.3 million for a stake in VTS, a cloud-based leasing and portfolio management platform. Though that was small change for Blackstone, it was a bet made at the highest levels of the firm, including then-head of real estate (and now president and COO) Jonathan Gray to