The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Nearly two years after the FBI raided the offices of Great Value Storage’s founder, the company has filed for bankruptcy. The firm, led by Austin-based developer Nate Paul, went the Chapter 11 route in Delaware last week. The filing comes just weeks after a New York judge ruled that a lender could proceed with a foreclosure sale tied to 64 of the company’s self-storage facilities. Paul and his upstart real estate empire made national news

Thousands of New York residents who live in buildings run by Douglas Elliman’s property management arm may have had their personal information compromised this month. Douglas Elliman Property Management’s three managing directors emailed hundreds of co-operative and condominium boards Monday to advise them that the company’s IT network — which contains data for its buildings’ residents and employees — was breached and their personal information may have been compromised. In the message viewed by The

“Remote work will change how we manage our real estate,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon wrote in a recent letter to shareholders — and its plans for its new headquarters at 270 Park Avenue in New York City offer some insight into what that might look like. According to Business Insider, which viewed a construction document for the new building, the bank is embracing what it calls a “universal design” for the tower — i.e.

The federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has been hailed as a life saver for small businesses in New York. But not all sectors have benefited equally. New York has distributed $1.5 billion since April 2020 to real estate, rental and leasing companies. That’s just 4.6 percent of the total amount disbursed in the state, according to a February analysis by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office. Those loans were distributed among 22,000 participants, with the average size

It must have seemed like a sure thing: a luxury condominium development on the Upper East Side. To assemble the properties needed for the project, HFZ Capital borrowed $20.5 million from an Israeli investor. The developer’s top brass, Ziel Feldman and Nir Meir, provided personal guarantees on the loan in case something went wrong. It did. The development never got off the ground and in 2019, HFZ defaulted on its debt. But now the lender’s

It’s a golden age for golden ages. We are sitting at home during the so-called golden age of TV, with enough quality streaming to last us several pandemics. And there will probably be a golden age of partying and travel after we’ve got this virus kicked. We are entering a golden age of big government, comparable to FDR’s presidency and the New Deal days. That’s going to include a golden age for climate change initiatives,

Developers selling pricey luxury condos in Manhattan had their best week of sales since 2018. There were 22 sponsor units that found buyers last week, according to Olshan Realty’s weekly report on contracts signed for Manhattan homes asking $4 million or above. That’s the highest number since mid-February 2018, when 22 sponsor units went into contract. “In the golden years of new development, we’ve had bigger weeks,” said Donna Olshan, the author of the report.

In the crowded mayoral race, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is one of the candidates viewed as being more friendly to real estate — as evidenced by donations to his current campaign for mayor, as well as previous donations to a nonprofit overseen by his office. It’s the latter that have recently come into question; a new report by The City linked donations to the nonprofit, the One Brooklyn Fund, to developers and lobbyists who

UPDATED, April 19, 2021, 4:30 p.m.: The Gowanus rezoning is a go. Judge Katherine Levine on Monday agreed to lift a temporary restraining order, allowing the proposal to enter the city’s seven-month approval process. The City Planning Commission certified the neighborhood rezoning application Monday afternoon, officially kicking off the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. City Planning Chair Marisa Lago called the move a “giant step closer” to building a more “inclusive” and “green future” for

Yet another piece of the Prodigy Network’s crowdfunded portfolio is heading to foreclosure. Vanbarton Group has initiated the UCC foreclosure auction process for a $36 million junior mezzanine loan at 17 John Street, according to marketing materials reviewed by The Real Deal. The property, a co-working/co-living facility known as the Assemblage John Street, was developed by Prodigy in partnership with Shorewood Real Estate Group. Vanbarton, a real estate investment and advisory firm, issued the loan

A&E Real Estate has tapped James Patchett, the former president and CEO of the NYC Economic Development Corporation, as its next CEO, the company announced. His arrival at A&E coincides with what the real estate firm says will be a major expansion of its portfolio — already one of the city’s largest with 15,000 apartments. “James has spent virtually his entire career getting to know the unique rhythms and defining characteristics of New York City’s

The century-old Textile Building at 295 Fifth Avenue will get a two-story penthouse as part of a $350 million makeover, the New York Post reported. The redevelopment project, which also includes plans for a ground-floor courtyard, several terraces and hospitality amenities, aims to attract new tenants to the 700,000-square-foot building, which is currently vacant. The owners of the building — Tribeca Investment Group (TIG), PGIM Real Estate and Meadow Partners — seem to be confident

Venture capital firm Fifth Wall is launching another blank-check company — the third the company has founded since the beginning of the year. The Los Angeles-based firm is aiming to raise $250 million for the new special-purpose acquisition company, Fifth Wall Acquisition III. It will issue 25 million shares on NASDAQ at $10 apiece. Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America are underwriting the deal. Fifth Wall co-founder Brendan Wallace will lead the newly

This may be the year Gary Barnett’s groundbreaking Billionaires’ Row tower finally sells out. There are just five unsold units at One57 after two contracts were signed in the first quarter of 2021, according to a report filed with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange early Monday. That makes the project — the first supertall to rise along the southern edge of Central Park and break price records — 90 percent sold after years of slow

CoStar brings it Home Did you think CoStar was giving up on residential real estate? After attempts to buy RentPath and CoreLogic fell through, the data giant struck a deal to buy listing platform Homes.com for $156 million in cash, the companies said last week. Homes.com claims to have 1.8 million listings and could bring CoStar up to $10 million in additional revenue during the second half of the year. Last year, CoStar shelled out

The Real Deal’s April issue is live for digital subscribers and soon to hit doorsteps across the country. A decade after the Silicon Valley legend Marc Andreessen proclaimed that “software is eating the world,” software is now eating the home. Proptech startups — including iBuyers (Opendoor), brokerages (Compass), construction firms (Procore) and insurance companies (Lemonade) — have made waves with billion-dollar valuations and high-profile IPOs, and the sector is only growing. Investors poured $3.9 billion