The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Real estate stocks, markets jittery over inflation

Posted: 14 May 2021 04:23 PM PDT

Major real estate stocks took a beating this week on concern that rising costs for everything from raw materials to the price of a hotel room could lead to higher interest rates, cutting consumer demand. A Standard & Poor’s index of homebuilder stocks dropped 4.4 percent for the week, while Lennar, the biggest U.S. homebuilder, dropped almost 8 percent. Soaring demand for homes during the pandemic had builders working at a furious pace, with housing

Closing time: HFZ vacates the XI sales gallery in Chelsea

Posted: 14 May 2021 02:35 PM PDT

Little West 12th Street is down another tenant. Embattled developer HFZ Capital Group has moved out of its gallery space in West Chelsea. Though the signage touting the developer’s luxury condominium, the XI, still hangs off the storefront, the interior has been emptied of all its furnishings and artwork, The Real Deal observed on a recent visit. The gallery space had been elaborately renovated by HFZ to hold three art installations with its raison d’être

Judge lets Eichner’s Crown Heights project near Botanic Garden advance

Posted: 14 May 2021 02:30 PM PDT

Two rezonings, held up by the same judge for similar reasons, can now both move forward. But in one case, a developer will need to figure out the logistics of holding an outdoor hearing. Brooklyn Judge Katherine Levine on Thursday lifted her temporary restraining order blocking the rezoning of a former spice factory at 960 Franklin Avenue, where Ian Bruce Eichner’s Continuum Company wants to build two 30-plus story rental towers. The move allows the

Steven Mnuchin’s $26M home finally finds a buyer

Posted: 14 May 2021 01:30 PM PDT

After more than two years and a few price chops, Steven Mnuchin’s luxury co-op has finally found a buyer, the New York Post reported. The treasury secretary had relisted his 740 Park Avenue pad in August and cut the asking price by 20 percent to $25.75 million. He had originally listed the home for about $33 million in 2018. The 6,500-square-foot apartment had been in his family for decades. He bought it from his aunt,

The definitive real estate SPAC tracker

Posted: 14 May 2021 12:40 PM PDT

Blink and you’ll miss a new SPAC. With billions of dollars flowing into blank-check firms, a growing number of real estate players are targeting proptech. As an alternative to the traditional IPO, special-purpose acquisition companies made a comeback last year with 248 blank-check firms going public, raising $83 billion, according to SPACInsider. This year is shaping up to be even bigger for SPACs. Along with names like Bill Ackman, Alec Gores and Chamath Palihapitiya, New

Former Lehman exec lists Carnegie Hill mansion for $38M

Posted: 14 May 2021 11:45 AM PDT

A former Lehman Brothers executive is calculating a big profit for his Carnegie Hill mansion. Robert Millard listed his Beaux-Arts home for $38 million, more than six times what he paid for it 24 years ago, property records show. It’s unclear what kind of upgrades and improvements have gone into the six-story townhome. The 14,125-square-foot mansion at 9 East 88th Street was designed by architects James Turner and Willam Killian at the turn of the

Chetrit Group falls behind on Soho portfolio mortgage

Posted: 14 May 2021 10:09 AM PDT

Between nonpaying tenants and antsy lenders, commercial landlords have been under increasing pressure throughout the pandemic, and even a major player is not an exception. The Chetrit Group, one of the biggest privately held real estate companies in New York, is a month behind on payments for the $76.5 million mortgage backed by its mixed-use buildings at 427 and 459 Broadway in Soho, according to Trepp. The problem is a drop in tenant occupancy and

Demand for short-term rentals surges past pre-pandemic levels

Posted: 14 May 2021 08:46 AM PDT

It’s gearing up to be the best summer ever — for short-term vacation rentals. Last month, demand for short-term rentals was 5.4 percent greater than in the same period of 2019, according to data from AirDNA reported by Inman, and 66.4 percent more than last year. The boom has reached 201 of the 265 markets AirDNA tracks. Rental activity usually drops between spring break in March and the beginning of the summer travel season. But,

Here’s where homes virtually sold out in the pandemic

Posted: 14 May 2021 08:06 AM PDT

New data confirm what brokers and home buyers have long felt: The pandemic surge in homebuying decimated inventories most drastically in vacation markets and exurbs. In an analysis of more than 1,000 ZIP codes with a median list price of $750,000, the Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com identified where the supply crisis hit hardest. The study compared inventories from 2017 through 2019 with those from March 2020 to February 2021. Cape Cod and the Jersey

Jumbo mortgage lenders invade Fannie and Freddie’s turf

Posted: 14 May 2021 07:05 AM PDT

With overnight bank funding rates near zero, investors are flush with cash — liquidity they are using to compete with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on the secondary mortgage market. Investors that would typically deal with jumbo loans are creeping into Freddie and Fannie’s territory, financing smaller loans below the agencies’ dollar cap for mortgages, according to a column in the Los Angeles Daily News. Borrowers can now get a 30-year fixed-rate jumbo mortgage for

DA targets tuition paid for Trump CFO’s grandkids

Posted: 14 May 2021 06:38 AM PDT

Tuition paid to a Manhattan private school is the latest target in New York prosecutors’ probe of former president Donald Trump and his real estate firm. The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance subpoenaed Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School over tuition payments made for two grandchildren of Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, the Wall Street Journal reported. The children’s mother, Jennifer Weisselberg, told the Journal that checks signed by either Allen Weisselberg

The 20 priciest Hamptons sales this year

Posted: 14 May 2021 06:00 AM PDT

UPDATED, May 14, 2021, 6:45 p.m.: Home sellers’ usual strategy is to list in the spring, when buyers are most active. But Hamptons buyers could hardly be more active than they have been in recent months. Jonathan Miller, president of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, gave The Real Deal a rundown of the 20 most expensive South Fork deals to close through April 30, 2021. 1. 20 Spaeth Lane | $60 milion Topping the list of

Navillus seeks bankruptcy protection from NYCHA lawsuit

Posted: 14 May 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Leaks in a public housing complex could force Navillus Contracting to return to its 2017 bankruptcy case. The beleaguered concrete contractor is asking a federal court to reopen its Chapter 11 case for the sole purpose of barring a lawsuit by the New York City Housing Authority. The agency sued Navillus in August 2020, alleging that the firm’s shoddy workmanship and use of porous mortar led to leaks at 14 buildings in the Bronx’s Parkside

These were the top outer-borough loans last month

Posted: 14 May 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Brooklyn dominated the list of the 10 largest outer-borough commercial real estate loans in April, with seven loans representing nearly 90 percent of the total dollar volume issued in outer boroughs. Each of the 10 loans was smaller than $90 million, with the total coming in around $830 million. That’s a significant dip from March’s total of $1.95 billion, but still better than the same month last year, when the top 10 loans’ total value

Christie’s affiliate in NJ sues Compass for poaching, stealing trade secrets

Posted: 14 May 2021 04:00 AM PDT

UPDATED, May 14, 2021, 2:34 p.m.: Compass has been hit with another lawsuit regarding recruitment — this time in northern New Jersey. The complaint, filed by a Christie’s International Real Estate affiliate based in Ridgewood, New Jersey, accuses Compass of soliciting a team of four agents and unlawfully encouraging them to breach their existing contracts. The agents — Maryanne Elsaesser and her team members Mathew Chapman, Rhonda Battifarano and Michele Kowal — are also named