The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Life sciences firm moves HQ from Dumbo to 48K sf in LIC

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 03:30 PM PDT

In a sign of the times, a life sciences firm and its one-year-old pandemic response lab are moving out to Long Island City. Opentrons is bringing the lab and another subsidiary, Neochromosome, to 45-18 Court Square West, on a 10-year lease. The asking rent for the 48,000 square feet in the lease was $85 per square foot, according to Crain’s. While Opentrons is leasing all of the space, its subsidiaries will have dedicated square footage

LIC developer secures $56M construction loan for stalled project

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 03:10 PM PDT

Werwaiss Properties is almost ready to forge ahead with a Long Island City mixed-use building after securing $55.6 million in construction loans from JPMorgan Chase. The 20-story structure will feature 157 units atop nearly 10,000 square feet of retail space, according to plans filed last year. All told, the project will be roughly 118,000 square feet. The site is wedged between three streets near Court Square Park on a plot of land shaped like Nevada.

Ida flooding caused up to $24B in property damage Northeast: study

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 02:26 PM PDT

Catastrophic flooding in the wake of Hurricane Ida caused up to tens of billions of dollars in damages to residential and commercial properties throughout the northeast last week, a new report estimates. Losses throughout the region could range from $16 billion to $24 billion, according to a study released Wednesday by CoreLogic, with roughly 90 percent of the impact concentrated in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. “Given the prevalence of multifamily housing

Rental insurance startup looks to solve late-rent problem

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 02:04 PM PDT

Late rent payments are a problem not only for renters, who bear the cost of exorbitant late fees, but also for property owners, who depend on steady income. Jetty, a Silicon Valley-backed rental insurance provider, says it has a solution for both. The company launched its new product, Jetty Rent, Sept. 8. For a fee of a few dollars, Jetty will cover rent on behalf of the renter, and the renter has until the 24th

Digital Bridge to sell off wellness business in $3B deal

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 01:30 PM PDT

Digital Bridge, the company formerly known as Colony Capital, now looks almost nothing like its former self. The Boca Raton–based firm agreed to sell its “wellness infrastructure business” consisting of its senior living and medical office buildings to Highgate Capital Investments and Aurora Health Network in a deal valued at $3.2 billion. The portfolio is made up of more than 300 senior housing, skilled nursing, medical office and hospital assets. As part of the deal,

Ex-Brooklyn construction union boss sentenced to 5 years for bribery scheme

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 01:06 PM PDT

Surrounded by colleagues celebrating the holiday season, two labor leaders hatched a plan in 2017: They would rig how new members were accepted into the carpenters’ union. Salvatore Tagliaferro, former president of Local 926, was sentenced on Wednesday to 60 months in prison, with two years of supervised release, for his role in a scheme that saw hundreds of union membership cards traded for cash bribes. He must also pay the union $145,000 in restitution

Student housing survives pandemic and investment returns

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 12:33 PM PDT

The pandemic can’t keep student housing down. In fact, it may even be graduating to a new era as college students return to in-person classes across the country. Property investors are spending billions of dollars on student housing while developing off-campus options for new and returning students. Developers are also adding perks to entice students, including gyms, video game rooms, fast Wi-Fi and swimming pools, according to the Wall Street Journal. The volume of student

Editor’s note: The back-to-work balancing act

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 12:30 PM PDT

Remember those days of the mindless commute, when you would grab a cup of coffee and rush to work, only to plop down at your desk for the day? The humdrum daily routine with nothing so extreme as pandemics and once-in-a-century storms to contend with? Will we get back to that anytime soon? Welcome back to fall and (maybe) the office. A widespread return to the workplace after Labor Day now seems unlikely given the

CREXi lays groundwork for public offering with CFO hire

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 11:17 AM PDT

Commercial real estate data startup CREXi is eyeing a future public offering as it staffs up while continuing to battle it out in court with industry juggernaut CoStar Group. CREXi recently hired its first chief financial officer and chief legal officer and intends to double its headcount over the next 12 months, said founder and CEO Michael DeGiorgio. “We have ambitions to be a big company,” DeGiorgio said. “And a public company in the next

Richard Steinberg jumps from Douglas Elliman to Compass

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 11:04 AM PDT

Veteran Manhattan agent Richard Steinberg is joining Compass. He resigned from rival brokerage Douglass Elliman on Wednesday and will work out of Compass’ office at 851 Madison Avenue. Steinberg’s three team members — Alexander Mignogna, Emanuel Fiore and Carli Levitt — are moving with him. “We just felt for our personal growth that we wanted to try something slightly different,” said Steinberg in an interview. Their bank accounts might also grow: Compass has recruited agents

Bill Gates’ Cascade taking over Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 10:00 AM PDT

Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment is taking a swing in the hotel industry, paying more than $2 billion to take control of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts. Cascade is planning to buy 23.8 percent of a stake belonging to Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, spending $2.2 billion, according to Reuters. The purchase will give Cascade a 71.3 percent stake and operating control of Four Seasons. Prince Alwaleed is hanging on to his remaining stake. The

Escape the rental wars and purchase one of these prime Murray Hill listings

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 09:30 AM PDT

Yes, those pictures of lines stretching halfway down the block to view available Manhattan apartments are very much real. In case you’re late to the news, New York City’s rental market is back. To those tried-and-true New Yorkers who didn’t flee to your second (or parents’) homes far from the city, we salute you. And so does your wallet, if you were among the lucky few who saved some loot with one of those short-lived

It’s a house, not a home: Inside the commodification of residential real estate

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 09:00 AM PDT

In July, Dallas Tanner, the CEO of single-family rental behemoth Invitation Homes, announced that his company had spent $569 million buying up houses in the preceding six months. Tanner expected to roughly double that number by year-end, touting the firm’s ability to scale in its chosen markets and its portfolio’s high occupancy rates, low turnover and satisfied residents. “Together with you, we make a house a home,” Tanner said. In fact, Tanner and his Wall

NYPD probing flooding deaths in basement apartments

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 08:49 AM PDT

Landlords could face consequences after Tropical Storm Ida killed 11 people in flooded basement apartments last week. Gothamist reported police are investigating six separate incidents, which could potentially lead to criminal charges for property owners. The NYPD told The Real Deal on Wednesday that the probes are ongoing. Five of the six apartments were illegally converted units, according to New York City’s Department of Buildings. Four were in Queens and one was in Brooklyn. The

Investors gobble up fixer-uppers despite scarce inventory

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 07:30 AM PDT

Investors are increasingly seeking fixer-uppers to flip, hoping the venture is anything but a flop. Even though they’re emboldened by yields ranging between 8 and 12 percent, though, they’re having a hard time finding available homes as a hot housing market limits opportunities according to the Wall Street Journal. Another factor: foreclosure moratoriums that have been in place for much of the pandemic. Typically a pipeline for those looking for fixer-uppers, that market has been

With new architect, Silverstein to get 2 WTC started

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 06:45 AM PDT

Larry Silverstein’s 2 World Trade Center is one step closer to rising in Lower Manhattan, with his eponymous firm bringing back Norman Foster of Foster + Partners to serve as architect on the project, Commercial Observer reported. Foster had previously been replaced by Bjarke Ingels for the development, expected to be the second-tallest skyscraper at the World Trade Center site. Silverstein Properties is looking for an anchor tenant, which would pave the way for a

Kushner bet on luxury spec homes ends in disappointment

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 06:03 AM PDT

When Kushner Companies paid $36.5 million for six law school dorms, it seemed like a savvy deal. The Brooklyn Law School portfolio, as the dorm buildings were known, had been listed for more than $41 million and two purchasers offered that price, but after the transactions fell through, Kushner swooped in and picked it up at a discount in 2014. The multifamily developer planned to turn three of the properties into luxury single-family homes and

Housing disappears from 21 New York counties

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Housing rose in New York by 5 percent from 2010 to 2020, but shrunk in one-third of its counties. U.S. census data released last month shows the declines were concentrated in rural areas, with Allegheny County losing the most at almost 10.3 percent of its inventory, according to the Times Union. The Allegheny town of Granger, for example, lost 37 percent of its housing. The town started the decade with 411 units and finished with

i-Sales: Development sites trade in Manhattan

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Development sites in Manhattan took top billing among investment properties that sold last week for between $10 million and $30 million. The priciest nosed past that threshold. Grid Group and New Empire picked up sites in Chelsea and Kips Bay, respectively. Construction permits haven’t been filed for either one with the Department of Buildings. Three middle-market investment sales took place in Manhattan, two in Queens and one in the Bronx. The six properties fetched a

TRD’s September issue is live for subscribers!

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 04:30 AM PDT

The Real Deal’s September issue is live for digital subscribers and soon to hit mailboxes across the country. “Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink,” is where we’ve found ourselves this month. With fires to the left of us and hurricanes to the right, we’re stuck in the middle of a climate reckoning. This month, we’ll take you to Wall Street, the Metaverse and perhaps even the moon with in-depth stories like the

NYC tries to fix supermarket program’s fundamental flaw

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 04:00 AM PDT

The numbers were awful. Almost a quarter of New Yorkers were overweight, and eight in every hundred were diabetic. In just two years, city residents put on 10 million pounds. The unsettling figures, unearthed in a 2008 study by the Department of City Planning, fingered real estate as a culprit: Too many New Yorkers lacked a supermarket. Around 3 million New Yorkers fell into “high-need neighborhoods,” the city’s neologism for food deserts and their cousins,