The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Brooklyn luxury contracts last week led by $4.3M Cobble Hill condo

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 04:15 PM PDT

The number of luxury contracts signed in Brooklyn last week paled in comparison to August’s numbers, with just 14 contracts signed for homes asking $2 million or more, according to Compass’s weekly report. The total of their asking prices was $41 million, up from the previous week’s $37 million across the same number of contracts. Though the report showed a slowdown after a frenzied August, when more than two dozen luxury contracts per week were

Before Surfside tragedy, neighboring tower faced opposition, delays over construction impact

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 03:30 PM PDT

When developer David Martin acquired the Dezerland Hotel, a former Howard Johnson’s that was built in 1951, his plan was to restore the North Beach building to its original glory. The stakes were high for Martin, as the project would mark his first oceanfront development. The property, on the northern border of Miami Beach next to Surfside, was not designated historic. And less than a year after the 2013 purchase, a Martin-led entity hammered out

Sale at site of UES explosion helps Manhattan set luxury contract record

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 03:25 PM PDT

A new chapter has begun at 34 East 62nd Street, marked by the setting of a new record for Manhattan’s luxury market. The 9,200-square-foot home, built from the ground up after the previous structure was destroyed by a gas explosion in 2006, was one of four townhouses asking $4 million or more that went into contract last week. The sales bring the number of single-family home contracts signed in Manhattan so far this year to

Art collectors’ Sugimoto-curated 432 Park condo lists for $135M

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 03:04 PM PDT

A 79th-floor, five-bedroom apartment at 432 Park Avenue was officially listed for sale on Monday for $135 million, or about $16,760 per square foot, after a fruitless nine-month search for an off-market buyer. The owners, an unidentified American couple that collects Asian art, hired Noel Berk of Engel & Völkers Mercedes Berk in January to find a buyer. Berk, who at the time said the full-floor unit was too unique to put a price on

August foreclosures jump 27% after federal moratorium expires

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 02:35 PM PDT

An onslaught of home foreclosures swept the country after the government’s foreclosure moratorium expired July 31. Across the U.S., 15,838 properties had a foreclosure filing last month, up 27 percent from July. That is a 60 percent jump from a year ago, according to ATTOM’s August foreclosure market report. Illinois had the highest state foreclosure rate and Chicago the highest of any city with a population of more than 1 million. “We’ll continue to see

Two East Hampton restaurants are up for sale

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 02:32 PM PDT

A restaurant on 4.3 acres of waterfront property is up for sale in East Hampton. Located at 313 Three Mile Harbor Road, the property is asking $4.6 million. The building includes an expansive bar, indoor dining room, large commercial kitchen and a full basement for storage. Additionally, there is a swimming pool and an indoor/outdoor dining room with roll up marine glass windows and walls that can seat 165. Jeffrey Sztorc and Hal Zwick of

Manhattan home listings surpass September records, signal lasting demand

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 01:57 PM PDT

Early September usually ushers in the demand doldrums for Manhattan home sales. Families that spent the summer house-hunting have either closed by Labor Day or shelved their search for the school year. With fewer buyers looking and signing, listings dip, too. But not this year. New listings for Manhattan homes hit 723 last week, 30 percent above the period’s five-year average, according to a report released by the real estate analytics site UrbanDigs. The surge

NBA store settles rent-collection lawsuit suit with landlord Moinian Group

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 01:09 PM PDT

He shoots, he… settles? The lawsuit between landlord Moinian Group and the National Basketball Association’s retail arm regarding the NBA Store at 545 Fifth Avenue has been settled, according to a notice of discontinuance filed in New York Supreme Court. When the suit was first filed in June 2020, Moinian claimed that NBA Media Ventures owed $1.9 million in back rent on its $625,000-per-month lease for the store. By April of this year, the landlord

Higher home prices don’t mean bigger down payments, percentage-wise

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 01:00 PM PDT

The residential market has had a wild year and a half, with home prices, bidding wars and all-cash offers all rising substantially. But one thing hasn’t changed. The cash that buyers put towards a down payment has not risen significantly in percentage terms, according to a recent study by LendingTree. The study found the average down payment across the country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas is $46,283 is overall consistent with previous years, despite the high

Developer joins climate advocates in pushing gas-hookup ban

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 12:26 PM PDT

Climate advocates have found an unlikely ally in their fight to ban fossil-fuel hookups in new buildings. Alloy Development has joined New York Communities for Change to push a City Council bill that would effectively bar the use of natural gas in any new building or property that undergoes a major renovation. The developer is breaking ranks with the industry, which protested loudly when National Grid declared a moratorium on new gas hookups two years

August retail rent payments close to 2019 levels

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 11:35 AM PDT

Despite the delta variant causing a new wave of restrictions on businesses, most retailers are paying their rent at nearly pre-pandemic levels. National chains have paid 95 percent of owed rent in August of this year. That’s just slightly below the nearly 97 percent paid during the same time in 2019, according to a monthly report by Datex Property Solutions. “There’s resiliency in retail,” Datex Property Solutions CEO Mark Sigal said. The chains included in

Home sale prices hit record high in Suffolk County

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 10:15 AM PDT

Long Island remains firmly a sellers market, as prices hit record highs across the region last month. The median home price in Suffolk County was $535,000 in August, a record high for the county, according to a report from OneKey MLS, as cited in Newsday. The figure was a 17.6 percent jump from August 2020. In Nassau County, the median home price was $670,000, which tied a previous record for the month, according to the

Trump Plaza New Rochelle dumps Trump Org as property manager

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 10:00 AM PDT

The Trump Organization’s property management footprint keeps shrinking as condo boards vote to distance themselves from the former president’s controversial brand. The board at Trump Plaza New Rochelle, a 40-story luxury tower at 175 Huguenot Street in downtown New Rochelle, has elected to switch its management agent from the Trump Organization to AKAM Associates, according to a memo to condo owners reviewed by The Real Deal. The change is effective Oct. 1. The New Rochelle

Slate snaps up New School dorm in Greenwich Village for $23M

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 09:22 AM PDT

Once home to America’s priciest college housing, The New School’s dorm at 118 West 13th Street is set to graduate into luxury condos. The almost 34,000-square-foot property was sold to Slate Property Group for $22.85 million, or $673 a foot, in a deal that closed late last week, The Real Deal has learned. The 175 rooms at New School’s Eugene Lang College dorm were once dubbed the most expensive in the country, with students paying

RXR gets $143M refi for Brooklyn apartment complex

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 08:50 AM PDT

RXR Realty is back in business in Clinton Hill, where the developer secured a $143 million refinancing loan for its 12-story multifamily development at 475 Clermont Avenue. The 10-year, fixed-rate loan, courtesy of MetLife Investment Management, refinances a $125 million construction credit facility arranged in 2017 from JPMorgan Chase and People’s United Bank, according to Commercial Observer. The development on the border of Clinton Hill and Fort Greene has 363 residential units for rent, 70

Blackstone bails on $3B acquisition of Soho China

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 08:15 AM PDT

Blackstone has pulled the plug on its $3.05 billion acquisition of Soho China, initially announced three months ago. In a regulatory filing on Friday, the investment giant revealed it was killing the bid, a 30 percent premium on Soho China’s stock price, over a “lack of sufficient progress” from government regulators needed to approve the deal, according to CNN. Soho China has developed over 54 million square of real estate in China since its founding

As public proptech sector expands, revenues and deal activity surge

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 08:00 AM PDT

The publicly traded proptech sector is getting larger, more active and more crowded. It’s also generating a lot more cash than it used to. Public proptech firms pulled in an estimated $13.5 billion in revenue in the second quarter, according to a report released last week by the investment bank Keefe Bruyette & Woods. That’s up 71 percent from the period last year, when shutdowns halted much of the U.S. economy, but also up 61

HUD sells flood-prone homes without informing buyers

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 06:41 AM PDT

A HUD flood? The federal government agency is selling homes to people in flood-prone areas without fully disclosing the danger or cost, a recent investigation showed. Homes sold by HUD are disproportionately in flood-prone areas when compared with all national home sales recorded by Zillow, the NPR report showed. Over the course of four years, HUD home sales were sold in such risky areas at a rate 75 times higher than all homes sold in

Spike in proptech players sparks $18 billion of M&A

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 06:00 AM PDT

Full house The number of proptech startups seeking to bring high-tech to the commercial real estate industry has increased three-fold to 8,000 in the last decade, according to JLL data. The spike in the number of players has also caused some shrinking of the field. Proptech M&A has totaled more than $18 billion in 2021 through the end of August and is on track to surpass the $21.9 billion of M&A transacted in 2020. Funds

Urban Edge to add housing, other uses to New Jersey, Yonkers malls

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Three tristate malls are getting facelifts in an unexpected way. Urban Edge Properties will add residential space to the Bergen Town Center in Paramus and to the Yonkers Gateway Center, according to an investor presentation. The firm also plans to “de-mall” the interior of its Hudson Mall in Jersey City to add industrial and self-storage space. Adding housing, self-storage and warehouse space would have been unthinkable when malls were king of the retail world, but

Thor Equities can keep $1.2M deposit on failed 933 Broadway sale: judge

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 05:00 AM PDT

A judge has sided with Thor Equities in a lawsuit involving a failed sale of 933 Broadway, allowing Joe Sitt’s firm to keep the $1.2 million deposit from the would-have-been buyer, Mactaggart Family & Partners. The lawsuit stemmed from a dispute over how to count days to determine a key deadline in a nearly $24 million now-collapsed transaction in the Flatiron District. On March 11, 2020, Mactaggart Family & Partners signed a contract to purchase

With a $2.5B valuation, Side prepares to take on NYC. Will agents buy in?

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 04:30 AM PDT

Side has had an explosive year. In March, the white-label brokerage’s $150 million Series D propelled its valuation above $1 billion. A few months later, that valuation more than doubled to $2.5 billion after Tiger Global Management, the world’s most active venture investor in the second quarter, led a $50 million round. To both its champions and its rivals, Side’s ascent represents tech investors’ zeal for residential real estate. But as the brokerage prepares to

Inwood parking lot owned by murderous drug kingpin will become housing

Posted: 13 Sep 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Six years ago, a parking lot in Inwood was seized by the federal authorities alongside more than half a million dollars in cash, a trove of gold jewelry, three rifles and a Louis Vuitton bag. The land belonged to Manuel Geovanny Rodriguez-Perez, a drug kingpin known as “Shorty” who was sentenced to life in prison in 2017 for nine murders, 10 attempted murders and selling large quantities of marijuana. Now it will become housing in