The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Apple to open first Bronx store, 11th location in New York

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 03:20 PM PDT

Apple, among the first retailers to shutter stores during the pandemic, is opening its first location in the Bronx, adding to 10 it already operates in New York and completing its reach across the city’s boroughs. The company will open the 10,391-square-foot store on Friday at the Mall at Bay Plaza, south of Co-Op City and between the New England Thruway and Hutchinson River Parkway, according to an agent for the mall. “We were thrilled

Bronx Section 8 housing, West Village dorm top mid-market sales

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 02:54 PM PDT

No two properties traded in mid-market investment sales were alike last week, from a Section-8 multifamily building in the Bronx to college dorms that will convert to luxury condos in Greenwich Village. A ground lease deal is under way at a residential development in Red Hook, and funds from a 1031 exchange helped an industrial property sell quickly in East New York. Five properties changed hands last week in the $10 million to $30 million

No-bid contracts ripe for corruption at NYCHA buildings: investigators

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 02:00 PM PDT

City investigators are stepping in to make sure no-bid contracts for repairs to NYCHA buildings are no longer fertile ground for bribery schemes. Nine NYCHA-hired contractors were arrested on Monday following an investigation into “micro-purchase” contracts, which circumvent the competitive bidding process to ensure repair requests are handled quickly. The nine vendors allegedly won more than $20 million in non-competitive contracts in recent years, Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett told The City. While most

New York’s rent relief fund may run dry Monday

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 01:58 PM PDT

UPDATED Sept. 21, 2021, 6:11 p.m.: After weeks of warnings that New York’s rent debt would exceed the available relief, the doomsday predictions could be about to come true. By Monday, the state will have approved $2.18 billion to 168,000 applicants. Taking administrative costs into consideration, the approved amount exceeds the total $2.15 billion available, according to estimates by landlord group Community Housing Improvement Program first reported by NY1. In total, CHIP estimates the state’s

Blueground raises $140M in Series C equity, valuing startup at $750 million

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 01:49 PM PDT

Blueground, the rental startup forced during the pandemic to scale back expansion plans, raised $140 million in Series C equity financing and $40 million of debt, valuing the company at $750 million. Existing investor Laurence Tosi’s WestCap Group led the round, which included billionaire Geolo Capital, John Pritzker’s family office, as well asPrime Ventures and VentureFriends. The debt came from Silicon Valley Bank. Bloomberg, which reported the round earlier, cited people familiar with the deal

Related partners with electric vehicle startup to bring charging stations to NYC

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 12:00 PM PDT

Sleek, high-tech electric vehicle charging stations are coming en masse to New York City, and major landlords will play a key part in the rollout. This fall, New York-based Gravity, an electric vehicle taxi service and charging infrastructure startup, will open an indoor fast-charging EV hub — Manhattan’s first, according to the company — at Related’s Manhattan Plaza. The street-level site at 401 West 42nd Street in Midtown will have 29 charging ports and its

Lennar falls short on home deliveries, blames supply chain

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 11:28 AM PDT

For homebuilding giant Lennar, there was plenty of demand for properties in the third quarter. And while supply remained low, the real problem was the supply chain. The Miami-based homebuilder delivered 15,199 homes in the third quarter, about 600 below the low end of its guidance, it announced Tuesday at a third quarter earnings call. Those supply chain delays — which are affecting wide swaths of the economy — Lennar said it will also lower

Freddie Mac study of 12 million appraisals shows racial disparity

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 11:09 AM PDT

A Freddie Mac study of 12 million appraisals showed a gap between valuations of homes in mostly Black and Latino areas and those in white ones, the latest evidence of racial disparity in the housing industry. The mortgage giant analyzed home purchase appraisals from 2015 to 2020 and compared them to contract prices. The research showed gaps in the work of “a large portion” of appraisers, according to Inman. Potential factors include whether appraisers are

18th century townhouse in Hoboken listed for $7M

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 10:09 AM PDT

Hoboken could soon see one of its biggest townhouse sales in recent memory after 614 Hudson Street hit the market asking $7 million. Matt and Diana Thomas, who work as a day trader and recruiter respectively, listed their home with Brown Harris Stevens. The home was built in 1897 and had a gut renovation in 2017, one year after the pair purchased the property for $2.9 million, the New York Post reported. The home includes

Adam Popper joins Thor Equities as VP of acquisitions

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 09:15 AM PDT

Adam Popper is back in an executive role with a major commercial real estate company. The former Columbia Property Trust executive has a new role with Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities as its vice president of acquisitions. Popper started in the role on Monday, according to the Commercial Observer. Popper’s charge is to expand the developer’s presence in both industrial and life science properties, two booming sectors. He most recently founded 20 Bridges Realty Partners, where

Treasury suspends investment property restrictions to boost housing supply

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 09:01 AM PDT

Good news for second-home buyers: Certain loan restrictions at the federal level have been lifted, which will make it easier to get a mortgage for those properties. In an effort to boost housing supply, the Treasury Department and Federal Housing Finance Agency are removing some rules that limited the number of loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could buy, HousingWire reported. The restrictions, which were added to the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements in January,

Chuck Schumer calls for $80B in public housing funding

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 07:41 AM PDT

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says the $40 billion allocated by the American Jobs Plan for public housing isn’t nearly enough to address a national “humanitarian crisis” unfolding in developments in New York City. About 400,000 people live in a NYCHA development in the city, operated by the city’s housing authority. In an op-ed for City & State, Schumer called for boosting resources for public housing residents in New York CIty and across the country

Google shatters pandemic record in $2.1B office purchase

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 06:11 AM PDT

Google announced Tuesday it was expanding its office inventory in the city with the purchase of 550 Washington Street for $2.1 billion. The tech giant already leased space at the property, called St. John’s Terminal, from Oxford Properties, the Wall Street Journal reported, and will be exercising an option to buy the building, which the company said it expects to do in the first quarter of 2022. The report noted the purchase marks the biggest

Harbor Group owes more money in Fifth Ave foreclosure suit, lender claims

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Things have gone from bad to worse for Harbor Group International’s retail property at 445 Fifth Avenue. A year after its affiliates were hit with a foreclosure suit by Canadian bank CIBC for missed payments on the $40 million loan used to acquire the retail portion of the building, the investment firm finds itself facing fresh allegations from a new lender. Torchlight, a private real estate investment firm with a nose for distressed properties, purchased

Tricia Lee jumps to Serhant from Compass

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Tricia Lee is joining celebrity broker Ryan Serhant’s firm and starting her own team with agents from Compass and EXR Group. The Brooklyn-based Lee got her real estate license in 2015 and began working at the Corcoran Group in 2016. She was named rookie agent of the year and was recruited by Compass and won rookie of the year there as well. She said she’s done over $100 million in sales. Lee said her decision

Bronx development files late, and local pol claims credit

Posted: 21 Sep 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Marjorie Velázquez will not join the City Council until January, but she’s already shaping the conversation around development in the Bronx. Velázquez, the progressive Democrat widely expected to replace Councilman Mark Gjonaj in January, announced last week she had struck a deal with developers to halt a rezoning along Bruckner Avenue until the next Council takes office. (Most incumbents are being forced out by term limits.) Velázquez is framing the agreement as an early political