The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Paul Manafort’s Brooklyn townhouse heads to foreclosure

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 02:53 PM PST

Paul Manafort managed to escape the majority of his seven-and-a-half year prison sentence on fraud and conspiracy charges with a last-minute pardon from former president Donald Trump. But he could not escape his lender. Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, and his wife, Kathleen, are losing their Brooklyn townhouse to a foreclosure sale after reaching a deal with their lender, Federal Savings Bank. A public auction is scheduled for Feb. 16 at a Brooklyn courthouse. The

Lutnick gets $20M bonus after Newmark’s record year

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 01:10 PM PST

Newmark chairman Howard Lutnick was rewarded with a $20 million bonus as the brokerage he spun off in 2017 saw its best year on record. Newmark reported net income of $744.5 million last year, up from a little more than $70 million in 2020, according to the company’s year-end financial statements. Annual revenue and earnings were the highest in the company’s history. The brokerage received an $850 million windfall last year as a result of

East Hampton to let landlords collect summer rent upfront

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 12:00 PM PST

East Hampton homeowners who want to collect summer rent from tenants upfront should be prepared to share some key details on who is coming to town. East Hampton is creating an additional category for its rental registry for seasonal renters, 27East reported. The category will allow landlords to bypass a 2019 state law which banned landlords from requiring more than one month’s rent to be paid in advance. The state law was intended to prevent

Group sues to annul Soho rezoning, citing artist fee

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 11:01 AM PST

A group of Soho residents, aggrieved by new rules for development and artists’ housing, wants a state court to annul the neighborhood’s rezoning. The Coalition for Fairness in Soho and Noho sued the city and the mayor Thursday, alleging that the purported goal of creating affordable housing in a high-opportunity area was “pretext to facilitate the demolition of historic landmarks, and thereafter promote the proliferation of big-box chain stores, office buildings, and luxury housing.” The

Brookfield eyes breaking off asset management business

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 10:00 AM PST

Can you truly take the “asset management” out of “Brookfield Asset Management”? The investment group may try. Brookfield is considering spinning off its asset management business into a separate public company, the Financial Times reported. One analyst told the publication the separated company could be valued at more than $75 billion. For CEO Bruce Flatt, the decision would come as part of a larger effort to lighten the asset load for Brookfield. The potential move

Proptech stars and real estate titans converge at Future City 2022

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 09:00 AM PST

We’ve already given you a taste of some of the real estate titans and proptech stars you can encounter next month at Future City 2022 — The Real Deal’s exclusive three-day retreat in the Bahamas next month. Now, let’s take a look at some of the companies that are paving the way for the industry’s data-driven future: Royal Palm Companies Daniel Kodsi’s prolific Florida-based development firm Royal Palm Companies is turning luxury into a lifestyle

Developers’ purchase ends saga over stalled Hudson Heights site

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 08:00 AM PST

After more than 15 years at the center of financial troubles and stalled development, a Washington Heights property could be nearing a fresh future with new owners leading the charge. Developers Sumaida + Khurana — led by founding partners Saif Sumaida and Amit Khurana — and Bizzi & Partners — headed by CEO Davide Bizzi and managing director Alessandro Pallaoro — teamed up to purchase the site at 524 Fort Washington Avenue in the Hudson

“The storm has gotten stronger”: SoftBank facing tough times

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 06:45 AM PST

Sunny days at Japanese investment giant SoftBank are becoming harder to come by as clouds gather above the firm’s head. In its fourth quarter earnings report released this week, SoftBank revealed quarterly earnings dropped 97 percent year-over-year, the New York Times reported. Shares in the company on the Tokyo stock exchange, meanwhile, are down more than half in the past year. “The storm has not ended; the storm has gotten stronger,” said CEO Masayoshi Son

Billionaire Michael Steinhardt sells Carnegie Hill penthouse for $11.4M

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 05:00 AM PST

Weeks after agreeing to surrender $70 million worth of illicit artifacts to the Manhattan district attorney, billionaire Michael Steinhardt recouped some of the loss by offloading his luxurious Carnegie Hill co-op. The hedge funder sold the expansive penthouse atop 1158 Fifth Avenue to real estate investor Greg Olafson for $11.4 million, records show. Overlooking Central Park, the triplex unit, listed by Brown Harris Stevens for $12.5 million, includes a corner living room, wood-paneled library and

Brooklyn developer sues Daily News for calling him “land shark”

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 04:00 AM PST

What, exactly, is a “land shark?” Brooklyn developer Yuval Golan claims the New York Daily News called him a criminal by slapping that label on him. In a defamation lawsuit against the tabloid filed Wednesday, Golan is seeking $310 million in damages for a front-page story on him in October, which included a photo that he says was “retouched so as to give him a sinister appearance.” “The term ‘land shark’ reasonably implies that [Golan]

These are Westchester’s biggest brokerages

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 03:00 PM PST

The following is a preview of one of the hundreds of data sets that will be available on TRD Pro — the one-stop real estate terminal that provides all the data and market information you need. Brokerages need plenty of boots on the ground in the exclusive, winding drives of Westchester County, where one out of every three sales were decided by bidding wars last year, according to appraiser Miller Samuel. Listing inventory fell to

Manhattan rents are back to pre-pandemic levels after January spike

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 01:45 PM PST

Rents in New York City approached all-time records last month as inventory grew increasingly scarce. The median rental in Manhattan cost $3,467 last month, according to the New York Post, which cited the latest report by appraisal firm Miller Samuel. That was up a little over 2 percent from $3,392 in December, but it represented a 23 percent spike from January 2021 — falling just $5 short of the January record set in 2020, when

Ritz-Carlton NoMad scores $200M refi from Bank OZK

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 01:42 PM PST

Forget the Ozarks — Bank OZK is getting Ritzy. The prolific lender from Little Rock is taking over financing at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Residences in NoMad with a $200 million refinance loan. It takes the place of Atalaya Capital Management, which took over $50 million of debt and gave the hotel a $199.6 million construction loan in 2018. The refi is the latest turn in a development odyssey for Paul Kanavos’ Flag Luxury Group,

Growth of home sale prices slowed, but affordability worsened

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 01:00 PM PST

The fourth quarter of 2021 held a glimmer of good news for homebuyers: growth in home prices slowed. The bad news: affordability worsened overall amid rising prices and mortgage rates. Of the 183 markets measured by the National Association of Realtors’ quarterly report, 67 saw a double-digit increase in median sales prices for existing single-family homes in the fourth quarter. The figure stands slightly below the 78 percent of markets seeing the same increase in

Home sale-leaseback startup EasyKnock raises $57 million

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 11:30 AM PST

EasyKnock, a startup that buys homes and rents them back to sellers, raised $57 million in Series C funding, with plans to expand its services to farmland. A popular corporate finance tool, sale-leaseback transactions are less commonly associated with the housing market. EasyKnock’s offering functions similarly to the commercial model, but targets middle-class homeowners: Owners sell their property to EasyKnock, then lease it back, allowing them access to the equity they have built up. Demand

New mayor unblocks Hempstead Village projects

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 10:45 AM PST

It’s a new day for two affordable housing projects in the Village of Hempstead, thanks in large part to a changing of the political guard. Two projects planned at the corner of Main and Bedell streets were put on the agenda and given initial approval by Hempstead Town’s Industrial Development Agency late last month, Newsday reported. A public hearing for the projects is set for next week, after which a vote on payments in lieu

Hobby Lobby lands 42K sf in Staten Island

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 09:30 AM PST

Hobby Lobby has so far resisted the bright lights of New York City in its 50 years of business, but that’s set to change soon. The arts-and-crafts retailer will open its first New York City location at The Crossing at the Staten Island Mall, the Commercial Observer reported. The chain will be taking over a 42,000-square-foot space previously occupied by Babies “R” Us. The asking rent and lease length were not immediately disclosed. It’s also

Demand for second homes up 87% from pre-pandemic

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 07:45 AM PST

Nearly two years into the pandemic, buyers are still flocking to vacation homes to take advantage of remote work and low mortgage rates — but the market could be nearing its peak. Demand for second homes was 87 percent above pre-pandemic levels in January, according to Redfin. The level of demand was its highest in a year, nearly rivaling the 90 percent gain from September 2020 and recovering from a summer dip. Buyer interest in

Extell’s UWS tower nabs $967M construction loan

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 06:30 AM PST

Putting years of legal fighting behind him, Gary Barnett’s Extell Development is beginning to make progress on a long-awaited Upper West Side condo tower. Extell landed $967 million in construction financing for the planned 775-foot tower at 50 West 66th Street, the Commercial Observer reported. Barnett’s 127-unit building is slated to stand 69 stories tall and aims to generate $188 million in sales. Bank OZK was the senior lender in the transaction, providing $800 million,

American Dream angles for $1.7B payment extension

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 05:45 AM PST

The owner of New Jersey’s American Dream mall is dealing with the beleaguered property’s reality. Don Ghermezian’s Triple Five Group is asking for a four-year extension to pay off $1.7 billion in construction financing, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg. The loans were made by a group of lenders including JPMorgan Chase in 2017, including a $1.2 billion senior loan and $475 mezzanine loan due to be repaid last year. An extension on

Four big landlords get paid to model green retrofits

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 05:00 AM PST

Decarbonization is no longer just a buzzword. In the past few years, New York has tightened the screws on real estate, a sector that belches nearly 70 percent of New York City’s climate-warming emissions and one-third of the state’s. A city law demands that most large buildings cut them by 80 percent by 2050. A 2019 state law demands an 85 percent reduction in the state’s emissions from 1990 levels by 2050, an aggressive benchmark

Bar Works Ponzi scheme co-conspirator sentenced to 11 years

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 04:00 AM PST

One of the co-conspirators in the Bar Works co-working Ponzi scheme has been sentenced to 11 years in prison. James Moore received the sentence on Feb. 1, almost three years after federal prosecutors announced the British national as the first conviction in its investigation into the New York-based startup. Moore has also been ordered to pay $58 million in restitution. The co-working company was at the center of a scheme to defraud more than 800