The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Brooklyn Heights townhouse next to “secret” MTA air shaft hits market for $6M

Posted: 19 Feb 2022 12:04 PM PST

A Joralemon Street townhouse in historic Brooklyn Heights has hit the market for $6 million, according to the New York Post, but the building next to it could be its biggest selling point. That’s because the house next door isn’t a house at all. Instead, it is possibly the MTA’s most valuable air shaft in the subway system, hidden behind what looks like a multi-million dollar Greek-revival home. The fact of the airshaft’s existence is

Pole Vault: Stately Georgia home has strip-club-esque basement

Posted: 19 Feb 2022 10:12 AM PST

This house is clearly for singles! A stately Georgia home on a wooded piece of property is hiding a secret in its basement: A potentially profitable rumpus room complete with a sound system and stripper pole. According to the New York Post, from the outside, the home, about a half-hour from Atlanta in Marietta, looks like a typical suburban red-shuttered dream house. And the top two floors have all the modern luxuries a nuclear family

Alaska’s biggest home heads for auction

Posted: 19 Feb 2022 09:00 AM PST

The nation’s biggest state claims to have the largest home – and now, all 17,000 square feet of it is up for auction. The Second Star Mansion, a beachside lodge about 220 south of Anchorage in the town of Homer, will be auctioned at 1 p.m. EST on March 22 in Beverly Hills, according to the Larner Global Group. The gabled estate at 5260 Kachemak Drive in “the Halibut Capital of the World” rents for

Nelson Mandela’s post-prison home now a hotel — and you can sleep in his room

Posted: 19 Feb 2022 08:35 AM PST

At least one South African President slept here. And Naomi Campbell. The former home of Nelson Mandela, the longtime anti-apartheid activist who after years in prison went on to become South Arica’s first-ever Black head of state, is now a boutique hotel. The New York Post reports guests at Sanctuary Mandela can sleep in the same room Mandela, who served as the country’s first president from 1994 to 1999, did or choose from eight other

Catskills “hotel in the woods” glampsite gets $400K price chop

Posted: 19 Feb 2022 06:00 AM PST

An upstate New York glampsite with nine luxurious tent cabins and its own waterfalls and swimming holes had its price chopped by more than a third. The 23-acre Catskills retreat at 420 West Fulton Road in West Fulton with an A-frame house, a restaurant and boutique shop is now asking $665,000, down from $1 million two years ago, according to realtor.com. “It’s like a hotel in the woods,” said Kat Schaufelberger, who opened Camp Here

Setback for governor’s granny-flat bill

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 04:13 PM PST

The governor delivered a blow to New York housing advocates Thursday when she sidelined a proposal to legalize accessory dwelling units, sometimes referred to as granny flats. Gov. Kathy Hochul removed language from her executive budget that would have required localities to permit the construction of such units on lots zoned for single-family housing. But she kept provisions that would pave the way for New York City to legalize basement apartments and other types of

3D home printer Icon rounds up another $185M

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 03:42 PM PST

Icon, an Austin-based construction startup, has raised $185 million to grow its 3D home-printing business. The funding round, led by Tiger Global Management, is said to be an extension of the company’s $207 million Series B last summer. The additional funds bring Icon’s total equity raised to $451 million. TechCrunch first reported the fundraise, citing an anonymous source who estimated the company’s valuation is approaching $2 billion. Icon could not be reached immediately for comment.

Documents shed new light on Crown Heights eviction saga

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 12:12 PM PST

UPDATED Feb. 19, 2022, 5 p.m.: A new legal filing and old mortgage documents shed light on an eviction saga in Crown Heights in which a 98-year-old woman lost ownership and then tenancy of her family home of 70 years. Last week, city marshals evicted Ida Robinson and her family from the stately row house at 964 Park Place. The Robinsons had in 1951 become the first Black family on the block. But facing foreclosure

Existing-home sales leapt 6.7% in January

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 11:15 AM PST

Buyers kicked off the year rushing to close on homes as the market only grew more competitive. Existing-home sales rose 6.7 percent in January, according to the National Association of Realtors. The deluge of deals came alongside a record low for inventory and rising mortgage rates. “Buyers were likely anticipating further rate increases and locking-in at the low rates,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “Consequently, housing prices continue to move solidly

White Plains office complex sells for $105M

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 10:00 AM PST

An office complex in Westchester has traded hands in one of the county’s largest such transactions in recent memory. Argent Ventures scooped up the White Plains Plaza, a pair of 15-story office buildings at 1 North Broadway and 445 Hamilton Avenue, for a combined $105 million, the Westchester and Fairfield County Business Journals reported. The seller was a partnership between Ivy Realty and DW Capital. Newmark, which represented the sellers, called it the “largest single-asset

Commercial buildings retained almost all of pre-pandemic value, NYC budget says

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 08:00 AM PST

The pandemic unleashed unprecedented threats to New York City’s commercial properties, but the latest estimate from the city suggests the buildings have weathered the storm. Mayor Eric Adams’ preliminary budget includes an estimate of nearly $301 billion for the city’s commercial properties for the 2022-23 fiscal year, Crain’s reported. While that’s below the estimated $326 billion pre-pandemic value, it still marks a retaining of 92.3 percent of their value. The estimate is also a sizable

Paul McCartney takes fat loss on Fifth Ave co-op

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 06:45 AM PST

Help! An ex-Beatle needs somebody to … advise him on real estate. Paul McCartney and his wife, Nancy Shevell, recently sold their penthouse co-op unit at 1045 Fifth Avenue for $8.5 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The sale price is barely half of the $15.5 million the couple bought it for in 2015. The apartment went through several price cuts before being sold to the (magical) mystery buyer. The unit was listed for $12

Gutter ball: Locals aim to strike project at bowling alley site

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 05:45 AM PST

Long Island residents are trying to knock down a senior living facility proposed to replace a bowling alley, pinning their hopes on demands to be spared from traffic and noise. Benchmark Senior Living is in the process of buying the East Islip Lanes at 117 East Main Street to build 90 units for seniors, Newsday reported. The sale has not closed, and Benchmark, which operates several facilities on Long Island and throughout New England, would

Construction unions pressure developers of Terminal Warehouse

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 05:00 AM PST

In some ways, Terminal Warehouse was already a risk for developers Columbia Property Trust and L&L Holding. Now they have angry construction unions to deal with. Their $1.8 billion project will transform the landmark warehouse in West Chelsea into office and retail space at a time of uncertainty for both sectors. Office vacancy rates remain high and street retail continues to struggle with the pandemic and online competition. But construction unions are zeroing in on

Botched foundation costs Village megamansion project $10M: lawsuit

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 04:00 AM PST

Things built on a weak foundation eventually crumble, and a Greenwich Village megamansion project is no exception, its developer argues in a lawsuit. The anonymous builder is accusing a contractor and consultant of installing 23 “useless piles” at its 12,000-plus-square-foot project at 85 Jane Street. Curbed reported in 2016 that sources identified billionaire Jon Stryker, heir to the Stryker Corporation medical supply company fortune, as the person behind the Greenwich Village project. It began a