Real estate developers, brokers and attorneys are gathered for the third annual Massey Knakal Multi-family Summit for the tri-state area at the McGraw-Hill Conference Center on Sixth Avenue. The focus of this year’s summit is the acquisition, disposition, financing and management of multi-family properties in the greater New York City area, with a special emphasis on the political environment, trends in rents and operations, as well as a discussion of cap rates, financing and interest rates.

Bruce Beal, executive vice president of the Related Companies, talked about about the rental market and Related’s current projects.

“We’ve been doing everything from looking at distressed opportunities — projects that failed, retail projects that weren’t leased, half built condominium buildings — mostly in our core markets like New York, Boston, California,” he said. — Katherine Clarke [more]

From left: Related’s Bruce Beal speaks at the launch of the new DOB development hub and Mayor Michael Bloomberg and DOB commissioner Robert LiMandri give a demonstration of the new software

Related Companies Executive Vice President Bruce Beal made an appearance this afternoon at a Department of Buildings event announcing a new system for reviewing building plans. Filing an application for a residential tower at 500 West 30th Street, Beal was one of the first to use the new system.

Called the NYC Development Hub, the new platform aims to accelerate the approval process for construction projects by allowing architects and engineers to submit plans and resolve issue digitally. DOB employees will be able to video conference with applicants while simultaneously reviewing their plans online, the department said. Other city departments, such as the Landmarks Preservation Commission and City Planning, will set up their own miniature hubs so they can participate in the process. [more]

From left: Related Companies Chairman Stephen Ross and partners Jeff Blau and Bruce Beal

Only 18 months ago, developer and Related Companies Chairman Stephen Ross thought U.S. banks were a wise investment. Now, it seems, he’s changed his mind.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ross and partners Jeff Blau and Bruce Beal each put $100 million of their own money, in addition to $1 billion raised from investors, into a fund called SJB Escrow Corp. in 2009, and spent a year researching U.S. banks, hoping to buy or invest $1.1 billion in lenders. The deeper they looked however, the more worrying things became; they saw troubled assets, weak loan demand, rising regulatory costs and few growth prospects.
“We’re disappointed to see the opportunity evaporate,” Ross said. “If you look at the environment today, I feel even more comfortable that we made the right decision [not to invest].” [more]

From the January issue: While the pipeline for condos has slowed to a near-stop, there are a
few daring developers out there picking up land and buildings in this
tough market. But those who are making purchases and starting up projects now are
doing so with revised cost projections — faced with the reality that
expenses must be contained in a weak sales market. The Related Companies, for example, restarted construction in the
fall on a long-delayed skyscraper at 440 West 42nd Street, which
includes a Frank Gehry-designed theater, a hotel and 800 apartments –
a mix of market-rate rentals, affordable units and condos. The deal was made possible with the help of $25 million from the
city for the theater and a citywide agreement between developers and
more than 40 labor unions to trim construction costs up to 20 percent.
The project had been on hold for months amid the downturn and limited
financing.

Bruce Beal, an executive vice president at Related Companies, sat down with the Observer to discuss, among other things, the company’s mixed-use development at 440 West 42nd Street between 10th and Dyer avenues. The group is set to restart construction on the 1.2 million-square-foot structure, after rearranging some of its expectations and financials. Beal said that Related Companies got $700 million in financing at the end of 2007, but that the changing financial landscape drastically altered the project. “We built the foundation and I think then we woke up in the middle of ’08, and we said, ‘the market’s changing drastically, the cost structure doesn’t work anymore,’” Beal said. “Rather than just putting the blinders on, and saying it’s going to be what it’s going to be, we basically shut the job down.” The result was a nine-month review of the project and a 20 percent reduction in costs.