Alex RovtWhile a Russian was not responsible for the record One57 penthouse purchase, don’t expect the region’s influence on the city’s real estate market to wane. In a video on CNBC (watch it after the jump), Alex Rovt, who recently acquired the 1 million-square-foot office tower at 14 Wall Street for $303 million in cast, and Ukraine-born real estate attorney Edward Mermelstein explain the region’s infatuation with New York City Property. [more]

Edward Mermelstein, an attorney and managing partner with Rheem Bell & Mermelstein, and the Russian flag

Russian magnates are spending massive amounts of money on residential real estate in the New York area, in Manhattan and some parts of Long Island, according to Edward Mermelstein, an attorney and managing partner with Rheem Bell & Mermelstein, who told Moscow-based website Russia Beyond the Headlines that half of his company’s current deals involve clients from Russia and the Ukraine, an enormous increase in the last few months.

“I rarely see Russians buying property for less than $800,000 to 900,000,” Mermelstein said.

As The Real Deal previously reported, one of the most important things for Russian buyers is a desirable location. “Russians usually buy real estate in the best buildings in prime locations, focusing on Park Avenue, Central Park West, Central Park South, Fifth Avenue and 57th Street,” said Victoria Logvinsky, a vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman. “You often hear a Russian client asking where the best buildings and best apartments are.” [more]

From left: Edward Mermelstein and TRD Publisher Amir KorangyIs the housing market bound to correct itself, or does it need government guidance to get back in the right direction? That’s the question at the center of the debate over President Barack Obama’s Home Affordable Refinance Plan, which gives underwater homeowners wider access to the market’s low interest rates.

“What we’ve learned over the last couple of years is regardless of the regulation that’s put out to either force the banks to lend more or to loosen the regulatory measures, it hasn’t shown to have worked,” Edward Mermelstein, a New York City real estate developer and a partner and co-founder of law firm Rheem Bell & Mermelstein, told Multi-Housing News. “Let the market correct itself … the less interference that’s provided, the quicker that’s going to happen.” [more]

A Russian developer is accusing the powerful California real estate investment firm CIM Group of breaking a verbal agreement to work together to build on a vacant site at 33rd Street and Madison Avenue, and instead swooping in to buy the $29 million mortgage and foreclose on it, a new lawsuit filed yesterday in New York State Supreme Court says.

NMP-Group, controlled by Russian developer Natalia Pirogova, says in the suit that CIM Group used privileged information to snap up the note in August from lender Garrison Investment Group despite making promises in March 2011 to work with NMP in a joint venture to build a mixed-use tower at the site, at 172-176 Madison Avenue. [more]

Russian magnates and other foreign investors are buying up some of the priciest residential real estate in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported, as the weak dollar makes for a bargain purchase. They’re interested primarily in high-profile purchases that will make an impression with their friends back home, sources said.

“Those trophies,” said real estate attorney Edward Mermelstein of recent purchases by foreign investors, “they’re buying them to make a splash. They’ll definitely gravitate to a property that’s higher profile as much as to a property with a long-term investment potential.”

New York, California and Florida are the primary markets popular with Russian buyers, according to Miller Samuel, with more than 65 percent of nationwide properties asking more than $20 million located in those states. [more]

Foreign governments are buying up U.S. property at steep discounts through their investment funds, according to the video above. Manhattan and Washington D.C. are particular hotbeds of activity and opportunity, with governments taking advantage of low prices and the weak dollar to pick up Class A office properties, said real estate attorney Edward Mermelstein. The video referenced Kuwait’s recent purchase of 750 Seventh Avenue. Some, including Peter Morici, a professor at Maryland University business school, believe that allowing these buyers to infiltrate the market poses a risk to national security. He said it’s often difficult to track these transactions and that the funds are often reluctant to disclose details of their portfolios. Economist Edward Truman argues, on the other hand, that any investment in U.S. real estate is good news for the nation’s economy. [more]

From left: Architect Costas Kondylis and Princess Katherine Karadjordjevic, developer Donald Trump, the Corcoran Group’s Pamela Liebman, Town’s Andrew Heiberger and wife Robyn, and marketing guru Louise Sunshine (credit: Clint Spaulding of patrickmcmullan.com). Click the image to see more photos.

Developer Donald Trump, who spent weeks courting the fringes of American politics in a possible presidential bid, stuck to real estate last night in brief remarks at the premier of a documentary produced by The Real Deal about the prolific and aging New York architect Costas Kondylis. (See more photos after the jump.)

Trump, who traveled the United States questioning President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, praised Kondylis — born in Africa to Greek parents — as a “great design architect.”

Kondylis was the architect on many of Trump’s buildings such as the Trump World Tower at 845 United Nations Plaza and an imposing row of residential towers that were critically panned called Riverside South, which face the Hudson River. [more]

From left: Faith Hope Consolo, Peter Kozel, Adelaide Polsinelli, Karen Bellantoni, Edward Mermelstein and Robin Abrams

This year was an uneven one for the commercial real estate market in which the volume of sales and leasing improved, but prices remained far below those seen in the boom years. In the sales arena, a number of major properties traded hands at steep discounts, but the overall volume was light. Office leasing activity improved dramatically in 2010 — 50 percent year-over-year in terms of volume — but while prices stabilized, they have not risen much from their low points. The Real Deal spoke to some of New York City’s top real estate pros — from office and retail leasing experts to investment sales specialists to real estate attorneys — to get their views on where the New York City commercial market is headed in 2011. Click here to see what they had to say.
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Ed Mermelstein

Edward Mermelstein, 42, is a partner at law firm Rheem Bell & Mermelstein, which focuses on commercial and residential real estate. In the spring, Mermelstein merged his Edward A. Mermelstein & Associates with Uel Rheem and Christine Bell to form the boutique firm that now has 11 attorneys. He spoke to The Real Deal about the difficulty foreigner buyers have purchasing cooperatives units in New York, the unrealistic expectations some overseas investors have about commercial real est [more]

Despite the slow market recovery in the U.S., foreign investors have been buying properties in a handful of cities nationwide, including New York, Edward Mermelstein, an international real estate attorney, told the Wall Street Journal in the video above.
Eastern Europeans have been particularly active in the New York City market, where they’re buying high-end residential properties in Manhattan and elsewhere, since similarly-sized properties in Europe would cost double the price, thanks to a weakened dollar. Canadians have also been making a dent in the real estate market, specifically buying office buildings in New York City.

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