Glenwood Management has purchased another plot of land from Fordham University, according to a recent property transaction filed with the city today.

The company bought a vacant development site at 165 West 60th Street, between Ninth and Amsterdam avenues, for $75 million, the filing shows, adding to its portfolio of former Fordham sites. Glenwood is said to be planning a massive 54-story residential tower at an adjacent lot at 160 West 60th Street.

Gary Jacob, executive vice president at Glenwood, declined to comment on the acquisition, which closed Sept. 23. A representative for Fordham was not immediately available for comment. [more]

Gary Jacob, executive vice president of Glennwood Management and the Emerald Green

Developers are increasingly including affordable units within luxury
rental buildings as part of the 80/20 program, the New York Times reported.

Steven Spinola, the president of the Real Estate
Board of New York, says at least six 80/20 projects are being planned
in Manhattan that will add some 1,500 affordable and rent-stabilized
apartments.
Previously, when
developers of market-rate residential buildings included affordable
housing in exchange for tax incentives, the affordable units were
often in another complex or even in another borough altogether. But in
2008, the city changed regulations in a way that made it almost
impossible for developers to include the affordable units outside the
luxury buildings. [more]

Glenwood Management has acquired a stalled Midtown West development
site for $76.3 million after purchasing the distressed mortgage last
year and suing to foreclose on the original developer.

The site, on the west side of Eighth Avenue between 46th and 47th
streets, was originally conceived of as a 38-story hotel and
condominium tower by Tribeach Holdings, but work stalled in late 2008 when the economy began to slump.
[more]

The state’s Housing Finance Agency has seen an increase in applications this year from developers looking for low-cost financing in exchange for constructing low-income rental apartments, according to Crain’s. Since the year began, 12 developers have applied for the agency’s 80/20 program, which provides financing for buildings in which at least 20 percent of the units are affordable, up from four applications during the entirety of 2009. None of those four applicants last year were able to obtain enough private financing to qualify for the program, whereas this year, three applicants have already done so (or will soon do so), and another three are likely to do so by the end of the year, the agency said. One such applicant is Glenwood Management, which wants $65 million for its planned, 205-unit building on West 39th Street. Company vice president Gary Jacob said HFA financing, which is generally 1.5 to 2 percent points below market rates, “is the only way we would build” because “the rate of return just isn’t that great” otherwise. David Walentas’ Brooklyn-based Two Trees Management is also seeking $20 million for a 105-unit project in Manhattan and Mount Sinai Medical Center has asked for an undisclosed sum for a 230-unit project planned for its Upper East Side campus. [Crain's]

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Concessions are a thing of the past as the Manhattan rental market rebounds, according to developers and agents, who say that rental units are moving faster while rates are climbing. For example, new rental developments like 505 West 37th Street, which launched in March and is seeing around 30 units signed every week, are showing palpable signs of rebound, according to the New York Post. Gary Jacob, executive vice president with luxury rental leasing and management firm Glenwood, said that one notable change in the market is the disappearance of concessions. “Last year we were giving one month’s free rent on every building,” Jacob said. “In February, we stopped giving concessions at any of our buildings.” [Post]

[more]

Concessions are a thing of the past as the Manhattan rental market rebounds, according to developers and agents, who say that rental units are moving faster while rates are climbing. For example, new rental developments like 505 West 37th Street, which launched in March and is seeing around 30 units signed every week, are showing palpable signs of rebound, according to the New York Post. Gary Jacob, executive vice president with luxury rental leasing and management firm Glenwood, said that one notable change in the market is the disappearance of concessions. “Last year we were giving one month’s free rent on every building,” Jacob said. “In February, we stopped giving concessions at any of our buildings.” [Post]

[more]

Gary Jacob, who oversees site acquisition, financing, leasing and financial projections for Glenwood

From the April issue: At 90-something years old, Leonard Litwin has outlasted most of his real estate rivals. He builds his high-end rental towers to do the same.

The soft-spoken chairman of Glenwood Management has been constructing and operating luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan for almost 50 years, and he hasn’t sold one yet.

Glenwood’s focus exclusively on rentals might have looked myopically old-school during the recent real estate boom, when new development condos and condo conversions drove sales prices into the stratosphere.

But it looks pretty wise in this down market.

“Glenwood is a quintessential New York builder that has always very conservatively leveraged their investments,” said Robert Knakal, chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services. “If there’s one lesson to come out of this downturn — every downturn — it’s that when times are good, leverage enhances return, but when times are bad, leverage can be very punishing. And if you don’t have excessive leverage you are in a great position to take advantage of the marketplace.”

That’s just what Glenwood appears poised to do. [more]

From the October issue: Back in 2006, when Glenwood Management began assembling parcels on the
eastern edge of the then newly rezoned Hudson Yards district to make
way for Emerald Green, it knew the project would have plenty of company
when it opened. Thousands of high-end apartments in several massive
rental projects were slated to hit the market in the emerging
neighborhood at the same time or soon after. What they didn’t anticipate was the mess of a market they’d be entering. The 24-story, two-tower building, located at 320 West 38th Street, has
just begun renting its 569 apartments, not long after the release of a
quarterly market survey declaring the past year a disaster for rentals. more