From the March issue: Tourism is back, and lenders are eyeing hotels more favorably as a result. In 2010, a record 48.7 million visitors traveled to New York City. These visitors spent approximately $31 billion during their visits to the Big Apple, according to estimates by NYC & Company, the city’s official marketing and tourism organization. To catch some of those tourist dollars, more than 36 hotels opened in New York last year. In addition, there are at least 26 new hotels in line for construction. Concurrently, financing for the hospitality asset class — which was in the doghouse with lenders just a few years ago, ranking as their least favored sector — has improved for both hotel owners and developers. [more]

Rochdale Village

Can you imagine owning a one-bedroom co-op apartment in New York City for as little as $7,200? Or what about a three-bedroom apartment with a terrace for $15,600 with monthly fees of $1,131 to $1,438?

Yes, you heard me right.

Homeownership is considered by many to be the American dream and the co-op Rochdale Village remains one of a few Mitchell-Lama limited equity co-ops, providing exceptionally low purchase prices with low monthly carrying charges, for families with low- and middle-income earnings. [more]

From the February issue: Rents are rising. Concessions are on the wane, and the vacancy rate in certain neighborhoods remains below 2 percent. Nevertheless, New Yorkers are winning lotteries for affordable apartments. Take this example: Recently, a young woman ran into me in the street and said she had watched one of my recent shows and “won the lottery.” I didn’t know what she meant until she explained that she learned about an affordable housing lottery from the show and lives in a new apartment building in Lower Manhattan as a result. [more]

Thousands of taxpayers took advantage of the first-time homebuyer’s tax credit which expired last May. People who purchased a main residence between January 2009 and April 30, 2010 may have been eligible for a maximum tax credit of $8,000 for the first-time homebuyer and a $6,500 credit for the repeat homebuyer.

This credit does not generally have to be repaid unless the home is disposed of or ceases to be a main residence within 36 months of the date of purchase.

But for first-time homebuyers who purchased a home between April and December of 2008 and claimed a different federal tax credit, they are faced with a tax liability. [more]

From the January issue: When will financing for commercial real estate return to the market? That’s the big question as we enter 2011. My answer is rather simple: It began to return in 2010 and will continue to pick up this year.
Based on preliminary reports, the volume of financing has increased by as much as 300 percent from 2009. A large portion of that was a result of the investment banks’ role in reviving commercial mortgage-backed securities lending. Commercial Mortgage Alert reported that as of Dec. 10, CMBS issuance totaled $10.4 billion, with a projected total of $13 billion for the year. This represents close to a 400 percent increase in CMBS issuance compared to 2009, when total issuance was a mere $2.7 billion in financing. [more]

As we enter 2011, a new entrant to the financing of commercial real estate is local credit unions. New York State is home to 490 credit unions with 4.4 million members and $50 billion in assets. Some of the largest in asset size and membership have been active players in the financing of business and commercial real estate loans. A private developer built Brooklyn College’s first student dormitory this past August and this month, the developer closed on the refinancing of the construction loan with a $16 million mortgage secured from Bethpage Federal Credit Union. [more]

Based upon early indicators last January, it looked like some 200 banks were on track to fail in 2010. The number didn’t reach that high, but more banks went under across the country last year than in any year since 1992, during the savings and loan crisis.

Commercial real estate loans are the problem for many troubled banks these days, showing that not all lenders can use “extend and pretend” to get through the downturn.

The nation closed out the year with 157 bank failures, up from 140 in 2009. And while the total number of failures increased last year, the total assets of failed banks declined by more than 40 percent.

[more]

People will have ample opportunity to shop at Toys “R” Us this holiday season, whether at one of the stores with its extended holiday hours or at one of the Toys “R” Us express stores.

In September, the company announced plans to operate approximately 600 express stores nationwide during the 2010-2011 Christmas season, to join their existing 587 full-size stores. The rollout of pop-up stores — which occupy approximately 4,000 square feet — represents an additional 2.4 million square feet of toy-selling space for the holiday season.

Last year, Toys “R” Us opened its first pop-up stores with nearly 90 express locations across the country, and kept 30 of those opened after seeing positive sales and traffic numbers. [more]

From left: CBRE’s Ron Danko and two hotels in the deal: a Branchburg Residence Inn and a Long Island Spring Hill Suites

[Updated 12:39 p.m.] MCR Development has acquired a portfolio of 10 Marriott and Hilton hotels for $164 million, marking one of the largest hotel deals in the country so far this year, according to commercial real estate services firm CB Richard Ellis, which brokered the deal. The collection of mostly extended-stay hotels includes 1,100 rooms across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

The seller, developer Briad Group, held onto the portfolio longer than it intended, according to CBRE broker Ron Danko, who was involved in the deal. Briad, who built the hotels between 2007 and 2010, chose to ride out the recession before unloading the properties. [more]

From the December issue: It’s the home of major media companies such as Viacom, the New York Times, Condé Nast, Reuters, Bertelsmann and Universal Music Group; broadcast studios for ABC, MTV, NASDAQ and others; headquarters of Morgan Stanley and law firms such as Proskauer Rose, Skadden Arps and Cravath Swaine & Moore. One-quarter of all hotels in Manhattan are there, along with Broadway theaters and some of the best retail in the world. And, oh, tens of millions of visitors annually come by.

So before the world’s eyes turn to Times Square for New Year’s Eve, it seemed like a good time to consider the state of the office market in the city’s most famous district. After all, some 200,000 people work in Times Square, 70 percent of them in finance and creative fields.

Let’s use the Times Square Alliance’s borders for the district: 40th Street to 53rd Street between Sixth and Eighth avenues, as well as Restaurant Row (46th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues). [more]