Miki Naftali

The Naftali Group has sued landlord Jack Benishai over an alleged breach of a letter of intent to sell two Upper West Side residential rental properties, according to records filed with the state Supreme Court. A request for further judicial intervention and a claim for compensatory damages of $2.12 million was made Tuesday, about two months after the initial lawsuit was filed. The suit alleges that in April 2012, Naftali Group and Benishai executed a letter of intent for Benishai to sell a 50 percent stake in 250 West 76th Street — a four-story, 4,868-square-foot building and 252 West 76th — a 11-story, 50,600-square foot building for $12.5 million to the Naftali Group. The letter further established an “exclusivity period,” in which Benishai would refrain from negotiating with third parties to sell any interest in the buildings. The Naftali Group paid a $20,000 deposit for this exclusivity…. [more]

316 Bergen Street rendering

Looks like a new luxury rental property is in store for Boerum Hill. Brownstoner reported that the Department of Buildings has approved permits for an eight-story, 85-unit building at Bergen Street and Third Avenue.

The permit lists an address of 312 Bergen Street, though renderings on the architect’s website indicate an address of 316 Bergen. [more]

From left: Miki Naftali and 176-182 West 82nd Street

Plans for the Naftali Group’s condominium conversion at 176-182 West 82nd Street on the Upper West Side were unanimously approved by Manhattan Community Board 7 late last week, Curbed reported. [more]

Yosi Manor

An Elad Group executive has left the international firm to join Miki Naftali’s new New York-based venture.

Yosi Manor, the former president and CEO of Elad National Properties, the Elad Group’s investment arm focusing on the Southeastern United States has assumed the role of chief financial officer and managing member of the Naftali Group, the firm told The Real Deal. Manor had served as president of Elad National (formerly known as Elad Group Florida) for seven years and managed a $1.2 billion portfolio that included more than 12,000 multi-family units. He started with Naftali Group today. [more]

Miki Naftali, Andrew Mathias and the site at 33 Beekman Street

SL Green and the Naftali Group have partnered to buy the fee interest in a development site formerly owned by Sam Chang at 33 Beekman Street in the Financial District.

The partnership closed on the deal for the fee interest yesterday, the Naftali Group revealed today, and plans on developing a Gene Kaufman-designed 30-story student housing facility there to cater to Pace University students. Upon completion of the development, the partnership will convey a long-term ground lease condominium interest in the building to Pace University for approximately 29 floors of student housing together with ground-floor school-related space, the company said. [more]

From left: Miki Naftali and 176-182 West 82nd Street

The package of four apartment buildings on the Upper West Side that sold for $17 million to private equity firm the Praedium Group last month, will be redeveloped as luxury condominiums, Crain’s reported.

The five-story, mixed-use buildings are located at 176-182 82nd Street, at Amsterdam Avenue, and all but one apartment is vacant, Crain’s said. Architecture firm ODA has been retained to design the project, which will be the Naftali Group’s first condo in Manhattan.  [more]

Miki Naftali seems excited to be free of the trappings of running a big company like Elad.

From the July issue: “Drew, you’re tired, huh? You had a rough night?” Miki Naftali, founder of the year-old Naftali Group, is teasing his 26-year-old director of development, Drew Popkin.

Popkin is a good sport. “It was a long night,” he replies from his seat in the windowed conference room of the firm’s new 5,000-square-foot office at 1700 Broadway. [more]

From left: Trump Organization Chairman and President Donald Trump, Naftali Group CEO Miki Naftali and Jones Lang LaSalle President of New York operations Peter Riguardi

September marks The Real Deal’s 100th magazine issue (to be posted online tomorrow). In it, we will be bringing you some of the stories that made the biggest impact on us and on the market. In the meantime, here is what some industry execs have to say about The Real Deal’s magazine milestone as well as about what The Real Deal has meant to them in the publication’s eight-year existence. For example, Donald Trump, chairman and president of the Trump Organization, said: “The Real Deal has become more comprehensive in its coverage of the real estate industry in New York City and it has also become a valuable source of information. The Real Deal has done a terrific job.” Compiled by Lauren Elkies

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Miki Naftali, the CEO and president of Israeli real estate and hotel development conglomerate Elad Group, announced last week that he would step down from the role he’s held for more than a decade in order to start his own company, and The Real Deal got him on the phone to find out more. Naftali, who will retain a 49 percent stake in New York subsidiary Elad Properties, chatted about his new real estate venture, the Naftali Group, and about what will become of Elad in his absence. Meanwhile, Naftali sought to quash rumors that recent retail struggles at the Plaza Hotel — the revival of which was the hallmark of his tenure, at least as far as New York City is concerned — had anything to do with his departure. Click here for the Q & A.
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