Residents at a Tribeca condo are hoping to give one unit owner and his tenant the boot, claiming that the pair threw raucous parties in their home featuring a stripper pole and fire wielders. What’s worse, they claim, is that unit owner James McGowan, who operates both South Brooklyn Pizza and PJ Hanley’s bar in Carroll Gardens, allegedly hasn’t paid condo fees and mortgage payments months and that he transferred the property deed to his underage daughter to avoid the possibility of liability landing on him. In this New York Post video above, partygoers who are allegedly at that man’s apartment use torches to conduct so-called “fire massages.”

From the February issue: Nothing says progress like Madoff. Late last month, The Real Deal broke the story that the Ponzi schemer’s Upper East Side penthouse finally appears close to a sale.
Listing brokers Anne Corey and Serena Boardman of Sotheby’s
International Realty have told interested agents that there is an
accepted offer on the 133 East 64th Street duplex. At press time, the
U.S. Marshals Service, which seized the property from the disgraced
financier, said the listing had not yet entered contract.
The sale (if it does clear the many obstacles of today’s market) may not be unqualified good news.
The penthouse’s asking price is $8.9 million, following a November
price chop of $1 million. It’s also been sitting on the market since
September.  [more]

Source: TDG/TREGNY

The 2010 rental market is expected to start off slow, though there is potential to see a return to stability, according to the 2009 year-end report from TDG/TREGNY, released today (see full report after the jump).

The Manhattan Rental Market report, which conflates the group’s monthly Manhattan rental market reports, shows that seasonal rental trends were less noticeable in 2009 than in other years, with the summer showing only a slight uptick in activity compared to the rest of the year. Crucial to the rental market’s future improvement, the report says, is how other segments of the Manhattan economy perform in the coming months.

“The most important factor for a market improvement is employment,” the report says. “As it steadily improves, we can expect the rental market to do the same.”

Overall, the 2009 rental prices show downward momentum from 2008. Rents on doorman studios declined the most year-over-year, with average rents last year clocking in at 8.12 percent lower than 2008. Doorman units saw significant declines in rent due to renters’ interest in finding bargain homes, according to the report. TRD  More

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From the December issue: Everyone loves cash. Nothing new there. But in this market, cash deals are even sweeter. In some cases, a onetime payment could even be the only way to close a sale, according to brokers, attorneys and developers. And discounts often await all-cash buyers. There are other benefits: less paperwork and fewer delays in getting deals done. No long waits for banks to pore over buyers’ financial records, only to reject them on the eve of closing. “Cash used to be king, but now it’s the emperor,” said Luigi Rosabianca, a real estate attorney who says 50 percent of his clients have paid cash so far this year versus 20 percent in 2007 at the market’s peak. The exact number of cash deals is difficult to determine; property records on file with the city’s Department of Finance don’t specify how apartments are paid for. And the sheer number of cash deals doesn’t seem to be increasing, as the volume of all deals remains depressed.

From the November issue: With third-quarter market reports showing an increase in activity and brokers reporting more deals getting hammered out, the question is: Who has come off the sidelines? The answer may be “trade-up” buyers, or New York homeowners willing to sell for much less than what they would have gotten at the height of the market — so long as they can then buy better property at reduced prices. The thinking behind selling low and upgrading is simple: “It’s a logical step because if you take 20 percent off a $1 million home, and 20 percent off a $2 million home, if you can afford the upgrade, you’re getting a better value” with the more expensive property, said Leah Blesoff, a sales associate with Halstead Property.

New hires with delayed start-dates are helping to temporarily support the rental market, but likely won’t be enough to prevent further price declines this winter, according to Daniel Baum, the CEO of TDG/The Real Estate Group New York, which released its October Manhattan rental market report today (see the full report after the jump). This spring, law firms and consulting companies began offering new hires incentives to push back their start dates. For example, in March, law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore asked first-year associates to postpone their start date with an option of beginning in October, November or January, according to the American Lawyer. These kinds of decisions had an impact on the rental market, Baum said, as those new hires postponed their apartment searches until the fall. That, combined with rising unemployment, led to a slower-than-normal summer rental season, Baum said. He said this group of renters is finally moving to the city and that their presence is helping to temporarily prop up the rental market. [more]

Rolan Shnayder of Home Owners Mortgage, which has been lending in a number of new condo buildings that are less than half sold

From the October issue: New condos — the black sheep of the real estate industry for much of 2009 — are finally beginning to move again as construction progresses and developers find ways to circumvent stiff presale requirements for mortgages. For example, the Tempo condominium in Gramercy, which sat virtually buyerless for months after it went on sale in September 2008, sold 10 units this summer. In Lower Manhattan, District on Fulton Street sold 10 units in August alone. The Fairchild at 55 Vestry Street in Tribeca, which had sold only one unit in April and none in February or March, put five units in contract in August and even saw a bidding war, the developer said. “Deals are getting done at new developments,” said Stephen McArdle, the principal of brokerage Urban Marketing, which is handling sales at District. “We’re seeing activity. Six months ago you weren’t seeing anything. The fact that the bottleneck is open is very encouraging.”

From left: the Soho Grand Hotel, Tribeca Grand hotel and the Maritime Hotel are possible credit risks

The troubled hotel climate in Manhattan prompted securitized loan servicing firms to characterize five mortgages for hotels, including the Soho Grand, as potential credit risks last month. The move doubles the number of Manhattan hotels on so-called watchlists to 11. The largest loan is for a $195 million note covering both the Soho Grand and Tribeca Grand, which are both owned by Hartz Mountain Industries. The loan was put on the watchlist in part because the hotels do not generate enough cash to cover the debt service payments, its servicer report says. [more]

Tribeca has transformed over the past five years, going from a commercial warehousing district to a hip neighborhood populated by celebrities. But the neighborhood’s boom has made its decline during the recession that much steeper. Several projects are stalled, including Five Franklin Place, now just a construction site surrounded by a fence. The developers at 34 Leonard, a building that appears to have finished construction, have been unable to sell out the building. The sales office at 56 Leonard has closed. Some developers say they have seen recent signs of improvements in sales, but others say developers who built projects during the boom misunderstood what types of buildings people wanted in the neighborhood. The Real Deal looked at the downturn’s impact on Tribeca in the August issue. [more]

Tribeca’s Community Board 1 decided this week not to create an inclusionary housing zone in northwest Tribeca that would allow taller buildings and require the construction of more affordable housing. The community board was considering allowing developers to construct buildings up to 120 feet tall on the northwest Tribeca block bounded by Canal, West, Watts and Washington streets, in exchange for making 20 percent of the residential units built there affordable. Instead, the community board has agreed to create an inclusionary housing zone around the Holland Tunnel, but there are very few sites there that could be developed into affordable housing, the city said. The city said that about 50 affordable housing units could have been created on the block bounded by Canal, West, Watts and Washington streets. [more]