The challenging market is prompting brokers to use some eyebrow-raising practices. Some say that brokers are taking overpriced listings sure to linger for months. Why? To scoop up valuable buy-side clients. Another trick is to invite friends and family to mill around at open houses, creating more buzz -- and urgency among buyers. More
Manhattan retailers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The continued freeze in consumer spending is forcing some retailers to do the once-unthinkable: close desirable Manhattan locations, including flagship stores. More
Financing trouble is drastically eliminating the number of hotels under construction in New York City, stalling about 10,000 planned rooms in the pipeline -- or canceling them altogether. This month, The Real Deal consulted developers, hotel chains, public records and other sources connected to hotels in the city's pipeline and found at least 43 of them delayed or axed. More
Like timeshares on steroids, condo-hotels appeared to offer the perfect real estate trifecta when the market was strong. The units — which look like high-end hotel rooms but are sold as condos that buyers can stay in for about a third of the year — were long a win for developers, buyers and lenders. More
In a surprise upset, Corcoran's Carrie Chiang beat out Prudential Douglas Elliman super broker Dolly Lenz in The Real Deal's first top Manhattan agent survey, based on total dollar value of listings. Lenz had 81 active exclusive listings to Chiang's 67. However, Chiang had exclusives worth some $472 million, topping Lenz's $426 million. More
The bell has rung and tenants are coming out swinging. A number of strong retail tenants are taking advantage of the recession by seizing the opportunity to secure long-term leases with lower rents and conditions not seen in many years. More
Commercial sales brokers are often viewed as brash big mouths who broadcast a property's availability. But in the current recession, where a slip of the tongue can put a loan into technical default, that sort of reputation is no longer an asset. More
This year, The Real Deal's survey of biggest Manhattan residential brokerages was full of surprises: Five companies saw decreases in agents -- the most firms since the survey began in 2004. For the sixth year, Prudential Douglas Elliman edged out Corcoran with more exclusive sales listings.
More
The building that has bragging rights to the most expensive closing in Upper Manhattan, with a penthouse apartment that sold for $15 million, has dozens of other units sitting empty and unsold. More
The steep drop in sales recorded in the first quarter of 2009 was particularly hard on boutique firms. But some small firms are still holding strong, most notably the top three in The Real Deal's survey of boutique Manhattan brokerages -- Leslie J. Garfield & Co., Gumley Haft Kleier and Fox Residential. More
Darcy Stacom got her start at Cushman & Wakefield, where her
father, Matthew Stacom, is a veteran broker who was involved in
developing and leasing the Sears Tower. Her late mother, Claire, became
a Cushman & Wakefield broker after marrying her father, and her
sister Tara Stacom is a top broker as well.
More
Joseph Moinian's life has recently become a complicated tap dance of appeasing the many lenders, tenants and financial partners that make up his company's portfolio of 20 million square feet of commercial and residential space. But the fact that the developer has so many financial partners may ultimately be his saving grace.
More
Brokers famously sell the mantra of location, location, location. But when it comes to their own offices, that refrain may be changing. During the boom times, real estate companies large and small rushed to open glittering storefront offices, like Halstead Property's mammoth 408 Columbus Avenue office across from the Museum of Natural History, or the Tribeca office that Brown Harris Stevens has on the ground floor of a 19th-century Romanesque Revival building. The hope was to stake out their turf in prime neighborhoods while attracting passersby. More
As the saying goes, the rich are different from you and me — though perhaps not so very different when it comes to real estate downturns. Most of the highest of high-end listings and sales in Manhattan are still concentrated on the Upper East Side, and several brokers who traffic in such properties say the neighborhood's luxury market has taken a beating since fall. More
New York City real estate has clearly seen its share of market firsts in the last year. So it's no wonder that The Real Deal's
annual survey of brokerages was crammed with surprises.
More
Anecdotal metrics such as space inspections, inquiries and offers indicated that commercial real estate activity was up in the past month, compared to a near-standstill in December and January, brokers said. More
For most New York City real estate professionals, the pace is a lot slower than it was during the boom. But for a lucky few, that's not the case. More
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