For buyers and sellers of buildings, the world may not have come to an end — but it’s certainly shifted, according to brokers The Real Deal interviewed as part of a Q & A about the New York investment sales market. Underwriting standards have become more conservative, and highly leveraged buyers are out; taking their place at the table are buyers with larger equity positions, and in many cases, longer time frames. Many note that… [more]
November 2007
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Just after Christmas, the bills come in. In New York real estate, there’s no bill more anticipated than the one for Harry Macklowe, the real estate titan who made a record-breaking purchase of seven Midtown Manhattan office buildings for nearly $7 billion last winter. In just two months, $3.4 billion of the deal’s preferred equity will come due, according to Commercial Mortgage Alert. “Almost every business meeting in the real estate industry in New York… [more]
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The nationwide credit crisis has reared its ugly head, but that doesn’t mean development opportunities have disappeared in New York City. This month, The Real Deal explores the outlook for new condo projects in a series of stories. So how does the market look? Here’s how the numbers break down: About 34,000 residential units are expected to be completed this year in the city, the most since 1972. But the number of new condo offering… [more]
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For the last two years, embattled Brooklyn architect Robert Scarano has been under the gun. Not only have there been fatal accidents at construction sites for buildings he has designed, but critics have slammed Scarano for manipulating zoning regulations to build bigger buildings, most times out of character with the neighborhood. Vehemently speaking out against Scarano has been Brooklyn Councilman Bill de Blasio (D-Park Slope/Carroll Gardens). He wants to empower the New York City Department… [more]
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When Alan Bleviss, a small business owner who rented office space on far West 34th street between 10th and 11th avenues, received a letter on August 1 from his new landlord telling him that he would have to relocate, he was disappointed but not surprised. Since he moved his company, Pineapple Sounds, which does voiceovers, into 545 West 34th Street two years before, he’d been hearing rumblings among the other tenants about the massive redevelopment… [more]
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With 70,000 mortgage brokering jobs having been wiped out recently in the U.S., it’s perhaps not the best time to be a mortgage broker. While that might not be as big a story as homeowners losing their homes, it’s big enough to cause concern at the city’s largest mortgage brokerage companies. When The Real Deal asked the city’s top mortgage brokers to give advice to those relatively new to the business, some of the replies… [more]
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You’d think they wouldn’t have time, but the players behind the New York City building boom are also active overseas. Donald Trump, for example, is active from Tel Aviv (where he is building the tallest building in Israel) to Toronto (where he was forced to lop several stories off his latest project). Other top global cities are feeling the influence of the Big Apple, from a New York-trained banker who became a billionaire in Beijing… [more]
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Former Deutsche Bank building for sale A 30-story, 660,000-square-foot building at 31 West 52nd Street is on the market for sale and is expected to fetch close to $800 million, or $1,100 per square foot, the New York Sun reported. More than half of the former Deutsche Bank building, built in 1985, is leased to the international law firm of Clifford Chance. Jones Lang LaSalle has been retained to market the building. Self-storage portfolio asking… [more]
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It’s virtually impossible to miss the new boutiques, restaurants and other businesses that seem to be sprouting throughout the East End of Long Island. The commercial real estate market there is alive and well, and it’s experiencing record growth, according to leading real estate brokerage firms in the area. Further evidence to support the healthy outlook for East End’s commercial development is the Corcoran Group’s recent decision to create a new division solely dedicated to… [more]
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There’s no doubt about it — the office market has started to show signs of a slowdown. “There’s obviously been a chill as a result of what’s happening in the credit market,” said Dean Shapiro, an executive managing director and head of the New York City operation at CB Richard Ellis. Manhattan had seemed impervious to the credit troubles plaguing the rest of the country, but recent data suggests otherwise. Leasing activity has dropped significantly… [more]
