The Real Deal

Element developer ditches parent company

September 07, 2010 07:00PM By David Jones

Coalco New York, the developer behind Midtown's Element and Jersey City's Canco Lofts condominiums, has spun off from its Russian parent firm into a stand-alone private equity and real estate firm called Corigin. The newly named firm with operate two divisions, Corigin Real Estate Group, which owns property in New York, New Jersey and Florida, and Corigin Private Equity Group, which holds stakes in various construction, transportation, beverage and other companies. "We decided that with a simplified U.S.-based structure we could be a more self sufficient company," said Ryan Freedman. "We've become good developers and we plan to continue to develop." [more]
Tags: Jersey City canco lofts coalco new york corigin element ryan freedman

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Top NYC commercial property sales last week

September 07, 2010 06:30PM By Adam Pincus

The most expensive commercial transaction last week in New York City was the $56 million purchase by the Wolfson Group of a minority interest in a Midtown office building. The next four deals were much smaller, with none breaking $10 million. Bed maker Dux Interiors sold its Midtown office building and a company called NY8 Properties bought a Chelsea development site.

Tags: top commercial sales

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Where are the most desirable apartments?

September 07, 2010 06:00PM

Judging based on price discounts, time on the market and ratio of closed sales to available listings, Sofia Song, vice president of Streeteasy.com, compiled a list of the 10 most populous Manhattan precincts and "most sellable" type of apartment likely to find buyers. Topping off the list was the Upper East Side, where post-war two-bedroom co-ops are most popular, followed closely by pre-war two bedrooms, with a median closing pricing of $995,000, according to New York Magazine. [more]
Tags: sofia song streeteasy streeteasy.com

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Open house bandit freed of felony charges

September 07, 2010 05:30PM

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss felony charges today against Jessica Joyner, one-half of the open house bandits team that was accused of snatching $70,000 worth of belongings from posh real estate open houses in 2007, the Post reported. Together with Jennifer Jones, 39, Joyner had posed as a wealthy homebuyer at open houses on the Upper West Side, Upper East Side and in Upper Saddle River, NJ, to poach valuables from the properties while no one was looking. [more]
Tags: Open House Bandits jennifer jones jessica joyner open houses robbery theft

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Landmark UWS Metro Theater on Broadway files for Chapter 11 ... and more

September 07, 2010 05:00PM

1. Landmark UWS Metro Theater on Broadway files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy [Crain's] 
2. Abandoned house on 79th Street in Brooklyn inflicts mold and raccoons on neighbors [Brooklyn Paper]
3. One-night only French flea market coming to Ace Hotel this Friday [Hotel Chatter]   
4. Developers to bring more national retailers to NYC if communities will allow it [WSJ] 
5. New tattoo parlor opens on Gravesend Neck Road in Sheepshead Bay [Sheepshead Bites] 
6. 47 percent of home sellers slash listing prices [Inman] 
7. Property owners threatened from recession-era decisions [Realty Times] 
8. A Marc Jacobs café is coming Uptown [Racked]
9. Blue 9 Burger opens at Ninth Avenue between 52nd and 53rd streets [Midtown Lunch] 
10. Forrest Solutions signs lease at SL Green's 18 West 44th Street [NYO] 
11. Viewing New York from 200 miles up, aboard the International Space Station [Post]
12. Fox News launching weekly series on WTC, to last until towers are built [Mediaite]
13. Developer Vornado Realty Trust is selling its Merchandise Mart Properties division [Crain's] 
14. Are housing prices bottoming out in Bedford-Stuyvesant? [NYO] 
15. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to return to NYC, comment on mosque [Crain's]
16. And Paterson wants moratorium on mosque debate during Jewish New Year and Muslim Ramadan [NBC]   

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Bloomberg promises 9/11 memorial to open next September

September 07, 2010 04:30PM

Mayor Michael Bloomberg today outlined recent progress made in reconstructing the Ground Zero area, including One World Trade Center, Tower Number 4 and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. The last of those will be completed by Sept. 11 next year, Bloomberg pledged, in time for the 10-year anniversary of the terror attacks. Bloomberg acknowledged that the reconstruction process has taken longer than some anticipated, but said he's pleased with the progress that's being made now. [more] Tags: 9/11 9/11 memorial & museum ground zero mayor bloomberg michael bloomberg

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Labor Day holiday sale extended for multi-family financing

September 07, 2010 03:45PM By Michael Stoler

When the subject of the day is rates for commercial residential mortgages, I must once again quote the famous former pitchman for the bankrupt electronics retailer Crazy Eddie stores: "These prices are insane." The rates of the day are those being offered by savings and commercial banks to owners of rental apartment buildings for fixed-rate, first mortgages in the New York metro area. Today, an owner of any apartment building can secure a fixed-rate 5-, 7- or 10-year term at rates below 4 percent. Yes, I said, below 4 percent for rental buildings in the New York City metro region. [more]

Tags: capital one bank commercial residential mortgages

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Cassa becomes home to Showtime characters

September 07, 2010 03:15PM By Amy Tennery

A study inspired by the show "Californication," featuring a mirrored floor and ceiling, along with a couple of the main character's favorite vices.

While the average writer likely wouldn't have a mirrored floor -- and ceiling -- in his study, and your typical cancer patient would never keep a bowl of onions in her bedroom, these touches could mean the ideal abode for some of TV's favorite characters. And if they existed outside of a TV program, they might feel at home at Cassa NY, which has teamed up with Showtime in the channel's third Showtime House exhibition. The Real Deal got a sneak peak at some of the newly designed rooms today (see the slide show above). The exhibition has brought in 14 different teams to design rooms inspired by seven of the channel's shows: "Californication," "The Big C," "Dexter," "Nurse Jackie," "United States of Tara," "Weeds" and "The Borgias." The installation, which was held at the Tribeca Summit condominium last year, will be open to the public on weekends between Sept. 11 and Oct. 23 at the hotel and condominium development at 70 West 45th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Tags: 70 west 45th street cassa cassa ny showtime

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When TLC means a major renovation

September 07, 2010 02:45PM

The phrase "needs TLC" -- as in, tender loving care -- is increasingly being used by real estate brokers to describe a property that needs repairs or renovations. The New York Times visited several apartments described by brokers as needing TLC and discovered that this phrase can mean different things to different people. "It's a question of how someone wants to live," explained Madeline Williamson, a broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman. Williamson included the words "needs a good dose of TLC" in a $1.1 million listing for a townhouse in Brooklyn Heights. [more]
Tags: TLC madeline williamson prudential douglas elliman

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Get The Real Deal in one fell swoop

September 07, 2010 02:15PM

Looking to get your real estate news at one time on a daily basis? The Real Deal can do that for you. Click here, type in your e-mail address, and then all the day's news will arrive in your e-mail inbox at one time. TRD

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Sales to launch at Apex condo in Harlem

September 07, 2010 02:00PM

Sales will kick off this month for 44 condominium residences at the Apex, located on the upper six floors of the Starwood Aloft Hotel at 2300 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, on the southeast corner of 124th Street. The studio to three-bedroom units will be priced from the mid-$300,000s to just over $1 million. Names are now being accepted for a priority list, entitling prospective buyers to be among the first purchasers of the condos. The 12-story, 124-room hotel in Harlem is owned and being developed by RCG Longview, with opening and occupancy slated for later this month. [more]
Tags: 2300 frederick douglass boulevard apex apex condominium marketing directors

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Federal home loan program targeting underwater borrowers enacted

September 07, 2010 01:30PM

A federal plan to try to halt the nationwide foreclosure crisis is going into effect today after months of planning, according to the Associated Press. The initiative, overseen by the Federal Housing Administration, specifically targets underwater borrowers, allowing lenders to grant loan refis to borrowers if they wipe out 10 percent of the original mortgage balance. Between 500,000 and 1.5 million homeowners could potentially be eligible for the program, which was first announced in March, the FHA said. [more] Tags: federal housing administration fha foreclosure foreclosure crisis

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Hotel occupancy rate still going strong

September 07, 2010 01:00PM

New York's hotel industry is one of the country's strongest, according to the Wall Street Journal. By the end of July, the occupancy rate for 2010 was 79.7 percent, up from 73.5 percent for the same period last year and close to the peak occupancy of 68.9 percent in 2008, according to Smith Travel Research. However, the higher occupancy rate was partly because owners have kept room rates down. [more]
Tags: hotel occupancy smith travel research

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Hearst's Argonaut Building sells for $85M

September 07, 2010 12:30PM By Adam Pincus

An investment group based in Beirut purchased the landmarked Argonaut Building at 224 West 57th Street for $85 million from Hearst Communications. The sale of the 10-story building to M1 Group's affiliate, Argonaut 224 LLC, went into contract June 23 and closed Aug. 26, city property records published today show. An e-mail to M1 Group was not immediately returned. The New York Post reported in July that the Beirut group was in contract to buy the property, located between Seventh and Eighth avenues. [more] Tags: 224 west 57th street argonaut 224 llc argonaut building hearst communications

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SL Green to sell 19 W. 44th St. for $123M

September 07, 2010 12:00PM By David Jones

SL Green, the largest commercial office landlord in New York, said it agreed to sell 19 West 44th Street in Manhattan to Deka Immobilien for $123.2 million. SL Green will continue to manage and lease the building as part of the sale agreement with Deka. SL Green originally bought the 292,000-square-foot Class B property in 2004 for $67 million. Since the acquisition SL Green has renovated the lobby, windows and heating and cooling systems, raising occupancy to 99 percent, compared to 86 percent in 2004. [more]  Tags: 125 park avenue 19 west 44th street CB Richard Ellis CBRE andrew mathias

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CMBS delinquencies hit record high: Trepp

September 07, 2010 11:30AM

After two months of improvement, the delinquency rate in the U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities market shot up 21 basis points in August to the highest level in the history of the CMBS industry, dating back to the early 1990s, according to Trepp's latest monthly delinquency report (see the full report after the jump). The overall CMBS delinquency rate in August was 8.92 percent nationwide, which includes loans that are 30 or more days delinquent, in foreclosure or bank-owned. Meanwhile, seriously delinquent loans -- those that are at least 60 days delinquent -- also saw a 20-basis-point spike. [more]
Tags: cmbs delinquencies foreclosure trepp

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Forest City closes on $85M mortgage loan

September 07, 2010 11:00AM

A subsidiary of Forest City Enterprises closed a 10-year, $85 million, fixed-rate mortgage loan for its West 42nd Street property, a 312,000-square-foot retail and entertainment complex in the Times Square district, the company announced today. The new financing is at an interest rate more than 325 basis points lower than that of the loan it replaces, significantly increasing the cash flow generated by the property. "This financing is another indication of the quality of our real estate and our ability to realize value from a diverse portfolio of assets in great markets," said Charles Ratner, Forest City's president and CEO. [more]
Tags: amc theatres charles ratner dave & buster's forest city enterprises

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A double dip? Not in office leasing

Manhattan office market tightens, though asking rents stay weak September 07, 2010 10:30AM By Adam Pincus

From the September issue: The grim national housing statistics delivered last month, which renewed fears of a second sharp decline in the overall economy, were not reflected in the Manhattan commercial leasing market -- which continued to improve modestly overall. "We are not seeing any double dip in office leasing," said Jeffrey Peck, senior managing director at commercial advisory firm Studley. However, he noted, "we are also not seeing any tremendous strength." Last month, brokers said tenants continued to actively poke around for new space. The blockbuster example in Midtown was a clothing supply firm reportedly looking to lease 500,000 square feet in the Empire State Building. A pending deal could not come at a better time for the iconic tower, which was dealt a blow last month when the City Council approved plans for Vornado Realty Trust to build a nearby skyscraper. The owner of the Empire State Building, Anthony Malkin, was aggressively arguing that the proposed tower, 15 Penn Plaza, will block the views from his building. [more] Tags: 15 penn plaza Anthony Malkin commercial market report empire state building

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