Trump’s tax returns, Amazon gets into proptech: Daily digest

A Manhattan judge ruled Trump must release his tax returns, and Amazon has invested in a digital home-entry startup: A daily roundup of real estate news, deals and more for Oct. 9, 2019

Every day, The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news. We update this page in real time, starting at 9 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com

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Produced by Sabrina He

 

Donald Trump (Credit: Getty Images)

Donald Trump (Credit: Getty Images)

President Trump faces another hurdle in shielding tax returns. A federal judge in Manhattan rejected the president’s defense that he is immune from criminal investigation. Prosecutors are seeking eight years of tax returns for an investigation into alleged hush money. [NYT]

 

Amazon is getting into home entry. The retail giant invested an undisclosed sum in SmartRent, a two-year-old startup that provides keyless entry and other automation devices to owners of multifamily properties. The firm raised $32 million in June. [CO]

 

Cases to challenge tenant residency have declined since June (Credit: iStock)

Cases to challenge tenant residency have declined since June (Credit: iStock)

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Landlords back off “absentee” tenants. The new rent law has dissuaded building owners from enforcing a requirement that tenants use their rent-stabilized homes as their primary residence. Landlords who evicted these tenants previously could raise rents 20 percent and potentially much more, but the reform passed in June removed this incentive. [TRD]

 

More LinkedIn space, new observatory at the Empire State Building. The professional networking social media firm is taking an additional 188,653-square-feet in the 2.8 million-square-foot building, bringing its total footprint to 501,600-square-feet. The building is also opening a new observatory on the 102nd floor Saturday. [NYP, NYP]

 

Rental brokerage Nooklyn slashes agent commissions, delays payments. The Brooklyn-based firm responded to the new rent law by cutting rental application fees by 90 percent and changing how it pays brokers, some of whom are furious at the news. [TRD]

 

Singapore backs Blackstone’s $8.5 billion industrial portfolio buy. GIC, one of the country’s sovereign wealth funds, provided a $1 billion mezzanine loan to back the acquisition, which Blackstone made from Singaporean firm GLP. [CO]

 

The MTA will spend $5.5 billion for elevators at 70 stations. Transit advocates cheer the planned improvements to New York’s notoriously inaccessible transit system, but the high cost has prompted criticism. [NYT]

 

Brooklyn landlord must credit thousands of dollars to tenants. The New York attorney general announced that Coastline Real Estate Advisors would disburse $6,500 of rent credit to each of 82 rent-stabilized tenants who were harassed at four buildings. At one building a ceiling collapsed. [Bklyner]

 

Compiled by David Jeans