The Real Deal New York

Compass doesn’t want a jury trial in the Avi Dorfman case

By E.B. Solomont — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 22:21:55 +0000

Compass is appealing a decision by a New York judge who ordered a jury trial for Avi Dorfman, an entrepreneur who is suing to be recognized as a co-founder of the firm. In an Oct. 1 ruling, Supreme Court Judge Andrea Masley rejected Compass’ motion for summary judgement and said Dorfman is entitled to a trial. “The record is clear that they exchanged, among other things, emails that set forth offers and counteroffers as to

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Another WeWork exec is out, Bank OZK’s construction lending is up: Daily digest

TRD Staff — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 21:12:16 +0000

Every day, The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page in real time, starting at 9 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com This page was last updated at 9:00 a.m. Video produced by Sabrina He Adam Kimmel is the sixth executive to resign from WeWork in the last month. Kimmel joined the company in 2017 as chief creative

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Co-living trend of renting bedrooms is back and here to stay: TRD Miami Showcase & Forum

By Mike Seemuth — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 20:30:52 +0000

Co-living is becoming a growing segment of South Florida’s multifamily market amid increased competition within the sector and from conventional apartment developers, according to a group of such developers and operators. “Sure, there’s competition. But it’s a big opportunity,” said Brian Lee, senior director of real estate at Common, on a panel on co-living and other new housing trends targeting millennials, moderated by The Real Deal’s Katherine Kallergis at TRD’s Sixth Annual Miami Real Estate

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SoftBank rescue plan would bring WeWork’s valuation to $8B

TRD Staff — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 19:11:55 +0000

SoftBank is considering a financing package to save WeWork that would value the embattled office-space company at $8 billion, according to Bloomberg. It is a stunning drop from WeWork’s $47 billion valuation set in January by SoftBank, at the time of its last cash infusion. The Japanese conglomerate owns about a third of the company and has already invested more than $10 billion. Since its failed IPO, which it pulled in September, WeWork now faces

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Bank OZK reports uptick in construction lending in Q3

By Keith Larsen — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 18:30:37 +0000

Bank OZK reported an uptick in real estate construction lending in the third quarter amid cooling markets in New York City and Miami. The bank reported on Friday that its total construction loan portfolio grew to $6.68 billion at the end of the quarter, up from $6.49 billion a year earlier. Overall, the company’s real estate lending arm RESG originated $2 billion of loans in the third quarter, marking the largest volume of quarterly originations

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Minority real estate professionals still fight racial and gender barriers: TRD Miami Showcase & Forum

By Francisco Alvarado — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 18:05:54 +0000

Minorities and women only represent 1.3 percent of the $69 trillion in global financial assets under management across mutual funds, hedge funds, real estate, and private equity, developer Don Peebles said at The Real Deal’s Miami Real Estate Showcase & Forum. As moderator for “The Diversity Dilemma” panel at the event on Thursday, Peebles, who has corporate offices in New York City, Washington D.C. and Miami, also cited a 10-year study by Commercial Real Estate

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Data Alert: What’s going on with i-sales in Manhattan and Brooklyn?

By Kevin Sun and Yoryi de la Rosa — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 17:00:34 +0000

Investment sales in Manhattan and Brooklyn Manhattan investment sales hit a two-year low in August with $995 million in deals recorded — 52 percent down from June and 59 percent below the 12-month average. The borough’s largest deal was Savanna’s $180 million buy of the office building at 360 Lexington Avenue from AEW Capital Management. Brooklyn’s investment sales market slowed down less dramatically, with $550 million in deals recorded in August, a 14 percent drop

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Gowanus gold rush: Avery Hall, Tavros, Charney buy sites for $55M

By Eddie Small — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 15:05:55 +0000

Avery Hall Investments is doubling down on its Gowanus bets with another major purchase. The firm struck up an unusual partnership with Tavros Holdings and Charney Development & Construction to buy 232 3rd Avenue, 532-542 Union Street and 495-499 President Street for $55 million, according to TerraCRG, which brokered the deal. The adjacent parcels span about 52,000 square feet — 33,550 square feet at Third Avenue and 18,845 square feet at Union and President Streets

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A little good news for renters. We’re not talking to you LA and Manhattan

By Dennis Lynch — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 14:30:32 +0000

The housing market has been slowing across the nation, and now rent prices have finally begun to fall. Very very slightly. The average rent across major U.S. cities dipped for the first time on a monthly basis since February 2017. This was not the case in Manhattan or Los Angeles, however. From August to September, average monthly rent decreased $1, or 0.1 percent, according RentCafe. September’s average rent stood at $1,471. Still, the slowing appears

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Michael Jordan’s Chicago-area mansion has been on the market for 7 years. A buyer may not exist

By Miriam Finder Annenberg — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 13:45:37 +0000

As his massive compound in Chicago’s northern suburbs collects dust, Michael Jordan is now trying to part with another sprawling mansion. On Monday, His Airness listed a 10,000-square-foot mountain hideaway in the ritzy ski city of Park City, Utah. But the Park City home, for which he paid $7.9 million, already looks a good bet to sell before the Highland Park property he’s been trying to sell since Barack Obama’s first term in office. The

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Unrealistic pricing bogs down Miami luxury condo market: TRD Showcase & Forum

By Francisco Alvarado — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 12:15:06 +0000

The Miami luxury condo market remains in a rut due in part to sellers overpricing properties, according to top residential real estate brokers. “If you look at the market today, even though there has been an increase in prices, there is also an increase in days on the market,” said Oren Alexander, co-founder of Douglas Elliman’s The Alexander Team. “That has a lot to do with bad prices. We have to make sure sellers really

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WeWork’s landlords buckle up

By David Jeans — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 11:30:24 +0000

For New York City landlords needing a quick fix to fill empty office space, WeWork has been a go-to tenant for years. Now, with the office-space company in turmoil, those property owners suddenly feel a lot less secure. Some are turning to WeWork competitors to line up options in the event they need to suddenly fill space. “Many conversations are high-level,” said Katharine Lau, senior director of real estate at Industrious, an office-space company that

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Rent-pocalypse 2.0: Real estate industry reacts to tenant demands

By Georgia Kromrei — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 11:00:38 +0000

UPDATED, Oct. 18, 2019, 6:27 p.m.: Real estate industry experts say the tenant coalition’s latest demands won’t solve the housing affordability crisis and could grind construction and development to a halt. The coalition’s wide-ranging proposal goes well beyond last year’s tenant advocate agenda, a package of nine bills that were nearly all passed. “If we rely on the government to build new housing, it’s doomed to failure,” said Frank Ricci, the top lobbyist for the

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Stop … Data Time: It’s the new development condo report for Brooklyn and Queens

By Kevin Sun and Yoryi de la Rosa — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 21:30:49 +0000

New development condo report Brooklyn • Inventory contracted as developers filed fewer units than were purchased • Developers filed 15 plans with 90 units • The state approved 17 plans with 158 units valued at $198 million • Buyers purchased 133 units valued at $137 million Queens • Inventory expanded as developers filed more units than were purchased • Developers filed three plans with 41 units • The state approved one plan with 14 units

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Thor Equities loses 545 Madison Avenue

TRD Staff — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 21:00:02 +0000

Joe Sitt has officially left the building. Sitt’s Thor Equities was evicted from its ground lease at 545 Madison Avenue earlier this week, Crain’s reported. Marx Realty, owner of the land underneath the building, is now assuming control of the 140,000- square-foot building and planning to conduct a $10 million renovation. Marx president and CEO Craig Deitelzweig said he expects the office and retail space to be full leased by 2021. Marx has been trying

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Legislation introduced to protect tenants in ‘keyless’ buildings, Compass pushes back against WeWork comparison: Daily digest

TRD Staff — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 20:40:21 +0000

Every day, The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page at throughout the day, starting at 9 a.m. ET. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com This page was last updated at 4:40 p.m. Legislation aims to protect tenants’ privacy in keyless buildings. The bill, introduced by Manhattan Councilman Mark Levine, would prevent landlords from using data acquired through

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Ben Carson on how Opportunity Zones are unlike red and black ants: TRD Miami Showcase & Forum

By Keith Larsen — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 20:30:50 +0000

When talking about federal Opportunity Zones, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson said you need to understand ants. And use them as a cautionary tale. On the whole, ants work well together and are “sophisticated” and “industrious,” said the former neurosurgeon, during prepared remarks at The Real Deal’s annual Showcase & Forum in Miami’s Mana Wynwood. But, he added, they don’t always get along. “There are black ants and there are red ants,”

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32BJ expects fight with real estate industry over contract renewal

By Kathryn Brenzel — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 20:00:15 +0000

The union that represents office cleaners is gearing up for a fight with the real estate industry over its soon-to-expire contract. 32BJ SEIU launched its contract campaign for the city’s office cleaners on Thursday, speaking to a room of elected officials gathered at its Flatiron District headquarters. The union has 22,000 office cleaners in the city, across 1,300 buildings. Their four-year contract expires December 31, and bargaining officially starts Nov. 14. President Kyle Bragg, who

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South Florida developers riff on the shift from condos to rentals: TRD Miami Showcase & Forum

By Katherine Kallergis — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 19:30:38 +0000

The cyclical nature of Miami’s condo market has many developers shifting toward rentals – but not Michael Shvo. The New York developer, who is making a big push in Miami Beach, said that as long as you have the right site and project, the overall market’s performance is irrelevant. “It doesn’t really matter what the market is. You build something special in the right location, you’re not competing with something in Brickell or in Wynwood,”

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Gary Barnett assembling Columbus Circle development site

By Rich Bockmann — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 19:00:48 +0000

Gary Barnett, in the midst of a showdown with Upper West Siders over a condo tower he is building, is making another big play in the area. Barnett’s Extell Development is putting together a development site north of Columbus Circle. As part of that effort, it is in contract to buy the New York Institute of Technology’s property at the corner of Broadway and West 61st Street for about $90 million, sources told The Real

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The Chicago condo deconversion craze is dying

By Sarah A Paynter and Brianna Kelly — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 18:15:41 +0000

Essex Realty’s Steven Livaditis may have been the last broker in Chicago to close a condo deconversion deal during its glory days, when only 75 percent of sellers had to approve a bulk sale. Hours before a new rule upping the deconversion threshold to 85 percent of sellers went into effect, his client closed on a 26-unit condo building in Edgewater. Several attorneys told him that other condo associations around Chicago were scrambling to get

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At $225M, Bel Air’s Casa Encantada becomes America’s priciest listing

TRD Staff — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 17:30:23 +0000

UPDATED, 2:55 p.m., Oct. 17: The last two times that Bel Air’s massive Casa Encantada sold — in 1979 and 2000 — it broke the record for highest residential sale in the nation. Now, the storied estate is on the market again at $225 million, instantly becoming the country’s priciest residential listing. The 40,000-square-foot Georgian-style mansion, owned by financier Gary Winnick, is officially up for sale, according to the Los Angeles Times. If it sold

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Like WeWork, Compass touts tech and culture. Are the companies different?

By David Jeans and E.B. Solomont — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 16:44:48 +0000

At 10:26 a.m. on Oct. 9 — nine days after WeWork shelved plans for an IPO — Compass CFO Kristen Ankerbrandt fired off to her staff a set of talking points distancing the brokerage from the fallen unicorn. “It may seem obvious,” she wrote in response to mounting questions from agents and employees. “But it’s worth stating that it is hard to draw any parallels between our businesses.” Ankerbrandt cited their divergent customer bases, industries

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Marriott buys Union Square W Hotel

By Kathryn Brenzel — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 15:45:02 +0000

Marriott International has purchased the Union Square W Hotel and plans to overhaul the century-old property, the company announced Thursday. The seller was Westbrook Partners, which bought the hotel at 201 Park Avenue South just a year ago, according to public records. In a press release Thursday, Marriott indicated that it spent $206 million to acquire the 270-key hotel, but a deed filed with the city’s Department of Finance on Wednesday put the sale price

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TRD Staff — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 15:15:32 +0000

Connect with The Real Deal on Facebook for breaking news, original videos, fun facts and more!

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City, state trade blame for NYC’s “broken” property tax system

By Erin Hudson — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 13:45:17 +0000

Bickering by the de Blasio and Cuomo administrations over who’s responsible for New York City’s “broken” property tax system enlivened a dreary afternoon in an Appellate Division court Wednesday. “The city argues that their hands are tied by what the state’s done. And the state argues that everything they’ve done is fine, so it’s the city’s fault. It’s a little bit like a Marx Brothers’ movie,” said plaintiff’s attorney James Brandt in an interview afterwards.

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Here’s what the $10M-$30M investment sales market looked like last week

By Eddie Small Research by Nicholas Severin — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 12:30:10 +0000

In the two New York City mid-market investment sales made public last week, AB Capstone picked up two Long Island City sites, and an entity linked to City Urban Realty scooped up a residential building in Brooklyn. Here are the details. 1. AB Capstone bought a pair of adjacent properties in Astoria for $24.5 million from a limited liability company. The sites, each with a two-story industrial building, are at 34-08 46th Street and 45-01

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How much are NYC hotels hurting?

By Dennis Lynch — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 11:30:04 +0000

During a recent earnings call, Starwood Property Trust CEO Barry Sternlicht broached a touchy topic in the real estate world: the possibility of a recession. The head of the $56 billion real estate investment trust told investors and analysts that “the only thing we have to worry about is a calamitous recession,” warning of a slowing economy largely thanks to the national political environment. Specifically, Sternlicht said Starwood needs to be “über-careful” in the hotel

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Home foreclosures dropped nearly 20% in Q3, report shows

By Keith Larsen — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 11:00:33 +0000

UPDATED, 8:36 a.m.: There is growing unease about an impending recession, but at least one economic indicator isn’t pointing in that direction. U.S. home foreclosures dropped sharply in the third quarter, with New York City, South Florida and Los Angeles all registering declines. Overall, 143,105 U.S. properties had foreclosure filings from July through September, down from nearly 172,000 over the same period last year, according to an Attom Data Solutions report released Thursday. The numbers

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Columbia acquiring Normandy for $100M in New York real estate’s latest megamerger

By Eddie Small — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 21:30:34 +0000

Columbia Property Trust is buying Normandy Real Estate Management in a deal worth about $100 million, Columbia announced on Wednesday. Columbia has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Normandy’s operating platform, along with its general partner interests in a trio of active management funds, the company said. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year. Columbia president and CEO Nelson Mills said in a statement that the merger will allow the

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WeWork abandons Seattle co-living plan, Barneys bidding begins: Daily digest

TRD Staff — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 20:30:27 +0000

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 This page was last updated at 4:30 p.m. Video produced by Sabrina He Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s Opportunity Zone fund hasn’t been a big draw. The Hampshire Christie Qualified Opportunity Fund hoped to attract $250 million for real estate projects when it launched

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Alex Sapir’s massive Opportunity Zone site in Miami hits the market

By Katherine Kallergis — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 19:30:33 +0000

Sapir Corp. and its partners planned to build a 1.7 million-square-foot project on an assemblage of land north of downtown Miami. But the Israeli real estate firm is now looking to sell the property. The site, at 1768 Northeast Second Court, is in an Opportunity Zone, which would give a buyer substantial tax incentives. The property is in the Edgewater neighborhood of Miami, near the Arts & Entertainment District. Sapir Corp. Chairman Alex Sapir said he’s

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Trump exaggerated building values to get financing, tax documents show

TRD Staff — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 19:00:45 +0000

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal secretary, testified in March that Trump inflated property values in order to get financing, and a comparison of his tax returns and loan records by ProPublica shows how. In documents provided to the lender for two of the buildings, Ladder Capital, the rent rolls were inflated to double what was reported in Trump’s 2017 tax returns. At one building, occupancy figures were reported that were well above what was

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TRD reporter on CBS-2 discusses landlords keeping rent-regulated units empty

TRD Staff — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 18:30:23 +0000

After the sweeping changes to the rent law in June, multifamily landlords are reconsidering their usual practice of renovating rent-regulated apartments that become vacant. The law slashed financial incentives to improve individual units as well as to make building-wide upgrades, and eliminated rent increases that stem directly from vacancy. Some real estate attorneys have cited cases of landlords keeping apartments vacant as they push legislators to change the new law. The Real Deal reporter Georgia

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Data Alert! Crunching the numbers on Manhattan condo inventory

By Kevin Sun and Yoryi de la Rosa — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 17:30:02 +0000

New development condo report Manhattan • Inventory expanded as developers filed more units than were purchased • Developers filed six plans with a total of 130 units • The state approved one plan with 10 units valued at $4.8 million • Buyers purchased 107 units valued at $426 million Supply Demand

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Here are the week’s top luxury sales

TRD Staff — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 16:46:39 +0000

Each week, The Real Deal and CityRealty look back at Manhattan’s priciest apartment sales.

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Brokerages on rental application fee cap: “It hurts”

By Erin Hudson and Sylvia Varnham O’Regan — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 16:00:45 +0000

Since lawmakers clarified last month that agents and brokerages can only charge up to $20 for the preparation of rental applications, the pain has been felt acutely by some. The cap, which was part of the rent law passed in June and applies to brokerages and agents representing landlords, claimed its first victim last week when Nooklyn founder and CEO Harley Courts stepped down amid backlash over the firm’s slashing of commissions and delaying of

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Facebook facing off with Apple over space in Vornado’s Farley Building conversion

TRD Staff — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 14:32:09 +0000

A pair of tech giants are battling it out over some prime office space in New York. Facebook and Apple are both interested in leasing space at Vornado Realty Trust’s conversion of the massive James A. Farley Post Office, according to the New York Post. Facebook has been in talks for 740,000 square feet of space in the project since at least September, but Apple has more recently decided it wants to lease all four

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Father’s harrowing tale puts hotels’ liability in spotlight

By Kathryn Brenzel — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 12:30:36 +0000

David Johnson was in Central Park on a Sunday afternoon this spring when his daughter called from her room at the Lexington Hotel to say goodbye. She intended to commit suicide. According to Johnson, he frantically called the hotel 11 times before someone picked up and heard his warnings — and when he arrived at the front desk, he found no action had been taken and was advised to wait his turn. It got worse,

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The Closing: Steven Holl

By Kathryn Brenzel — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 11:30:14 +0000

Famed architect and watercolorist Steven Holl founded his company as a two-person practice in Chelsea in 1977. The firm has since grown to 40 people across two offices, one around the corner from Hudson Yards and the other in Beijing. Steven Holl Architects has completed more than 60 projects in the U.S., China, Japan and other countries. Holl and his colleagues worked on the $41 million Hunters Point library, which opened in September — nearly

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Tenant coalition sets agenda: tax the rich and house the poor

By Georgia Kromrei — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 10:00:45 +0000

Tenant advocates who won a sweeping overhaul of New York’s rent law have a new target — the entire housing market. Housing Justice for All, a statewide coalition of tenant groups, will unveil demands Wednesday for next year’s legislative session that include “good cause” eviction, $3 billion in state funding for public housing and the elimination of rent increases for major capital improvements and the tax abatement formerly known as 421a. There’s more. The group

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WeWork bonds hit low, new LLC legislation went farther than intended: Daily digest

TRD Staff — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 21:55:45 +0000

Every day The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate happenings, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page throughout the day, starting at 9 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com. This page was last updated at 5:55 p.m. Video produced by Sabrina He MGM Resorts International is selling the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip. A joint venture controlled by Blackstone Group real estate investment trust

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What, We Worry? Execs remain confident in WeWork-anchored Brooklyn project

By Eddie Small — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 20:30:07 +0000

WeWork’s recent troubles were largely out of sight and out of mind at the launch event for a massive office project at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The completion of Rudin Management and Boston Properties’ Dock 72, a 16-story, 675,000-square-foot project, marks Brooklyn’s first ground-up commercial development in more than a decade. WeWork — whose CEO Adam Neumann stepped down amid the startup’s botched initial public offering — is anchoring the development, with 222,000 square feet

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Big building owners prevent city from dumping container-pickup in trash-collection reform

By Erik Engquist — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 20:00:33 +0000

When the City Council introduced its controversial bill in the spring to remake the commercial trash-hauling industry, it made no mention of protecting a form of garbage pickup that’s used by hundreds of the city’s largest buildings. But after industry groups applied pressure, the city now plans to maintain the ability of office towers and other major trash producers to have their waste hauled off in containers rather than by the packer trucks that do

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By the numbers: Breaking down national housing agendas from the far left

By C. J. Hughes — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 19:00:41 +0000

Just a few months after New York passed historic reforms that infuriated landlords and thrilled tenants — with California following suit — several Congress members and presidential candidates are throwing their weight behind even more aggressive proposals. Mostly promoted by Democrats on the far left, those policies include the mid-September doozy from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders calling for nationwide rent control under his $2.5 trillion housing plan. Despite more than two dozen states prohibiting limits

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Robert Shapiro gets 25 years in prison for massive Ponzi scheme

By Dennis Lynch — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 17:38:40 +0000

UPDATED, Oct. 15, 11:04 a.m.: When developer Robert Shapiro pleaded guilty in August to leading a $1.3 billion real estate Ponzi scheme, he faced up to 25 years in prison. On Tuesday, a federal court judge sentenced Shapiro to that maximum, closing the criminal chapter on what has been a two-year-long saga surrounding the massive fraud perpetrated by Shapiro’s now-defunct Sherman Oaks-based investment firm, Woodbridge Group of Companies. In all, more than 7,000 property investors

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Terra sells part of RealPlus stake to Corcoran and Elliman

By E.B. Solomont and Sylvia Varnham O’Regan — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 17:24:27 +0000

Four of the city’s top residential firms are teaming up on a shared listing system amid the industry’s long-running feud with StreetEasy. In a deal that was months in the making, the Corcoran Group and Douglas Elliman agreed to buy a partial stake in RealPlus from Terra Holdings, sources told The Real Deal. Terra, the parent of Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead, has owned 50 percent of the listings company since 2001. RealPlus founder Eric

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Join The Real Deal at its sixth annual Miami Showcase & Forum this week

TRD Staff — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 17:00:11 +0000

The Real Deal’s sixth annual South Florida Real Estate Showcase & Forum is shaping up to once again be the biggest industry event in the region. Mark your calendars for Thursday, Oct. 17 and join us at Mana Wynwood for a full day of programming, networking and viewing the latest real estate projects and products. Tickets can be purchased here Ben Carson, head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will be among

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Real estate scandal rocks the Vatican

TRD Staff — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 14:30:08 +0000

A new scandal is sweeping through the Vatican and, despite scant details, the center of the storm appears to be one of the Holy See’s property investments in London. An internal probe that’s led to at least five Vatican staffers’ suspension is focused on a Chelsea building that the Holy See bought Italian financier Raffaele Mincione, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Vatican bought out Mincione last year and the financier claims the building

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NYC’s bid to kill property-tax lawsuit back in court

By Erin Hudson — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 13:45:01 +0000

Another court showdown is on tap for the real estate industry’s lawsuit against New York City’s property-tax system. The plaintiff, an industry-backed coalition called Tax Equity Now New York, alleges the system discriminates against landlords and minority homeowners by overvaluing homes in the city’s poorest neighborhoods and undervaluing those in wealthy ones. The defendants — New York City and state — have been trying to get the suit dismissed for a year and, in a

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These were September’s top 3 residential sales

By Rich Bockmann and Sabrina He — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 12:30:51 +0000

Once the city’s most expensive listing, a luxury co-op at at 834 Fifth Avenue sold for $53 million to billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller. That and another condo sale at 220 Central Park South were some of the priciest residential property trades in September. Watch this video to see the full list.

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Is history repeating itself for Steve Croman and his renters?

By Kathryn Brenzel and Eddie Small Research by Ashley McHugh-Chiappone — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 11:30:40 +0000

In May, three New York University students moved into the cellar of a pre-war East Village apartment building, excited to have a small — yet highly coveted — outdoor space. Little did they know, they’d soon be forced out. Two months later, the college students received notice that a new property manager was taking control of the six-story building at 60 Avenue B. Within a few weeks, the city declared the apartment illegal and ordered

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Sweeping LLC law surprised even legislators

By Sylvia Varnham O’Regan — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 11:00:15 +0000

The outlawing of anonymous condo ownership in New York shocked the very lawmakers who passed it. And now the equally shocked real estate industry is trying to undo it. “We have to make noise,” said real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, who is organizing an effort to exclude New York City from the law. “If we don’t make noise, nothing will happen.” It might be too late, given the suspicion surrounding multimillion-dollar purchases of apartments

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SoftBank looks to take over WeWork, NYC investigates WeLive: Daily digest

TRD Staff — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 22:25:46 +0000

Every day The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate happenings, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page throughout the day, starting at 9 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com. This page was last updated at 6:25 p.m. Adobe is expanding to 109,000 square feet at 1540 Broadway. The software company renewed its 27,323-square-foot lease on the 17th floor of the building and added 81,972

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Crowdfunding: Crowded out?

By Sylvia Varnham O’Regan and Mary Diduch — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 19:00:03 +0000

Crowdfunding was once touted as the next big thing — a way for average investors to get into the lucrative world of real estate and a way for platforms to tap a new spigot of funding. The space took off around 2013, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced new rules allowing private companies to sell securities to the general public. That one small change — which was tucked into the 2012 federal JOBS

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The Real Deal’s E.B. Solomont receives Front Page Award

By TRD Staff — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 18:00:08 +0000

The Real Deal senior reporter E.B. Solomont has won a Front Page Award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York. The organization, founded in 1937, recognizes the best journalism by women working in print, wire, broadcast and online media. Solomont won for her breaking-news story “Dottie Herman sells stake in Douglas Elliman for $40M.” Although Herman had already stepped back from the day-to-day operations at residential brokerage Douglas Elliman, the sale marked the end of

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SoftBank’s problem solver faces his biggest challenge yet: WeWork

By Katherine Kallergis — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 14:36:58 +0000

In late September, SoftBank Group’s Marcelo Claure took to Twitter to share his goals for the upcoming month. He wanted to beat his best running time, try a dish he had never had before, watch more soccer games, and figure out his daughter’s Halloween costume. A Twitter follower responded: Fix WeWork. Setting my goals for the month. What else should I add to my list for #October? ✅Beat my best running time ✅Try a dish

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Opendoor not looking to replace all agents — just some: CEO

By Matthew Blake — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 13:45:17 +0000

“I guess it’s good to be hated.” That was Opendoor CEO Eric Wu’s riposte to a question from Recode’s Kara Swisher about what real estate agents think of him. Opendoor is perhaps the startup most synonymous with iBuying, a practice that allows sellers to rapidly unload their homes online to companies that hope to make a profit off of reselling those homes. It’s a business that requires heaps of capital and has thin margins, but

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WATCH: What Happened to The Watchtower?

By Adam Pogoff and Eddie Small — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 12:30:58 +0000

One of Brooklyn’s largest pending projects is the redevelopment of the Watchtower site, which consists of five connected office and retail buildings along the Brooklyn waterfront. The architecture firm Gensler is designing the project, known as Panorama Brooklyn. The Real Deal’s Adam Pogoff interviewed company principals Amanda Carroll and Robert Fuller about the development. “It was very much an inward-facing complex,” Fuller said. “Our challenge was how to break down that barrier and sort of

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Lawsuit over WTC design is whittled down

By Erin Hudson — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 12:00:14 +0000

The copyright infringement suit over the design of One World Trade Center has survived an effort to kill it, but not by much. A recently unveiled judge’s ruling preserved three claims of a case that stems from an architectural student’s design years before 9/11 attacks that led to the massive tower’s construction. Georgia-based architect Jeehoon Park in 2017 sued four giants: architectural firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Tishman Construction and the tower’s developers, the Port

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A-Rod is coming for NYC and SoFla real estate

By Katherine Kallergis — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 11:30:41 +0000

Alex Rodriguez has seen both his professional and personal life covered exhaustively in newspapers across the country for decades now. But since retiring as the Yankees’ star third baseman in 2016 — and, according to Forbes, pocketing over $480 million during his 22-year, pro-baseball career — he’s become even busier. He’s now juggling regular media appearances with color commenting baseball games (he’s a broadcaster for Fox Sports and part of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball team)

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The top 10 biggest real estate projects coming to NYC

By Eddie Small — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 11:00:42 +0000

A planned office project in Red Hook that Thor Equities decided to scale back was still large enough to top the list of the largest projects coming to New York in September. Joe Sitt’s firm had initially wanted to build an 800,000-square-foot office project at 270 Richards Street in Red Hook but has since decided to build a roughly 300,000-square-foot warehouse project there instead. The plan took the No. 1 spot on September’s list, followed

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WeWork’s first investor used his stock as collateral. Now his lenders are suing him

By David Jeans Research by Mary Diduch — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 21:20:45 +0000

WeWork’s first investor, who pledged his stock in the company as collateral on loans, is being accused of short-changing his lenders. Joel Schreiber, a landlord whose firm Waterbridge Capital owns a vast portfolio of buildings in New York, used his stake in WeWork and properties he owned to back loans totalling almost $3.3 million, which he later defaulted on, according to two lawsuits filed Thursday. One plaintiff, Vikram Kuriyan, says that he provided Schreiber with

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Tenants at “dozens of buildings” in LA receive eviction notices ahead of California’s new rent law

By Georgia Kromrei and Dennis Lynch — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 21:00:23 +0000

Landlords across Los Angeles have sent out scores of eviction notices in recent weeks, trying to get ahead of the “just cause” provision of California’s new rent control bill, which kicks in Jan. 1. “We’re dealing with dozens of buildings calling our hotline,” said Trinidad Ruiz, an organizer with the Los Angeles Tenant Union. And Katie McKeon, an attorney with the pro bono law firm Public Counsel, said it was “a massive uptick in no-fault

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No criticism here: Nicolai Ouroussoff, Cecily Brown buy E. Village house for $7.75M

By E.B. Solomont — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 20:30:04 +0000

Architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff has finally found a house he can live with. The notoriously prickly former New York Times critic and his wife, British artist Cecily Brown, closed today on a townhouse at 125 East 10th Street in the East Village, sources said. The purchase price was $7.75 million, confirmed Warburg Realty’s Jason Haber, who represented the seller. Ouroussoff and Brown did not have a broker. Located near the intersection of Stuyvesant and East

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NYCHA strikes air rights deal with developer, WeWork shuttering its pricey private school: Daily digest

TRD Staff — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 20:06:02 +0000

Every day, The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page in real time, starting at 9 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com This page was last updated at 4:06 a.m. Video produced by Sabrina He NYCHA is selling air rights in Brooklyn to a developer. Jorge Madruga’s Maddd Equities is nearing a deal for 100,000 square feet of

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Watch: A-Rod on the benefits and pitfalls of being a celebrity investor

By Adam Pogoff — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 19:30:49 +0000

Alex Rodriguez has been investing in real estate for decades. He made his first purchase — a duplex outside of Miami that he needed a $48,000 downpayment for — when he was 22. But in the years since, the former Yankee third baseman, who is now 44, has built a sizable national real estate portfolio. He has thousands of units, all under the A-Rod Corp. umbrella, in U.S. markets like Chicago, North Carolina and Texas.

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Recalling Cecilia Benattar, the “toughest woman in real estate”

By Sabrina He — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 18:30:15 +0000

The fourth episode of “People Who Made New York City revisits the legacy of Cecilia Benattar. She developed the iconic General Motors Building on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue more than 50 years ago, when women in offices were mostly employed as secretaries. According to her son Simon Benattar, “she would walk through walls, and nothing could stop her.” Watch this video to find out how she made the GM headquarters happen. Voice-over by Sylvia Varnham O’Regan

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Kurz Real Estate joins eXp Realty

By Katherine Kallergis — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 18:00:35 +0000

Virtual brokerage eXp Realty is growing by nearly 200 agents in South Florida with the acquisition of Kurz Real Estate, The Real Deal has learned. It’s the latest move in Florida by Bellingham, Washington-based eXp, which entered the Sunshine State nine years ago. “We are one of the largest brokerages to merge with eXp. Ninety-eight percent of our agents are moving with us,” Kurz Real Estate owner David Kurz told TRD. Kurz made the announcement

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“I can talk about erections all day”: NAR tech consultant’s bizarre fireside chat

By David Jeans — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 17:20:27 +0000

Fireside chats — one-on-one discussions between industry players at conferences — are typically genial events. But one such discussion held at a real estate conference in Munich this week was anything but friendly. At Real Expo 2019, New York-based tech investor and consultant Duke Long assailed Morten Lund, the co-founder and CEO of Danish vacation-rental startup Poshtel International. “Anyone want to ask, other than ‘how fucking stoned are you right now,’” he said, when asking

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Here’s a look at Blackstone’s industrial plays after its record-breaking portfolio purchase

By Mary Diduch — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 16:32:33 +0000

After Blackstone dropped almost $19 billion on an industrial portfolio in June — the biggest portfolio deal ever — the private equity giant’s industrial activity hasn’t let up. In the months following that deal with Singapore-based GLP, Blackstone’s industrial plays in the U.S. have ranged from one-off property acquisitions to a partial selloff of that newly-acquired portfolio. In another show of its interest in the sector, Blackstone also launched its own logistics firm overseas. The

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WeWork is investing again with fundraise for proptech

By Eddie Small — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 15:55:37 +0000

WeWork has apparently recovered enough from its attempted initial public offering rollout to invest again. The coworking company recently took part in a $4.6 million venture round for the commercial real estate startup company Jones, Jones announced on Thursday. Hertz Ventures led the round, and other firms that took part included JLL Spark, MetaProp Ventures, GroundUp Ventures and 500 Startups. Jones focuses on developing software to help commercial real estate companies handle and simplify the

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OneKey MLS launches in NY with 47K listings

By E.B. Solomont — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 12:15:09 +0000

For years brokers in the New York metro area have longed for a multiple listings service. And now it’s launching 42,000 subscribers deep. Realtors in Westchester and Long Island last year merged their systems into the New York MLS, which they’ve now renamed “OneKey,” they said Thursday. The platform currently has 47,000 listings stretching from the Catskills to Montauk, including the five boroughs of New York City, one of the only major U.S. cities without

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Ranking NYC’s top real estate law firms

By Eddie Small — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 11:30:24 +0000

The calls began almost as soon as the new rent laws passed. Overnight, the sweeping regulations — which Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed in June — vastly restricted what landlords could do with rent-regulated apartments. And those landlords, crushed from a stinging political defeat and given no grace period to adjust to the new rules, turned immediately to their lawyers. Luise Barrack, managing member of the law firm Rosenberg & Estis, said her firm started fielding

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Compass opens Long Island City office as new-development sales surge

By Sylvia Varnham O’Regan — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 11:00:50 +0000

Compass has opened an office in Long Island City as sales prices in Queens hit record highs. Located at 21-50 45th Avenue, the office will have 70 agents, including its “Real Market Team,” whose listings include a $3.75 million penthouse in Hunters Point. The firm is also exclusively marketing the One Sixteen building in Rockaway. And it was marketing the Ispica Astoria at 25-63 38th Street, which it says is now sold out. The move is

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The latest in Harry Macklowe’s divorce: Linda’s appeal killed in court

By E.B. Solomont — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 22:06:34 +0000

Linda Macklowe’s attempt to appeal a divorce judge’s ruling in her bitter divorce with Harry Macklowe was shut down. In a ruling Thursday, the New York appellate division said the judge in the developer’s contentious divorce last year properly valued both his real estate assets and the pricey art collection he owned jointly with ex-wife. The developer’s share of the profits at 432 Park Avenue is $2.5 million, according to the court. After the ruling,

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WeWork exec insists co-working isn’t a fad, Global Holdings drops $400M on NoMad tower: Daily digest

TRD Staff — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 21:00:02 +0000

Every day, The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page in real time, starting at 9 a.m.. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com This page was last updated at 5 p.m. WeWork exec tells lenders co-working isn’t a fad. At a conference in New York, WeWork executive Candice King said lenders shouldn’t create discriminatory loan policies against landlords

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Hamptons builder pleads not guilty to assaulting Andrew Saunders

By Rich Bockmann — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 20:40:41 +0000

Hamptons luxury homebuilder Jeffrey Collé pleaded not guilty to an assault charge in an East Hampton courtroom Thursday after he and broker Andrew Saunders got into a fistfight last week. Collé pleaded not guilty to one charge of assault in the third degree, people familiar with the matter told The Real Deal. The judge in the case granted an order of protection barring Collé from being in the presence of Saunders and his wife. A

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Retail exec sells Fifth Avenue co-op to Chanel heir for $19M

By Mary Diduch — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 20:31:11 +0000

A retail dealmaker sold a full-floor Fifth Avenue co-op with views of Central Park and downsized to another unit in the building. Gilbert and Shelley Harrison sold their long-time 11th-floor apartment at 993 Fifth Avenue for $19 million, according to a public record filed with the city Wednesday. Its new owner is recorded as Nathaniel Wertheimer, apparently the son of Alain Wertheimer, co-owner luxury fashion house Chanel. Compass’ Arline Tarte had the listing. (Tarte did

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At the desk of: Martin Piazzola

By Sylvia Varnham O’Regan — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 18:30:22 +0000

Martin Piazzola started his career as an accountant, but he quickly realized it wasn’t a good fit. “It was too predictable,” said the AvalonBay Communities executive, whose 22nd-floor Midtown Manhattan office overlooks the city. After earning an MBA from New York University in 1987, he worked briefly for the now-defunct Xerox Realty Corp. before being recruited by Park Tower Realty, where he analyzed potential ground-up office development projects in New York and Washington D.C. (He

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Goodbye bankruptcy, hello construction loan: Breakthrough for Tribeca hotel project

By Kevin Sun — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 17:30:06 +0000

After years of headaches, the long-delayed luxury hotel project at 456 Greenwich Street has finally secured a construction loan and is emerging from bankruptcy. The partnership entity, CBCS Washington Street LP, received confirmation for a reorganization plan in bankruptcy court earlier this week, court filings show. The plan includes a three-year, $135 million construction loan commitment from South Korea’s Hana Financial Investment. “The project can see the light again,” said Joshua Caspi of Caspi Development,

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Nooklyn CEO steps down after firm slashes agent commissions

By Sylvia Varnham O’Regan — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 16:51:33 +0000

The CEO of startup brokerage Nooklyn is stepping down amid turbulence over the company’s decision to cut agent commissions and alter its payment structure. Harley Courts, who founded the Brooklyn-based company in 2010, is stepping down and taking a leave of absence, according to an email sent to staff Thursday by Courts’ business partner, Moiz Malik. Noble Novitzki, Nooklyn’s chief people officer, will take over as CEO, effective immediately. The announcement comes after Nooklyn said

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Newsroom news: The Real Deal LA brings on 2 veteran journalists

By Hiten Samtani — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 16:00:24 +0000

A 157-acre mountaintop parcel asks $1 billion but sells for $100,000. A cavernous airplane hangar built by Howard Hughes is now home to thousands of Googlers. A $500 million mansion whose developer insists will be for “normal dudes.” These are the real estate stories of Los Angeles, a city that constantly bewilders, delights and astonishes. Understanding and chronicling the unique trends and quirks of this market is a formidable task, and I’m delighted to announce

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Here are the week’s top luxury sales

TRD Staff — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 14:30:07 +0000

Each week, The Real Deal and CityRealty look back at Manhattan’s priciest apartment sales.

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Rents tick up and concessions fall amid broader economic uncertainty

By Erin Hudson — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 13:45:27 +0000

New York’s strong rental market is winning off the back of sluggish sales. Rents increased year over year this September in Manhattan and Brooklyn to $4,336 and $3,366, respectively, while concessions fell, according to Douglas Elliman’s September report, authored by appraisal firm Miller Samuel. In Manhattan, the share of new leases signed with an owner paying broker fees and concessions was 34.3 percent, down from 37.4 percent in the same period last year. In Brooklyn,

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Queens sale prices set record despite signs of trouble

By Erin Hudson — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 12:30:01 +0000

In the Queens residential market, something’s got to give. Douglas Elliman’s third-quarter sales report found median and average sales prices in the borough reached record highs at $600,000 and $651,216, respectively. The increases came despite the number of sales falling year-over-year for the eighth straight quarter and inventory continuing to balloon. In Brooklyn, prices for the market as a whole dropped, but co-op sales set a new record as year-over-year median and average sales prices

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From fluff to buff: Rapid Realty’s Anthony Lolli is back in business with new body transformation show

By Rich Bockmann — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 12:00:38 +0000

Anthony Lolli trimmed down his real estate empire when he sold Rapid Realty last year. And since then, he’s done the same to his waistline. Lolli over the past nine months has gone from flab to fit, shedding more than 100 pounds as he’s transformed himself through diet and exercise. And now the former brokerage chief is working as an executive producer on an Amazon Prime series about fitness. “When you’re in business you’re eating

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How mobile homes became a billion-dollar, recession-proof industry

By Georgia Kromrei — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 11:30:59 +0000

Mobile homes are no longer just a necessity for the poor. They’ve increasingly become a must-have for some of the world’s richest private equity players. A 2016 investor pitch from manufactured housing owner and operator RHP Properties boasted that its portfolio of 33,000 lots — stretching across seven states — had “low cash flow volatility and steady year-over-year rent increases” as well as minimal capital expenditures. The pitch apparently worked on Brookfield Asset Management, which

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Flipped off: The inside story of Coca-Cola’s botched building sale

By David Jeans and Rich Bockmann — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 11:00:22 +0000

UPDATED, Oct. 10, 2019, 1:44 p.m: Coca-Cola’s real estate division must be feeling flat. The soft-drink giant had sold its iconic building at 711 Fifth Avenue in August to Nightingale Properties and Wafra Capital Partners for $909 million. But last month, in an unusual twist, Wafra sold its stake in a deal valuing the property at $937 million. Coca-Cola had left tens of millions of dollars on the table. Making matters worse, the new buyer was

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Exiled Chinese billionaire’s $300M lawsuit dismissed

By Georgia Kromrei — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 22:26:18 +0000

A judge dismissed a $300 million lawsuit against Chinese developer SOHO China and principal Shiya Pan, according to court documents filed today. New York Supreme Court Judge Paul Goetz dismissed a complaint brought by Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese billionaire and real estate developer who alleged he had been unjustifiably sued by Soho two years ago. The judge found no indication that the 2017 lawsuit had been “perversely utilized” by Soho for any other goal

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Workable City, Rabina Properties pick up Greenpoint loft complex for $33M

By Mary Diduch — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 22:20:22 +0000

A Greenpoint loft complex that had long been known for building violations traded hands for $33 million. Workable City Development and Rabina Properties partnered to buy 239 Banker Street, securing $24 million in financing from M&T Bank, according to property records filed with the city Wednesday. The four-story, 69-unit rental complex had once been a factory and was illegally converted into apartments. Josh Rabina, president of the family-run investment and development firm Rabina Properties, confirmed

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Whistleblower lawsuit accuses carpenters’ union of brushing off claims of corruption, fraud

By Kathryn Brenzel — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 21:00:50 +0000

A former investigator with the New York City District Council of Carpenters claims he was fired after complaining about selective investigations of corruption in the union. Peter Marsalisi, who worked as a senior investigator with the union’s inspector general’s office, claims that union officials discouraged him from investigating certain cases “involving fraud, corruption and criminal activity.” For the union, which has been under federal supervision for more than 20 years, the inspector general’s office is

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Here’s what the $10M-$30M NYC investment sales market looked like last week

By Eddie Small Research by Nicholas Severin — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 20:00:54 +0000

Commercial condo units changed hands at a medical building in Midtown, and Toby Moskovits moved forward with her first project in the South Bronx. Here are the two New York City mid-market investment sales that were made public last week. 1. The medical company Surgicore purchased five commercial condo units at 305 East 47th Street in Turtle Bay for $17 million, according to property records. The firm bought the Manhattan properties from Thorne Lau Chin

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Kuwaiti royal was defrauded of $160M investment in Mountain of Beverly Hills: lawsuit

By Matthew Blake — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 19:00:34 +0000

The drama surrounding the 157-acre Mountain of Beverly Hills didn’t end when the land was sold in foreclosure for a fraction of its sky-high asking price. Now, the interior minister of Kuwait has filed suit, claiming he was defrauded out of a $163 million investment in the property by its former owner. Khaled Al-Sabah alleges that Victorino Noval — who owned the Mountain before it was seized in foreclosure — duped him into thinking he

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Manhattan foreclosures soar 118%, driven by mortgage defaults

By Eddie Small — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 18:15:46 +0000

Residential foreclosures in Manhattan and Staten Island are skyrocketing — but the other boroughs are having better luck. Foreclosures in Manhattan and Staten Island saw 118 percent and 183 percent year-over-year increases, respectively, during the third quarter, according to a new report from PropertyShark. Even though the increase by percentage in Manhattan was very sharp, the increase by raw numbers was more modest. The borough saw 48 property foreclosures during 2019’s third quarter, up from

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NYC is banking on Common to deliver affordable beds

By Erin Hudson — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 17:30:12 +0000

New York City is jumping into bed with two co-living firms to build affordable housing. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development said Tuesday it will work with Common and Atlanta-based PadSplit — along with each firm’s development partner — to create co-living units. The announcement is the result of a pilot program HPD launched last year, dubbed ShareNYC, offering developers public funds to create income-restricted units in co-living buildings. HPD selected three proposals

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The Daily Dirt: Changes to rent law raise concerns at Nooklyn

By Kathryn Brenzel — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 15:15:54 +0000

A change to the state’s rent law has raised some questions about a brokerage’s financial health. In response to New York’s new rent stabilization law — which caps rental application fees at $20 — Nooklyn made a few changes. For one, the startup brokerage cut its fees from $100 to $9.29. To make up for this loss in revenue, Nooklyn also chopped brokers’ commissions and implemented a longer payment schedule. Though brokerages across the city

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

TRD Staff — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 13:18:15 +0000

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 This page was last updated at 9 a.m. Produced by Sabrina He 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

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These highly leveraged real estate firms could feel the squeeze in a downturn

By Rich Bockmann — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 11:30:52 +0000

To back its risky instant home-buying program, Zillow Group opened two credit lines with Credit Suisse and Citibank over the past 14 months totaling $1 billion. The revolving debt pushed the Seattle-based company’s borrowing to a record level as its earnings fell nearly 75 percent in the first half of 2019 to just above $26 million. Zillow then doubled down last month, when its executives announced plans to sell $1.1 billion in corporate bonds to

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More rent-law fallout: Landlords back off “absentee” tenants

By Georgia Kromrei — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 11:00:31 +0000

Cases brought against rent-stabilized tenants who allegedly live elsewhere have become a thing of the past. The reason is the new rent law, according to its proponents and critics alike. Rent-stabilized apartments are required to be a primary residence. But enforcement is largely left to landlords, who can go to court to evict a tenant not living in a unit full-time. Landlords’ reward was a 20 percent rent increase and the chance to make renovations

The post More rent-law fallout: Landlords back off “absentee” tenants appeared first on The Real Deal New York.