The Real Deal New York

Cushman files paperwork for its IPO

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 18:07:59 +0000

Cushman & Wakefield filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its long-awaited initial public offering, the company announced Wednesday. The number of shares Cushman plans to offer and the price range have not yet been determined, the company said. Rumors have been swirling since earlier last year that Cushman, which is backed by the private equity firm TPG Capital, would look to debut on Wall Street. The Real Deal first reported last month […]

Hamptons Cheat Sheet: RHONY’s Luann de Lesseps lists Sag Harbor home for $6M … & more

Aidan Gardiner — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 17:50:18 +0000

RHONY’s Luann de Lesseps lists Sag Harbor home for $6.25M Luann de Lesseps of Real Housewives of New York put her 2,500-square-foot waterfront home on the market for $6.25 million. A friend told the New York Post that the onetime countess wants to move to the Catskills. De Lesseps bought the home, which was built in 1835, in 2013 for $2.43 million before updating the interiors. It features four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a gourmet kitchen and […]

April is the cruelest month for New York’s multifamily market

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 17:25:25 +0000

The multifamily market in New York City slowed down significantly in April following a strong first quarter, with volume metrics dropping to their lowest levels of the year so far, according to a new report from Ariel Property Advisors. The first quarter of 2018 saw a solid rebound from the multifamily market’s painfully slow 2017, with dollar volume reaching almost $3 billion. But in April, dollar volume was at just $431.4 million, spread across 31 […]

RSA sues tenant leader Mike McKee for $40M claiming defamation

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 16:56:07 +0000

The Rent Stabilization Association, a landlord group that is one of the biggest lobbying and campaign spenders in New York State, filed suit against tenant leader Michael McKee on Wednesday alleging he defamed RSA in statements about its 2010 campaign contributions. RSA alleges that at a City Council meeting in May, McKee testified that RSA had “promised” $150,000 contribution to three state senators if they agreed to vote down two tenant-friendly bills that had managed […]

No pooch left behind: Bill to protect pets during evictions advances

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 16:20:57 +0000

A bill meant to prevent pets from getting left in homes during evictions is almost the law of the land in New York. The bill has passed the state legislature and will now go to the governor’s desk to become a law, according to the New York Post. It would require officials carrying out eviction warrants to make sure any pets they find in the building are either brought back to their owners or properly […]

Tee off with The Real Deal at our annual NY golf outing

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 15:50:07 +0000

The Real Deal is pleased to announce that we will be hosting this year’s golf outing at The Muttontown Club in East Norwich, New York. Muttontown is a beautiful private country club available exclusively to members and their guests and offers the perfect setting for meeting and mingling with NYC’s real estate elites. The day will include breakfast, a shotgun start and cocktails and meals, including a semi-formal dinner. For the first time ever, a […]

Eastern Consolidated’s HQ space is up now up for grabs

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 15:20:27 +0000

Less than a week after Eastern Consolidated announced it would be shutting down, Rudin Management has begun the hunt to replace the commercial brokerage’s headquarters with a new tenant. The landlord has placed the roughly 20,000 square feet across the full 11th floor and part of the 10th floor at 355 Lexington Avenue on the market for lease, according to CoStar data and sources. The asking rent is $59 per square foot. Related: How Eastern […]

Russian buyers shelled out $109M in cash for dozens of Trump properties

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 14:38:08 +0000

Buyers tied to Russia or former Soviet republics dropped $109 million in cash on 86 Trump-branded properties in South Florida and New York City, according to a new report. A majority of the deals at the 10 Trump properties McClatchy analyzed were purchased using shell companies. While not illegal, all-cash deals raise suspicions of money laundering. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department released another set of rules geared at cracking down on money laundering in […]

Hello Alfred taking over Bjarke Ingels’ former space at 61 Broadway

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 14:10:44 +0000

Property management startup and in-home assistant Hello Alfred is taking over Bjarke Ingels Group’s former space at RXR Realty’s 61 Broadway in downtown Manhattan. Hello Alfred moved into its new digs from 55 West 19th Street the day after Ingels’ company moved into a 50,000-square-foot space at Two Trees Management’s 45 Main Street in Dumbo, according to the New York Post. It will take up just over 22,000 square feet in the building and signed […]

This co-working firm says its 400% markup is actually a big problem

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 13:54:49 +0000

Co-working companies are making a killing, but that’s of little solace to the commercial landlords who own the space. In fact, the CEO of one shared workspace company thinks landlords should enter joint ventures or profit-sharing agreements with co-working firms, scrapping the traditional loan in the process. At a panel discussion hosted by leasing management company VTS, Industrious CEO Jamie Hodari cited his firm’s space in Union Square, where his company pays the landlord $67 […]

Virtual reality brokerage EXp Realty doubles its agent count

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 13:32:25 +0000

EXp Realty, the cloud-based virtual reality office where brokers walk around and make deals with avatars, has doubled in size to 12,000 agents. The news comes after the company entered the NASDAQ exchange in May, trading at an astounding $1 billion. The huge entry meant it was trading higher than national franchise brokerage Re/Max, which at that point had a market cap of $944 million. Glenn Sanford, who founded the company in 2009, said the brokerage […]

Aby Rosen in talks to sell 90 Sands to affordable developer: report

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 12:59:13 +0000

Aby Rosen is in talks to sell his recently acquired 90 Sands Street in Dumbo to an affordable housing developer, according to a new report. Rosen had been planning to convert the vacant former Jehovah’s Witnesses building into a modern hotel. Rosen’s RFR Realty is expected to close on the sale of 90 Sands Street to developer Breaking Ground by September, with work to begin on the building in February, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. […]

Ashkenazy buys AMC theater for $53M

James Kleimann — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 12:30:05 +0000

Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation bought a movie theater on the Upper West side for $53 million, after the Bromley Companies attempted to block the sale. The Midtown-based firm purchased 2318 Broadway from American Multi-Cinema, according to court documents and a source with knowledge of the sale. As part of the deal, AMC movie theater will lease the space back from Ashkenazy for an initial $3 million for the first year, with rent increasing 2 percent each […]

Will the Meatpacking’s retail renaissance flourish or fade?

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 11:30:30 +0000

On a recent spring day in the Meatpacking District, a group of tourists argued over dinner plans as they stepped off the High Line onto 14th Street, two girls walked into stalled traffic to Instagram the streetscape behind them and three neon-vested construction workers stood at the curb discussing the many visible changes in the neighborhood. This all took place in front of Jeffrey New York, the pioneering luxury clothing store that Jeffrey Kalinsky opened […]

Inside a new dev contract: What Halstead was paid at the Oosten

Kevin Rebong — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 11:00:40 +0000

When Halstead Property inked a deal to market the Oosten condominium in 2013, there was an unusual catch: the Chinese developer behind the 216-unit Williamsburg project intended to sell 60 percent of the units itself overseas. Halstead would be paid $5,000 for each of those deals, according to a contract between the firm and the Oosten’s developer, Xinyuan Real Estate. Broker commissions are among the most closely guarded secrets in residential real estate, but Halstead’s […]

Michael Besen’s company will manage Steve Croman’s portfolio

Eddie — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 22:08:11 +0000

Steve Croman may be out of jail, but he is still years away from being able to run his properties again. The New York state Attorney General’s office has selected Michael Besen’s New York City Management to operate Croman’s portfolio of more than 100 buildings as of July 1, according to the Commercial Observer. The company will run the properties for five years. Croman had proposed two other companies instead of NYC Management, but the state […]

Town sued for $438K in rent at 110 Fifth Ave

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 21:40:45 +0000

UPDATED, June 20, 10:00 a.m.: Two months after Town Residential abruptly shut its resale and leasing business, its former landlord at 110 Fifth Avenue slapped the firm and its founder Andrew Heiberger with a lawsuit to recoup unpaid rent. According to the suit, filed Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court, Town surrendered possession of the 16,600-square-foot office on May 10, weeks after effectively ceasing brokerage operations. But court documents allege that Town and Heiberger, […]

Hamptons homeowners, renters are among the most exposed to climate change

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 20:40:14 +0000

Taxpayers in the Hamptons are among the most vulnerable to losing money to climate change. Among municipalities with a high likelihood of chronic flooding in the next 12 years, Southampton has the second highest level of its property-tax revenue at risk, Bloomberg reported. Data gathered by the Union of Concerned Scientists, rising sea levels puts hundreds of thousands of homes and commercial properties at risk of being flooded at least 26 times a year by […]

Joe Farrell’s not-so-sad saga

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 20:10:10 +0000

Beyoncé and Jay Z. Madonna. Russian billionaire Valery Kogan. These famous faces are among the many who have summered — or at least weekended — at Joe Farrell’s Sandcastle mansion. And though the estate has been on and off the market too many times for the developer to recall, the cachet of these bold-faced names represents a coup of sorts for Farrell, and, he said, helps to market his company, Farrell Building. In March, the […]

Developer of Bed-Stuy condo project nabs $55M loan

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 19:42:15 +0000

The developer behind a ground-up condominium development at 948 Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn has secured a $55 million construction and refinancing loan. Madison Realty Capital on Tuesday confirmed the loan for the 214,000-square-foot mixed-use project, but would not confirm the identity of the developer. Sources told The Real Deal that Isaac Schwartz is behind the development, which spans three adjacent sites, at 936 Myrtle Avenue, 948 Myrtle Avenue, and 258-264 Throop Avenue and will include rental […]

LIC could be a prime target for rezoning: panel

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 19:15:09 +0000

E-commerce companies looking for warehouses for last-mile deliveries should look no farther than Long Island City, according to a panel on the neighborhood. “Amazon Prime went from next-day delivery to same-day delivery, and now they want two-hour delivery,” said Andrew Chung, founder of Innovo Property Group. “In order to do two-hour delivery, you can’t service from New Jersey anymore. Long Island City is actually the most ideal place.” Chung sat on one of the final […]

PHOTOS: NYC’s top real estate players gather for Rabin Medical event

Kerry Barger — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 18:20:53 +0000

Some of real estate’s top players descended on the Crobsy Street Hotel last Thursday for the American Friends of the Rabin Medical Center’s “Spice of Life” event, which showcased Middle Eastern cuisine and wine. In attendance was Colliers International’s Yoron Cohen, CBRE’s Stephen Siegel, Stonehenge Properties’ Ofer Yardeni, HFZ Capital Group’s Adam Feldman and Jonathan Mechanic, chairman of Fried Frank’s real estate division. Check out the slideshow for more pictures from the event.

MetaProp launches $40M investment fund

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 17:51:39 +0000

Real estate tech accelerator and venture capital firm MetaProp has raised $40 million for its second fund, which it will use to back 40 early-stage companies. The property tech accelerator, founded in 2015 by Clelia Peters, Zach Aarons and Aaron Block, initially had planned to raise $25 million for its second fund, but investor interest pushed that figure up to $40 million, Peters said. Investors in the fund include Cushman & Wakefield, RXR Realty, CBRE, […]

Coming soon: The Real Deal’s first ever Hamptons panel event

Kerry Barger — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 17:40:23 +0000

Don’t miss The Real Deal’s first East End panel event on June 30, where the top brokers in the Hamptons will discuss strategies for moving product in an increasingly competitive market. Confirmed panelists include Corcoran Group’s Susan Breitenbach, Brown Harris Stevens’ Christopher Burnside, Bespoke’s Cody Vichinsky, Douglas Elliman’s Enzo Morabito, Compass’ Lori Schiaffino and Saunders and Associates’ Ed Buehl . The panel discussion will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be followed by a […]

Marcus Lemonis profits from $3.25M Chicago condo sale

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 16:45:19 +0000

Retail CEO and reality TV star Marcus Lemonis closed a sale on his Gold Coast condo for $3.25 million, about a month after he put it on the market. Lemonis, who starred on the CNBC show “The Profit,” bought the three-bedroom apartment on the 17th floor of 50 East Chestnut Street in August 2016 for $3 million, according to Crain’s. He had originally listed it for $3.3 million. Lemonis put the home up for sale […]

Nearly one-third of American households are cost-burdened: report

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 15:37:47 +0000

Nearly 40 million American households were cost-burdened in 2016, meaning that they spent more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing, according to a new report. Though that represents a decrease of 800,000 households from 2015, renters haven’t seen much improvement since the recession, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies’ “State of the Nation’s Housing.” The share of renters who were cost-burdened in 2016 was 47 percent, down only slightly from […]

WATCH: TRD on Eastern’s closure, why the firm couldn’t make it work and more

Jhila Farzaneh — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 15:05:47 +0000

Following the news that Eastern Consolidated would be shutting its doors for good next month, The Real Deal’s Hiten Samtani and Mark Maurer sat down to discuss why the firm couldn’t make it work, how the market could have influenced the brokerage’s closure, and what will happen to its listings and key brokers. Video produced by Jhila Farzaneh

LIC co-op residents face sharp increase in property taxes, end of tax abatement

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 14:13:09 +0000

It’s a double-whammy: Residents of a Long Island City co-op are simultaneously facing a sharp spike in their property tax assessments and the end of a tax abatement. Property tax assessments at Citylights, a 522-unit middle-income residence at 4-74 48th Avenue, are expected to jump 87 percent in one year, just as a 20-year tax abatement is coming to an end, Politico reported. The city’s Department of Finance estimated the co-op’s value to be $101.6 […]

Sam Zell removed as conference’s keynote speaker after vulgar comment about women: report

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 13:24:06 +0000

Sam Zell won’t be a keynote speaker at Mizuho Americas’ conference this month following the billionaire’s highly publicized comments about women. Zell was expected to speak at the Mizuho global REIT and real estate conference next week but is no longer on the schedule. His invitation was revoked after he made a vulgar comment at the REITweek investor conference earlier this month, Bloomberg reported. A representative for Zell at Equity Group Investments indicated that he […]

At Hudson Yards, another doctor is in

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 12:44:58 +0000

Another hospital is joining Hudson Yards in hopes of tapping into the expected wave of new residents and workers at the megadevelopment. Hospital for Special Surgery is leasing 15,000 square feet at the Related Companies’ 35 Hudson Yards, Crain’s reported. The facility joins the 72-story tower’s anchor tenant, Equinox, which is opening its first hotel as well as a fitness center. In September, the New York Post reported that Mount Sinai inked a lease at […]

Did Kramer Levin influence the city in Gamma’s Sutton Place zoning fight?

Kathryn — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 12:06:46 +0000

After appealing to two of the mayor’s aides, a lobbying firm temporarily won an exemption from a zoning change on the Upper East Side for Gamma Real Estate. Kramer Levin, a firm to which the de Blasio administration owes $300,000, urged Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen and Planning Commission chair Marisa Lago to halt the Sutton Place zoning change, the New York Daily News reported. The mayor rejected that his administration’s decision to allow Sutton 58 […]

Meet Brooklyn’s most prolific developer

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 11:30:16 +0000

Boaz Gilad got up from his desk. “Let me just close the window,” the Brookland Capital founder said. But it wasn’t because of the weather — the sunny, 65-degree morning was one of the nicest New York had seen in months. “They’re making noise,” he said above a series of squawks. Gilad keeps four Quaker parrots in a massive birdcage on the outdoor stone patio of Brookland’s Bedford-Stuyvesant headquarters. A large picnic table sits at […]

These were the top 10 outer borough loans in May

Kevin Rebong — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 11:00:07 +0000

For the second consecutive month, the top 10 outer borough loans consisted entirely of deals in Brooklyn and Queens. Queens made up four of the top 10 loans in May, while Brooklyn took the other six spots. The Bronx and Staten Island were once again shut out. A roughly $1.4 billion loan to Delta Airlines for its massive renovation project at LaGuardia Airport took the top spot, followed by a roughly $500 million loan to […]

Never say never: Brookfield, Forest City restart acquisition talks

kp@therealdeal.com — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 22:20:46 +0000

Brookfield Asset Management’s acquisition of Forest City Realty Trust could happen after all. The real estate investment trust is talking to Brookfield about a sale for $25 to $25.50 per share, Bloomberg reported. A mere three months ago, Forest City rejected a takeover offer of $25 per share from Brookfield and declared it would remain an independent company. “The board concluded that stockholder value would be better enhanced on a standalone basis and that the […]

AvalonBay looking to sell stake in $1.2B Manhattan apartment portfolio

David Jeans — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 22:07:20 +0000

Mega-landlord AvalonBay Communities is hoping to offload half of a $1.2 billion Manhattan portfolio, as apartment prices continue to rise in the city. The publicly-traded firm, one of the largest apartment owners in the U.S., is looking to sell seven buildings in areas including Morningside Heights and Chelsea, sources told Bloomberg. The company did not respond to a request for comment before deadline. The move comes amid rising apartment prices in the city. In February, […]

Appellate court overturns ruling favoring tenant at Solow’s 10 West 57th Street

Will Parker — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 21:51:05 +0000

Sheldon Solow wants to build a 54-story hotel and condominium on West 57th Street, but can’t do it until the last retail tenant on the south side of the block gets out of his way. That tenant, Metropolitan Fine Arts & Antiques, has not been wont to do so and enlisted attorney David Rozenholc — known for securing large buyouts for holdout tenants — to help them fight Solow. The billionaire moved to evict the […]

Fired carpenters’ union employees claim leadership hid sexual harassment allegations against president for months

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 21:32:01 +0000

Two fired employees of the New York City District Council of Carpenters claim leaders of the union kept sexual harassment allegations against its president secret for several months. The letter — filed in federal court in Manhattan on Monday — claims the union’s leaders knew that a female employee had accused Steve McInnis of sexual harassment months before notifying the union’s members. McInnis resigned in February amid unspecified allegations of misconduct, though the New York […]

Co-working has been slow to take off in the Hamptons — but some companies are testing the tepid waters

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 20:45:53 +0000

Danielle Candela credits her time at Southampton co-working venture The Spur with “changing her life.” For starters, she won $25,000 to fund her start-up company at “RipTide: Hamptons Sink or Swim,” an East End version of “Shark Tank” held at The Spur. She also met experienced entrepreneurs who became mentors. “I’m around so many amazing people I wouldn’t have had access to before,” said Candela, who was born and raised in the Hamptons. She now […]

Madison puts Clinton Hill warehouse on the market

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 20:20:08 +0000

Madison Realty Capital has opted to try selling its Clinton Hill warehouse at 29 Ryerson Street. The company originally planned to convert the building into creative office space but has instead hired a Cushman & Wakefield team to market the property, according to Crain’s. The vacant building near the Brooklyn Navy Yard spans more than 200,000 square feet. A Cushman team led by Adam Spies, Adam Doneger and Josh King are marketing the property with […]

Here’s what the $10M-$20M NYC investment sales market looked like last week

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 19:50:24 +0000

1.) Aaron Jungreis’ Rosewood Realty Group bought a rental building in the Gravesend area of Brooklyn for $15.7 million. The deal is a rare acquisition for the multifamily brokerage. The property, at 2470 West 1st Street, is a six-story elevator building with 72 apartment units. The seller is Birchwood Management, which gained ownership of the building in 2000. Samuel Gilad, an attorney with Ryan J. Walsh and Associates, represented Birchwood in the transaction. 2.) Catholic group […]

Eric Adams wants to shrink 80 Flatbush

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 19:20:00 +0000

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams wants to shrink Alloy Development’s Downtown Brooklyn project 80 Flatbush by more than 300 feet. Adams released an advisory decision on the project on Friday, in which he advocated reducing its height from 986 feet to 600 feet, according to Crain’s. He acknowledged that it made sense to add density in projects close to mass transit—the project is located right by Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center—but said he also does not want […]

Digital subscriptions are coming to TheRealDeal.com

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 18:50:15 +0000

Dear Readers, Great journalism often requires years of source building and painstaking research. For informed people, verified reporting and data delivered at lightning speeds are the most important commodities out there — now, more than ever before. As a reader of The Real Deal, you know that better than anyone else. For the past 15 years — beginning in New York and expanding to Miami, L.A. and recently Chicago — we have published the independent, […]

LaSalle chooses Blackstone’s $4.8B bid

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 18:12:49 +0000

LaSalle Hotel Properties reiterated its rejection of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, choosing instead to move forward with a possible acquisition by the Blackstone Group. In a regulatory filing, LaSalle disclosed that the Blackstone deal values the company at $4.8 billion. The agreement, which both sides signed last May, is an all-cash transaction that sets the stock price at $33.50. Bloomberg first reported LaSalle’s decision. LaSalle continued to refuse Pebblebrook’s advances, saying that the Maryland-based firm’s revised […]

Long Island Cheat Sheet: Suffolk’s May home prices were up 10% year-over-year … & more

Aidan Gardiner — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 17:30:15 +0000

May’s Suffolk home prices were 10 percent higher than the year before — the biggest increase in a decade Home prices across Long Island rose over the past year, according to the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island. Suffolk prices rose 10 percent — the county’s greatest year-over-year spike since 2005 — to a median price of $370,000. In Nassau, homes sold for an average $519,000, up 8.1 percent from the previous May, Newsday reported. Agents […]

REITs fall out of favor as interest rates rise

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 17:09:16 +0000

As interest rates rise, investors are questioning whether they’d be better off parking their money in bonds than real estate investment trusts. Last week, the Federal Reserve announced that it would raise interest rates by a quarter percentage point. Following this news, S&P 500 real estate stocks fell 1.2 percent last week and are down 4.3 percent for the year — the worst performance of any S&P sector, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Fed […]

Red Apple lands $130M construction loan for Coney Island resi project

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 15:47:43 +0000

John Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group landed a construction loan for its under-development residential project in Coney Island, records filed with the city Monday show. Bank of America lent the developer $130 million for the 425-unit project at 3514 Surf Avenue, according to records that hit the city’s Department of Finance. Reached for comment, Catsimatidis told The Real Deal that construction on one of the three buildings at the site has already reached the seventh of […]

Peter Fine’s Jerome Avenue project to include 255 resi units

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 15:10:26 +0000

Developer Peter Fine’s Jerome Avenue project will stand 15 stories tall and include 255 residential units, according to plans filed with the Department of Buildings on Monday. Fine purchased the 25,000-square-foot lot at 1331 Jerome Avenue for $11.1 million in May. It was the first property to be sold in the area since the City Council voted in favor of a rezoning. The building will span about 186,000 square feet overall, split between about 98,000 […]

Here are the week’s top luxury sales

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 14:30:04 +0000

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

Brooklyn luxury market saw 17 signed contracts last week

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 14:00:04 +0000

Brooklyn’s luxury real estate market saw 17 contracts signed last week, split between three condominiums and 14 houses. The combined asking price of the homes totaled $54.9 million overall and went for an average of roughly $3.2 million, according to the latest report from Stribling & Associates, which counts all homes priced at $2 million or more. The properties spent an average of 143 days on the market. This was a slower week than the […]

Related turns to Uncle Sam for $1B Hudson Yards loan

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 13:42:00 +0000

The Related Companies is seeking a $1 billion, low-interest loan for the next phase of Hudson Yards from the same pool of money that the Gateway project has struggled to tap into. Related filed a draft worksheet with the U.S. Department of Transportation outlining its proposal to use the funds to build a platform over the West Side rail yards, Politco reported. The low-cost loan would save millions compared to traditional financing for Related, which […]

Queens group raises red flags over Heskel Group CEO’s donations to elected officials

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 13:11:33 +0000

A community group opposed to Yeheskel Elias’ planned Jackson Heights development is crying foul over donations the developer made to public officials who have the power to approve the project’s rezoning. Elias, CEO of the Forest Hills-based Heskel Group, teamed up with Sun Equity Partners to pay $27 million in 2016 to buy the site of the former Jackson Heights Cinema at 40-31 82nd Street. The developer applied to rezone the site in September 2017, […]

Manhattan luxury market saw 24 contracts at $4M and up last week: Olshan

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 12:46:53 +0000

Manhattan’s luxury residential market notched 24 contracts last week at $4 million and above, according to Olshan Realty’s weekly luxury market report. A duplex condominium at the Plaza Hotel took the week’s No. 1 spot with an asking price of $33.95 million. That’s a discount of $1 million off the original asking price when the three-bedroom, three-bath unit hit the market in September. The contract price for the 3,947-square-foot condo works out to roughly $8,600 […]

Climate change already hitting home prices

Rich Bockmann — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 12:00:02 +0000

The risk of climate change appears to be having an impact on housing prices. Average home prices in areas that face low risks of flooding, hurricanes and wildfires outpaced areas that had a greater risk of climate change between 2007 and 2017, according to figures from Attom Data Solutions reported by Bloomberg. Average home prices in areas at high risk were worth less last year than they were a decade earlier, Attom’s figures show. Daren […]

The Closing: Dean Dakolias

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 11:30:54 +0000

Constantine (“Dean”) Dakolias is co-chief investment officer of the credit funds group at Fortress Investment Group, the Midtown-based investment manager that SoftBank acquired for $3.3 billion last December. That all-cash deal took the 20-year-old firm private after a volatile decade on the stock market. Fortress has $43.6 billion of assets under management, and Dakolias and his team have done more than $100 billion in transactions across various industries since the credit business launched in 2002. […]

These were the 10 biggest Manhattan loans in May

Kevin Rebong — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 11:00:16 +0000

The largest real estate loans in Manhattan last month saw the money move from the Far West Side back to the center of the island. Midtown dominated the market for property debt in May, with the month’s largest loans backing the neighborhood’s office towers. In total, the 10 largest Manhattan loans equaled $3.4 billion, down from April’s $4.2 billion. See the full list below: 1) Times Square 2.0 – $1.4 billion Maefield Development has bet […]

Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo reflects on the 2008 crash

The Real Deal Staff — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 22:35:49 +0000

Ever wondered where the so-called villains of the 2008 crash ended up? The Wall Street Journal is doing a series of check-ins with leaders of major players at the onset of the Great Recession and Angelo Mozilo is undoubtedly one of them. The former head of Countrywide Financial Corp., who sold the company to Bank of America in a pre-crash fire sale, still disagrees with those that say that he, as the largest lender in […]

Public housing is better off under private management: study

The Real Deal Staff — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 21:43:26 +0000

Developers who managed six public housing buildings put residents’ fears to rest about how private management would treat them, according to a report to be released tomorrow. The Wall Street Journal reviewed an advanced copy of the report, conducted by the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, and noted that in 2016, 80 percent of tenants in the privately-managed buildings rated the quality of housing as good or excellent, compared to 35 percent who did the […]

Buckle up: There’s a new must-have for luxury hotels

The Real Deal Staff — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 20:28:49 +0000

Who wants to sit shotgun as luxury hotels and cars take off at break-neck speeds? Hotels that allows guests to drive themselves around a racetrack in luxury cars are becoming increasingly popular for car lovers, corporate retreats and those seeking something new and novel, according to Bloomberg. “Track driving in one of the world’s great equalizers,” said Maggie Smith, the owner of Connecticut resort, Winvian Farm, to Bloomberg. Smith’s hotel offers road-racing lessons on a […]

Richest monarchy in the world assumes personal control of RE assets

The Real Deal Staff — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 19:53:03 +0000

Thailand’s king has put the monarchy’s diverse investment portfolio into his own name in a move that’s causing mixed feelings. Now that the royal house’s corporate and real estate assets are in King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s name, an estimated $30 billion holdings are now subject to tax, according to the Financial Times. The Crown Property Bureau, which had previously been the entity behind all royal investments, had been exempt from taxes and asserted in the past […]

Larry Silverstein’s needed a new $32.6M pad to escape Midtown’s “old fogeys”

The Real Deal Staff — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 18:42:30 +0000

After 33 years, Larry Silverstein felt it was time for a change. He and his wife, Klara, moved out of their long-time home on Park Avenue for a penthouse at 30 Park Place in Lower Manhattan, according to the New York Times. The 2016 building was developed by Silverstein Properties and one of its crown jewels–the entire 81st floor of the 82-story building–now belongs to Silverstein himself for a cool $32.6 million. Why’d he do […]

Michael Cohen’s in-laws list three apartments in Trump World Tower

The Real Deal Staff — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 16:53:13 +0000

Michael Cohen’s in-laws, Fima and Ania Shusterman, have put three apartments in Trump World Tower on the market for a cumulative $11.2 million. The Shustermans’ decision to sell the properties they acquired between 2003 and 2005 comes as Cohen, who is under investigation by federal authorities, has been embroiled in costly legal proceedings since the FBI raided his office in April and is currently looking to hire a criminal defense lawyer, according to Bloomberg. According […]

Family feud over late designer Oleg Cassini’s fortune, properties lands widow in jail

The Real Deal Staff — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 15:39:48 +0000

Marianne Nestor is behind bars for a cause she believes in. The widow of Oleg Cassini, a fashion designer who dressed Jackie O among other starlettes, Nestor is in jail for not following court orders related to the protracted legal battle over his $55 million estate, according to the New York Post. Meanwhile, Cassini’s grandson, Alexandre Cassini Belmont, is trying to force the sale of a $15 million Gramercy townhouse, which Nestor calls her “primary residence” […]

Bravo producer and host Andy Cohen goes on NIMBY trash crusade

The Real Deal Staff — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 13:00:48 +0000

Andy Cohen’s Instagram feed has been filled with trash lately, specifically the kind his neighbors at 21 and 19 Bank Street throw out. Cohen’s been giving his 2.5 million Instagram followers regular updates on the state of the overflowing trash bins, which other neighbors say are shared by the two properties, and complaining about the blight of the “junkyard” on his West Village neighborhood during dog walks, as the New York Post reports. In a […]

Beyoncé and Jay Z dedicate song to Grenfell Tower fire victims

The Real Deal Staff — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 20:00:36 +0000

The couple dedicated a performance in last night’s London tour to the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, which took place almost a year ago to the day. Beyoncé and Jay Z sang “Forever Young” in memory of those who perished as part of a stadium show on their “On The Run II” tour, according to the New York Post. Last night. I went on the run. There were a lot of tears, empowerment and […]

The rise and fall of a pricey Swiss housing market

The Real Deal Staff — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 19:00:58 +0000

The luxurious Swiss town is a buyer’s market for the time being, but the tides can turn quickly as local agents know. Several years ago, a new policy, forfait fiscal, allowed residents whose business interests were held elsewhere to only pay tax on annual expenses instead of worldwide income and wealth, according to Mansion Global. The introduction of forfait fiscal in part drove people and prices up in Cologny. “There was a peak in prices […]

Kevin O’Leary’s advice on home mortgages

The Real Deal Staff — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 18:00:37 +0000

The ABC “Shark Tank” host has one message for American homeowners: “Debt is evil.” His advice to everyone is pay off your mortgage by 45 at the latest, ASAP if possible, and clear all debts before retirement, according to CNBC. A Federal Reserve Bank of New York report pegs American mortgage debt at a total value of $8.88 trillion, making it the largest household debt, and notes that a “substantial” increased in mortgage debt in […]

Hong Kong’s commercial RE market is booming by the billions

The Real Deal Staff — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 17:00:16 +0000

A series of recent big commercial deals has propelled Hong Kong’s market to new heights. According to Bloomberg, a new consortium made of two Chinese developers inked a record-breaking $5.1 billion deal with one of billionaire Li Ka-shing’s previous companies, which are now run by his son, Victor Li Tzar-kuoi. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s government sold its first commercial property in the Central district in over two decades for $2.9 billion. The most recent coup is […]

Seattle to strike affordable housing tax after Amazon-led coalition’s prolonged protest

The Real Deal Staff — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 16:04:59 +0000

Jeff Bezos wasn’t about to let a head tax on Amazon’s 45,000 employees take a chunk out of his bottom-line. Led by Amazon, a coalition of Seattle companies banded together to successfully oppose a new tax of about $275 per employee for any business that generated more than $20 million in revenue per year, according to CNBC. (When the city initially proposed the tax, it was pegged at $500 per employee, however Amazon’s outcry prompted […]

20 questions for CRE startup Truss’ co-founder Bobby Goodman

The Real Deal Staff — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 15:40:55 +0000

From TRD Chicago: Raised in the Chicago suburb of Glencoe, Bobby Goodman, 39, jumped into the world of real estate startups after working as a commercial broker for a little shy of two decades. He co-founded Truss alongside three technologists, one of whom was a long-time client, in 2016 to serve small and medium businesses by building an online listings platform. Truss features office properties in Chicago, Dallas, Austin, Houston, Washington, D.C., Miami and San […]

San Fran’s “vulnerable” skyline: Buildings most likely to collapse in the “Big One”

The Real Deal Staff — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 14:00:02 +0000

A new government study has released a list of buildings not to be in, if a magnitude-eight earthquake hits California. Within the San Francisco area, the 39 steel-framed “vulnerable” high-rises house prominent office buildings and hotels, among other tenants, and were built using a so-called defective construction method, according to the New York Times. The questionable technique began being used in the mid-1980s when the building code was altered to prescribed stiffer joints, requiring steel […]

Why Canadian retail REITs are “hitting the jackpot”

The Real Deal Staff — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 13:00:09 +0000

Retail REITs are catching a break via seemingly counter-intuitive circumstances. According to the Financial Post, Canadian REITs such as RioCan, SmartCentres and Choice Properties are launching residential developments with retail components, despite what seems like a hostile environment– namely, interest rates poised to climb and rising mortgage costs. But the former is actually helping retail REITs looking to take a left turn into resi development, according to Canaccord Genuity analyst Mark Rothschild. “If they raise rates, […]

Eastern Consolidated is done: Here’s who’s suddenly on the market

Kevin Rebong — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 11:00:32 +0000

In the wake of Eastern Consolidated‘s announcement that it’s shutting down next month, the firm’s 100 or so brokers are now on the market. While the news is just hours old, the recruitment frenzy has already begun, and all will be watching where the biggest fish land. Here are some names that will sit atop the list: Investment sales/multifamily Leading the charge on investment sales is Eastern’s vice chairman, Brian Ezratty, who has sold over […]

Goldman, Gluck land $118M loan for DoBro rental

Christian — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 22:43:58 +0000

Yoel Goldman’s All Year Management and Joel Gluck’s Spencer Equity landed a $117.5 million loan for a newly completed Downtown Brooklyn rental tower, property records show. The property, called the Azure, is located at 436 Albee Square, just a few blocks from Fort Greene Park. Spencer Equity and All Year are equal partners in the development, with each holding a 50 percent stake. The 28-story property contains 150 apartments and was previously appraised at $167 million. The […]

Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: New Canaan imposes temporary ban on “for sale” signs in yards … & more

Maya Rajamani — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 22:00:49 +0000

New Canaan imposes temporary ban on “for sale” signs in yards “For Sale” signs will vanish from New Canaan for half a year starting on July 1 as part of a trial ban, according to the Stamford Daily Voice. Realtor associations in the area agreed to the experiment because many consider the signs eyesores that “can reduce a neighborhood’s beauty and appeal,” according to the outlet. The president of the New Canaan Board of Realtors, […]

“There is no beef”: Contractor group says nonunion org lacks enough clout to represent NYC labor

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 21:40:06 +0000

A Manhattan-based contractor group is taking aim at a nonunion organization, claiming it doesn’t have enough clout to be the voice of open shop labor in the city. The Building Trades Employers’ Association commissioned a report on the New York chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors — a group that bills itself as the “voice of merit shop” (an alternative term for the use of nonunion and union labor). The report claims that only […]

How Eastern went south: Inside the commercial brokerage’s demise

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 21:20:14 +0000

An ominous email went out Thursday evening summoning Eastern Consolidated’s 140-odd brokers and staffers to a company-wide meeting the following morning. Some knew what it meant; most didn’t. At the meeting, Peter Hauspurg and Daun Paris revealed that after 37 years, the commercial brokerage would be shutting down in late July. The founders said they had hired the investment bank Kimberlite earlier this year to review acquisition offers from other companies, and after months of […]

Corcoran’s top performers went on a weeklong excursion

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 20:50:51 +0000

The Corcoran Group’s A team spent a rosé-soaked week in Barbados last month as part of the brokerage’s annual President’s Council retreat for its top 40 agents from New York, South Florida and the Hamptons. On a conference call from the beach, with a fresh round of cocktails in hand, Corcoran president Pam Liebman and New York-based agents Jessica Buchman and Scott Stewart dished on the revelry. “I’m relaxing,” Stewart said, claiming the best part […]

NYU signs 125K sf lease renewal at Gramercy Park location

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 20:21:53 +0000

New York University is extending its stay at its Gramercy Park location. The university signed a 32-year lease extension at Related Companies’ 105 East 17th Street, property records show. The deal is for the entire 125,000-square-foot building. NYU first moved into the four-story property in 2012 after signing a seven-year sublease with Zurich Insurance Company. NYU’s New York City locations are scattered within a square area with borders such as 14th Street to the north, […]

HNA and MHP secure $342M refi at 850 Third

Kerry Barger — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 19:55:47 +0000

HNA Group has scored a financing lifeline at its Midtown East office tower 850 Third Avenue, part of a portfolio of U.S. office towers that the cash-strapped Chinese conglomerate has sought to sell. HNA, in partnership with MHP Real Estate Services and ATCO Properties & Management, secured $342 million from French bank Natixis, real estate investment trust Paramount Group and Virginia-based investment Harbor Group International, The Real Deal has learned. The deal included $100 million […]

Tee off with The Real Deal at our annual NY golf outing

Kerry Barger — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 19:09:05 +0000

Paul Manafort sent to jail over witness tampering allegation

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 18:16:58 +0000

A federal judge revoked Paul Manafort’s bail on Friday, sending the former Trump campaign chair to jail ahead of his two trials on fraud charges. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Manafort tried to tamper with witnesses by contacting two journalists who worked on a lobbying campaign he led in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported. She explained that she needed to keep him from contacting others. “This is not middle school,” Jackson said. “I can’t take […]

Polish baker inks lease deals for first US locations, plans 50 stores in New York

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 16:54:03 +0000

Just Baked, a Polish bakery chain being rebranded for an entrance to the U.S. market, has signed two Manhattan leases ahead of a bold plan to open 50 stores in New York, signposting a direct challenger to French bakery Maison Kayser. The two bakeries, which will sell a range of sandwiches, coffee and pastries, are set to open in a 1,400-square-foot Tribeca storefront at 88 West Broadway, and into another location at Westfield’s Oculus downtown. […]

Brookfield mulling $700M equity injection into 666 Fifth Avenue: report

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 16:18:35 +0000

Brookfield Property Partners is considering a $700 million equity injection at 666 Fifth Avenue, where it already plans on acquiring a 49.5 percent ownership stake from Kushner Companies. It’s also looking to bring in a new $1 billion loan on the property, according to Commercial Mortgage Alert. The new capital would be used to update the aging office tower as well as pay off the building’s existing $1.4 billion in debt, which comes due in […]

Mitch Rudin is leaving Mack-Cali

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 15:33:42 +0000

Mitchell Rudin is departing Mack-Cali Realty, the company announced on Friday. Rudin served as CEO of the Jersey City-based company from June 2015 until April 2017, when he was demoted to vice chairman and replaced as CEO by Michael DeMarco. In an interview with the Commercial Observer last month, DeMarco said Rudin “didn’t have the right skill set for the public market, and I think he realized it. We had an agreeable meeting and then […]

House flipping: it’s harder than it looks

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 15:23:39 +0000

Prospective house flippers, be warned: the reality of the business is much tougher than it appears on reality television. The popularity of buying properties to renovate and sell at a profit is steadily increasing, and many people in the industry credit this to reality shows about the practice on networks like HGTV, according to the New York Times. In the New York area, flips made up 5.6 percent of sales in 2017, a 29 percent […]

Eastern Consolidated is going out of business

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 14:57:01 +0000

Commercial brokerage firm Eastern Consolidated will shut down permanently next month, the company’s founders said Friday. Peter Hauspurg and Daun Paris, the married couple who founded Eastern Consolidated in 1981, had worked with the investment bank Kimberlite to find a buyer, but could not find a deal with favorable terms, the Commercial Observer reported. They didn’t say who offered to buy the firm, however. “We went to the logical suspects,” Hauspurg said. The shutdown comes […]

Doomsday predictions over tax cuts have not come true — yet

Erica Press — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 14:00:47 +0000

What if Congress passed a massive tax bill with scary cutbacks in deductions for homeowners — prompting dire predictions of mass property-value declines — but nothing much happened? What if home prices in the market segments expected to be hurt the most by the tax changes actually rose significantly and showed no hints of decreasing? Six months after the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, where are we? The law slashed […]

Why savvy investors are using Alaska to avoid property tax caps

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 13:30:21 +0000

To get around a provision in the new tax law limiting federal deductions for state and local taxes to $10,000, investors in states like New York are turning to Alaska. Property owners have been establishing LLCs in no-tax states like Alaska or Delaware to get around the cap, according to Bloomberg. They then transfer parts of that LLC into several non-grantor trusts, which are treated as independent taxpayers. Each trust can take the $10,000 deduction […]

Investigators seize NYCHA records in criminal probe of agency

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 13:01:17 +0000

Investigators from the city and federal government seized records from the New York City Housing Authority on Wednesday, part of a criminal probe into the agency. Agents from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency and the city Department of Investigation carried out the warrant on NYCHA’s warehouse on 49th Avenue in Long Island City, according to the New York Post. They took computers with documents concerning asbestos and lead paint […]

Meet the Hamptons’ top resi agents

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 12:30:59 +0000

To keep their edge in the rapidly evolving East End real estate market, Zachary and Cody Vichinsky of Bespoke Real Estate are investing very heavily in technology, including a proprietary database that helps their firm analyze the luxury segment. “We have a very robust marketing division that is myopically focused on systems and marketing methodologies that are specific to $10 million-plus properties,” said Zachary. For the second year in a row, the brothers nabbed the […]

Nonbank mortgage lending skyrockets in Q1: report

Erica Press — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 12:00:02 +0000

Nonbank mortgage lending jumped nationwide in the first quarter of 2018 as some of largest banks continued to show sharp declines in home mortgages originations, a new report shows. Mortgage companies such as loanDepot, Fairway Independent Mortgage and United Wholesale Mortgage Solutions all reported that home mortgage originations rose by at least 27 percent in the first quarter of 2018 on a yearly basis, according to Attom Data Solutions. Attom collected information from publicly recorded […]

Six industry titans on the joys and pains of their first jobs

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 11:30:56 +0000

Donald Trump touted his — supposedly — humble start in real estate during his presidential campaign, when he cited the $1 million “small loan” given to him by his father. And while it’s certainly not uncommon for New York’s real estate elite to come from great fortune, some did a bit more tugging on their bootstraps. As evidence, The Real Deal talked to six industry leaders about the less glamorous jobs they worked before building and […]

New apartment permits in Brooklyn reach two-year high

Kevin Rebong — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 11:00:49 +0000

Brooklyn has long been ahead of the other boroughs in terms of new multifamily construction. It recently added to its lead, with more new apartment permits issued in May than any month since 2015. There were 54 new apartment building permits issued in Brooklyn last month, according to an analysis of Department of Buildings permitting data by The Real Deal. Half of those were in Bedford-Stuyvesant, East Flatbush and Bushwick. The last time more than […]

Coney Island Shore Theater to become seven-story hotel

Eddie — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 22:30:34 +0000

Local developer PYE Properties is planning to convert the famed Coney Island Shore Theater into a seven-story hotel. The building at 1301 Surf Avenue would span 70,270 square feet — about 3,000 square feet larger than the current structure, according to plans filed with the Department of Buildings on Wednesday. It would feature a spa and bathhouse on the ground floor, along with a banquet hall on the second floor. PYE purchased the building in […]

Title industry asks judge to throw out state’s new regulations

Eddie — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 22:10:45 +0000

Title insurance representatives asked a New York State Supreme Court judge on Thursday to completely annul the Department of Financial Services’ new regulations on their industry, arguing that they represented a significant overreach of the agency’s authority. The New York State Land Title Association, Great American Title Agency and Venture Title Agency had filed suit against the DFS over the new regulations in February, and both sides held oral arguments in the case on Thursday afternoon in front of […]

PHOTOS: Milstein Properties unveils 335 Madison redevelopment

Kevin Rebong — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 22:00:41 +0000

One Vanderbilt isn’t the only big development happening next to Grand Central Terminal. On Tuesday night, Milstein Properties unveiled its plans for a $100 million renovation of its office tower 335 Madison Avenue. Rudin Management’s Bill Rudin, CBRE’s Stephen Siegel, Cushman & Wakefield’s Adam Doneger, Fried Frank’s Jonathan Mechanic, Shop Architects’ Corie Sharples and Milstein Properties Howard and Michael Milstein were among the attendees. Company, an office-services venture run by Michael Milstein and Matt Harrigan, […]

Rotem Rosen’s new firm to buy dev site in Miami’s A&E District for $30M

Erica Press — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 21:45:36 +0000

MRR Development, a new firm led by Rotem Rosen, Jerry Rotonda and billionaire Anand Mahindra, is in contract to pay $30 million for a development site in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District. The firm is buying the majority of the city block between 18th and 19th streets and Northeast Second Avenue and Northeast Second Court. With bonuses, the 1.42-acre site allows for a mixed-use project of up to 1.9 million square feet, according to a […]

Resi experts discuss LA’s state of the high-end housing market at TRD’s forum

Erica Press — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 21:30:41 +0000

What happens when you put three high-end brokers (two of which are on reality television) and two C-suite executives in a room together? Apparently some fashionable outfits, a lot of shop talk and, of course, some jabs. The residential real estate market took center stage at The Real Deal’s DTLA Spotlight Showcase and Forum at One California Plaza on Wednesday, where panelists weighed in on how L.A.’s reputation for “surf in the a.m. and snow […]

Is “summering in the Hamptons” becoming a thing of the past?

Kevin Rebong — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 21:00:36 +0000

For some, the notion of “summering in the Hamptons” may be a thing of the past. Although the summer rental season got off to an early start this year, some brokers said they are seeing shorter and shorter stays from many younger vacationers who don’t want to be locked in to just one beachfront locale. And the use of home-sharing sites helps them arrange for just a week or a weekend. “We’re seeing less and […]

Ironstate-led group scores $250M in debt, equity for Hell’s Kitchen condo project

Kevin Rebong — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 20:31:41 +0000

UPDATED, Thursday, June 14 at 4:58 p.m.: CBSK Ironstate has scooped up a debt-and-equity package totaling more than $250 million for its 12-story, 222-unit condominium project in Hell’s Kitchen. The company — a partnership between Ironstate Development, CB Developers and SK Development Group — secured a $181 million construction loan from Deutsche Bank and $70 million in preferred equity from Boston-based hedge fund Baupost Group. CBSK and JLL, which brokered both deals, confirmed them […]