State launches new real estate finance division
Benjamin Lawsky (left) with Gov. Andrew CuomoNew York State has created a real estate finance division under the umbrella of its newly established Department of Financial Services, Newsday reported last month. The division will focus predominantly on the mortgage industry, overseeing the enforcement of regulations adopted in the past few years. The Department of Financial Services was inaugurated last month, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo combined the state’s banking and insurance departments, Newsday said. The department is headed by Cuomo’s former chief of staff, Benjamin Lawsky, and is made up of four separate units in addition to the real estate division: banking, insurance, capital markets, and financial fraud and consumer protection. “There will be a new powerful cop on the beat, monitoring things here in New York,” Lawsky said last month, according to Bloomberg News.
Puck penthouse goes back to the drawing board
The Puck BuildingLast month, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected developer Jared Kushner’s plans for a penthouse atop the historic Puck Building, the New York Times reported. Kushner is planning six condominium units at the Lafayette Street building, ranging in size from 5,000 to 8,500 square feet and in price from $15 to $50 million. The commission cited concerns about the bulk, scale and design of the penthouse, but didn’t rule it out altogether. Kushner — who is famously married to real estate heiress Ivanka Trump and owns the New York Observer — has the option of returning with a revised proposal, the commission said. “Few buildings in New York are more iconic, more beloved, and more worthy of the designation ‘landmark’ than the Puck Building,” said Andrew Berman, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. “Any proposed changes must be held to the highest level of scrutiny.”
Fannie and Freddie may try new bonds program
In a bid to coax private investors back into the government-dominated mortgage market, the Obama administration is floating a plan to ask Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to sell bonds for the first time without federal guarantees, the Wall Street Journal reported. Under the proposed pilot program, a small piece — around 5 or 10 percent — of a bond issued by Fannie or Freddie would be sold without a government guarantee. Investors in these bonds would take on additional risk, but receive a higher interest rate in return. Part of the administration’s efforts to wean Fannie and Freddie off of federal support, the pilot program could be launched sometime next year, officials said.
DiNapoli taps Artemis to invest state pension fund
Thomas DiNapoliNew York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has allocated $300 million of state pension cash to Maryland-based Artemis Real Estate Partners, part of an initiative to invest in new, minority-owned ventures, Bloomberg News reported last month. Artemis, an investment firm cofounded by Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker, will handle the $146.9 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund’s first investment in “emerging managers,” or minority investors, for real estate. “With the emerging-manager program now in place across our asset classes, the fund has affirmed its status as an innovator in the field and shown once again its commitment to enhancing diversity and opportunity while improving its bottom line,” DiNapoli said. The state pension fund currently invests about $6 billion with emerging managers, Bloomberg said.
Compiled by Katherine Clarke