The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Trump says Allen Weisselberg “100 percent” didn’t betray him

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 03:43 PM PDT

President Trump doesn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that his longtime confidant was granted immunity. Trump said Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, didn’t betray him when he cooperated with an investigation into Michael Cohen. “100 percent he didn’t,” Trump told Bloomberg on Thursday. “He’s a wonderful guy,” The president also said that Weisselberg’s cooperation was for “a very limited period of time.” Weisselberg had testified before a grand […]

Former Ecuadorian oil exec forfeits six SoFla properties tied to money laundering

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 03:15 PM PDT

A former top executive with Ecuador’s national oil company has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for allegedly laundering money through six South Florida properties. Marcelo Reyes Lopez, a former executive with PetroEcuador, was sentenced in July to four years and five months in prison for his role in an alleged money laundering scheme involving several PetroEcuador officials and other Ecuadorian government officials. He had pleaded guilty to one count of money […]

Nationwide rents remain largely flat during August: report

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 03:00 PM PDT

In the battle of West Coast versus East Coast, one might say the former just added another notch under its belt. The price for a one-bedroom in Santa Ana, located in Orange County, climbed 3.4 percent, knocking Miami off the list of the top 10 most expensive places to rent, according to a new report from Zumper. Otherwise, rents remained relatively flat nationwide last month, with one- and two-bedroom units rising just 0.1 percent since […]

The Brooklyn-Queens Connector is still alive. It will just be shorter and more expensive

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 02:30 PM PDT

The Brooklyn-Queens Connector is still alive, but the plan has gotten slightly less ambitious. The project will now have a shorter route, cost more to build, and not arrive for more than 10 years, according to the New York Times. It will also require a $1 billion investment from the federal government. The city has spent the past two years working on its streetcar plan and released its revised vision for the project on Thursday. […]

Construction company claims it was wrongfully fired from Fortis’ LICH project

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 02:01 PM PDT

The general contractor working on the conversion of part of the Long Island College Hospital is suing Fortis Property Group, claiming it was wrongfully fired this month. ICS Builders filed a lawsuit against Fortis, alleging that the firm terminated it from 350 Henry Street in Cobble Hill without cause, Crain’s reported. The construction company also claims that Fortis is trying to cash in on a performance bond — a guarantee that a contractor will complete […]

Simon Baron, Quadrum call in “kosher consultant” for UWS co-op

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 01:35 PM PDT

Simon Baron Development and Quadrum Global hired a “kosher consultant” to ensure that their Upper West Side co-op was designed to accommodate the needs of observant Jews. Given the building’s location just east of West End Avenue in a neighborhood with many Jewish families, the developers thought about how to appeal to the buyer pool, the New York Times reported. The partners hired popular kosher cookbook author Susie Fishbein as a kosher consultant, who recommended […]

National Cheat Sheet: With $23B in deals, Brookfield unseats Blackstone as top dealmaker in North America … & more

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 01:15 PM PDT

Brookfield’s $23B in deals this year makes it the top dealmaker in North America Brookfield Asset Management has a higher total value of real estate transactions this year than Blackstone Group, making it the top real estate dealmaker in North America, Bloomberg reported. Brookfield logged $23 billion worth of transactions this year — aided in large part by its acquisition of a 66 percent stake in mall owner General Growth Properties, which cost the company […]

This Brooklyn Heights whisper listing sold for $12M

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 12:30 PM PDT

A Brooklyn Heights townhouse sold for $12 million in an off-market deal. The buyer is Steven Eisenstadt, president and CEO of Cumberland Packing Corp., according to property records. The townhome at 218 Columbia Heights, which was shopped as whisper listing, was sold by the estate of banker Robert S. Rubin. The building spans roughly 6,200 square feet and sits adjacent to Brooklyn Bridge Park. Rubin, who died earlier this year, bought the property for an […]

StreetEasy maps hit by “Jewtropolis” hack

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 11:45 AM PDT

StreetEasy was among the websites and apps struck by an anti-Semitic hack on Thursday that for a brief time labeled maps of New York City as “Jewtropolis.” The attack also affected Snapchat, Citi Bike and the New York Times — all of which use maps from the third-party company Mapbox. Reports surfaced this morning on Twitter that the maps had been re-named, prompting Mapbox to issue a statement confirming that its New York City map […]

Queens multifamily landlord receives $71M refinancing package from Capital One

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 11:07 AM PDT

Central Queens Properties has received $71 million in refinancing from Capital One Bank for nine of its residential buildings in the eastern part of the borough. The deal includes a new $31 million mortgage and a refinancing of $40 million in outstanding debt, according to Commercial Observer. One of the nine properties is a seven-story building at 89-21 Elmhurst Avenue in Elmhurst, which had the most 311 complaints about poor heating throughout the city last […]

“Bring all offers!”: What brokerspeak looks like in a buyer’s market

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 10:31 AM PDT

Brokers are using flashier language — and free cupcakes — to lure buyers. As oversupply persists and units linger on the market, brokers are touting price cuts and a willingness to negotiate, Bloomberg reported. It sometimes sounds like a car dealership selling last year’s floor models — phrases like “Price improvement!” and “Bring all offers!” are cropping up more frequently. One Douglas Elliman listing, for example, was knocked down to $4.99 million. The Greenwich Village […]

Jonas Equities picks up a pair of Brooklyn apartment buildings for $46M

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 10:00 AM PDT

Brooklyn multifamily investor Jonas Equities picked up a pair of apartment buildings in Sheepshead Bay and Kensington for $46 million. The Kensington-based company bought the two six-story elevator buildings with a combined 149 units from longtime owners Steven Breitman and Susan Schoenfeld, the deal’s broker told The Real Deal. “They’re basically turn-key, violation free, exceptionally well-managed buildings with clean paperwork,” said John Brennan of Marcus & Millichap’s Brooklyn office, who had the exclusive to market […]

Tenants at Joseph Betesh’s 85 Bowery can move back in soon, spokesperson says

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 09:15 AM PDT

Tenants at 85 Bowery should be able to move back into their building within the next few days. The Department of Buildings rescinded the vacate order for the second through fifth floors at the long-troubled building on Wednesday, according to the agency’s website. Although it remains in effect for the building’s cellar and first floor, the partial lift should still allow management to begin moving tenants back into their homes shortly, according to Sam Spokony, […]

The world’s largest voluntary demolition will be done in pieces. Here’s how 270 Park Avenue will disappear

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 08:30 AM PDT

From the outside, the demolition of 270 Park Avenue will look like a painfully tame round of Jenga. Inside, crews will meticulously tear apart 60 years worth of history. JPMorgan Chase plans to knock down its Midtown East headquarters to make way for a new, 70-story office tower that will span an impressive 2.5 million square feet. The new building will be the first to take advantage of the district’s rezoning, which was approved in […]

This housing market is now pricier than New York and D.C.

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 07:45 AM PDT

Skyrocketing home prices in Seattle have made it the third most expensive city in the country. The city falls behind San Jose and San Francisco, the Seattle Times reported. And, when looking at broader metro areas over the last four years, Seattle has surpassed the Boston, New York, Washington, D.C. and Stamford metro areas. In 2014, the Seattle region was the 11th most expensive place to own a home, the report said. Now, it’s the […]

Here’s how long it takes to sell New York’s priciest apartments

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 07:00 AM PDT

High-end sellers are the worst hit by the inventory overload. At the current pace, it would take nearly 16 months to sell all the luxury units listed in Manhattan in the second quarter, the New York Times reported. That’s a 33 percent increase from a year ago, when those properties would’ve sold in just under 12 months. Luxury listings in other areas aren’t faring well either. Sales in the Hamptons would also take 16 months […]

Cuomo and Nixon spar over housing during Wednesday night debate

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 06:30 AM PDT

The first — and only — debate between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Cynthia Nixon before next month’s gubernatorial primary briefly touched on the issue of housing. During Wednesday night’s debate at Hofstra University, Nixon blamed the state’s housing crisis on the fact that Cuomo’s top donors come from the real estate industry. The governor’s reelection campaign received more than $733,000 from New York City developers and real estate-related organizations in the first half of 2018. […]

Moody’s is no longer rating WeWork

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 06:00 AM PDT

Moody’s dropped its ratings of WeWork, saying it didn’t have enough information to evaluate the company’s creditworthiness. Moody’s wasn’t being paid for the rating, Bloomberg reported. In April, the rating agency graded WeWork’s $702 million of unsecured debt on the lowest speculative-grade tier. Its assessment was lower than that of ratings agencies S&P and Fitch. The junk ratings underscore the challenge of evaluating creditworthiness of startups that tout growth but have negative free cash flow, […]

Cushman stock price climbs as analysts begin coverage with bullish outlook

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 05:30 AM PDT

Stock analysts began their coverage of Cushman & Wakefield with a largely bullish outlook on the newly public company. At least six brokerages started their coverage of the Chicago-based firm with ratings equivalent to a “buy,” MarketWatch reported Wednesday. The stock analysts cited Cushman’s competitive market position as one of the three global real estate service firms alongside CBRE and JLL. “Less than half of the addressable market is currently outsourced to real estate providers […]

These were the top 10 outer borough loans in July

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 05:00 AM PDT

The most common sight on July’s list of top outer borough loans was the city’s Housing Development Corporation. The agency was the lender on five of the top 10 loans last month. HDC typically concentrates its financing during closing periods in June and December, and the July loans stemmed from this year’s June closing period, according to the agency. The largest loan in July was from JPMorgan Chase and other banks for $450 million to […]

Is co-living growing up?

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 04:30 AM PDT

Often thought of as home for kids who never grow up, co-living has had a tough go in New York — in name at least. During a panel last year, Stonehenge Partners CEO Ofer Yardeni offered up a biting appraisal of the product: “If you are a 35-year-old and you live in [WeLive or Common], you are a loser.” Since co-living debuted in earnest a few years ago, its operators have offered tenants furnished private […]

NYC’s 5 best-selling resi projects of 2018

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 04:00 AM PDT

 The top-selling new condominium development in the first six months wasn’t a skyscraper on Billionaires’ Row. It wasn’t even in Manhattan! PropertyShark crunched the numbers and figured out which new condo developments in the city logged the most closed sales in the first half of the year. Take a look in this quick video for a peak at the top five!