The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: Extell secures tax breaks for $502M Yonkers riverfront development … & more

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 03:30 PM PDT

Extell secures tax breaks for $502M Yonkers riverfront development Extell Development Co. has snagged more than $21 million in tax breaks from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency for a project along the riverfront in Yonkers, the Westchester County Business Journal reported. The incentives package comprises “$15.4 million in sales and use tax exemptions and $5.9 million in mortgage recording tax exemptions,” according to the outlet. The $502 million project will contain six buildings, 1,395 apartment […]

The top 10 biggest real estate projects coming to NYC

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 03:15 PM PDT

A Manhattan project topped the list of last month’s largest real estate projects once again, and this one is about as far north in the borough as one can get. The Inwood project from Maddd Equities and Joy Construction at 3875 Ninth Avenue topped the list for August at about 582,000 square feet. The City Council just recently voted to rezone the neighborhood, with the goal of bringing about 5,000 new units of housing to […]

The rose goes to Pebblebrook: LaSalle seeks to break off $4.8B deal with Blackstone

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 03:09 PM PDT

LaSalle Hotel Properties has reversed course, jettisoning the Blackstone Group’s $4.8 billion offer to acquire the company and instead accepting Pebblebrook Hotel Trust’s bid. The real estate investment trust announced on Wednesday that Pebblebrook’s bid was a “superior proposal” to the one it had accepted from Blackstone. The REIT has notified Blackstone of its plan to cancel the deal, under which the company would’ve acquired LaSalle for $33.50 per share. As part of its agreement […]

Stephen Levin wants Alloy to shrink 80 Flatbush

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 02:30 PM PDT

Alloy Development may have to shrink its planned mixed-use project at 80 Flatbush by a third if it wants to win City Council approval. Stephen Levin, who as the local council member will likely have the last word on the project, told the Brooklyn Paper that he “would like to see the scale of the project be decreased.” Alloy plans to build two towers, standing 986 and 560 feet tall, on the site at the […]

Subscribers: Get an inside look at TRD’s reporting on Compass

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 02:00 PM PDT

Go behind the scenes on The Real Deal’s deep dive into Compass’ growth strategies — and potential pitfalls along the way — in a call with our editorial team next Wednesday, Sept. 12. TRD’s senior content director, Jill Noonan, will talk to senior reporter E.B. Solomont about her discussions with Compass execs, what the industry has to say about the brokerage’s appetite for acquisitions and how reachable the firm’s $1 billion revenue target for the […]

Ion Media renews multi-floor spread north of Times Square

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 01:40 PM PDT

Ion Media renewed its 40,000-square-foot offices north of Times Square. The Florida-based broadcasting company signed a 10-year extension covering the entire 30th and 31st floors and part of the 2nd floor at SL Green Realty’s 810 Seventh Avenue, the landlord confirmed to The Real Deal. Representatives for Ion could not be immediately reached for comment. Taking rent for the higher floors was in the low $70 per square foot, while the taking rent in the […]

Oh Mein Gott!: Germany’s Princess Gloria sells Flatiron co-op for $5.2M

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 01:20 PM PDT

The “Punk Princess” has sold out. Her highness Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, the German princess best known as a 1980s style icon, sold her Flatiron co-op at 14 West 17th Street for $5.2 million, documents recorded with the city Wednesday show. The 4,000-square-foot, 10th-floor unit sold to eye surgeon Christiana Pieroni. Princess Gloria bought it in 2006, paying $3.2 million. It then went on the market in 2015 at a listing price of $6.75 […]

One of Trump Tower’s largest commercial tenants inks 100K sf lease on Sixth Ave

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 12:45 PM PDT

One of the largest commercial tenants at Trump Tower signed a lease for a large new office on Sixth Avenue. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China – the third-largest tenant at President Trump’s flagship property – signed a lease for just shy of 100,000 square feet at SL Green Realty’s 1185 Sixth Avenue, sources told The Real Deal. Representatives for the Trump Organization and SL Green declined to comment. A spokesperson for ICBC, the […]

Has LEED lost its luster?

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 12:15 PM PDT

To cut its energy usage in half, JPMorgan Chase hired more than 400 construction workers to upgrade its massive Midtown East headquarters. When the renovation was completed in 2011, the feat was a public relations coup, one that allowed the bank to tout 270 Park Avenue as the largest renovation to ever achieve LEED Platinum — the highest rating meted out by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). But just six years later, the company […]

Recession revisited: CBRE settles class action suit for $100M

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 11:45 AM PDT

CBRE settled a class action lawsuit for $100 million over a recession-era embezzlement scheme that involved Florida office properties and scores of elderly investors. The class action lawsuit was settled last month with 179 plaintiffs, according to Law360. The case stemmed from a scheme in which Cabot Investment Properties executives Carlton Cabot and Timothy Kroll swindled money from the victims who invested in a tenant-in-common structure involving six Florida office buildings. Four of the properties […]

Tessler Development scores $95M to refi 172 Madison Avenue

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 11:15 AM PDT

Tessler Development has landed $94.5 million to refinance a residential condominium building in Midtown South. Deutsche Bank provided the loan to refinance 172 Madison Avenue, Commercial Observer reported. The financing is partially a condo inventory loan. It also replaces previous debt, including a $164.3 million inventory loan from private equity firm TPG and Deutsche Bank. In March, the Corcoran Group took over marketing the 72-unit building after Compass resigned from the project. At the time, […]

Durst snubs WeWork, says there are better offers for 1 WTC space

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 10:45 AM PDT

WeWork isn’t coming to the World Trade Center after all. The co-working company’s bid to lease up to 12 floors at One World Trade Center has fallen apart after the Durst Organization received better offers for some of the space WeWork wanted, according to the Wall Street Journal. WeWork had hoped to lease roughly 220,000 square feet at the tower. Negotiations between WeWork and Durst ran into multiple issues, although both sides had been making […]

Firm linked to Michael Dell finances Adam America’s $50M buy of UWS dev site

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 10:18 AM PDT

UPDATED: Sep. 5, 4:15 p.m.: An entity tied to the private investment firm that exclusively manages Michael Dell and his family’s money is jumpstarting another development project. The entity bought the development site at 2503-2509 Broadway in the Upper West Side for $50 million, documents recorded with the city Wednesday show. A $37 million loan was also provided by the company, MSD Partners. However, a condominium building there will be developed by Adam America Real Estate, […]

Gap is adding to a growing stretch of retail vacancies along 34th Street

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 09:46 AM PDT

UPDATED, Sept. 5, 5:39 p.m.: Gap’s lease in Herald Square won’t be renewed, adding to a large block of retail vacancy along 34th Street. JEMB Realty — the landlord at 60 West 34th Street (aka 1282 Broadway) — informed lender AIG that the lease with Gap would not be renewed or extended, according to property records filed with the city Wednesday. It’s not clear how much space the Gap currently occupies in the building at the […]

Clinton Hill is getting a 112-unit resi building

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 09:17 AM PDT

A new residential complex is coming to Clinton Hill. Ranger Properties, a Chelsea-based developer, filed permits for a nine-story residential building with commercial space and a community facility at 445 Grand Avenue. The plans call for 112 residential units. Amenities in the planned building include a rooftop pool, a media room and exercise rooms. According to the application, the project will have roughly 80,000 square feet of residential space. Commercial space will span about 7,400 […]

Here’s the next residential building coming to Crown Heights

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 08:48 AM PDT

Crown Heights is getting another new residential building. JIH Builders filed permits with the Department of Buildings on Wednesday for an eight-story, 52-unit residential building in the neighborhood at 1515 Park Place. The building will span about 35,000 square feet and sit on a 60-foot-wide lot, where it will replace a two-story home. It will stand 84 feet tall. The units will be market-rate rentals, and the building will include amenities like a gym and […]

Chinese developers are seeing soaring profits. But there’s another metric investors should watch

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 08:15 AM PDT

At a glance, Chinese developers’ earnings appears promising, but a closer look shows their ability to refinance debt is at its lowest point in three years and has more than halved in the past year. Profit levels among the 10 largest Chinese developers increased an average 75 percent in the first half of 2018, compared to the same time last year, while gross margins reached a six-year high of 32.8 percent, according to Bloomberg. But […]

NYC landlords racked up almost $300K in fines amid illegal hotel crackdown

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 07:30 AM PDT

New York landlords accused of illegally leasing short-term rentals were hit with almost $300,000 in fines in July. As part of the city’s crackdown on illegal short term rentals, where landlords convert residential units and rent them out on a nightly basis, the city issued 43 violations against landlords for using apartments at 11 buildings, totaling $285,375 in fines, according to Commercial Observer. The city said the single largest offender was Hank Freid‘s Branic International […]

De Blasio defends NYCHA after it is accused of violating federal safety protocol

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 06:45 AM PDT

Federal prosecutors have accused the New York City Housing Authority of failing to meet federal safety protocol and fix its public housing buildings, including the removal of toxic lead dust. Mayor Bill de Blasio defended NYCHA on Tuesday and said the city is “taking it all very seriously,” according to the Wall Street Journal. The public housing crisis was the subject of heated debate this week between Democratic gubernatorial contenders, incumbent Andrew Cuomo and Cynthia […]

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

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 05:45 AM PDT

In the world of mid-market New York City investment sales last week, Asana Partners acquired a Williamsburg apartment building and E&C Management purchased in Harlem. 1.) Asana Partners bought a six-story mixed-use building in Williamsburg for $10.1 million. The property, at 93 North 6th Street near McCarren Park, contains nine apartments and one commercial unit, according to city data. The commercial space was previously occupied by performance space and gallery Cameo. The seller is 88 […]

StreetEasy says it’s improving Premier Agent. But some agents fear fewer leads

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 05:00 AM PDT

Amid the backlash over StreetEasy’s Premier Agent last year, a band of New York agents doubled down on the controversial advertising program. But with changes afoot — the Zillow Group subsidiary will be screening buyers by telephone before handing leads off to agents — some loyalists are concerned not only that they’ll get fewer leads, but also that the cost per lead will skyrocket. After StreetEasy billed the change as a way to verify leads […]

Compass is targeting $1B in revenue. Can the firm deliver?

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 04:30 AM PDT

Robert Reffkin did not want his picture taken. Not in front of an illuminated Compass logo. Not seated. And certainly not with his arms crossed. Six years after co-founding the residential brokerage industry’s first unicorn with Ori Allon, Reffkin is working hard to cultivate the image of someone who is harnessing nearly $800 million in venture capital to transform the way real estate agents do business. On a drizzly day in mid-August, Reffkin was dressed […]

Home prices nationwide are too damn high

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 04:00 AM PDT

Housing prices across the U.S. are still much higher than they were at this time last year — with Miami and Los Angeles posting big gains — although they are starting to dip, according to a new monthly report. Like L.A., other cities across the West are seeing a rise in housing prices, spurred the limited supply and recent population influx. In the Miami metro area, which includes Kendall and Miami Beach, home prices rose […]