The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Compass shows buyers the Waze

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 02:30 PM PDT

Imagine hopping in your car, plugging an address into Waze and driving down the street — only to see an ad for a real estate listing pop up on the navigation app. Thanks to a paid advertising engagement with Compass, that will be possible starting in October. “Compass ads will show up as branded pins within the Waze app pointing people to a listing and the Compass sign — like a digital billboard,” a spokesperson […]

WeWork exec says “big part of being a woman is to help men” achieve their calling

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 02:00 PM PDT

During WeWork’s summer camp last month, company founding partner Rebekah Neumann raised some eyebrows when she spoke about the role women play in the lives of successful men. In a tearful speech at the festival, Neumann pointed to her husband’s sister Adi and thanked her for helping her husband get his start in New York, Property Week reported. “I’m so grateful you took care of Adam,” she reportedly said. “You helped him create the biggest […]

Here’s the latest in the unions’ fight against Related’s Stephen Ross

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 01:45 PM PDT

The union fight against Related Companies is escalating. Union organizers parked a billboard outside the company’s Columbus Circle headquarters, Crain’s reported. The image showed pictures of Related’s chairman, Stephen Ross, with “sexism,” “racism” and “union busting” stamped across his forehead. The truck with the billboard was parked outside Trump International Hotel and Tower — where Ross also has an apartment. Last month, as unions continued to protest at 50 Hudson Yards over the use of […]

Home equity gains in minority areas outpace increases in white neighborhoods

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 01:15 PM PDT

According to this week’s market reports, home equity gains in minority areas outpaced increases in white neighborhoods. Meanwhile, Manhattan rents stayed flat in August. Rentals | MNS Manhattan rents stayed flat in August, increasing by just 0.8 percent to $4,039. The biggest bargains for the month were two-bedroom doorman units in Soho and the East Village, which saw prices drop to $7,444 (7.5 percent decline) and $5,478 (6.5 percent decline) respectively. The highest price hikes, […]

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

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 12:50 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 […]

HNA is shedding its Deutsche Bank stake — and other overseas assets

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 12:16 PM PDT

Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, under pressure from the government, is offloading most of its overseas investments. The company will divest its whole stake in Deutsche Bank, the Wall Street Journal reported. Facing pressure from Chinese regulators and its creditors, HNA is seeking to shrink its balance sheet. In addition to Deutsche Bank, the company is in talks to sell cargo handler Swissport International and California-based technology distributor Ingram Micro Inc., the report said. HNA also […]

Extell’s former top marketing exec launches own firm

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 11:45 AM PDT

Anna Zarro — who left her position as head of sales at Extell Development earlier this summer — is launching her own new development consulting business. Running her own shop has been a longtime goal, she said, but it was one she put on hold when Gary Barnett’s Extell came knocking in 2016. Previously, she was senior vice president of marketing and leasing at Town Residential. Zarro said she’s launching her as-yet-unnamed venture with two […]

Taconic, Clarion land $115M refi for Bronx housing complex

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 11:15 AM PDT

Taconic Investment Partners and Clarion Partners landed a $115 million mortgage for Eastchester Heights, an apartment complex that occupies five city blocks in the Eastchester section of the Bronx. The property, with the addresses 3437 Eastchester Road, 3485 Corsa Avenue, 1400 Hicks Street, 3444 Fish Avenue and 3438 Wilson Avenue, contain a series of low-rise buildings, ranging from four to six stories, that have 1,416 apartments, according to city data. The loan replaces a $110 […]

Mesirow Financial closes latest real estate fund at $567M

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 10:45 AM PDT

Mesirow Financial closed its Real Estate Value Fund III at $567 million, attracting commitments from institutional investors across the U.S., Europe and Australia. The fund is managed by Mesirow Financial’s Real Estate — Direct team, which focuses on the multifamily and student housing sectors in the United States, according to RE Journals. The closing follows two previous funding rounds that allowed the firm to acquire more than $1.6 billion in assets. The real estate investment […]

Bob Knakal to join JLL as co-head of NYC investment sales: sources

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 10:24 AM PDT

Top commercial real estate broker Bob Knakal is joining JLL to head up New York City investment sales with current managing director Mo Beler, multiple sources told The Real Deal. Knakal’s contract with brokerage Cushman & Wakefield was terminated in June, leading to wide speculation as to where he would land. Sources had previously said he was also in talks with Colliers International. Knakal, however, told TRD, “Nothing is finished yet, I’m still negotiating with the two companies,” […]

Kushner, RFR refinance Dumbo Heights with $480M loan

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 09:59 AM PDT

Kushner Companies, RFR Holding and LIVWRK are refinancing the Dumbo Heights office complex in Brooklyn with a $480M loan, sources told The Real Deal. Citi Real Estate Finance is providing the debt, which will replace a loan in the amount of $425 million issued by the bank just last year. Sources said the deal was direct and did not involve mortgage brokers and that the owners had become eligible for a larger loan after hitting […]

Mark your calendars: These are New York’s top real estate events next week

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 09:00 AM PDT

Now that summer is over, the real estate events are picking up in New York City. On Sept. 11, ACRES is hosting its ACRES Debt Round Table event from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Herrick Feinstein LLP, 2 Park Avenue. Join for a thought-provoking panel discussion with real estate leaders representing the debt side of capital markets. Dennis Schuh of Starwood Property Trust, Jerry Tang of Natixis, Catherine Liang of China Construction Bank, Joe […]

Jay Suites is opening its 9th outpost at GFP’s 515 Madison Avenue

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 08:35 AM PDT

The co-working company Jay Suites has signed a 50,000-square-foot lease at 515 Madison Avenue with the Gural family’s GFP Real Estate. Jack and Juda Srour’s Jay Suites has rented out the eighth, ninth and 10th floors of the building, expanding its overall footprint in Manhattan to almost 700,000 square feet, according to the company. It signed its largest lease in March for more than 90,000 square feet at 15 West 38th Street, right next to […]

Property owners line up for Garment District tax break

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 08:00 AM PDT

Garment District landlords GFP Real Estate and Morton Frucht are the first to apply for tax incentives the city is offering to retain fashion-industry manufacturing jobs in the neighborhood. GFP Real Estate, controlled by the Gural family, is seeking a tax abatement valued at roughly $17 million over the 15-year term of the agreement for a pair of buildings the company owns off of Eighth Avenue. And Frucht stands to receive approximately $4.24 million in […]

City won’t use public funds to save the wounded New York Wheel

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 07:30 AM PDT

Another day, another setback for the beleaguered New York Wheel. The developers of the proposed observation wheel on Staten Island were seeking $140 million in assistance from the city to help get the project on track, but Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration and the New York City Economic Development Corporation have decided not to use public money for it, according to the outlet New York 1. “Despite many recent conversations with the Wheel developer, we […]

Hope is on the horizon for home buyers in gig economy

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 07:05 AM PDT

Here’s some promising news for self-employed entrepreneurs, “gig” economy workers and small business owners: There’s a bipartisan push underway on Capitol Hill to make the home-mortgage process a lot easier for you. For years, federal lending rules have favored applicants with easily documentable incomes — people who can show underwriters pay stubs, W-2s and two years of steady income plus the likelihood it will continue. The same rules have made it more challenging for people […]

This Brooklyn incumbent is raking in the real estate contributions

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 06:30 AM PDT

Brooklyn state Sen. Martin Dilan has accepted more money from the real estate industry since 1999 than almost any other Democrat in the senate. Dilan has received $325,400 from real estate entities since then, which is more than any senate Democrat apart from former IDC leader Jeff Klein, according to Gothamist. Dilan has received 15 percent of his campaign donations from landlords and developers, which is almost double that of any other state senator. Dilan […]

State comptroller raises questions about spending at Mitchell Lama development

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 06:00 AM PDT

The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development needs to keep a tighter leash on spending by Mitchell Lama developments, according to a new report by the state Comptroller’s Office. The report found that Linden Plaza, a 1,525-unit Mitchell-Lama development in Brooklyn, spent $10.7 million on 173 vendors from January 1, 2016, to August 31, 2017 — all of which wasn’t monitored by HPD. That’s in part because the city only requires contracts above $100,000 […]

Familiar face in contract on Ruben Companies’ One Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 05:30 AM PDT

Rockpoint Group is buying One Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza for about $600 million. This marks the first sale for the Midtown building at 885 Second Avenue since 1974, when it was first developed by Lawrence Ruben, according to the New York Post. It spans 815,000 square feet, which would put the sale price around $730 a square foot. Cushman & Wakefield’s Douglas Harmon, Adam Spies and Kevin Donner marketed the building. They marketed 1700 Broadway as well, […]

“Hamilton” arranger buys co-op on UWS

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 05:00 AM PDT

Award-winning music director Alex Lacamoire and his wife just bought an Upper West Side apartment for 380,000 Alexander Hamiltons. The “Hamilton” music arranger and his wife, Ileana Ferrera, paid $3.8 million for a two-bedroom co-op at 322 Central Park West, according to documents filed with the city’s Department of Finance on Thursday. The seller is listed as Vera Pressman. The building, completed in 1925, rises 15 stories and has 48 units. Lacamoire’s apartment was listed […]

At the desk of: Michael Buono

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 04:30 AM PDT

Michael Buono, 41, is the CEO of general contractor Mulberry Construction & Development and vice president of New York Renaissance Group, a separate development firm with holdings in New Jersey, California and Argentina. On the 10th floor of the Radio Wave Building — where Nikola Tesla conducted electromagnetic experiments more than a century ago — Buono and his partner, Robert Lavecchia, are testing out a business model that marries two divergent roles in real estate: […]

Meet Michael Shvo’s Turkish business partner, Serdar Bilgili

Posted: 07 Sep 2018 04:00 AM PDT

During a 2007 lecture to members of Hilton Hotels and Resorts’ advisory board, Michael Shvo, then a New York real estate megabroker, declared that the real estate market was about to collapse, due to an excess market without “sanity and logic.” The proclamations raised a few eyebrows, but one person in the room, Serdar Bilgili, the owner of a Turkish real estate private equity firm, was intrigued and reached out to Shvo to meet for […]