The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Senators call for investigation into real estate money laundering law vulnerabilities

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 04:04 PM PDT

The risk of money laundering in residential real estate is high. That’s according to two U.S. senators who are calling for an investigation to probe the potential vulnerabilities of existing U.S. money-laundering provisions, according to the Wall Street Journal. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, both Democrats, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office, saying the real estate sector has less far oversight when it comes to money laundering […]

Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: Developer plans multifamily conversion for White Plains YMCA … & more

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 04:00 PM PDT

Nashville-based developer plans multifamily conversion for White Plains YMCA In April, the YMCA of Central and Northern Westchester said it was planning to sell its building in White Plains. Now, Nashville-based developer Southern Land Company is in contract to purchase it, LoHud reported. The property on Mamaroneck Avenue was assessed at $27 million, according to the outlet. Southern Land won’t actually close on the property until next year, according to its senior vice president Dustin […]

This San Francisco firm just made another buy in the Bronx

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 03:30 PM PDT

Prana Investments has purchased a Bronx portfolio for $28.4 million. The company bought 3115 Sedgwick Avenue, 1562 Thieriot Avenue and 1580 Thieriot Avenue from the Morgan Group, according to property records. The Thieriot Avenue properties in Van Nest are five-story buildings with 103 total apartments, and the Sedgwick property in Bedford Park is a six-story building with 57 apartments. This is the latest in a string of Bronx purchases Prana has made this year. The San […]

This brokerage is accused of paying bonuses for dual-agent deals

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 03:00 PM PDT

Earlier this year, Houlihan Lawrence faced a lawsuit alleging the brokerage engaged in dual agency without proper disclosures. Now, more clients have signed on to the lawsuit. Anonymous letters sent to the firm also claim the firm pays or paid its agents bonuses for keeping deals in-house, Inman reported. “Since at least January 1, 2011, Houlihan Lawrence has operated a bait-and-switch scheme to lure thousands of homebuyers and sellers into dual-agent transactions,” plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote […]

Peter Hauspurg and Daun Paris resurface at ABS Partners

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 02:45 PM PDT

Peter Hauspurg and Daun Paris are taking new roles at ABS Partners Real Estate after closing their company Eastern Consolidated this summer. Hauspurg will have the title of co-managing partner and Paris will be a senior member of the company, Commercial Observer reported. The two wanted to try “something other than the brokerage business,” Hauspurg told the publication. “We have been buying [privately] for the past 15 years for friends and family and we thought […]

Film producer scoops up 70 Vestry sponsor unit for $19M

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 02:30 PM PDT

Related Companies has found another buyer for a pricey unit at 70 Vestry Street. Film producer and director Jack Heller bought a unit in the building for $18.8 million, according to records filed with the New York City Department of Finance. The apartment was listed for $20 million. Heller’s unit spans about 4,100 square feet and has a private terrace that faces the Hudson River. The apartment also has a great room that’s nearly 700 […]

LA investment firm picks up Lower Manhattan hotel for $147M

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 02:00 PM PDT

Los Angeles-based firm Urban Commons has acquired the hotel portion of the Wagner at the Battery. The company paid Millennium Partners and Westbrook Partners $147.3 million for the hotel at 2-10 West Street, according to documents filed with city on Wednesday. The hotel — which comprises 298 rooms across 12 floors at the base of the hotel — was put on the market in 2013 with an asking price of $200 million. The upper floors […]

Lennar reports strong Q3 earnings amid industry pressures

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 01:30 PM PDT

Lennar reported strong third quarter earnings on Wednesday, yet indicated that new home orders and deliveries would be below expectations in the upcoming quarter as a result of Hurricane Florence. The Miami-based company reported earnings of $453.2 million in the third quarter or $1.37 per share, beating analysts expectations of $1.19. Net income rose about 82 percent from the same period last year largely due to its acquisition of CalAtlantic earlier this year. The homebuilder […]

Silverstein Properties is getting into real estate lending

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 12:30 PM PDT

Silverstein Properties is expanding into the world of real estate lending. The new segment of the company will be known as Silverstein Capital Partners and provide loans for all types of projects, according to Bloomberg. The firm has partnered with a pension fund and sovereign wealth fund to provide capital for the new branch but has declined to name both. The minimum loan size will be $25 million, and there is no maximum loan size. […]

New York State to investigate Trump family for possible tax evasion

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 12:00 PM PDT

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance is launching an investigation into the Trump family for possible tax evasion following an explosive New York Times report. “The Tax Department is reviewing the allegations in the New York Times article and is vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation,” a department spokesperson told Bloomberg. Although the statute of limitations prevents authorities from filing a criminal case over the allegations, the agency can still file […]

Want to invest in this luxury EV condo project? You can pay in crypto.

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 11:30 AM PDT

The Amirian Group is seeking investors for its boutique luxury condominium project in the East Village, but this is no traditional equity play. The developer and its partners hope the investors will buy into the project using cryptocurrency, with each transaction recorded on blockchain. Those involved in the deal say this is the first time investors have been able to use crypto and blockchain technology to invest in Manhattan real estate, and that it portends […]

That empty feeling: Shopping mall vacancies hit a 7-year high

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 11:00 AM PDT

Despite all the doom and gloom over shopping malls, one key figure remained fairly strong. Nationwide, average rents have either stayed the same or ticked up from one quarter to next for the last seven years. Until now. In the third quarter, the average rent for malls was $43.25 a square foot — down from $43.36 in the second quarter, the Wall Street Journal reported. Rents had not slid quarter over quarter since 2011, the […]

Extell looking to sell Hudson Yards rental tower for $775M

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 10:15 AM PDT

With the city’s multifamily market showing new signs of life, Gary Barnett is looking to sell his recently completed luxury rental tower in Hudson Yards. Barnett’s Extell Development put the 600-unit building at 555 10th Avenue on the market with an asking price of $775 million, sources told The Real Deal. A team at Newmark Knight Frank led by Jimmy Kuhn is marketing the property. Barnett could not be immediately reached and Kuhn declined to […]

Knotel opening a new location at CIM’s 5 Hanover Square

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 09:45 AM PDT

Flexible office startup Knotel has continued its 2018 Manhattan expansion plans by signing a new lease at CIM Group’s 5 Hanover Square, the company announced Wednesday. Knotel is taking two full floors of the Downtown office tower in a deal totaling nearly 29,000 square feet. The lease comes just two weeks after the company announced four new deals for a total of 39,000 square feet in four Manhattan buildings. The 5 Hanover deal was brokered […]

Rockefeller Group lands $203M loan for NoMad assemblage

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 09:10 AM PDT

The Rockefeller Group has landed a $202.5 million financing for its planned condominium tower in NoMad. Japanese company Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank provided the debt on 30-32, 34 and 36 East 29th Street, according to property records. The financing package includes a $153 million building loan and a $33 million project loan. Rockefeller and Mitsubishi Estate Company are planning to build a 46-story building with 123 units at the site, which it bought from Extell […]

Will lead generation kill the star broker?

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 08:17 AM PDT

When Elena Smirnova jumped from Citi Habitats to upstart brokerage LG Fairmont in 2014, the firm started sending her leads it was buying from listings sites such as Trulia and Zillow. Every month, Smirnova — then a newbie agent with just a year under her belt in the New York City residential brokerage business — was fed the names and phone numbers of potential clients who had plugged their personal information into one of those […]

New renderings show what Vornado might have planned for Hotel Pennsylvania

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 07:30 AM PDT

A new leafy, greenery draped skyscraper could stand just 900 feet from the Empire State Building if Vornado Realty Trust eventually moves forward with a plan to tear down Hotel Pennsylvania. New renderings for a 2.8 million square foot tower at 15 Penn Plaza were revealed during a recent investor presentation, that show multi-level balconies filled with plants and trees, the New York Post reported. It is unclear who is behind the latest design or […]

Remember President Trump’s infrastructure council? The White House says it never actually existed

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 06:50 AM PDT

Days before his January 2017 inauguration, President Trump announced that New York City real estate developers Richard LeFrak and Steve Roth would head a new “infrastructure council.” The body would advise the president on how to rebuild America’s moribund roads, bridges, broadband networks, veterans hospitals and more. It was among Trump’s major domestic policy initiatives, a pledge to invest in the roots of the homeland. But by October 2017, the White House took the official […]

New York City REIT taps Avison Young to lead marketing at 1140 Sixth Avenue

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 06:02 AM PDT

UPDATED at 11:32 A.M. on Wednesday, Oct. 3.: New York City REIT has chosen Avison Young to lead leasing for its boutique office building at 1140 Sixth Avenue. The REIT, affiliated with AR Global, acquired the 250,000-square-foot building, part of the Equity Office portfolio, in 2016 from the Blackstone Group. The 20-story building, which also has a retail component, was 91 percent leased when it was acquired. The new Avison Young marketing team, led by […]

Williamsburg commercial landlords latest to drop prices ahead of L train shutdown

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 05:23 AM PDT

The L train shutdown has hung over Williamsburg like a looming black cloud for several years now, and the signs of discounted real estate have begun to emerge. While asking rents for residential real estate have dipped $250 since 2016, commercial landlords are now starting to offer discounted space as well, according to Crain’s. TerraCRG broker Peter Schubert told the outlet that a landlord he represents had offered a tenant a 15 percent discount on […]

Albany’s power structure resets: Shifting political winds could spell trouble for the industry

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 04:30 AM PDT

On the morning after last month’s primary elections, John Banks, president of the real estate industry’s most powerful lobbying group, feigned disinterest. “It doesn’t matter to us who won last night,” said Banks during a press conference announcing the Real Estate Board of New York’s annual banquet. “We’ll reach out to the new people and begin to engage them in a dialogue.” Former New York City Comptroller John Liu, who beat out Tony Avella for […]

WATCH: Take a 360 tour of All Year Management’s rental project in Bushwick

Posted: 03 Oct 2018 04:00 AM PDT

All Year Management’s megaproject on a slice of the former Rheingold Brewery site in Bushwick is nearly complete. Eran Chen, founder and executive director of architecture firm ODA New York, spoke to The Real Deal about his team’s design approach following a recent site visit to the semi-complete complex called Denizen Bushwick. Denizen is made up of two buildings filled with the majority of amenities packed into the ground floor—from a doggie spa to conference […]