The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: New Rochelle resi tower sells for $295M, White Plains plans $48M apartment complex … & more

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 03:00 PM PST

Partnership picks up Westchester’s tallest residential building for $295M The tallest residential building in Westchester County has sold for $259 million. Harbor Group International and Azure Partners teamed up to buy Skyline New Rochelle at 40 Memorial Highway in downtown New Rochelle from Massachusetts-based DSF Group. HGI plans to carry out a $5.5 million renovation of the 40-story building, which earlier this year was valued at $223.2 million. “This property continues HGI’s strategy of acquiring […]

Trump boosts federal resources to Opportunity Zones, as real estate investors keep pouring in

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 02:45 PM PST

For months, real estate investors and developers have been setting up multimillion-dollar Opportunity Zone funds, hoping to cash in on a federal program that offers tax incentives to investors who pour money into properties in designated low-income neighborhoods. On Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order to direct resources to state and local municipalities, to improve basic conditions within the 8,700 designated Opportunity Zones. Businesses in the zones could also be eligible for some of […]

Passions run high at combative City Council Amazon hearing

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 02:30 PM PST

The City Council had harsh criticisms for Amazon and the Economic Development Corporation during a contentious hearing on Wednesday about the tech giant’s move to Long Island City. One of the strongest points of contention was a benefit that the plastics company Plaxall will receive for one of its sites near the proposed campus, according to Crain’s. Plaxall owns two sites that would be part of the Amazon campus, and a third property that it […]

This Italian telecom entrepreneur is the buyer behind the 70 Vestry PH

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 02:18 PM PST

Silvio Scaglia, an Italian telecom entrepreneur, is the buyer of the 70 Vestry Street penthouse. Scaglia is listed as the director of “SW Vestry LLC” — the buyer entity of the property — in mortgage documents. He is financing the purchase with a $33 million mortgage from JPMorgan Chase. Once expected to be the priciest sale in Downtown Manhattan, the penthouse at the Related Companies project instead sold at a steep discount. Scaglia paid $55 […]

Here’s the next office development coming to Chelsea

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 02:00 PM PST

Real Estate Equities Corporation, an under-the-radar Midtown-based property investment firm, is building a 10-story office building near the southern end of the High Line. The roughly 100,000-square foot building will include retail space on the ground floor, according to documents filed with the Department of Buildings on Wednesday. REEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. REEC acquired the leasehold for the property, which consists of adjacent lots at 118 and 124 Tenth […]

“They’ll do it until they can’t”: StreetEasy’s rental hike squeezes brokers amid tough market

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 01:30 PM PST

In a market marred by oversupply and concession mania, StreetEasy’s rental fee hike is inviting a new wave of criticism. After introducing a fee last year of $3 per day per rental listing, the portal immediately attracted outrage from the industry. Now, with the increase to $4.50, some industry players see the move as a way for Zillow Group to boost revenue as its share price has taken a beating — while forcing agents to […]

Atlas Capital buys Morningside Heights resi building for $72M

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 01:00 PM PST

Hotelier Richard Born is selling a Morningside Heights building to Atlas Capital Group for $72.2 million in an all-cash transaction, according to sources familiar with the deal. Atlas is buying the residential building at 601 West 110th Street from Born, which is currently used both by private tenants and by Barnard College as a dormitory. Barnard students make up 183 of the building’s 500 overall residents, according to the college’s website. Born said the property […]

Penthouse at 70 Vestry fails to set Downtown record; sells for $55M

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 12:15 PM PST

Once expected to be the priciest sale in Downtown Manhattan, the penthouse at 70 Vestry instead sold at a steep discount. The Vestry Street unit had been listed for $65 million – a record for Downtown Manhattan – but closed on Monday for $55 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. This puts it behind the sale of a penthouse at the Getty on West 24th Street by the High Line, which closed for $59 […]

Tish James says she will investigate Trump, inner circle once in office

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 11:45 AM PST

Incoming New York Attorney General Letitia James has outlined some specific investigations involving President Trump and those in his circle that she plans to pursue once in office. James told NBC News that she will look into any government subsidies Trump’s received, illegalities involving Trump’s real estate holdings in New York, the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian official and whether his businesses are in violation of the emoluments clause. James will also […]

Blackstone lends Highgate nearly $250M for Park Central Hotel buy

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 11:15 AM PST

The Blackstone Group’s mortgage arm provided Highgate with nearly $250 million to finance its acquisition of the Park Central Hotel. Blackstone Mortgage Trust issued three loans totaling $247.57 million, property records filed with the city Wednesday show. Records list the purchase price at $366.17 million. Representatives for Highgate and Blackstone couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust sold the 934-key Park Central Hotel at 870 Seventh Avenue late last month as part of […]

Newmark’s CEO Barry Gosin buys $8M worth of company stock

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 10:45 AM PST

Newmark Group CEO Barry Gosin bought $8 million worth of company shares this week, sending the stock price climbing nearly 7 percent Tuesday. Gosin, who helped steer the company toward its initial public offering one year ago, bought slightly more than 890,000 shares in two transactions Monday and Tuesday at a weighted average of just over $9 per share, filings with the Securities Exchange Commissions show. The purchase increased Gosin’s holdings in the company to […]

Michael Cohen, who dabbled in real estate, sentenced to 3 years in prison

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 10:25 AM PST

President Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen, who most recently pleaded guilty to lying about his involvement in the deal to bring a Trump Tower to Russia, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday. During the federal court hearing in New York, Cohen apologized for his role in what he called the president’s “dirty deeds.” The sentencing is harsher than Cohen, who implicated the President in directing hush payments to two women that claimed […]

Blackstone expanding into Deutsche’s old space at 345 Park

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 09:43 AM PST

Earlier this year, Deutsche Bank‘s asset management spinoff DWS Group relocated from its offices at 345 Park Avenue to another Midtown East location. Now that vacated office space has been scooped up a former neighbor. Rudin Management, which owns the building, announced today that the building’s major tenant, Blackstone Group, has signed a seven-year lease expansion for an additional 149,000 square feet across four floors, expanding the investment firm’s presence in the building to 16 […]

East New York is going to get 2,100 more units of affordable housing

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 09:30 AM PST

New York’s Christian Cultural Center is partnering with Gotham Organization on a massive new affordable housing complex in East New York. The buildings will include 2,100 apartments for low- and middle-income families and include senior housing as well, according to New York YIMBY. They will be constructed on a vacant parking lot at the church’s Brooklyn campus, which is based as 12020 Flatlands Avenue. Amenities will include 24-hour child care, a grocery store and a […]

Can the Mooch turn institutional investors on to Opportunity Zones?

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 09:05 AM PST

Anthony Scaramucci was still joking around with his partners when the microphones went live during a Tuesday afternoon conference call meant to draw in investors for his hedge fund SkyBridge Capital’s plan to raise a $3 billion Opportunity Zone fund. Indistinct male voices cajoled one another: “Come on!” said one man. “If you can’t take it nobody can take it,” said another, as classical hold music played on. Then Scaramucci got down to business. SkyBridge […]

Two become one: Combined Mott Haven dev sites could bring 600K sf resi project

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 08:30 AM PST

Pantheon Properties and Borden Realty have joined together to sell adjacent development sites in the South Bronx, The Real Deal has learned. Pantheon previously put 399 Exterior Street, a former bus depot on the Harlem River, on the market, after the city moved to take part of it for a public park through eminent domain. The adjacent lot at 355 Exterior Street belongs to Borden and is similar in size. The sites, which one source […]

Trump taps Mark Calabria as new head of Federal Housing Finance Agency

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 08:00 AM PST

President Trump has tapped Mark Calabria to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Calabria, who currently serves as chief economist for Vice President Mike Pence, previously served as a senior aide on the Senate Banking Committee and as deputy assistant secretary for regulatory affairs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during President George W. Bush’s administration. He’s also held positions at National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors. […]

Ex-SUNY president gets 3.5 years in prison for role in “Buffalo Billion” scheme

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 07:45 AM PST

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s point person on the “Buffalo Billion” program, Alain Kaloyeros, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for his role in a multi-million dollar bid rigging scheme. Kaloyeros, former head of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, had been convicted of wire fraud and wire-fraud conspiracy in July. He was accused of helping steer $855 million in state contracts in Buffalo and Syracuse to LPCiminelli and Cor Development, major donors to Cuomo, the […]

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

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 07:30 AM PST

In the world of mid-market New York City investment sales last week, three buyers linked up for an Upper West side commercial condo and Macklowe Properties snapped up the former Midtown home of the Center for Fiction. 1.) Macklowe Properties snagged the former site of the nonprofit library Center for Fiction for $16.5 million from Sun’s Acres LLC. The library sold the building at 17 East 47th Street to Sun’s in 2014 for $18 million, […]

Zillow expands home-buying program

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 06:30 AM PST

Zillow is expanding its direct-to-consumer home-buying program to Riverside County, making it the eighth market nationwide to see the platform — and the first in California. Zillow Offers, formerly Instant Offers, lets sellers take an offer from the home-buying giant, which then flips the home after some renovations. The program will launch in the Inland Empire city early next year. Zillow is among many companies getting in on the large-scale home-flipping game, also called the […]

After committing $15M, NAR walks away from Upstream

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 06:00 AM PST

After pumping $15 million into UpstreamRE, the National Association of Realtors is ditching the data management platform. The organization announced on Wednesday that it will no longer serve as Upstream’s vendor, Inman reported. “As I’ve said since the beginning of my tenure as CEO, we are not in the business of inventing at NAR; we’ve supported Upstream to the extent that makes sense for both our strategic missions and now it is time for them […]

L+M raising $500M private equity fund for “workforce housing” development

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 05:30 AM PST

Ron Moelis’ L+M Development Partners has been quietly raising $500 million in private equity for an affordable housing development fund during the past year, The Real Deal has learned. The “workforce housing fund” is the first such affordable development fund L+M has raised from multiple investors. Workforce housing is typically defined as homes that are more affordable than those often found near the potential residents’ workplaces. In the past, L+M has partnered with CitiBank for […]

Mortgage delinquencies across US dipped to lowest in more than a decade: report

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 05:00 AM PST

Mortgage delinquencies across the U.S. in September fell to their lowest levels in 12 years, at a time when the housing market from coast to coast continues to show signs of cooling. Experts attributed it in part to an improved labor market. Nationally, mortgages that were in some stages of delinquency fell to 4.4 percent in September, from 5 percent over the same period last year, according to a new report by CoreLogic. The figures […]

Is the great real estate job boom ending?

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 04:30 AM PST

This spring, the British online brokerage Purplebricks landed in the Big Apple with a simple message: The city’s residential agents are making too much money. “Our view is that in 2018 no one should be paying 5, 6 or 7 percent to sell their home, given the changing consumer behavior and access to information and viable alternatives,” Eric Eckardt, the company’s U.S. head, told The Real Deal in April. Instead, Purplebricks charges sellers a flat […]

PHOTOS: RE turns out for American Friends of Rabin Medical Center’s annual gala

Posted: 12 Dec 2018 04:00 AM PST

Real estate’s top brass rubbed elbows the likes of Dr. Henry Kissinger and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for the American Friends of Rabin Medical Center’s annual gala, which was hosted at the Plaza Hotel in late last month. In attendance were Yoron Cohen, Deborah Kern, Pamela Liebman, Amir Korangy, Robert Ivanhoe, Nicole Meyer Kushner, Jonathan Mechanic, Joseph Monian, Jay Neveloff, Joanne Podell, Don Peebles, Suzy Rheingold, Peter Riguardi, Stephen Siegel, Robert Sorin, and more. Check out […]