The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

FiDi office building to be converted into hotel

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 03:04 PM PST

It looks like the Financial District is getting a new hotel. Actium Development Company filed a permit to convert a 13-story office building at 88 Wall Street into a 181-room hotel, plus add another story. The property, which sits along Water, Pearl and Wall Streets, was built in 1902. Actium, a New York-based developer that constructs and repositions luxury hospitality and retail assets, did not return a request for comment. G4 Capital in September provided […]

Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: Greenwich estate sells for $17.5M, White Plains projects get OK for $5M in tax breaks … & more

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 02:30 PM PST

Sale of Georgian estate in Greenwich marks town’s highest sale of the year A 27-room estate in Greenwich has sold for $17.5 million — making it the town’s highest sale this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Hedge fund executive Ara Cohen, co-founder of Knight Capital Management, and his wife bought the then-unfinished Georgian estate for around $10.5 million in 2010, and listed the property at 110 Clapboard Ridge Road for $35 million in 2015, according […]

Billionaires’ Row homeless shelter temporarily put on hold

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 02:00 PM PST

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plans for a homeless shelter on Billionaires’ Row have hit a snag. Appellate Judge Jeffrey Oing granted a resident group’s temporary relief on Wednesday, two weeks after a lower court denied their petition for a preliminary injunction at the former Park Savoy Hotel. The project at 158 West 58th Street is now on hold pending a full appeals panel review. The West 58th Street Coalition sued the city in July, claiming […]

These were the 10 priciest Brooklyn condo filings of 2018

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 01:38 PM PST

New York is always evolving. And this year, Brooklyn saw a slew of conversion projects that are reshaping its neighborhoods — and topping its sellout list. The borough’s top 10 condo priciest filings accepted by the New York State Attorney General’s office in 2018 totaled $2.43 billion. Most of the projects were in areas within close proximity to Manhattan — particularly, Williamsburg and Dumbo. And that’s caused friction with the respective communities, with two of […]

Chetrit lands $85M loan for Hudson Yards mixed-use project

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 01:00 PM PST

UPDATED, 4:57 p.m. Dec. 27: The Chetrit Group has received an $85 million refinancing for its massive mixed-use project at 545 West 37th Street, according to sources familiar with the deal. The predevelopment loan comes from JPMorgan Chase and Mack Real Estate, and it was arranged by Galaxy Capital. Maverick Capital Partners also helped broker the deal on the JPMorgan side. Representatives for Chetrit and JPMorgan did not respond to requests for comment. Representatives from Galaxy […]

Orbach sells another set of Upper West Side apartment buildings

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 12:30 PM PST

Meyer Orbach isn’t finished selling on the Upper West Side yet. Orbach’s latest deal in the neighborhood is for 4-6 and 8-10 West 108th Street, which he is selling to David Schneiderman’s Four Winds Real Estate for $22.1 million, according to sources familiar with the transaction. The properties are contiguous six-story walkup apartment buildings located right by Central Park. They have a total of 48 units and span 41,940 square feet combined. Orbach purchased them […]

Did Matt Damon just close on this record-breaking Brooklyn penthouse?

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 12:05 PM PST

A penthouse at The Standish just broke Brooklyn’s residential sales record. The 6,218-square-foot unit at 171 Columbia Heights sold for $16.745 million, according to property records filed on Thursday. Matt Damon was reported to be in contract for the property in September 2017, and it appears the actor closed on the buy. Paperwork for the transaction was signed by a Gary Kress of Los Angeles, Damon’s business manager. Corcoran Sunshine had the listing. The unit […]

Top retail leases for 2018 by annual rent

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 10:45 AM PST

Retail is no longer in a free fall, but New York City’s market remained subdued in 2018, compared with the boom years of 2015 and 2016. The top 10 most valuable leases for the year tell the tale. McDonald’s, the global fast food giant, signed the most expensive retail lease in the city, inking a deal for about $11.5 million for its starting annual rent, research by The Real Deal found. That’s a shift from […]

Solving NYC’s condo riddle: How developers are coping with looming bank deadlines and mounting carrying costs

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 10:00 AM PST

UPDATED, Aug. 3, 2:35 p.m.: The breakup of Linda and Harry Macklowe after 58 years of marriage became quick tabloid fodder. With a vast real estate empire and a billion-dollar art collection to divide, one of the more salacious details to emerge from their split was that Harry’s then-girlfriend (and now fiancée) was living at 737 Park Avenue — his condo conversion several years in the making that’s only now nearing the finish line. Whether […]

Private real estate firms to buy 50% stake in two NYCHA complexes

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 09:30 AM PST

L+M Development Partners, Camber Property Group and MBD Community Housing Corp. are nearing a deal to buy a 50 percent stake in two New York City Housing Authority complexes in the Bronx. As part of the deal, the developers will take over managing NYCHA’s Baychester and Murphy houses and invest $90 million to renovate the buildings, the Wall Street Journal reported. The complexes’ 722 units will be converted into Section 8 housing, meaning the properties […]

Versace joins slew of retailers leaving Fifth Avenue

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 09:00 AM PST

Versace will become the latest high-profile retail tenant to leave Fifth Avenue. The brand’s flagship store at Crown Acquisition’s 647 Fifth Avenue is up for a five-year sublease, according to the New York Post. Versace would ideally look to move farther uptown. The property is on the avenue’s east side between East 51st and 52nd streets, and it is part of the Olympic Tower retail holdings. The store is 20 years old, and its lease […]

Related fund closes on $153M purchase of Unizo’s Hell’s Kitchen building

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 08:15 AM PST

Related Companies fund-management arm closed on the purchase of Unizo Holding’s office building in Hell’s Kitchen for $153 million – a discount of $12 million to what the Japanese investor paid for the property three years ago. Related paid $152.5 million to buy the 10-story office building at 321 West 44th Street, property records filed with the city Thursday show. The purchase price works out to about $688 per square foot for the roughly 220,000-square-foot […]

Toys “R” Us closed 800 locations this year. Now, its stores are flying off the shelves

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 08:00 AM PST

Former Toys “R” Us stores are selling quickly in the wake of the company’s bankruptcy. The retailer has closed roughly 800 stores this year, and buyers have been scooping them up quickly thanks in part to their relatively long leases and cheap rents, according to the Wall Street Journal. The stores’ wide variety of configurations and sizes is also increasing demand, as it makes them well-suited for new tenants ranging from auto dealers to health-care […]

Use TRD’s new 3-D development map to get a jump on the competition

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 07:30 AM PST

Trying to keep up with the latest projects underway in New York City? Check out The Real Deal’s new interactive map, where you can track more than 16,000 buildings in various stages of development across the five boroughs. This critical resource is for subscribers only, so if you haven’t joined us yet, sign up now. The map is updated daily by TRD’s data team and shows projects in every phase of development, from the moment plans are […]

Bruman Realty lands $100M+ financing for DoBro development

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 07:00 AM PST

Joseph Brunner and Abe Mandel’s Bruman Realty secured about $102.5 million in financing from Bank Leumi for its new 286-unit residential project in Downtown Brooklyn. The financing includes an approximately $69.2 million building loan and a roughly $3.3 million project loan, according to new filings with New York City’s Department of Finance. Bruman Realty also refinanced a $30 million acquisition loan. Plans were filed earlier this year to turn a parking lot at 260 Gold […]

Millennium Management is ditching 666 Fifth for 399 Park

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 06:30 AM PST

Millennium Management is moving its New York headquarters from 666 Fifth Avenue to 399 Park Avenue. The firm will lease 300,000 square feet across four floors of Boston Properties’ 41-story tower, located between East 53rd and East 54th Streets, landlord announced in a press release. Average asking rents in the Boston Properties-owned building are between $73 and $90 per square foot. Millennium, the hedge fund for billionaire Israel Englander, had reportedly been looking to leave […]

Normandy, Princeton sell Bushwick warehouse to Steel Equities for $53M

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 06:00 AM PST

Steel Equities – the Long Island-based investor that focuses on industrial and warehouse projects – picked up a Bushwick property for $53 million. The Bethpage-based company bought the 161,000-square-foot warehouse at 333 Johnson Avenue from Normandy Real Estate Partners, Princeton Holdings and Royalton Capital, sources told The Real Deal. Steel Equities, owned by Joseph and Glenn Lostritto will be looking for a new tenant for the property, which is vacant. Normandy and its partners in […]

High-end real estate in top markets headed for ‘reset’ in 2019

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 05:30 AM PST

A brewing storm of politics and economics is set to shake the market for high-end homes in top markets around the country — and the world — in 2019. After years of strong activity, the lux market is set for a “modest reset,” Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller told Mansion Global. “It’s not a black hole, it’s the market doing what it should do,” he said. The more than year-long rut in New York is […]

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

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 05:00 AM PST

In the world of mid-market New York City investment sales last week, Wharton Properties sold a commercial building in Flushing for $13.5 million along with another in Maspeth for about $10.4 million, according to records filed last week with the New York City Department of Finance. 1) Wharton Properties sold a one-story, 3,125-square-foot commercial property at 136-16 Roosevelt Avenue in Queens for $13.5 million. An entity called Great World Realty LLC, which lists Lian Wu […]

A new Democratic day: What a Senate majority shift in Albany could mean for real estate

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 04:30 AM PST

For just the third time since World War II, the New York State Senate has a Democratic majority. But unlike the two previous times the party briefly took control — in 1965 and 2008 — this new power dynamic potentially poses a big threat to New York real estate due to the wave of overtly anti-industry rhetoric championed by many winning senators. The 2018 election cycle also saw the demise of several state Democrats with […]

Who are NYC’s most active developers?

Posted: 27 Dec 2018 04:00 AM PST

The companies behind two mega-developments on Manhattan’s far West Side are the city’s busiest developers — and will likely remain so for the next few years. Related Companies and Brookfield Property Partners are the top two most active developers in the city in terms of the scale of their ongoing projects. Related and Brookfield are respectively being kept busy by their massive mixed-use projects, Hudson Yards and Manhattan West. The Real Deal compiled a list […]