The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Gary Barnett taps outsider as CEO of Extell

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 05:40 PM PST

Gary Barnett — the mastermind behind some of the city’s most ambitious condominiums — has tapped an outsider to run his 30-year-old development firm. The founder of Extell Development Company named Sush Torgalkar, former chief operating officer of Westbrook Partners, to the role effective immediately, he announced Monday. Barnett, who is not retiring, will stay on as chairman, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a statement, Extell said Torgalkar will help to grow the firm’s […]

PG&E to file for bankruptcy amid $30B in potential fire-related liabilities

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 03:00 PM PST

PG&E Corp. said it is preparing to file for bankruptcy in the next two weeks, as it faces potential liabilities of up to $30 billion related to a string of wildfires over the last few years. On Sunday, CEO Geisha Williams stepped down as CEO of the company, which wholly owns the Pacific Gas and Electric utilities company. General Counsel John Simon will act as CEO until a replacement can be found, according to Bloomberg. […]

Greenpoint is getting another waterfront resi building

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 03:00 PM PST

Quadrum Global plans to add a 173-unit residential building to the Brooklyn waterfront. The 14-story building would be located in Greenpoint at 53 Huron Street, also known as 161 West Street, according to plans pre-filed with the Department of Buildings on Monday. The project would span 178,000 square feet. Quadrum Global, a private equity firm based in London, bought the site in 2014 for $45.5 million from a group of owners led by Brooklyn-based investor […]

LaSalle completes acquisition for Latitude; enters real estate debt fund space

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 02:30 PM PST

LaSalle Investment Management completed its acquisition of a majority state in Latitude Management Real Estate Investors and its $1.2 billion debt fund business. The asset management arm of Chicago-based JLL, LaSalle announced last year it was acquiring commercial real estate lender Latitude, making a play in that lending space in the United States. Latitude, now part of LaSalle’s North America private equity platform, has been re-named LaSalle Mortgage Real Estate Investors. Former Latitude President and […]

Architecture firm HLW relocating to Haymes’ 5 Penn Plaza

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 02:00 PM PST

HLW, the architecture firm that worked on Google’s renovation at 111 Eighth Avenue, is moving to the Penn Station area. The firm has signed a ten-year lease for approximately 30,000 square feet at Haymes Investment Company’s 5 Penn Plaza, according to a press release from HLW on Monday. The company’s old offices were at 115 Fifth Avenue near Union Square. “This strategic move is part of the firm’s larger commitment to scalability, establishing a new […]

Icon refinances portfolio of Manhattan rental buildings

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 01:30 PM PST

Icon Realty Management refinanced nine Manhattan buildings with JPMorgan Chase, records filed with the city Monday show. The buildings include a mix of residential and commercial units, including nearly 300 apartments. The six new loans, together totaling $73 million, replace previous debt from Signature Bank and carry five year terms. The refinanced properties are 808 Lexington Avenue, 316 West 14th Street, 446 West 19th Street, 448 West 19th Street, 324 West 14th Street, 322 West […]

Last call for TRD’s Future City 2019 in the Bahamas!

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 01:00 PM PST

The Real Deal’s Future City 2019 is less than two weeks away, and we have just a few remaining spots for qualified candidates. Attendees will join a group of 200 C-level executives in the fields of development, tech, construction, design and finance to network with and learn from the top minds and biggest dealmakers in the country at the Baha Mar resort in the Bahamas from Jan. 27-29. Some of our participants include: Don Peebles, […]

Rubenstein Partners putting together full-block assemblage in Williamsburg

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 12:35 PM PST

The developer behind the one of the biggest office projects in Williamsburg, a neighborhood whose fortunes are tied to the vagaries of the L train, is making another big bet on the area. Rubenstein Partners is putting together a block-sized assemblage where the company could develop an office-and-light-manufacturing building that could be 50 percent larger than its signature development just a few blocks away at 25 Kent Avenue, sources told The Real Deal. The Philadelphia-based […]

Bronx portfolio gets $100M debt injection to fund rehab

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 11:45 AM PST

Thirteen affordable housing apartment buildings in Mount Hope are getting a facelift. NCV Capital Partners and Lemor Development Group have teamed up with landlord Mount Hope Housing Company on the project, which is being called the “Mount Hope Renaissance.” The properties hold 515 units and span East 175th Street and East Burnside Avenue. The buildings have been under the nonprofit Mount Hope Housing Company’s ownership and management for years but are in need of capital […]

Brokerage hit with $21M lawsuit alleging involvement in illegal Airbnb network

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 11:00 AM PST

New York City is suing Metropolitan Property Group, a real estate brokerage firm, for running an illegal network of Airbnb rentals across 130 apartments in 35 buildings in Manhattan. The brokerage facilitated 13,691 rentals through Airbnb, housing more than 75,000 guests and taking in nearly $21 million from 2015 to 2018, the New York Times reported citing the suit, which was filed on Monday. The lawsuit is the largest of its kind to be brought […]

Long Island Cheat Sheet: Nassau IDA seeks Amazon HQ2 benefits, Hauppauge building sells for $32M, Q4 office leasing activity dips … & more

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 10:00 AM PST

Nassau IDA hopes to capitalize on Amazon’s HQ2 Nassau County’s Industrial Development Agency is looking for ways to take advantage of Amazon’s plan to build a $2.5 billion second headquarters in nearby Long Island City, Newsday reported. Nassau officials said they could possibly give tax breaks to proposed apartments in western parts of the county as part of an effort they hope will draw in some of the 25,000 workers that the e-commerce giant hopes […]

Coming soon: The Real Deal’s 2019 Data Book

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 09:30 AM PST

The Real Deal is preparing the 14th edition of its Data Book, the industry’s single most comprehensive collection of information on the New York-area real estate market. Included in the 2019 Data Book will be a ranking of the city’s most active transaction law firms; Manhattan’s top residential agents and Brooklyn’s top residential agents and firms. With a strong focus on various sets of data in NYC city, ranging from development to architecture to title […]

Here are the week’s top luxury sales

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 08:45 AM PST

Each week, The Real Deal and CityRealty look back at Manhattan’s priciest apartment sales.

Brooklyn’s luxury market continues upswing: Stribling

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 08:06 AM PST

There were 13 contracts signed in Brooklyn’s luxury market last week for a total of about $41.1 million. The properties were split between nine townhouses and four condos, and they went for an average price of roughly $3.2 million, according to the latest report from Stribling & Associates. The firm defines the borough’s luxury market as all homes priced at $2 million or higher. Both numbers were up from the week before, when the market […]

Bedford 2.0? Can a street filled with small, trendy retail take off in the South Bronx?

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 07:15 AM PST

Before Noëlle Santos struck a deal to rent 2,300 square feet along Alexander Avenue for the only independent bookstore and wine bar in the Bronx, she was already well-aware of the gentrification debate that has gripped the neighborhood for years—and of the role her business might inadvertently play in adding fuel to it. “There are many people in the Bronx that feel like this is too fancy: books, wine,” she said of her store The […]

Vanguard now owns more than 10% of discount brokerage Redfin

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 06:30 AM PST

The investment firm Vanguard Group has purchased a more than 10 percent stake in Redfin. Recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show that Vanguard now owns 9,444,137 Redfin shares, which equates to a 10.54 percent stake in the company, according to Inman. The investment should be worth more than $160 million based on Redfin’s $16.96 closing stock price on Friday. Last quarter, Redfin saw revenues increase 28 percent year over year, but […]

Manhattan luxury market sees slight uptick with $144M in contracts signed: Olshan

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 06:00 AM PST

Manhattan’s luxury market saw 13 contracts signed last week for a total of about $144 million, according to the latest report from Olshan Realty. The contracts signed at $4 million or above were split between seven condos, three co-ops and three townhouses. The number of contracts increased by one from the week before, and the dollar volume increased by about $30 million. The top contract signed last week was for unit 95A at Harry Macklowe’s […]

Trump admin move said to benefit farmers could be boon for developers

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 05:31 AM PST

It’s developers, not farmers, who may see the biggest regulatory and financial relief from the Trump administration’s rollback of wetlands rules. Farmers and farmland are already exempt from many wetlands regulations that the Trump administration wants to overturn. Instead, its real estate developers who take out more permits than farmers for projects related to wetlands, streams and creeks, according to the Associated Press. A financial analysis the administration released last month shows that out of […]

Amazon is nearing a retail lease at the Chrysler Building

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 05:05 AM PST

Amazon could be a new tenant in the Chrysler Building, already increasing its upcoming presence in New York. The tech giant, which is bringing half of its second headquarters to Long Island City, is close to signing a lease for about 10,000 square feet in the famed property, according to the New York Post. The building’s owners, Tishman Speyer and Abu Dhabi Investment Council, are putting the landmark tower at Lexington Avenue and East 42nd […]

These were the top 10 outer borough loans last month

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 04:30 AM PST

Long Island City was home to the largest outer borough loan last month for the third time in a row. The Durst Organization landed a $360 million loan for its Queens Plaza Park project at 29-37 41st Avenue to grab the top spot for December. First place in November went to a $275 million loan for Tishman Speyer’s 28-10 Queens Plaza South, and in October, it went to a $201 million loan for Simon […]

Raising the stakes on homeless space

Posted: 14 Jan 2019 04:00 AM PST

Just north of Yankee Stadium, tucked between the Grand Concourse and the Major Deegan Expressway, the Bronx’s Highbridge neighborhood is poised for a big wave of gentrification. The neighborhood has seen rents rise faster than anywhere else in the city in recent years, per real estate website Zumper, and Highbridge is spattered with new apartment buildings. Among them is a 44-unit rental property on Edward L. Grant Highway that Kim Tasher’s SKF Development is expected […]