The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

SL Green to redevelop Armani’s flagship at 760 Madison, add 19 luxury residences

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 03:40 PM PST

Giorgio Armani and landlord SL Green Realty are planning to redevelop the designer’s flagship store at 760 Madison Avenue, adding 19 luxury residences, the companies announced on Friday. Construction on the 97,000-square-foot project is expected to begin in 2020 and be complete in 2023, at which point the fashion designer says he will take up residence in the building. Armani will “conceive” the interiors, while COOKFOX Architects will be responsible for the design. “Our approach […]

Queens developer moving ahead with 155-unit Kips Bay resi tower development

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 03:00 PM PST

After years spent assembling lots and maximizing allowed construction area, Mikhael Heletz’s Excel Development Group is ready to move ahead with its 23-story residential project in Kips Bay, according to city filings. The Forest Hills-based developer plans to build a 155-unit, 123,000-square-foot tower covering the four adjacent lots at 339-345 East 33rd Street. Excel began acquiring the lots in August 2015, closing on the last parcel in December for $11.2 million. Also in December, Excel […]

Startup that wants to help developers map construction sites in “near real time” raises $2.3M

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 02:30 PM PST

AirWorks Solutions, a property tech mapping and surveying startup, just raised $2.3 million in seed funding. Boston-based Innospark Ventures led the funding round, and the company’s managing director, Venkat Srinivasan, will join AirWorks’ board of directors, representatives for AirWorks announced on Friday. AirWorks is developing aerial mapping software, which uses data collected from drones, aircrafts or satellites to create computer aided design (CAD) site plans, allowing developers and engineers to analyze construction sites in “near […]

Madison Equities sells 212 Fifth’s retail space to international investor for more than $25M

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 02:00 PM PST

The developers behind 212 Fifth Avenue, one of the ambitious condominium projects transforming the area around Madison Square Park into a luxury neighborhood, sold the building’s retail space for more than $25 million. Robert Gladstone’s Madison Equities and Building and Land Technology sold a trio of retail condos at the base of the NoMad building for $26.5 million, property records filed with the Department of Finance Friday show. The buyer is an “international investor,” Douglas […]

Kazakh billionaire and Extell backer unloads Mandarin Oriental condo for $13M

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 01:30 PM PST

After 236 days, Nurzhan Subkhanberdin has parted with one of his two condos on top of the Time Warner Center. The banking billionaire closed on the sale of one of the units at the Residences at Mandarin Oriental last week, according to a source and a document obtained by The Real Deal. On the same day, the StreetEasy listing for both properties became unavailable. Subkhanberdin acquired the unit on top of the Time Warner Center […]

Proptech is making inroads. These are the areas where real estate experts see the most promise

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 01:05 PM PST

Although proptech is still in its early stages, real estate is finally starting to see its long-awaited arrival of innovation, according to a panel discussion. “We’re at the beginning of a wave in proptech or real estate tech that happened in fintech starting about a decade ago,” Merritt Hummer, principal at Bain Capital Ventures, said on stage at Columbia Business School’s and Goodwin’s 2019 Real Estate Capital Markets Conference on Friday. She was joined on […]

City report shows lead levels 36x health standard at Delshah’s 138 Ludlow Street

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 12:25 PM PST

Lead levels at Delshah Capital’s 138 Ludlow Street are as high as 36 times the federal government’s acceptable health standard, according to a December report commissioned by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Lower Manhattan community group the Cooper Square Committee announced the report in a Friday press release, with Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou and City Council Member Margaret Chin quoted criticizing Delshah for what they deemed unsafe construction practices. DelShah has since […]

“We are starting to run, but the gun hasn’t fired:” Investors dash into Miami Opportunity Zones

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 11:45 AM PST

Investors and developers in Miami-Dade County have been pouring money into Opportunity Zones. From April through September, property sales in those areas tallied $942 million, a 25 percent increase from the same time in 2017, according to The Real Deal’s analysis of records. Enacted as part of the December 2017 tax overhaul plan, Opportunity Zones began catching the eye of savvy investors last summer, who were eager to get in on a program that provides […]

CORE to close first location, open new digs in West Chelsea

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 11:00 AM PST

CORE is closing its Seventh Avenue office and has plans to open a new space on the West Side. The brokerage has a multi-year plan to open a retail space in West Chelsea near Hudson Yards, according to a press release. The concept is to develop a more “dynamic” location that will give clients a more technology-based, personalized experience. “The days of having fancy lightboxes in the window and agents sitting at the desks are […]

Wells Fargo paying RFR a fee to break lease at Seagram Building

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 10:30 AM PST

Wells Fargo, which is relocating its offices later this year to Hudson Yards, will terminate its lease at RFR Realty’s Seagram Building – a move that will cost the bank a fee of more than $1 million. The bank’s lease in the iconic building at 375 Park Avenue expires in 2021, according to Trepp. But Wells Fargo has chosen to terminate the lease early, Commercial Real Estate Direct reported. Wills Fargo is allowed to leave […]

A year in, Compass is a top 10 firm in Chicago. Not everyone’s sold though

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 09:45 AM PST

Compass’ move into Chicago set off alarm bells in the city’s hitherto staid brokerage industry. Now, a year later, the country’s most valuable brokerage on paper is among the top 10 firms in the city by deal volume. But given its ambition, its profile and the money it’s splashed on acquisitions and recruiting, rivals aren’t impressed by its impact so far. “I would like to say I’m coming across them on the ground and losing […]

Follow The Real Deal’s Deal Sheet on Instagram!

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 09:20 AM PST

Shaya Sonnenschein and Shaya Ackerman of Meridian Capital Group represented the owner, Marx Development Group. The loan was issued by Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies. #commercialrealestate #nycrealestate #trdny #trddealsheet #nyc #nycloans #trdloans A post shared by The Real Deal’s Deal Sheet (@trddeals) on Jun 20, 2018 at 10:17am PDT The Real Deal’s Deal Sheet is on Instagram! Our latest social media channel features snaps of retail and office leases, financing acquisitions and commercial and residential […]

‘Marilyn Monroe slept here’: The whys and hows of leveraging a celebrity connection to market listings

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 08:30 AM PST

Like most homes in the Outpost Estates, the one at 2393 Castilian Drive has some elegant flourishes that could seduce even the most discerning buyers. The walled and gated four-bedroom house boasts architecture that conjures images of the Amalfi Coast, with a large terrace, a romantic tower room and a grotto-like pool that overlooks Runyon Canyon. But you won’t find its most distinctive feature listed anywhere in the blueprints: the home’s reported one-time occupants, Marilyn […]

Housing market shows sign of hope

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 08:00 AM PST

If you’ve been distracted by the federal shutdown, political dysfunction, stock-market volatility and reports of rising mortgage rates, it wouldn’t be surprising if you concluded: No way is this a good time to even think about buying a house or putting one on the market. Things are too crazy. Nobody’s paying attention to real estate anyway. But take another look. Some of the real-estate fundamentals have been changing for the better. Take mortgages. They’ve gotten […]

Public advocate candidate says she doesn’t accept real estate money – but she does

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 07:30 AM PST

Former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, a candidate in the race for Public Advocate to replace Letitia James, was caught on tape telling a crowd that she doesn’t accept donations from real estate interests. But records reviewed by Crain’s show she’s been given thousands of dollars by real estate developers, investors, operators and brokers for her current campaign. Mark-Viverito made the comment at a meeting of the Association of Black Educators of New York on […]

National Cheat Sheet: US home sales have weakest year since 2015, hedge fund honcho has country’s largest-ever home buy… & more

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 07:00 AM PST

Home sales plunged in December, sparking fears of an ongoing slowdown Existing home sales dropped 6.4 percent from this past November to December, officially making 2018 the weakest year for home sales since 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from the National Association of Realtors. Price growth, meanwhile, was slower than it’s been in six years, and a number of homes took price cuts as a result. December’s slowdown has some concerned the […]

This blockchain-based real estate startup just raised $3.1M

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 06:30 AM PST

Crypto’s no longer white-hot, but its underlying blockchain technology continues to attract investors. RealBlocks, a blockchain-based startup for real estate fundraising and investing, just snagged $3.1 million in seed funding. The round was led by Science Inc. — and other investors included Morgan Creek Capital, Zelkova Ventures, Ulu Ventures and Cross Culture Ventures, the company said in a statement Friday. RealBlocks allows global investors to purchase micro-shares in private equity funds using either government-backed currency […]

Murray Kushner’s KRE snags $258M loan for phase II of massive Jersey City project

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 06:00 AM PST

The KRE Group has landed funding for the second phase of its massive Jersey City rental development. The firm secured $258 million in construction financing, KRE said in a state ment Friday. Wells Fargo and Capital One provided the loan. The funding will be used for Tower Two at Journal Squared, a mixed-use project comprised of three buildings with 1,840 rental units in total. Tower Two will stand 71 stories tall, with 704 residences, and […]

Taylor Swift defeats Douglas Elliman in broker commission case

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 05:38 AM PST

She really shook it off this time. Judge Jesse Furman thew out a lawsuit brought against pop star Taylor Swift by a Douglas Elliman broker who claimed Swift owed a $1.08 million commission for the purchase of a Tribeca townhouse. Andrew Azoulay, the Elliman broker, showed the three-story property at 153 Franklin Street to a representative of Swift’s Firefly Entertainment in February 2017, according to the New York Post. The four-bedroom townhouse, converted by architect […]

LISTEN: TRD discusses ‘Elevated risk’ cover story during latest subscriber call

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 05:00 AM PST

For our latest subscriber conference call, The Real Deal’s James Kleimann, Kathryn Brenzel and David Jeans discussed our ‘Elevated risk’ cover story, which found that elevator mechanics often have little training, inspectors regularly fail to identify hazards and landlords typically escape penalties. Check out the SoundCloud player to listen to the full conversation, and be sure to keep an eye out for more information about our next conference call for subscribers.

Architecture review: Selldorf goes subtle at 21 East 12th Street

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 04:30 AM PST

In its quiet and unassuming way, 21 East 12th Street is one of the better buildings, from an architecture standpoint, to rise in Manhattan in some time — and perhaps the best ground-up project to emerge from the studios of Annabelle Selldorf. The German-born architect has been rather active in Manhattan in recent years, designing 10 Bond Street, 42 Crosby Street, 520 West 19th Street and, most famously, 200 11th Avenue, better known as the […]

“This is a Band-aid”: Brokers fear StreetEasy’s sales fee could mean fewer Premier Agent leads

Posted: 25 Jan 2019 04:00 AM PST

With another StreetEasy fee comes another wave of criticism. This time, the listing portal’s new program has struck a chord among Premier Agents — who drive the bulk of Zillow Group’s revenue. In unveiling a paid program for sales listings, StreetEasy gave brokers a route to bypass Premier Agents who may otherwise be displayed alongside those listings. If the initiative, dubbed Agent Spotlight, gets enough buy-in from brokers with exclusives, Premier Agents said it threatens […]