The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

The city’s multifamily market saw increases across the board in 2018

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 03:30 PM PST

New York’s multifamily market may have almost died in 2017, but the optimism brokers had about a rebound in 2018 proved to be well founded. The market saw year-over-year increases by every metric, and dollar volume hit a two-year high thanks to a strong increase in institutional sales, according to a report from Ariel Property Advisors. Overall, the city saw $11.1 billion in multifamily sales across 473 deals and 896 buildings last year. Compared to 2017, […]

Googlers call for company to become a more socially conscious real estate buyer

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 03:00 PM PST

A resolution from Google shareholders and employees calls on the company to reform multiple aspects of the way it does business, including doing more to address the displacement of poorer residents in areas where it buys real estate. The resolution also calls for Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to address racial and gender diversity and criticizes the way contract staffers are treated, according to Bloomberg. It says Alphabet has responded inadequately to key demands that workers […]

Deloitte fined by Malaysian government over 1MDB scandal

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 02:40 PM PST

Professional services firm Deloitte is the latest global company to be embroiled in the scandal that depleted Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund. The UK-based firm was fined $535,000 Wednesday by the Malaysian government after it allegedly failed to report irregularities found in audits of companies linked to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, according to the Financial Times. The fund, which was established under Malaysia’s previous prime minister Najib Razak, has come under scrutiny under the new […]

Sen. Julia Salazar’s new eviction bill is the first step toward Universal Rent Control

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 02:21 PM PST

Brooklyn State Senator Julia Salazar, who creamed an incumbent Democrat on the way to winning a seat in Albany last summer, submitted her first housing bill on Wednesday, in a move that would pave the way for “universal rent control” in New York State. The “good cause” eviction bill, a proposed amendment to the state’s real property law and would prevent tenants in nearly any market-rate apartment in New York from being evicted for not […]

Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: MGM inks $850M Yonkers casino and raceway deal, architecture firm HLW heads to Stamford … & more

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 01:15 PM PST

MGM Resorts closes on $850M Yonkers casino, raceway buy Eight months after announcing its purchase of the Empire City Casino and Yonkers Raceway, Las Vegas-based hospitality and entertainment giant MGM Resorts has finalized the terms of its $850 million acquisition, LoHud reported. News of the closing came a day after New York State Gaming Commission’s board signed off on the gaming and horse racing licenses that MGM needed for the purchase to go through, according […]

As brutal cold grips Chicago, mayor invokes emergency powers against bad landlords

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 12:30 PM PST

With the city locked down amid wind chills pushing 50 degrees below zero, Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a rare order Wednesday instructing building inspectors not to wait for permission from landlords before fixing heating systems in rental buildings that violate city code. The mayor directed buildings department Commissioner Judy Frydland to “use her police powers” to “to restore heat in buildings where landlords are failing to do their jobs,” Emanuel said in a press release. […]

Federal Reserve holds interest rate, stresses “patience” on future hikes

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 12:05 PM PST

The Federal Reserve has decided hold interest rates steady for the first time in more than a year. The benchmark rate will stay between 2.25 and 2.5 percent, and the Fed said on Wednesday that it will be “patient” in making future rate decisions. It’s a departure from its recent policymaking — the Fed has increased rates in five consecutive quarters and nine times since December 2015. Some analysts take the Fed’s latest comments to […]

City Council seeks to ramp up oversight of vacant property

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 11:30 AM PST

Six proposed bills seek to ramp up oversight of vacant property in the city, including one that would charge landlords weekly fines. One of the proposed City Council measures would require landlords to annually register their land — once it’s sat vacant for a year — with the city. Those who fail to do so face fines of up to $500 per week, Curbed reported. “Vacant properties are troublesome for our communities they bring down […]

NYC’s first medical marijuana dispensary gets a Brooklyn outpost

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 11:05 AM PST

Columbia Care, the company that opened New York City’s first marijuana dispensary in early 2016, now has an outpost in Downtown Brooklyn. The dispensary inked a 7,000-square-foot lease at the ground floor and lower level of 44 Court Street, according to a press release. Columbia was represented by Michael Dubin and Hector Rodriguez of Savitt Partners, who also represented the company for their first lease, at 212 East 14th Street in the East Village. In […]

The Agency’s Umansky derides Purplebricks agents as “plumbers”

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:30 AM PST

Mauricio Umansky says Purplebricks’ agents are “plumbers” who can’t offer what traditional agents can. The Agency co-founder leveled the criticism in an exchange with Eric Eckardt, Purplebricks’ U.S. CEO, at a panel discussion in New York on Tuesday. Umansky was responding to Eckardt’s prediction that agents across the residential industry would see a “compression,” in commissions as they compete with brokerages like his, which has until recently worked under a flat fee model and says […]

The largest voluntary demo will be done in pieces. Here’s how 270 Park will disappear

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:00 AM PST

From the outside, the demolition of 270 Park Avenue will look like a painfully tame round of Jenga. Inside, crews will meticulously tear apart 60 years worth of history. JPMorgan Chase plans to knock down its Midtown East headquarters to make way for a new, 70-story office tower that will span an impressive 2.5 million square feet. The new building will be the first to take advantage of the district’s rezoning, which was approved in […]

Developer with checkered history helped feds gather evidence against Chicago pol

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 09:30 AM PST

A Chinatown developer with a history of alleged fraud became the FBI’s way into gathering evidence against Alderman Danny Solis (25th) in 2014. In 2014, investigators threatened to charge See Wong for his involvement in a “fraudulent scheme” but offered him leniency in exchange for cooperation that would eventually have him secretly recording Solis and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, according to the Sun-Times. Wong tried for years to line up financing for Chinatown projects […]

Introducing TRD’s tri-state quarterly issue

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 08:45 AM PST

The Real Deal is expanding our coverage of the tri-state area with a quarterly issue looking at the real estate markets in Long Island and the Hamptons, New Jersey, Westchester and Fairfield counties. Each issue will be divided into market-specific sections and packed with the data-driven reporting, analysis and profiles the industry relies on from TRD. The tri-state issues will be published in February, May, August and November of 2019 and 55,000 copies will be […]

Opal Holdings hit with $10M suit over construction damage

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 08:00 AM PST

Second Avenue Deli owner Jeremy Lebewohl has filed a lawsuit for $10 million saying that his residential building in the East Village has been damaged by work on a nearby development. He says in the suit that the work Opal Holdings is doing on its mixed-use project at 644 East 14th Street has led to cracks in the walls and inoperable metal doors in his building at 642 East 14th Street, according to Commercial Observer. […]

Here’s why technology hasn’t been able to tackle housing affordability

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 07:30 AM PST

Despite the flood of startups entering real estate, technology has been largely unable to tackle a central problem: affordability. Though policymakers say tech can’t solve the housing crisis, others argue that more money directed toward the problem could change the market, the New York Times reported. “None of that investment, nor the solutions that those companies are offering, will fundamentally change the dynamic of the housing market in a way that increases housing affordability,” said […]

Buyers using an LLC might get a tax break — if they can prove safety concerns

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 07:00 AM PST

New Yorkers who buy property under an LLC for security reasons might be eligible for a tax break. The city’s Department of Finance restricts condo and co-op buyers who use an LLC from getting a partial tax abatement. But a proposed amendment would let them apply for a waiver if they can prove they used a corporate name for security reasons, the Wall Street Journal reported. The change was a suggestion from the law enforcement […]

Three parcels of “shovel ready” land in Bel Air hits market for $150M

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 06:30 AM PST

Another large chunk of land seeking a record sale has hit the Los Angeles property market. A 10.6-acre spread overlooking the swanky Hotel Bel Air is listing for $150 million, according to Bloomberg. The property covers three lots, each with permits to build a 60,000-square-foot home on them, the news outlet reported. The property stretches along a hillside at 788 Tortuoso Way, just below the Chartwell Estate, the former home of media mogul Jerrold Perenchio, […]

Jenel Management buys debt on RFR Realty’s Lever House

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 06:00 AM PST

Jenel Management has purchased the debt on Lever House at 390 Park Avenue — further calling into question RFR Holding’s role at the property. Documents from Jan. 18 show Jenel bought the mortgage for an undisclosed amount, the New York Post reported. Aby Rosen’s RFR hasn’t paid the mortgage for long enough that lenders have discussed foreclosure, leaving a window for other firms to step in. There’s reportedly $83 million in remaining debt on the property. […]

Danny Meyer is bringing an all-day cafe to the Shed at Hudson Yards

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 05:30 AM PST

Restaurateur Danny Meyer seems to have an appetite for the West Side. Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group will open a cafe, named Cedric’s, at the Shed in Hudson Yards, the Wall Street Journal reported. It will span 3,000 square feet and have 121 seats. The news comes after previous reports that Meyer announced USHG would run the “anchor restaurant” at Brookfield Property Partners’ Manhattan West, which opens in 2020. The Shed, a $475 million independent […]

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

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 05:00 AM PST

In the world of mid-market New York City investment sales, an Astoria development site was one of the transactions that hit public records last week. 1.) In the biggest sale of last week in the $10 million to $20 million range, an entity connected to investor Jacob Schwimmer sold a parcel between Boynton and Morrison Avenues in the Bronx for $18.5 million. An LLC tied to developer Bernard Jacobowitz was the buyer. 2.) In Astoria, […]

The Closing: Eliot Spitzer on clashing with financial titans, second chances and the RE empire his dad built

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 04:30 AM PST

Eliot Spitzer needs little introduction. Most know him as the New York governor who resigned in the wake of a prostitution scandal in 2008. But the 59-year-old — who has reinvented himself several times over — now runs the real estate firm his late father, Bernard, founded in the 1950s. Spitzer got his start in the public sector as a young lawyer in Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau’s office, where he prosecuted mob cases in […]

Manhattan’s luxury market hasn’t started off the year this slowly since 2012. Here’s why.

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 04:00 AM PST

The first month of the year is notoriously slow for real estate deals, but this January is downright pitiful for Manhattan’s luxury market. As of Sunday, the borough’s luxury market had seen about $490 million worth of sales across 53 buildings, according to reports from Olshan Realty, which tracks contracts signed at $4 million or higher. This has put the market on track for its slowest January since 2012, when it saw about $336 million […]