The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Landlord, tenant groups clash at RGB hearing over potential rent increases

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 03:20 PM PDT

With significant changes to state rent-regulation laws looming, one landlord group is pushing for 3 to 7.5 percent increases to one-year leases and 4.7 to 9.25 percent for two-year leases when the city’s Rent Guidelines Board votes on June 25. The Rent Stabilization Association’s Vito Signorile testified at an RGB hearing on Thursday, which featured speakers representing both tenants and landlords, that such ranges were supported by RGB’s own research. Signorile, and other landlord representatives, […]

“I love your concept, but I don’t believe in it.” TRD Shark Tank real estate judges take on Miami grad proposals

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 03:00 PM PDT

A panel of real estate sharks that included Lennar Corp. COO Fred Rothman and Miami developer Lissette Calderon offered sage advice to a group of University of Miami graduate students pitching their real estate projects at The Real Deal’s Shark Tank: Future Leaders of Real Estate Challenge. The sharks – Rothman, Calderon, developers David Arditi and Jay Massirman, and investor Richard Cava – reviewed three proposals from graduate students in the University of Miami School […]

Neighbors sue to block Extell’s UWS tower after city OKs amended plans

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 02:48 PM PDT

The back-and-forth over Extell Development’s 770-foot Upper West Side tower is now headed to court. Weeks after the Department of Buildings renewed permits for the development at 50 West 66th Street, the City Club of New York — which nearly killed Barry Diller’s Pier 55 project— and several of the project’s neighbors have filed a lawsuit against the developer, seeking to halt construction due to alleged zoning violations. “Plaintiffs need immediate relief because Defendants’ construction […]

Brooklyn developer overcharged tenants by more than $1M at new 421a building: lawsuit

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 01:45 PM PDT

Housing Rights Initiative is accusing a Brooklyn landlord of overcharging rent-stabilized tenants at a newly constructed 421a building in Clinton Hill by more than $1 million. The tenant-advocacy group, led by Aaron Carr, organized tenants at 74 Grand Avenue to file a class action-seeking lawsuit against developer Jacob Neiss, which was delivered in Brooklyn Supreme Court Wednesday. HRI, which over the past two-and-a-half years has organized more than 50 lawsuits against landlords alleging abuses of the […]

Cushman & Wakefield sues Avenues school over unpaid commissions

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 01:00 PM PDT

Cushman & Wakefield alleges Avenues: The World School owes the commercial brokerage $500,000 in unpaid commission for its role in finding the site for the private school’s new Miami location. The brokerage alleges in a suit filed earlier this month in Miami-Dade Circuit Court that after it was contracted by Avenues in May 2018, it found the school a location on the former site of Archbishop Curley Notre-Dame High School at 4949 Northeast 2nd Avenue […]

If the state kills the vacancy bonus, a new one could respawn

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 12:15 PM PDT

Even if Albany eliminates vacancy bonuses for rent-regulated units, the city’s Rent Guidelines Board can simply implement a new one, members said Thursday. During a day-long hearing, the board discussed what actions its members could take if the state eliminates a 5 to 20 percent-plus rent bump landlords can apply when a rent-stabilized unit is vacated. The RGB hasn’t decided to apply a vacancy increase since the late 1990s, when the state’s vacancy bonus was […]

Brookland hit with eviction notice at its office, suits over unpaid construction work

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 11:36 AM PDT

Brookland Capital’s financial woes have now come for its own office. Boaz Gilad’s prolific development company is facing eviction from its headquarters at 308 Malcolm X Boulevard in Bedford-Stuyvesant, according to a notice posted on the building. The document states that the firm must be out of 308 Malcolm X Boulevard by April 29 and is signed by New Jersey landlord Ronel Ben-Dov, who was appointed as the new administrator of Brookland Upreal earlier this […]

Corcoran Group toughens clawbacks for departing agents

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 11:00 AM PDT

Stung by agent losses, the Corcoran Group has tightened its clawback policy for agents who leave the firm. Earlier this month, the Realogy-owned firm sent letters to at least a half-dozen agents in Brooklyn, demanding reimbursement of certain commission and marketing dollars. “We understand that you may have overlooked your obligation during your transition period, but payment must now be made,” read one such letter reviewed by The Real Deal. The letter threatens legal action […]

The top construction firms working in Los Angeles

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 09:45 AM PDT

As the National Football League’s Los Angeles Rams flew home from Atlanta in their chartered United Airlines jet, defeated by the New England Patriots at the Super Bowl, teammates glimpsed their future from the airplane window — the first new football stadium built in the City of Angels since the 1920s. The Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park, which is scheduled to host the 2022 Super Bowl and the opening ceremonies of the 2028 Summer […]

Public housing is excluded from the city’s clean-energy plan

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 09:00 AM PDT

The mayor’s plans for using clean energy at city buildings doesn’t include public housing or hospitals. The de Blasio administration plans to supply buildings with Canadian hydropower, Crain’s New York reported. The mayor announced Monday that he would “pursue 100% carbon-free electricity supply for city government operations” through a deal withHydro-Quebec. The state-owned Canadian giant is constructing a transmission line between Montreal and Astoria, Queens. Only city agency buildings and activities will be able to […]

More market-rate units may be coming to this LES NYCHA complex

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 08:15 AM PDT

More market-rate apartments are planned for a Lower East Side public housing complex, in an effort to raise more funds for the troubled New York City Housing Authority. NYCHA officials presented a revised proposal to tenants at the LaGuardia Houses during a Monday meeting, The City reported. The complex, which houses 2,700 residents, has been eyed for private development since the Bloomberg administration — but Mayor Bill De Blasio last year sought proposals for a […]

Allianz is partnering with Related on $2.2B Hudson Yards deal

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 07:30 AM PDT

Allianz Real Estate is placing another huge bet on Hudson Yards. The real estate arm of German investment firm Allianz Group has teamed up with Related Companies on the $2.2 billion deal to buy WarnerMedia’s office space at 30 Hudson Yards and lease it back to the media company, Commercial Observer reported, citing sources. Allianz is taking a roughly 45 percent stake in the office condominium, the report said. The deal with WarnerMedia is in […]

Hong Kong’s priciest property sale this year goes for $180M

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 06:45 AM PDT

In Hong Kong’s priciest luxury property sale this year, a paper tycoon and his wife have snagged a home for HK$1.45 billion, or $180 million. Raymond Lee, the chairman and co-founder of Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Ltd., and his wife, Wong Man Yi, bought a nine-apartment complex in Repulse Bay. The pair are directors of a private company that bought 8 Headland Road this month, Bloomberg reported. The seller was American International Assurance Co. […]

Merger talks between Deutsche Bank and rival Commerzbank have fallen apart

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 06:00 AM PDT

Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank AG have ended merger talks, dashing the German government’s hopes for creating a domestic banking giant. The CEO and chairmen of both banks met to finalize the decision on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Deutsche Bank had been considering backing out due to the costs and complexities of combining the two companies — as well as the challenges of selling shareholders on the deal. Deutsche Bank said, a merger “would […]

Hamptons home market starts 2019 in a slump, Andy Cohen closes on Amagansett property purchase & more real estate news from the East End

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 05:15 AM PDT

Hamptons home sales market starts 2019 in a slump The number of Hamptons homes that sold during the first three months in 2019 fell nearly 20 percent when compared to the same time in 2018, the lowest mark in seven years and a sign of a general downturn in the market, according to first quarter data released by Douglas Elliman. The number of home sales has been steadily declining since the end of 2017, while […]

Leasing leaders: These firms brokered the highest volume of deals in 2018

Posted: 25 Apr 2019 04:00 AM PDT

When Hudson Yards opened in the middle of last month, roughly 82 percent of the 8.9 million square feet of office space at the megaproject was already spoken for. “I think it’s much higher than anybody would have ever thought,” said Jeff Peck, a broker at Savills who has done two office deals for tenants in the neighborhood. And that high level of occupancy at Hudson Yards — the joint baby of the Related Companies […]