The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

The Garden State Plaza is getting a facelift — including resi space

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 03:30 PM PDT

One of the most valuable malls in the country is hoping it can entice people to live there. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, New Jersey — considered one of the top 10 shopping malls in the U.S. based on sales — is slated for a major makeover, CNBC reported. That includes adding office space, a residential area, more food options, space for gyms, a hotel and open green space. “What people are asking […]

Israeli bondholders file class-action suit against Starwood

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 03:00 PM PDT

Starwood Capital Group is facing allegations that it misled investors about the risks of its Israeli bonds that backed struggling shopping centers in the U.S. The lawsuit stems from the struggles facing Starwood’s mall portfolio, where vacancy rates have increased and net operating income dipped, according to Wall Street Journal. It also adds to the challenges facing investors who bought debt in the once booming Israeli-bond market as the market has now soured. Two groups […]

New Jersey Cheat Sheet: Englewood mansion takes 75% price cut, Rock Spring Golf Club in West Orange sold for $11.1M… & more

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 02:45 PM PDT

‘Gloria Crest’ estate in Englewood hits market at big discount After struggling to find a buyer for years, a mansion in Englewood is now listed at $9.99 million, a roughly 75 percent discount from the $39 million it sought when first hitting the market in 2013, the New York Post reported. The outlet noted that the property at 89 North Woodland Street has been pulled from the market at least three times and discounted five […]

Massive development site by LaGuardia hits the market

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 02:15 PM PDT

A development site near LaGuardia Airport with the potential for a roughly 750,000-square-foot project has hit the market, according to sources familiar with the deal. But to unlock those rights, the new owner would have to work a little. The site spans about 1.5 acres and is addressed at 102-05 Ditmars Boulevard. The site is located right next to the LaGuardia Airport Marriott and shares the same address as the hotel. Rubicon Companies owns the […]

Venezuela opposition leader spurs renewed interest among SoFla real estate investors amid turmoil

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 01:15 PM PDT

UPDATED, Feb. 21, 4:10 p.m.: As Venezuela descended into economic turmoil in recent years, real estate values plummeted and investors looked elsewhere, including to South Florida. Eventually, that too dried up, as the government’s grip tightened and the country grew more isolated. Now, as Venezuela’s opposition leader vies for control amid a humanitarian crisis, some of those investors are turning their attention back to the country, sensing or hoping for a light at the end […]

In a fading market, UES co-op reappears asking $52M

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 12:45 PM PDT

During a particularly down time for the Upper East Side co-op market, the Nasser family is putting a Fifth Avenue penthouse on the market for… $52 million! The home, at 990 Fifth Avenue, was bought by the family in the early 1980s, the Wall Street Journal reported. The 14-room triplex features hand-carved moldings, five fireplaces and large windows facing Central Park. It also includes a private entry gallery, a dining room that seats 14 people, […]

After busy start to 2019, Vornado’s Roth says “we’re not done yet”

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 12:15 PM PDT

Vornado Realty Trust’s massive retail deal earlier this month, with net proceeds of about $1.2 billion, adds to the firm’s cash haul from ongoing sales at 220 Central Park South. And the big question on investors’ minds is: What will they do with all of it? The New York-based real estate investment trust hinted at some answers to that question in its first-quarter earnings call Tuesday morning. (Vornado actually released its report early yesterday “in […]

“We are blowin’ and goin’:” Earnings rise for Simon Property amid retail storm

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 11:30 AM PDT

Simon Property Group reported higher earnings despite continued nationwide retail store closings and the unrelenting challenge from e-commerce. At its first quarter earnings announcement on Tuesday, the Indianapolis-based REIT said the continued wave of retailer bankruptcies took a toll on revenue. Still, the company reported net operating income increased 1.7 percent year over year. Funds from operations were $1.08 billion in the first quarter, up from the nearly $1.03 billion total in the first quarter […]

Engineering firm inks 60K sf deal in the Garment District

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 11:07 AM PDT

Engineering and consulting firm Tetra Tech is moving its offices from the Penn Station area to 60,000 square feet in the Garment District. The California-based company, which has a market cap of $3.5 billion, signed a lease for a portion of the 14th and the full 15th floor at George Comfort & Sons’ 498 Seventh Avenue, the landlord told The Real Deal. Asking rents for the space were in the low $70s per square foot. […]

Brookfield is getting into the Opp Zone game

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 10:15 AM PDT

Brookfield Asset Management is the latest firm getting into Opportunity Zones. The firm’s New York real estate division, Brookfield Property Partners, is going to launch an Opportunity Zone fund, Bloomberg reported. “We are launching a fund in the next month or two,” Brookfield Property Partners’ CEO Brian Kingston said at a conference in California on Monday, according to the outlet. There were no specifics on the size of the fund or where it would invest. […]

When luxury leaks

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 09:40 AM PDT

Not long after closing on a $28.5 million pad at 56 Leonard last spring, the new owner had a problem. More than one, actually. The master bathroom allegedly had poor caulking, the deadbolts weren’t working properly, and the apartment’s oak floors were starting to warp. When the owner’s contractor tore up the floor, he discovered three layers of wood under the oak — which appeared to have been laid “to conceal defects underneath,” according to […]

The fault in our stars: Solly Assa sues soothsayers at NoMad hotel

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 08:35 AM PDT

It was a scheme Assa Properties didn’t see coming. A group of fortunetellers, psychics and other oracles rented out space at the luxury MAve Hotel in NoMad but allegedly conspired to never pay rent there. And Assa Properties isn’t letting them off the hook. The firm, headed by Salim “Solly” Assa, has slapped a lawsuit on the soothsayers for allegedly conning the hotel into reassigning first-floor commercial space among different people who are insolvent. And […]

Top Keller Williams agents want to stop sharing profit with defectors

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 07:00 AM PDT

Keller Williams’ lifetime profit sharing program, which has distributed more than $1 billion in revenue since 1997, is under fire. A “small group” of the firm’s “top profit share earners, market center owners and regions” proposed major changes to the program at a meeting in Austin last week, Inman reported. “On an annual basis, multiple proposals are brought forth to a vote at one of two annual IALC meetings,” CEO Gary Keller told Inman. “If […]

Citing racist history, banned NYC developer tries to block landmarking of his Tin Pan Alley buildings

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 06:30 AM PDT

Tin Pan Alley, a stretch of West 28th Street that was once the center of America’s popular music industry, is being considered for a landmark designation, and one landlord is fighting back in an unorthodox way. Representatives of banned developer Yair Levy claim that racist music produced on the block around the turn of the 20th century make it unsuitable for landmark designation, the New York Post reported. “Who wants to be known as the […]

Savanna in contract to buy Flatiron District building for $110M

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 06:15 AM PDT

Unizo Holdings – which last year started divesting its New York City office portfolio – has reached a deal to sell another one of its properties. Chris Schlank and Nicholas Bienstock’s Savanna has a hard contract to buy the neighboring Flatiron district office buildings at 24-28 West 25th Street for around $110 million, sources told The Real Deal. Unizo paid $103.8 million for the buildings back in 2015 at the same time the company – […]

Appeals court says Vornado will have to pay that $25M transfer tax after all

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 05:43 AM PDT

Vornado Realty Trust will have to pay an additional $25.5 million in taxes on previous property sales, a New York state appeals court has confirmed. The court upheld a February 2018 decision by the New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal, which resulted from an audit of the company’s 2011 sale of a stake in One Park Ave and now involves the taxes on several other transfers, the New York Post reported. Vornado and its subsidiary […]

Tech firm to take up Aetna’s huge space at 61 Ninth Avenue

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 05:10 AM PDT

Thank you, Yext. Online brand management company Yext announced on Monday that it will be taking up all 142,500 square feet of office space at Aurora Capital Associates and Vornado Realty Trust’s 61 Ninth Avenue, which was abandoned by Aetna after its acquisition by CVS Health Group in 2017. Yext was reported to be in talks to sublease the space from Aetna in December. The company’s initial monthly base rent will be about $1 million, […]

This month in real estate history

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 04:30 AM PDT

1903: NYSE reopens in new Broad Street building The New York Stock Exchange officially opened its doors for business 116 years ago this month, the New York Times reported. To celebrate, 2,000 people assembled inside the new building at 18 Broad Street for the dedication ceremony. Outside, ticker tape and wads of paper were thrown from neighboring windows as makeshift confetti, while crowds gathered nearby on Wall Street. NYSE president Rudolph Keppler symbolically banged an […]

Behind a $10M construction showdown at Sharif El-Gamal’s 45 Park

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 04:00 AM PDT

As Sharif El-Gamal sought to refinance 45 Park Place, construction crews prepared to abandon the luxury condo site this week over nearly $10 million in unpaid work — just a month shy of topping out. Gilbane Building Company, which El-Gamal’s Soho Properties contracted to build the 43-story Tribeca tower, had not received payment for work completed in 2019 and only “minimal” payments for work done during 2018, sources told The Real Deal. In an eleventh […]