The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Bill to cap rental commissions is amended to only affect brokers repping landlords

Posted: 31 May 2019 04:30 PM PDT

UPDATE Friday, May 31, 2019, 9:19 p.m.: Residential brokers are up in arms over the latest change to a proposed law that would cap the amount a renter can pay for a broker hired by a landlord. Douglas Wagner, Bond New York’s executive vice president of brokerage services, predicted “chaos” and the obliteration of exclusive rental listings. Cathy Taub, a broker at Sotheby’s International Realty and co-founder of the New York Residential Agent Continuum (NYRAC), […]

Salmar Properties trying to renege on Sunset Park manufacturing requirement

Posted: 31 May 2019 02:58 PM PDT

Marvin Schein’s Salmar Properties says that a deed restriction it received in exchange for millions in tax breaks no longer makes financial sense. The landlord, which agreed to set aside 85 percent of the Liberty View Industry Plaza for manufacturing tenants, sent a letter to the city’s Economic Development Corporation in an effort to renege on the deal, according to Gothamist. Schein cited a report from Goldman Sachs that found that the financial returns are […]

Amid deaths and injuries, NY legislature moves to require that elevator mechanics be licensed

Posted: 31 May 2019 02:50 PM PDT

After several years of false starts and calls for reform, the state Senate unanimously passed a bill this week mandating licensing for elevator mechanics. The measure is in response to a growing number of injuries and fatalities in elevators linked to safety lapses by untrained mechanics and spotty enforcement of maintenance standards. Though the city’s 63,000 passenger elevators are tested and inspected by licensed professionals, the every-day maintenance is left to individuals with disparate levels […]

Mark your calendars: These are NYC’s top real estate events next week

Posted: 31 May 2019 01:45 PM PDT

Next week will feature a few new real estate events! On June 5, Open House New York is hosting its 2019 Spring Benefit at the TWA Hotel at John F. Kennedy International Airport, starting at 6 p.m. Attend this event to gather with industry professionals and honor the developers of the TWA Hotel with the Open City Award. On June 7, Common is hosting its Coliving Capital Markets Summit at Convene, 605 Third Avenue from […]

Final 5 WTC site to hit the market following lengthy dispute between agencies

Posted: 31 May 2019 01:15 PM PDT

The last World Trade Center site is heading to market after years of disputes between a pair of state agencies. The Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. will release a request for proposals in the next few months for 5 World Trade Center, according to Crain’s. The property can accommodate a project of more than 1 million square feet and could go for hundreds of millions of dollars. The agencies will divide up […]

“A cloud on the industry:” After Futterman’s firing, questions arise about Newmark’s growth strategy

Posted: 31 May 2019 12:30 PM PDT

Newmark Group’s firing of top retail executive Robert Futterman this week highlighted the risks of big firms trying to turbocharge growth through acquisitions. “It puts a cloud on the industry in a way that you don’t want to see,” said Joe Harbert, who oversees Avison Young’s Northeast operations and is a longtime friend of Futterman’s. “Obviously something happened, and companies do not terminate people for cause lightly.” Futterman, an icon of retail brokerage who has […]

The Plaza’s many lives: How moguls, labor fights and a changing city shaped an icon

Posted: 31 May 2019 11:30 AM PDT

Like many projects today, the construction of the Plaza Hotel was complicated by a fight over the use of nonunion labor. What sets that conflict apart, however, is it resulted in a murder. Before the iconic hotel topped out, ironworkers — angered by the developer’s use of nonunion laborers — attacked ex-police officers who were stationed on the site to keep the peace. One of the officers was thrown through a hole in the project’s […]

Ken Griffin scores approval to demolish Palm Beach property

Posted: 31 May 2019 10:50 AM PDT

Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin is taking a step forward in developing his sprawling assemblage in Palm Beach. The Citadel founder and CEO received permission from Palm Beach officials to knock down the lakefront house at 1285 South Ocean Boulevard, part of Griffin’s 17-acre estate, according to the Palm Beach Daily News. It’s still unclear what he plans to build on the properties, which Griffin spent more than $250 million assembling. The house that […]

These are some of the most notable resi sales of the week

Posted: 31 May 2019 10:01 AM PDT

Some eye-catching deals in New York City’s residential real estate world this past week include an Upper East Side co-op trading between investors and the sale of a penthouse at 277 Fifth Avenue to a mystery buyer. Source: A TRD review of public records filed with the New York City Department of Finance from May 23 to May 30. 1.) An anonymous buyer shelled out $17.25 million for a penthouse on the 52nd floor at 277 […]

Two years after Premier Agent fracas, NYS regulators tighten rules for online ads

Posted: 31 May 2019 09:10 AM PDT

UPDATED: May 31, 3:30 p.m.: Two years after New York’s top brokers blasted StreetEasy’s Premier Agent for causing a “maelstrom” of consumer confusion, New York state regulators are poised to enact tighter regulations related to online advertising. The New York State Board of Real Estate voted Friday on new rules that govern who can advertise for-sale property — and how they may do so. After the vote, there will be a 60-day public comment period […]

Feds indict Chicago alderman on charges he extorted developers

Posted: 31 May 2019 09:00 AM PDT

Embattled Alderman Ed Burke (14th) was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he coerced 601W Companies and other developers to hire his private law firm in exchange for supporting their projects. The embattled 50-year alderman has been under a cloud of controversy since first being charged in January with extorting a South Side property owner to hire his law firm in order to secure a city permit. The indictment, announced Thursday night […]

Ex-Cushman & Wakefield manager charged in WTC bribery scheme

Posted: 31 May 2019 08:30 AM PDT

A state attorney general indictment alleges that a former Cushman & Wakefield electric manager and two contractors traded Mets World Series tickets, a Florida golf trip and on-demand luxury car service for preferential treatment at the World Trade Center construction site between 2015 and 2017. James Luckie was working for Cushman & Wakefield during the time it was hired by the Port Authority to manage the construction site. He received $17,000 in bribes from the […]

Mortgage guarantors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to return to private control

Posted: 31 May 2019 07:00 AM PDT

More than a decade after the government seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Trump administration is finalizing a plan to return the mortgage guarantors to private shareholder membership. That would be a boon for investors who have been banking on the move. The proposal could be on President Trump’s desk for approval in the coming weeks. The plan will likely be a version of what has been called “recap and release,” to […]

In crowded Queens DA race, Melinda Katz continues to rake in real estate dollars

Posted: 31 May 2019 06:15 AM PDT

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz is still raking in real estate dollars in her run for District Attorney despite vowing to prosecute developers who are responsible for construction fatalities or injuries. Out of the $560,000 Katz raised from mid-January to May, Katz accepted $158,300 in donations from the real estate industry, according to board of elections, The City reported. That’s 29 percent of her total donations between mid-January and late May. In April, it was […]

Town’s old office now “unrecognizable,” Compass says on moving day

Posted: 31 May 2019 05:35 AM PDT

Compass is expanding its Flatiron office footprint on top of the bones of Andrew Heiberger’s now-defunct Town Residential. Just over year after Town shuttered due to pressures on the brokerage’s business, its first office on the sixth floor of 110 Fifth Avenue is about to be inhabited by Compass brokers, who begin migrating into the space today from the company’s current, crowded global headquarters two blocks away at 90 Fifth Avenue. The SoftBank-backed brokerage secured […]

Inside the East End restaurant rush

Posted: 31 May 2019 05:00 AM PDT

While a handful of high-profile restaurants and old standbys have shuttered on the East End, there are a bunch of newcomers on the scene. Southampton’s Red Bar Brasserie and Little Red — which opened in 1998 and 2011, respectively — are both gone this season. Restaurateur Will Guidara and chef Daniel Humm — whose Eleven Madison Park in Manhattan has three Michelin stars — will also not be bringing their pop-up EMP Summer House, a hotspot with […]

Pod save real estate

Posted: 31 May 2019 04:30 AM PDT

After recording almost an entire season of his podcast, “Hey BK,” in a Bushwick studio, Ofer Cohen decided it was time to invest in his own on-site audio operation. So the founder and CEO of the Brooklyn-based commercial brokerage TerraCRG turned the former “meditation room” in his firm’s Prospect Heights offices into a podcast studio, complete with soundproof foam walls. Cohen is now recording his second season of the podcast, which focuses on the “people […]

Rechler, Tighe know which real estate players will go extinct

Posted: 31 May 2019 04:00 AM PDT

The real estate world is changing rapidly, and RXR Realty head Scott Rechler and CBRE Tri-State CEO Mary Ann Tighe already know who will be left behind: the dinosaurs still operating with pen-and-pad like its the 1990s. At The Real Deal‘s 12th annual New York Showcase, the pair talked about revenue-sharing models in office towers, unorthodox Airbnb plays, the rise of the World Trade Center, and how real estate needs to embrace the 24-7 live-work-play […]