The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Bob Gladstone fights Mack Real Estate to keep a piece of beleaguered 520 Fifth site

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 02:30 PM PDT

A troubled Midtown development site is seeing even more trouble thanks to a lawsuit between Madison Equities and Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies. Madison has sued Mack over 520 Fifth Avenue, where it claims the company has backed out of an agreement that would have ultimately given the development firm control of the property and allowed it to build on the site. Ceruzzi Properties and SMI initially bought the land from Thor Equities in 2015 […]

High expectations: A look at John Banks’ 4 years at REBNY

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 02:00 PM PDT

John Banks’ tenure as head of the Real Estate Board of New York was relatively short. But real estate players gave him generally good marks for the way he steered the trade organization through a tumultuous time for the industry. Given the demands of the position, though, there wasn’t much shock or disbelief when REBNY announced Wednesday that Banks will be retiring effective the end of this month. Executive vice president Jim Whelan, considered more […]

Developer Howard Hughes mulls sale amid continued financial uncertainty

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 01:45 PM PDT

Development firm Howard Hughes Corporation is exploring a possible sale as its struggle to close a “significant gap” between its share price and it net asset value, CEO David Weinreb said, according to Reuters. The Dallas-based firm has hired Centerview Partners to also consider other options, which include creating a spinoff or joint venture group, recapitalizing, or selling the company entirely, Reuters reported. The review is expected to be complete by the end of summer. […]

Presidential debate 2020 Night 2: Here’s where these Democratic candidates stand on housing

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 12:15 PM PDT

Some of the 10 Democratic candidates for president taking the stage at Thursday’s debate in Miami have wrapped their housing policies in larger proposals like the environment. Former Vice President Joe Biden is among them. Biden wants to increase the energy efficiency of low-income housing and increase density in neighborhoods, which could shorten commute times. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders wants to heavily invest in green infrastructure like public transit as part of a Green New […]

M&A bigwig Yoel Zaoui buys at 520 Park

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 10:30 AM PDT

French investment banker Yoel Zaoui is the buyer of a 30th-floor condominium at 520 Park, according to sources familiar with luxury supertall. Zaoui and his brother, Michael, are known as powerful M&A specialists who’ve been part of large-scale transactions since forming the boutique advisory Zaoui & Co. in 2013. Property records show the buyer of the 4,600-square-foot unit paid $25.9 million, or $5,630 per foot, in November 2018. EMMDA LLC went into contract in June […]

Promising union membership, two carpenters accepted huge bribes: indictment

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 09:57 AM PDT

Two carpenters’ union leaders are accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for membership at one of the union’s local chapters. Salvatore “Sal” Tagliaferro, 54, and John “Cigars” DeFalco, 51, allegedly solicited bribes from individuals who weren’t eligible for union membership but secured them admission anyway, according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Tagliaferro, as president of Brooklyn-based […]

Here are the week’s top luxury sales

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 09:45 AM PDT

Each week, The Real Deal and CityRealty look back at Manhattan’s priciest apartment sales.

Here’s how Chinese real estate investors and NYC broke up

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 09:00 AM PDT

Chinese companies were paying record-breaking sums for Manhattan trophy buildings not too long ago. They have since retreated from the city’s property scene, largely due to issues within their own country. The Chinese government imposed strict controls to limit overseas property deals amid concerns about a slowdown in the country’s own economy, according to the Financial Times. This has affected not only the New York market but also cities like London and Vancouver. A recent […]

Convene, Industrious partner with Hines to operate new locations across US

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 08:15 AM PDT

Gerald Hines is getting into the co-working game. The Texas billionaire, whose eponymous real estate investment firm oversees $121 billion in assets, has announced a partnership with flexible-office startups Industrious and Convene, to open co-working locations across the country, according to Bloomberg. Under the name “Hines Squared,” the two startups will operate two flexible-office spaces slated to open later in the year at 717 Texas in Houston and the Kearns Building in Salt Lake City, […]

Thousands of resi agents expected at City Hall to protest cap on commissions

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 07:30 AM PDT

In what could be the first of its kind, several of the city’s largest residential brokerages will go dark today as thousands of agents are expected to converge on City Hall to protest a cap on rental commissions. Douglas Elliman, Bond New York and Bohemia Realty each will close their offices for several hours around midday. That’s when the City Council has scheduled a hearing on the bill, which brokers say threatens their livelihoods and […]

Vera Wang’s former UES penthouse returns to rental market at a discount

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 06:46 AM PDT

An Upper East Side penthouse that fashion designer Vera Wang once called home is on the rental market for $60,000 per month. A high-rolling renter could pay the same amount of money on a three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot pad at Vornado Realty Trust’s 220 Central Park South, a penthouse at 61 Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village, or a three-bedroom apartment on the 54th floor of One57. Wang lived lived at the penthouse at 35 East 63rd Street […]

Fewer renters believe they will achieve American Dream: study

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 06:00 AM PDT

A growing number of American renters believe they will never buy a home, a new survey has found. The findings, to be released today by Freddie Mac and reported first by The Wall Street Journal, show the mounting pressure renters face as home and rent prices increase out of step with inflation and wage growth. Just 24 percent of respondents said it was “extremely likely” they would buy a home — an 11-point drop from […]

Stamford apartment complex sells for $50M, Tom Brokaw’s Pound Ridge home gets a $2M price cut and more Westchester & Fairfield real estate news

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 05:30 AM PDT

Belpointe sells Baypointe in $50M Stamford property trade A limited liability company linked to Greenwich-based investment firm Belpointe sold an apartment complex in Stamford last week to another Greenwich-based LLC for $50 million, the Stamford Advocate reported. Belpointe developed the 109-unit complex known as the Baypointe, which houses one-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $2,960 to $3,340 and two-bedroom apartments with rents between $3,100 and $5,900. The anonymous buyer is Baypointe 112 LLC. “The property […]

Shakeup: Data firm Credifi lays off almost a quarter of its employees, president departs

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 05:00 AM PDT

Commercial real estate data firm Credifi has laid off almost a quarter of its staff, and its president left last month, according to multiple sources. The shakeup comes just months after the Tel Aviv-based analytics startup completed a $6 million funding round at the start of the year. Sources said it had failed to attract clients from the financial industry, precipitating the departures. Ely Razin, the firm’s chief executive, said Wednesday that 10 people were […]

Craig Deitelzweig, CEO of Marx Realty, talks building preservation and push to get the Guggenheim to Long Island City

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 04:30 AM PDT

Craig Deitelzweig’s first foray into real estate was as an attorney at Skadden Arps in the late 1990s, where he realized he wanted to be more entrenched in New York’s property business. More than a decade and a half later, Deitelzweig joined Marx Realty — the development and management arm of Merchants’ National Properties — as its president and CEO in 2017. Prior to that, he served as managing director at Stamford-based Building and Land […]

Behind real estate’s scramble to fight the new rent law in court

Posted: 27 Jun 2019 04:00 AM PDT

The real estate industry was always going to fight the tenant-friendly rent laws to the bitter end. On Monday, two of the city’s largest landlord organizations announced plans to launch a constitutional challenge to the rent regulation package by mid-July. The industry organizations, the Rent Stabilization Association and the Community Housing Improvement Program, tapped Mayer Brown’s appellate specialist Andrew Pincus to lead the case, which will likely be argued on the basis that the property […]