The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

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

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 03:00 PM PDT

There are two new real estate events coming up next week! Host: Commercial Observer Date: September 24 Time: 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The Commercial Observer is holding its 3rd Annual Downtown Forum at 225 Liberty Street from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Come to this event to network and to discuss the driving forces behind Lower Manhattan’s growth as a submarket. Speakers include Ric Clark of Brookfield Property Partners and David Falk of Newmark Knight […]

Alex Rodriguez, slugger-turned-investor, nears multifamily fundraise goal

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 02:30 PM PDT

Retired Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez’s Monument Capital Management has raised the majority of a $50 million fund to buy up to about $200 million in real estate. Miami-based Monument focuses on value-add multifamily real estate in secondary markets across the country. The fund, the fourth of its kind for the firm, has closed on two properties in Illinois and Tennessee and has a third under contract in upstate New York, said Erin Knight, executive vice […]

Steve Schwarzman questions WeWork’s valuation, the state is coming for LLCs: Daily digest

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 01:55 PM PDT

Every day, The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page in real time, starting at 9 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to [email protected] This page was last updated at 9:00 a.m. Video produced by Sabrina He An investor is trying to sell his half of a 30-foot tall piece of bedrock for $3 million. Thanks to the Inwood […]

Real estate stocks dip slightly amid Fed Rate cut, housing starts data

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 01:44 PM PDT

Real estate stocks dipped slightly this week amid the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut its benchmark interest rate and new data that showed home construction hit a 12-year high. Next week will bring a slew of real estate-related data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Of the 28 major real estate stocks The Real Deal tracks, 15 companies saw their stock prices dip since Monday’s market open. On average, the group’s prices ticked down about 0.25 […]

De Blasio’s campaign is dead, and real estate is happy

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 01:32 PM PDT

New York’s real estate community has long had a complicated relationship with Mayor Bill de Blasio, and industry leaders were among his loudest critics when he launched his quixotic presidential bid in May. So when the mayor announced the end of his campaign Friday after months of failing to connect with the electorate or crack 1% in the polls, the industry reacted largely with relief but not surprise. “Welcome back,” said G&M Realty founder Jerry […]

Power lunch: Resi brokerage and lending execs dish dirt in Hudson Yards

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 01:15 PM PDT

Halstead chief Diane Ramirez quietly hunched over her arm and whispered into her wrist. The attempt at covert communication through her Apple Watch didn’t, however, go unnoticed by her tablemates — instead, it earned her playful comparisons to a comic strip detective. “That was so cool. That was a Dick Tracy moment,” joked Citibank’s Sari Sardell Rosenberg, a senior lending officer on condominium and co-op deals. Ramirez, Rosenberg and Ellie Johnson of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices […]

Small Talk: Trying to make sense of the WeWorld

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 12:30 PM PDT

The best part about the stock market is how much of a sure thing every investment is, and the best part about startups is that they are all guaranteed to become incredibly prosperous businesses. So when the guaranteed success of a startup meets the guaranteed success of the stock market, any investments are guaranteed to make you so much money that the word “guaranteed” will quickly start to sound weird based on how often you’re […]

“Perhaps a sad inevitability:” Corcoran isn’t the only firm under attack

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 11:30 AM PDT

Last week’s stunning data breach at the Corcoran Group has residential brokerage leaders on alert amid rising cyberattacks. Brown Harris Stevens shut down all its internal accounting system in the hours after the attack. In the following days, one brokerage circulated a memo outlining best practices for emailing sensitive information, while other firms prompted their teams to change passwords. Other companies say they’ve taken all possible precautions to protect their data by performing daily scans […]

The Daily Dirt: Croman on the outside

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 11:18 AM PDT

More than a year after he was released from prison, much remains the same for landlord Steve Croman. He’s a regular presence at his buildings. He still gets loans from New York Community Bank — you know, the bank he was accused of defrauding — and continues to do deals. Some of his 9300 Realty employees are now working for the property management firm that the government appointed to look over his properties for the […]

RXR Realty gets in on shared kitchen space startup’s national expansion

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:30 AM PDT

Scott Rechler’s RXR Realty is betting big on the shared commercial kitchen model. The developer led a Pasadena-based remote kitchen startup’s $40 million funding round, which recently closed. The company, Kitchen United, plans to use that Series B funding round to expand in New York, Boston, and San Francisco, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal. The company plans to open kitchens in some of RXR-owned properties. Kitchen United also has locations in Chicago, Austin, […]

Former Deutsche Bank exec has defaulted on $3M loan, lawsuit says

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:45 AM PDT

Former Deutsche Bank executive Jerry Rotonda owes City National Bank more than $3 million, according to a recently filed lawsuit. The bank loaned Rotonda the money in March 2016, and he promised to pay them $3 million plus interest by April 30 of this year, the lawsuit claims. However, he still has not done so and is thus in default of the loan, according to court papers. Rotonda has only made about $360,000 worth of […]

Wendy Silverstein, co-head of WeWork’s real-estate fund, is out

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 08:24 AM PDT

The co-head of WeWork’s real estate investment fund has left the company, the latest in a string of recent high-level departures at the embattled co-working giant. Wendy Silverstein, a New York real estate veteran who joined WeWork last fall to lead its investment vehicle known as ARK, resigned last week, The Real Deal has learned. Silverstein said her departure had nothing to do with the troubles surrounding the company’s planned initial public offering, which WeWork […]

Calling all subscribers: Listen in as TRD reporters size up NYC’s foreign investment landscape

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 07:30 AM PDT

Join The Real Deal on Tuesday, September 24 at 2 p.m. for our next subscribers-only conference call. TRD’s senior content director Jill Noonan will talk to reporters Sylvia Varnham O’Regan and Kevin Sun about their recent coverage of foreign investment in New York amid this latest wave of global turmoil. In TRD’s September magazine, Varnham O’Regan and Sun examined the fallout in the residential market and looked at how the commercial market is holding up. Plus, […]

Brookland Capital was never run correctly or efficiently, new leader says

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 06:45 AM PDT

It has been about nine months since Ronel Ben-Dov took over beleaguered Brookland Capital, and the New Jersey landlord is unsparing in his assessment of how the development firm was previously managed. “I don’t think the company was run correctly and efficiently at any point in time,” he said, “and the company took very high loans, and they didn’t work.” Ben-Dov has been largely quiet since assuming control of Brookland but spoke to The Real […]

Self-storage startup Clutter makes its first real estate play with $152M deal

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 05:00 AM PDT

On-demand self-storage start-up Clutter has broken into real estate, picking up a four-warehouse portfolio in New York for $152 million, the firm said. The properties are in Brooklyn, Long Island City, White Plains and Yonkers, and the portfolio totals about 500,000 square feet, according to Clutter. They were formerly Storage Fox properties, and Clutter plans to re-brand the buildings by November. Ari Mir, co-founder and CEO of Clutter, said in an interview that company was […]

Can Paul Massey repeat his past brokerage success with B6?

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 04:30 AM PDT

“Rain Man” and “Beaches” were playing on the big screen and the Berlin Wall was still standing. The year was 1988 — the same year that Paul Massey and Bob Knakal launched their eponymous New York City investment sales firm. And now, more than 30 years later, Massey’s career has come full circle. After the duo famously sold Massey Knakal Realty Services for $100 million to Cushman & Wakefield in 2014, Massey did a stint […]

Owners of some residential properties can’t hide behind LLCs anymore

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 04:00 AM PDT

The owners of certain residential properties in New York can no longer shield their identities from the state using anonymous LLCs. Legislation signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo last Friday and effective immediately requires LLCs involved in real estate transactions in the state to disclose the identities of all owners, managers and agents associated with the company. The change marks a small step toward greater transparency in New York’s real estate industry, which is rich with […]