The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Kushner Cos. buying 1,000-unit suburban apartment portfolio

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 02:30 PM PST

Kushner Companies is making another big apartment play in the suburbs. The firm is in contract to pay $266.5 million for a portfolio of seven rental buildings in New Jersey and New York from First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey, the seller announced Wednesday. The portfolio totals 1,058 units in garden-style apartments in the New Jersey towns of Wayne, River Edge, Westwood Hills, Rockaway and Redbank; and in Middletown, N.Y. There’s also a

Bronx senator, union reignite prevailing wage fight

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 01:51 PM PST

A Bronx senator and union laborers are helping to revive the fight to change wage rules for construction projects receiving public financing. Sen. Luis Sepúlveda is teaming up with Local 79 to push for amendments to and passage of legislation that would require more projects to pay construction workers prevailing wages. Prevailing wages are determined by the state Department of Labor, which bases the rates on union wages. Sepúlveda and Local 79 are holding a

Chinatown mixed-use building heads to bankruptcy auction

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 01:00 PM PST

A mixed-use property in Chinatown will be auctioned off at the end of January after its owner failed to attract new office tenants to the bankrupt building. The roughly 46,000-square-foot building, at 55-59 Chrystie Street, has been owned since 1982 by CTW Realty, according to property records. Greg Corbin and his team at Rosewood Realty will hold the bankruptcy auction Jan. 30 at law firm Herrick Feinstein’s office at 2 Park Avenue. CTW Realty’s Gary

Woman killed by falling facade from Queens strip mall: officials

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 12:30 PM PST

A woman was killed Thursday by debris that fell from Queens strip mall, marking the second façade-related fatality in the city over the last month. The 67-year-old woman, who has not yet been publicly identified by authorities, was struck by a piece of building material that fell from the Golden Shopping Mall at 41-28 Main Street in Flushing, city officials confirmed. An aluminum-covered plywood panel fell off the front of the building, according to the

Emerald Equity weighing “all options” to save massive portfolio

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 11:25 AM PST

One of the biggest rent-stabilized portfolios in New York City is facing a financial reckoning. Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter say the Dawnay Day portfolio has a large amount of debt and its owner, Isaac Kassirer’s Emerald Equity, is struggling to pay its obligations. Selling is probably not an option because rent-regulated buildings’ values plunged when the state passed a tenant-friendly rent law in June. Emerald Equity bought the storied East Harlem

Ex-Fannie Mae employee in LA sentenced in bribery, kickback scheme

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 11:20 AM PST

For years, Fannie Mae employee Shirene Hernandez would assign real estate brokers choice listings on foreclosed homes, and in return, they would pay her cash kickbacks stuffed into envelopes and delivered in parking lots, airports and coffee shops. When the crime was finally exposed, Hernandez’s role amounted to more than $3 million in corrupt commissions to brokers. On Monday, the former Fannie Mae employee was sentenced to more than 6 years in federal prison, after

His lone real estate donor says it’s “a fad,” but Ben Kallos returns industry money

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 10:47 AM PST

Like Council member Mark Levine, his rival in the race to be Manhattan borough president, Upper East Side City Council member Ben Kallos has been returning checks from the real estate industry, making good on a 2013 pledge to reject such donations. Yet while Kallos toes the progressive line, one real estate professional he does accept money from doesn’t think rejecting real estate money will remain in style forever. “My position on politicians that don’t

Jack Terzi finalizes 99-year lease option at 23 Wall Street

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 10:30 AM PST

JTRE’s Jack Terzi’s wrapped up his court battle to buy 23 Wall Street. Terzi has finalized a court settlement that lets him lease the building and pay rent for 99 years, according to the New York Post. He had signed a contract in 2016 to buy 23 Wall Street for $140 million from China Sonangol, a company based in Singapore, but the purchase was never completed. He sued China Sonangol in 2017, alleging that the firm

He invested more than $130M into 4 Manhattan condos. Now he’s taking a hit

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 10:20 AM PST

UPDATED, Jan. 16, 2020, 3:53 p.m.: In the mid-2010s, German investor Ekkehart Hassels-Weiler dropped $131 million on four luxury penthouses in downtown Manhattan. The market was strong and the product, which included condos at 56 Leonard, was top tier. But when he sold two of his properties in 2019, he took an almost 16 percent loss, according to the Wall Street Journal — from $53 million down to $44.6 million. In an overstocked luxury market

More VIPs join TRD’s exclusive prop-tech retreat

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 10:00 AM PST

As the new decade gears up, most VIPs are rolling in for TRD’s Future City 2020. We’re excited to announce new attendees including tech CEOs, mega landlords, developers, and titans of brokerage. Future City’s square footage keeps growing, with new developers joining daily. A few recent additions include: Major landlord Doug Eisenberg, who owns over 17,000 apartments through A&E Real Estate Holdings; David Schwartz, principal partner at Slate Property Group, whose development projects are collectively

Nightingale partnership closes on $175M purchase of 111 Wall

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST

UPDATED, Jan. 16, 2:16 p.m.: A partnership between investor Nightingale Group, and Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund Wafra has closed on its $175 million purchase of 111 Wall Street. The buyers bought the building from Zurich Insurance, and their leasehold on it will last for 49 years, according to Crain’s. The owners landed a $110 million acquisition loan from SL Green. The property spans about 1 million square feet, and the Korein family owns the land

Hilton unveils new brand, with a hand from Arianna Huffington

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 08:16 AM PST

Hilton is striving for balance, or at least a better night’s sleep. The hospitality giant is starting the new decade by tapping into the wellness craze with yet another new hotel brand geared toward travelers on a budget and a health regime, according to Phil Cordell, Hilton’s global head of new brand development. Dubbed Tempo by Hilton, it is Hilton’s 18th brand and the fourth launched by the company in the past two years. On

BNY Mellon faces suit over foreclosures from the housing crash

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 07:00 AM PST

Bank of New York Mellon faces a reckoning from residential foreclosure cases in New York that date back to the subprime mortgage crisis. The bank — along with its debt-collector partners Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing and law firm McCabe, Weisberg & Conway — are accused by a class-action lawsuit of systematically trying to foreclose on mortgages after the state’s six-year statute of limitations had passed. Mark Anderson, an attorney at the Queens-based law firm Shiryak, Bowman,

Trump’s Opportunity Zone program is under investigation

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 06:33 AM PST

The Treasury Department is investigating a federal tax break that was designed to help low-income communities, but has proved to be a windfall for the rich. The inquiry into Trump’s Opportunity Zone program was instigated after three Democratic lawmakers — Sen. Cory Booker, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II and Rep. Ron Kind — called for it. The request followed probes by the New York Times and ProPublica, which raised questions about who was benefiting from the

Foreclosures nationwide fell to 15-year low in 2019

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 06:00 AM PST

Vulture funds and homebuyers seeking distressed properties at bargain-basement prices may have to keep waiting. Last year saw the fewest foreclosure filings since at least 2005, according to a newly released report. Overall, foreclosure property filings in the U.S. dropped to 493,066 in 2019, down 21 percent from 2018, according to the report from Attom Data Solutions. Meanwhile, lenders repossessed just 143,955 properties through foreclosure in 2019, down 37 percent from 2018. The data from

The Macklowe’s massive art collection nears auction

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 05:36 AM PST

In Harry and Linda Macklowe’s famously bitter divorce, a new battle is playing out. Auction houses Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips have all been invited to submit pitches to determine who will sell the couple’s valuable art collection, after a judge in their divorce proceedings ordered it be liquidated. It is unclear exactly when the auction will be held. However, a fresh round of major auctions is reportedly slated for May. “It will be a fun

Bronx councilman snuffs out another de Blasio rezoning

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 05:00 AM PST

The losses keep piling up for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s rezoning plans. Bronx Council member Rafael Salamanca announced Wednesday that he will oppose the planned Southern Boulevard rezoning in the South Bronx in an op-ed published in City Limits. Without his go-ahead, the plan will almost certainly be withdrawn, as he has de facto veto power over zoning changes in his district. Salamanca, who chairs the City Council’s Land Use Committee, wrote that he has

Gearing up for REBNY’s 2020 gala in a tough political climate

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 04:30 AM PST

The Real Estate Board of New York’s glitzy annual banquet has always been more than just the highlight of the industry’s social calendar. It’s also an important networking opportunity where industry honchos can rub shoulders with elected officials. But attendees at the 124th “Liar’s Ball” may have to strain to put on a brave face as they press the flesh with the politicians who show up at the Jan. 16 confab, as it caps off

Mayor’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing is failing: report

Posted: 16 Jan 2020 04:00 AM PST

Stalled rezonings aren’t the only problems plaguing the de Blasio administration’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. According to a new report, MIH is also concentrating affordable housing in low-income areas and is “deeply subsidized.” The report, by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, says the 2016 initiative is failing to execute its strategy to provide a zoning bonus that covers the cost of mandated affordable housing. Authored by Eric Kober, who worked for decades at