The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

PHOTOS: Inside Zaha Hadid’s Miami tower

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 02:30 PM PST

The developers of One Thousand Museum, the first and last residential building designed by starchitect Zaha Hadid in the western hemisphere, unveiled photos of the tower. Since the 62-story, 84-unit tower in downtown Miami was completed last summer, roughly 50 units have sold, revealing a roster of buyers that includes a nursing home magnate, investors from the Czech Republic, and the owner of one of the largest Greek food importers in North America. Developers Louis

Lawsuits, liens pile up for developer of stalled Chelsea project

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 02:00 PM PST

After entering the New York market with a bang in 2013, Italy-based construction firm Impresa Pizzarotti has become entangled in lawsuits with developers and contractors on various projects in the city. And now, a project where Pizzarotti USA itself is the developer appears to be in trouble. Construction on Pizzarotti’s 25-unit luxury condo project at 251 West 14th Street in Chelsea has apparently stalled, New York YIMBY first reported. And court documents show the property

Jim Whelan talks “playing defense”

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 01:10 PM PST

Jim Whelan became the face of the Real Estate Board of New York at an especially brutal time for the industry. He took over for John Banks just a month after the state passed a sweeping new rent law that affected nearly 1 million apartments. But Whelan was no newcomer to the game: Since 2010, he worked behind the scenes as REBNY’s chief government strategist. And at his first REBNY gala as president, he chatted

REBNY vs. StreetEasy: The fight for listings in Gotham

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 12:20 PM PST

In December, attorneys for the Real Estate Board of New York wrote an angry letter to New York State regulators accusing StreetEasy of using “brazen tactics” to steer consumers to agents who advertise on the site. A proposed state rule would ban the practice, but it has not yet taken effect… REBNY claimed that StreetEasy’s Premier Agent platform “falls woefully short” of pending standards that would require third-party websites to clearly credit listing agents. “Consumers

One57 condo with reduced ask tops a slow week of luxury contracts

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 11:36 AM PST

Luxury contract signings in Manhattan were up last week, but it’s a little too early to celebrate. Fifteen contracts above $4 million were signed between January 13 and 19, according to the Olshan Luxury Market Report. That was four more than the previous week, but signings overall have been sluggish in 2020, with the first two weeks of January marking the worst start to the year in seven years. The figures suggest a continuation of

Priciest homes listed last week include $60M pad at Crown Building

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 10:45 AM PST

A frosty January isn’t cooling the ambitions of these sellers. Combined, the top five homes listed last week in New York City totaled $156.4 million — and that doesn’t include a creative co-exclusive listing for one of the apartments. The total dwarfs the previous week’s top listings’ value by more than $36 million. The rising ceiling of asking prices comes despite the final quarter of 2019 logging a nearly 40 percent drop year-over-year in sales

The Closing: Owen Thomas

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 10:05 AM PST

Owen Thomas has served as CEO of Boston Properties since April 2013, when the firm’s famed co-founder Mort Zuckerman tapped him as his successor. Thomas was seen as a surprise pick for the role, as he came to the real estate investment trust from the world of finance — after almost 25 years at Morgan Stanley and about a year as chair of Lehman Brothers Holdings at the height of the financial crisis. Since taking

Trouble in the land of OZK: Why NYC’s most important construction lender may be on shaky ground

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 08:30 AM PST

As Bank of the Ozarks’ private jet lifted off from Little Rock, Arkansas, Dan Thomas geared up for another day of dealmaking. As vice chair of the bank, he oversaw one of the country’s largest construction lending operations and had become a financial messiah for major condo developers in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. Seated shoulder to shoulder with him that morning was his boss, George Gleason. Over 14 years, the duo had built

Upper West Side bookstore closes amid accusations of fraud

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 07:45 AM PST

An Upper West Side bookstore that opened to fanfare and enthusiasm in 2014 has closed amid fraud allegations and a rent dispute. Book Culture opened a branch by Columbus Avenue and West 81st Street about six years ago and did $4 million in sales in 2018, — $1 million more than principal owner Chris Doeblin initially said was necessary for the store to succeed, according to the Daily News. However, things started to go south

A $119B seawall still might not protect Manhattan, critics say

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 07:05 AM PST

New York could get a $119 billion sea wall to help defend the city from future Sandy-like storms, but the tentative plan has already attracted fierce opposition and criticism. The barrier is the largest of five options the Army Corps of Engineers is studying to protect the city, according to the New York Times. Supporters say a barrier miles from the Manhattan coastline is the best solution for maintaining New Yorkers’ access to their waterfront

Market value of NYC real estate went up at slowest rate in years

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 06:15 AM PST

Market values of New York homes, apartment buildings and commercial space are rising at their slowest pace in six years. The properties rose in value by 3.6 percent overall, while commercial property values rose by 2.4 percent, and hotel values went up by less than 1 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing data from a new assessment roll released last week. The total market value of all properties in New York City was

Preservationists want the Frick to buy Epstein’s old mansion

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 05:40 AM PST

Could Jeffrey Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion soon become a museum? That’s the goal of art preservationist groups including Save the Frick and Stop Irresponsible Frick Development, according to the New York Daily News. The groups have spent years fighting against the Frick Collection’s proposed expansion plan, which includes gutting the museum’s current music room to make space for a bigger exhibition area. Architect and preservationist Theodore Grunewald, who runs Save the Frick, maintains that

Another Brad Zackson deal tops NY’s mid-market investment sales

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 05:00 AM PST

Another deal from Dynamic Star–led by Brad Zackson, Gary Segal and Penny Lee–for its Fordham Landing project leads The Real Deal’s latest roundup of mid-market investment sales. Other deals included a commercial building in Clinton Hill and a medical office building in Hudson Heights. Here are the details: Dynamic Star closed on an 11-acre waterfront parcel in the Bronx, which it bought from CSX Real Estate for $31.75 million. The land is addressed at 2475

Where are they now? Real estate figures who seem to have vanished

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 04:30 AM PST

Real estate is a famously fickle industry. Today’s good investment can become tomorrow’s cautionary tale in the blink of an eye, and a career in the business is rarely a straightforward climb up the corporate ladder. Kent Swig of Terra Holdings went from real estate royalty to an industry pariah after a series of defaults, development dramas and a very messy divorce in the late 2000s. More recently, Bellmarc Realty co-founder Neil Binder inked a

Abandoned building earns millions in rent: The curious case of 600 Broadway

Posted: 20 Jan 2020 04:00 AM PST

Less than a year after the Hollister flagship store at 600 Broadway in Soho shut down, the posters announcing the closure are covered in graffiti. On the other side of the through-block property, ripped signs on the windows tout the upcoming launch of a TruFusion fitness studio — in fall 2018. And a 24-Hour Fitness sign declares: “The city never sleeps. Neither do we.” In reality, the gym shut out the lights in 2018. In