The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

“The biggest week of the year”: Miami luxury brokers eye potential buyers in town for Super Bowl

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 03:00 PM PST

The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers aren’t the only ones hoping to score a big win this weekend in South Florida. As Super Bowl LIV ticket holders descend on Miami this week, ahead of the big game, luxury residential brokers and agents are holding open houses, setting up meetings with athletes and wealthy attendees, hosting events, and rolling out targeted social media campaigns. Mark Zilbert of Brown Harris Stevens Miami calls it

Hedge funder Kenneth Tropin is buyer of Meryl Streep’s Tribeca pad

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:27 PM PST

The buyer of actress Meryl Streep’s Tribeca penthouse is hedge funder Kenneth Tropin, public records show. Through a limited liability company, Tropin paid $15.8 million for the penthouse at the River Loft condominium, located at 92 Laight Street. Tropin is founder and chairman of Connecticut-based Graham Capital Management, a hedge fund manager that also has offices in West Palm Beach and London. A message left for Tropin at his firm was not immediately returned. The

The youth are fueling Sam Zell’s outdoor home rental business

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 12:30 PM PST

Younger generations are boosting the bottom line for Sam Zell’s #vanlife business. To date, baby boomers have been the core customer base for Equity Lifestyle Properties, Zell’s Chicago-based real estate investment trust for RV parks, mobile and manufactured multifamily homes. But that’s changing. “Over the past five years, there has been a steady increase in Gen X and Millennial campers,” Equity Lifestyle Properties president and CEO Marguerite Nader said Tuesday during the company’s fourth quarter

Amazon inks massive lease for Staten Island warehouse

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 12:10 PM PST

Amazon is upping its presence in Staten Island. The company has leased a warehouse spanning 450,000 square feet next to the 855,000-square-foot distribution center it opened on the West Shore in 2017, according to Crain’s. The warehouses are part of the industrial hub by the Bayonne Bridge that Matrix Development Group is building called Matrix Global Logistics Park. The distribution center focuses on storing and sorting goods, while the new warehouse will focus on last-mile

Luxury market checks off another disappointing week of sales

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 12:00 PM PST

New year, new market? Not quite, according to the latest luxury report from Olshan Realty, which showed another disappointing week of contract signings for properties above $4 million last week. The 15 signings, totalling $93.6 million, comprised 11 condos, two co-ops and two townhouses, the report said. Overall, there were 49 contracts signed in the last four weeks, up from 48 last year but a huge drop from 87 in 2015. Donna Olshan, who authors

Connecticut developer charged with killing wife is rushed to hospital after apparent suicide attempt

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 11:15 AM PST

The Connecticut developer accused of murdering his estranged wife was rushed to the hospital Tuesday afternoon after an apparent suicide attempt. Citing an official familiar with the case, the New York Times initially reported that the 52-year-old Fotis Dulos, who was charged earlier this month with murdering his wife Jennifer, had died Tuesday. But Dulos’ lawyer, Norm Pattis, said to the Hartford Courant that Dulos was rushed to the hospital with a pulse. Authorities believe

Hotel owner says competition, not union deal, led to closure

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 10:55 AM PST

Earlier this month Blakely Hotel employees ratified their first union contract. A week later the hotel’s owner told them he was shutting the place down. But there is no labor war at the Blakely, both the owner and Hotel Workers Union say. (In fact, they are talking about how some of the union jobs can be saved.) Rather, the decision to close after 20 years reflects the challenges facing the hotel industry as competition intensifies

Sapir Org inks big renewal with law firm at 260 Madison

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 09:15 AM PST

A 122-year-old law firm is set to get some brand-new office space, after renewing its lease at the Sapir Organization’s 260 Madison Avenue for 12 more years. McLaughlin & Stern has inked a 112,000-square-foot renewal for its headquarters at the building, which spans floors 15 to 22, the landlord announced. Sapir will begin renovations immediately while allowing the tenant to continue day to day operations. Upgrades include new elevator landings as well as a complete

Real estate tech company RealPage hit by $10.5M hack

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:20 AM PST

Texas-based property management software provider RealPage was the target of hackers who stole $10.5 million from the company’s accounts, according to local media. The hackers obtained the login information for one of the RealPage’s employees, which gave them access to its online financial accounts. The stolen funds were then laundered through a network of “mule” accounts across the country, and transferred to a Nigerian account in at least one case. “The investigation to date has

Corcoran, Citi Habitats to merge

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 07:30 AM PST

UPDATED: January 28, 11:20 a.m.: After operating as “sister” companies for nearly two decades, the Corcoran Group and Citi Habitats are merging under the Corcoran banner to better compete in an increasingly cutthroat brokerage business. The deal, announced Tuesday, will boost the company’s standing as one of the biggest firms in New York City with a combined 2,420 agents responsible for $7 billion in annual sales and 22,000 rental transactions last year. “There’s no company

Global housing markets are syncing up — and slowing down

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:50 AM PST

Residential investment in 18 large economies posted year-over-year declines for four straight quarters through last September (Credit: Unsplash, iStock) The global economy grew at its slowest rate since the financial crisis last year. A big part of the slowdown came from cooling housing markets around the world, which have increasingly started moving in sync. Residential investment in 18 large economies posted year-over-year declines for four straight quarters through last September, the Wall Street Journal reported

Spotted Pig shuts down following sexual harassment settlement

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:00 AM PST

Iconic gastro pub the Spotted Pig is no longer in business. The closure comes less than a month after owner Ken Friedman agreed to settle sexual harassment claims with the New York state attorney general — in a deal that included a share of the restaurant’s future profits. While it is unclear how the restaurant’s closing will impact the profit-sharing arrangement, the 11 former employees involved in the settlement will still be entitled to a

Trump’s LA golf club accused of violating workers’ rights

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 05:30 AM PST

Four employees at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles have filed a lawsuit alleging they were forced to work overtime without pay and were denied rest and food breaks. The suit against VH Property Corp. — a holding company connected to the Trump Organization — accuses the golf club in Rancho Palos Verdes of violating California Labor Code. The four waitresses who filed the suit are seeking to recover wages that were withheld along with

Audacious ask at 220 Central Park South tops priciest listings

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 05:00 AM PST

A giant loft and a lofty ask for a resale at 220 Central Park South were the highlights of New York City’s priciest listings last week. The five priciest properties to hit the market last week had asking prices from nearly $12 million to $36 million. Combined, they totaled about $96 million — a drop from last week’s whopping combined listing value of $156.4 million. Here’s a look at the five most expensive properties that

Managing the rent law aftershocks

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 04:30 AM PST

Soon after Albany passed its overhaul of the state’s rent law in June, real estate firms with big rent-stabilized holdings took a major hit. Months earlier, David Bistricer’s real estate investment trust Clipper Equity, which owns more than 3,000 regulated units in the city, had presented an ambitious deregulation plan to investors. The firm was aiming to bring its seven-building Flatbush Gardens — which represented 38 percent of the landlord’s holdings at the time —

Faith Hope Consolo’s secret family probes her will

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 04:00 AM PST

As friends and associates of Faith Hope Consolo come to terms with revelations that the late broker fabricated details of her upbringing, her real-life relatives have some questions of their own. A probe of her will has been initiated by two sons of the father that New York’s self-described “queen of retail” hid from her New York world until her death in December 2018. Mark Consolo, 52, a police chief who lives in Fairfield County,