The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Five days to reopen: Is Manhattan ready?

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 03:55 PM PDT

Three months ago, Manhattan’s prime corridors were packed with shoppers, tourists and passersby. Covid-19 changed all that — and then came looters. On Wednesday afternoon, those same streets were largely empty with the exception of workers boarding up shop windows. Looting, vandalism and violence broke out across the city amid protests over the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Iconic stores, including Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue and Macy’s at

Is it The End for AMC Theaters?

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 02:40 PM PDT

As moviegoers continue to Netflix and chill during the pandemic, movie theaters have been dark. Now, AMC Theaters has disclosed it may have trouble staying in business, according to the New York Times, citing a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing. AMC is the largest theater company in the world, with over 600 locations in the U.S. and 1,000 total. But the coronavirus sent movie theaters into a tailspin, forced to close their doors in

Join LA’s luxury luminaries for an all-star event June 11

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 02:00 PM PDT

TRD Associate Publisher Hiten Samtani will host an all-star panel of top L.A luxury residential agents on June 11. He will be in conversation with Jade Mills of Coldwell Banker Global Luxury, Rayni Williams of the Williams & Williams Estate Group at Hilton & Hyland, Stephen Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency and Josh Flagg of Rodeo Realty, who is hosting the talk at his Beverly Hills residence. Collectively, these top agents have sold billions of

US hotel occupancy climbs for the seventh-straight week

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 01:05 PM PDT

U.S. hotel fundamentals climbed for the seventh week in a row as the country comes out of the depths of the coronavirus pandemic. National occupancy for the last week of May was 36.6 percent, up from 35.4 percent the week prior, according to the latest figures from hotel data firm STR. Occupancy rates were below 30 percent for all of April. Revenue per available room, a measure of income and a key metric for performance,

Threatened by tech, agents turn to app

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 12:45 PM PDT

Agents are trying to take back the power as virtual tours and contact-less showings threaten to displace them. Front and center is Julia Spillman, Douglas Elliman broker and CEO of the Eklund-Gomes Team, who is leading an effort to develop an app that she said would put agents “back into the driver’s seat.” Spillman said that as the pandemic shut down the residential brokerage business she became “really nervous” as agents and consumers began using

Sapir Corp goes private as shareholders approve buyout

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 11:55 AM PDT

Sapir Corp.’s Israeli shareholders have approved Alex Sapir’s proposal to take his real estate investment firm private — at a somewhat higher price than originally planned. The deal is a victory for the company’s namesake, after his attempt three years ago failed. Holders of a little less than 10 percent of the company’s outstanding shares accepted Alex Sapir’s proposal to buy them out at 3.8 shekels a share, according to a Wednesday announcement. Those shares,

Robert Reffkin recounts instances of racism

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 10:45 AM PDT

UPDATED: June 3, 2:35 p.m.: As a young man in New York, Robert Reffkin was stopped by police who left his white friends alone. He watched taxis pass him by “hundreds of times.” And when he started working, at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, he often felt isolated as the only black man in a sea of white faces. Compass’ chief executive shared his experience at Inman Connect Wednesday, as Americans protested racism and police brutality

Owners of LIC’s “Lake Vernon” notch win in tug-of-war with Durst

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 09:35 AM PDT

Investors behind part of a planned 12 million-square-foot development on the Long Island City waterfront are claiming victory in a decade-long fight for control of the site. The group led by Bruce Teitelbaum that owns the “Lake Vernon” site near the Anable Basin won a favorable ruling last week in their foreclosure case with the Durst family. The Durst Organization holds the mortgage on the site, 44-02 Vernon Boulevard, and filed to foreclose in 2009.

Chicago reopens for business but remains under curfew

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 09:15 AM PDT

Chicago has begun reopening businesses after the coronavirus lockdown, but remains under a 9 p.m. curfew following the George Floyd protests that broke off into bursts of looting across the city. Mayor Lori Lightfoot decided to keep her June 3 “Cautiously Reopen” date, and now real estate services, offices, retail shops and hotels can operate at reduced capacities, according to the Chicago Tribune. The timeline was an open question after widespread looting damaged scores of

WeWork rethinking one in five leases

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 08:15 AM PDT

WeWork may exit or rethink one in five of its leases as the troubled co-working firm slashes expenses and chases profitability. In a call with Citigroup analysts last month, CEO Sandeep Mathrani detailed the steps WeWork is taking to review its global portfolio, which had 828 locations as of March. According to the Financial Times, the troubled co-working firm has tapped Knight Frank to help restructure its leases in the United Kingdom. “If I look

Retail sales are bleak, unless you’re selling pot

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 07:55 AM PDT

Though many retailers saw sales nosedive through the pandemic, marijuana product sales remained steady — and even saw gains in some states. As a result, landlords of cannabis production facilities and dispensaries are outperforming the market, in spite of legislative hurdles at the federal level, the Wall Street Journal reported. Innovative Industrial Properties’ shares are up 54 percent since mid-March as the pandemic hit the country. The real estate investment trust bested the FTSE Nareit

Maybe this time? Catsimatidis ponders another run for mayor

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 06:45 AM PDT

Billionaire grocer and developer John Catsimatidis is again mulling another mayoral campaign. The founder of the Red Apple Group is creating an exploratory committee for a bid in the 2021 race, the New York Post reported. Catsimatidis ran for mayor in 2013 and lost in the Republican primary to Joseph Lhota, former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani. Lhota then lost the general election to Bill de Blasio. Catsimatidis

Looting continues but ebbs on second night of curfew

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 06:00 AM PDT

With a tightened curfew and limits on vehicular traffic to Manhattan, violence and looting appeared to calm on Tuesday night. Some properties, including the Gap store in Greenwich Village and a Foot Locker near Washington Square Park, were damaged, and looters hit Zara and Verizon stores downtown, the New York Times reported. Property damage appeared to be less extensive than Monday night, when shops in Soho, in Midtown and on Fordham Road were hit. On

Dan Doctoroff, Alicia Glen hold court on bringing NYC back

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 05:30 AM PDT

When there’s a housing crisis, a pandemic and stores are boarding up, your first two calls might be to Dan Doctoroff and Alicia Glen. Ours were. The two former deputy mayors for economic development will appear on the next TRD Talk Live, today at 5 p.m. Register here. Glen and Doctoroff will discuss reopening and recovery strategies, the battle between central business districts and work-from-home, the future of housing affordability and density, and what big

Design experts: These office solutions will slow Covid’s spread

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 05:00 AM PDT

With businesses beginning to reopen following a decline in Covid-19 cases, restrictions on the use of shared spaces will remain necessary to limit spread of the coronavirus. But they will also have to evolve as our knowledge of the virus does, design experts say. Common-sense practices and good design can help restore activity to public spaces, whether that’s entering a building, getting through airport security or returning to an office, three professionals said in a

Inside the battle for an Iranian princess’ Midtown mansion

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 04:30 AM PDT

Controlling an estimated $700 million fortune, Princess Ashraf Pahlavi fled Iran in 1978, less than a year before the fall of her twin brother the shah. The princess, who many considered the brains behind her brother’s power, spent the rest of her long life in lavish exile, with luxury properties in the United States and France. More than 40 years after the Iranian Revolution forced her out and four years after her death, a battle

Mortgage applications to buy homes now higher than a year ago

Posted: 03 Jun 2020 04:00 AM PDT

The number of prospective homebuyers rose again in the final week of May and is now higher than it was a year ago. An index tracking the weekly volume of mortgage applications to buy homes increased 5 percent last week, seasonally adjusted, and was 18 percent above its level during the same period in 2019. It also marked the seventh week running that the Mortgage Bankers Association metric jumped, though in prior weeks the increases