The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Trump financial regulator quietly shelved discrimination probes into Bank of America and other lenders

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 03:00 PM PDT

This story was originally published by ProPublica. This story was co-published with The Capitol Forum. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. In the spring of 2018, bank regulators trained to spot discriminatory lending detected something alarming at Bank of America. The bank was offering fewer loans to minority homebuyers in Philadelphia than to white people in a way

Reclose the economy: Newsom shuts down malls, restaurant dine-in

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 02:41 PM PDT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is reclosing part of the state’s economy as reported coronavirus cases surge. The governor announced at a news conference Monday that he was not turning off the economy but putting on a “dimmer switch” including banning dine-in at restaurants and other indoor activities at wineries, movie theaters, zoos, museums, and card rooms. Also, all California bars that had reopened are, once again, ordered closed. The governor’s executive action additionally locks down

Extell pushes forward plans for UWS condo with new partner

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 02:30 PM PDT

Extell Development is bringing on a new partner for its 775-foot Upper West Side condo tower, which caught heat from the city and local residents last year. The Gary Barnett-led firm announced Monday that it has teamed up with Tennor Holding B.V., a global investment firm that invests in public and private companies across a range of industries, to co-develop the project at 50 West 66th Street. The Snøhetta-designed building will feature 127 units over

TRD Insights: Home loan forbearance rates fall for fourth week

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 02:00 PM PDT

Mortgages in forbearance fell for the fourth consecutive week as many Americans returned to work after being furloughed or laid off. Home loans in forbearance made up 8.18 percent of servicers’ portfolios for the week ending July 5, according to figures released Monday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. That’s down from 8.39 percent for the week ending June 28 and from 8.47 percent for the week prior. Roughly 4.1 million homeowners are now in forbearance

Supermarket signals demise as Target eyes Astoria

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 01:30 PM PDT

It wasn’t the pandemic, for once. An Astoria Key Food has told the state it will lay off all 151 of its employees and shut its doors this October. Rather than the coronavirus, a proposed redevelopment of the Queens site led to a breakdown in lease negotiations between Man-Dell Food Stores and landlord Jenel Management. Jenel reportedly plans to raze the two-story building at 22-15 31st Street and replace it with a three-story structure that

Industrious taps banker Osei Van Horne to round out its board

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 01:10 PM PDT

Flex-office startup Industrious is beefing up its board, the company’s latest step toward a potential public offering. The New York-based startup said it added Osei Van Horne, a managing director at Wells Fargo, as its first Black board member. Van Horne, an alum of Goldman Sachs, co-founded Wells Fargo’s Strategic Capital Technology Division, which invests in high-growth tech companies. Its proptech portfolio includes Industrious, Reonomy and Clutter, a storage startup, among others. In May, Industrious

Yes in God’s Backyard: How building affordable housing could be a lifeline for churches

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 12:15 PM PDT

Churches, whose already declining attendance plummeted during the pandemic, are now looking to development for extra cash. Places of worship are offering up their excess land to developers, Bloomberg reported. The prospect is a particular draw for institutions looking to combat homelessness. Before the coronavirus hit, more than 550,000 people were homeless in the U.S., according to the outlet. Religious institutions are among the biggest landowners in the country, with UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for

Brooklyn’s back: Luxury contract volume hits four-month high

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 11:30 AM PDT

Almost $30 million worth of luxury residential property went into contract last week in Brooklyn. There were 11 homes — six townhouses, three condos and two co-ops — that found buyers last week, according to Compass’ weekly market report. It marked the strongest week in terms of contract volume since the week of March 9, before the city began to shut down to slow the spread of Covid-19. The week of March 9 saw 15

Facing jail time, Lori Loughlin sells Bel Air manse at huge discount

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 11:00 AM PDT

Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli are parting with their 12,000-square-foot Bel Air mansion at a steep discount, ahead of the couple’s sentencing for their admitted part in the college admissions scandal. The mansion hit the market for $28.7 million in January, but a source told Variety that the former “Full House” star and Giannulli accepted an $18 million offer from Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen. Giannulli is reportedly a prolific real estate investor in the Los

TradeOff settles sexual harassment claims for $1.5M

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 10:45 AM PDT

During her two years at TradeOff Construction Services, Javashia Johnson was moved from site to site after complaining that supervisors touched her inappropriately and repeatedly pressured her for sex. Ultimately, she was fired. Nearly two years after Johnson made these claims in a federal lawsuit, TradeOff has settled sexual-harassment and other claims brought by her and 17 other employees who worked for the Lynbrook-based firm. Johnson’s case had been continued by her family after she

260-acre Hillandale estate returns to market asking $49M

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 10:15 AM PDT

A 260-acre Hillandale estate — complete with private lakes, a hedge maze and land in New York and Connecticut — is on the market asking $49.5 million. That’s a far cry from the $95 million the property was asking when it first came to market in 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported. Charlene Haroche — the wife of the late Gilbert Haroche, co-founder of Liberty Travel — said she is listing the property because she

TRD Insights: Data shows rate Blacks are denied mortgages in 50 US metros

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 09:30 AM PDT

Hurdles facing Black American homebuyers and homeowners come in many forms, from steering and redlining to systemic undervaluation of properties. One of the biggest challenges involves the financing of homes. Black mortgage applicants are twice as likely as whites to be denied, for both home purchase and refinance mortgages. A new study from online loan marketplace LendingTree examines how these disparities differ in different parts of the country. The report looks at the Federal Financial

Thor clips The Wing for overdue rent

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 08:15 AM PDT

Thor Equities is suing The Wing for late rent at its Bryant Park office. Joe Sitt’s firm is seeking $270,000 in rent and other charges, which the women-focused co-working company has allegedly failed to pay since March, Commercial Observer reported. The Wing, once owned by WeWork, secured its fourth location last year, signing a 10-year lease last year for 12,000 square feet on the 11th floor of Thor’s 25 West 39th Street. The complaint marks

Danny Meyer’s USHG got $11M+ in PPP cash

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 07:00 AM PDT

New York food magnate Danny Meyer has had an on-again, off-again relationship with PPP loans. Now it’s on again — to the tune of $11 million. Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, which includes 18 privately owned restaurants and cafes, took in a combined loan amount of between $11.4 million and $27 million from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, according to Bloomberg. That comes just a few months after Meyer’s Shake Shack reportedly returned

WeWork on track for profitability by end of 2021, says chairman

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 06:20 AM PDT

WeWork’s business model may have been called into question by the coronavirus pandemic, but its executive chairman says the company is now near profitability. The flexible-office startup, founded in 2010, is now on track for positive cash flows by the end of 2021, Marcelo Claure told the Financial Times. In fact, Claure said the pandemic has sent the firm’s demand for private spaces “through the roof.” Mastercard, TikTok-owner ByteDance, Microsoft and Citigroup have recently signed

Construction firm settles allegations of sexual harassment

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 05:30 AM PDT

Nearly three years after accusations surfaced against TradeOff Construction Services, the firm has agreed to settle sexual-harassment and other claims brought by former employees. According to court filings made public last week, New York Attorney General Letitia James reached a global settlement with women who claimed they were sexually harassed while working on some of TradeOff’s sites, including Related Companies’ 55 Hudson Yards. Details of the agreement were not disclosed. The settlement culminates years’ worth

TRD Insights: Real estate’s most prolific PPP banks

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 05:00 AM PDT

Banks are fattening their wallets with fees for processing Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program loans to U.S. companies. Here’s a breakdown of the banks that stand to earn the most from real estate PPP loans, according to TRD Insights’ analysis of data released Monday. Which Lenders Delivered the Most SBA Cash to Real Estate? East West Bank, founded in 1973 to provide financial services to the Chinese-American community, delivered the largest volume of SBA

NYC i-sales slashed in half by coronavirus

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 04:30 AM PDT

New York’s first-half investment sales numbers are in and they’re not pretty. Sales volume from January through June totaled $9.65 billion — a decline of 45 percent compared to the second half of 2019, according to a new report by Ariel Property Advisors. Manhattan suffered the biggest dollar dip. It saw $5.6 billion in transactions in the first half of 2020, a 41 percent drop from the previous six months. The number of transactions across

These were the largest Manhattan real estate loans in June

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 04:00 AM PDT

The 10 largest Manhattan loans recorded in June totaled $1.32 billion, slightly below May’s total. The coronavirus pandemic has continued to put a damper on deal making, and the largest loan of the month was in fact a replacement for a prior deal that had been scrapped due to the virus — SL Green’s planned $815 million sale of the Daily News building to Jacob Chetrit. Here are the borough’s largest real estate loans for