The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Blackstone eyes new 1M sf NYC headquarters

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 03:50 PM PDT

The Blackstone Group is mulling options for a new headquarters in New York City as large as 1 million square feet, sources told The Real Deal. The investment giant’s current leases in the Plaza District expire in several years. Blackstone, headed by CEO Stephen Schwarzman and president Jon Gray, has asked a handful landlords to submit proposals for a new headquarters in Midtown and the Far West Side. Among the sites under consideration is a

Javits worker: I reported discrimination — and was fired

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 03:40 PM PDT

Co-workers targeted a Black carpenter after he complained about racial discrimination at his Javits Convention Center jobsite, according to a new lawsuit. Edward Saunders alleges that his colleagues threatened him, vandalized his car and tried to strike him with construction equipment — and then he was fired. Saunders is suing the New York City District Council of Carpenters and the Javits Center, claiming that he was fired in April 2018 after reporting “racially discriminatory conduct.”

Bar Works Ponzi schemer sentenced to prison

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 03:19 PM PDT

The first prison sentence has been handed down in connection with the Bar Works co-working Ponzi scheme, with more set to come later this year. British national Savraj Gata-Aura was sentenced to 4 years in federal prison on Tuesday for his involvement in the scheme. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York made the announcement, Crain’s reported. Gata-Aura lured hundreds of victims “to invest approximately $40 million into a massive

Unibail-Rodamco sees 15% decline in US mall rents after offering deferrals

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 03:02 PM PDT

While operations at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s European holdings are returning to normal, the retail giant’s U.S. holdings are contending with different reopening — and in some cases re-closing — timelines. Some of the landlord’s European malls have already been back open for 12 weeks, with foot traffic recovering to nearly 90 percent of pre-coronavirus levels. Meanwhile, concerns about a second wave of infections and protests after the killing of George Floyd have contributed to a “particularly hectic”

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential sees profits drop 15%

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 01:08 PM PDT

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential has tried to maintain occupancy rates since the pandemic swept the nation, but despite efforts, the company’s year-over-year net income declined by 15 percent in the second quarter. On a Wednesday earnings call, the real estate investment trust’s CEO Mark Parrell acknowledged the unprecedented climate the rental apartment industry has faced since March, in which renters have lost jobs or fled the hardest-hit urban cores. But in his statement, he emphasized

Dune Real Estate Partners opens LA office for West Coast expansion

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 12:30 PM PDT

Dune Real Estate Partners will open its first Los Angeles office, and the investment firm has set an ambitious goal for its West Coast expansion. The New York-based company hired Aaron Greeno to build out the business, and set up a team of three to five people, according to Pere News. Dune has been operating its West Coast operation out of the New York office, according to the report. Dune said the Western U.S. could

Parkoff picks up portfolio previously owned by Donald Trump’s brother

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 11:15 AM PDT

The Parkoff Organization bought three multifamily properties previously owned by President Donald Trump’s brother, Robert. Parkoff purchased the properties, two in south Brooklyn and one in Jamaica Hills, Queens, for $63 million from Ruby Schron’s Cammeby’s International Group, PincusCo reported. The buildings traded for more than twice what they did 15 years ago, when Cammeby’s purchased them for $30.7 million from Robert Trump. In total, the properties — at 162-15 Highland Avenue, 8700 25th Avenue

Major retailers are squatting on prime real estate

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 10:31 AM PDT

A Nasdaq-listed squatter? Ann Taylor parent company Ascena Retail Group is among a handful of retailers that refuse to vacate stores after breaking their leases. That’s causing some major headaches for landlord Boston Properties. “As long as these tenants refuse to relinquish possession, we have no ability to re-let their space. And we are showing it as occupied and expiring,” Boston Properties president Doug Linde said on the company’s second-quarter earnings call Wednesday morning. Linde

NYC’s biggest multifamily lender says rent collections are holding steady

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 10:05 AM PDT

New York City’s biggest multifamily lender said today that rent collections in its $31.6 billion multifamily portfolio have remained strong. During New York Community Bank’s second quarter earnings call, executives reported that multifamily rent collections have been 85 to 90 percent of normal levels. The bank also reported a slight increase in net income, up 5 percent from the first quarter of 2020 to $105.3 million. NYCB was one of the first lenders to craft

WeWork hires help to fill vast empty spaces from NYC to LA

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 09:45 AM PDT

WeWork has hired JLL and CBRE to help fill millions of square feet now vacant, in New York City and Los Angeles, as the co-working giant continues to get pummeled by the effects of the coronavirus. The company is also shopping for brokerages to help lease spaces in Miami, Boston and Seattle, according to Business Insider. JLL is marketing WeWork spaces at seven buildings in Manhattan and a WeWork spokesperson said the company plans to

Broker accuses SL Green of stiffing her on $1.4M commission

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 09:15 AM PDT

Broker Lori Shabtai claims SL Green shafted her on a $1.4 million commission, instead offering her an “insulting ‘tip’ of $100,000.” The broker filed a lawsuit detailing the allegations against the big commercial landlord, Crain’s reported. Shabtai claims she is due the commission from two deals she brokered in 2018 for SL Green at 710 and 712 Madison Avenue with jeweler Graff, a tenant at 710 Madison. Graff bought 710 Madison for $66.5 million and

Chelsea and Bronx purchases power mid-market i-sales

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 08:37 AM PDT

New York City investment sales between $10 million and $30 million matched the previous week’s count with four, including two in Manhattan and one each in the Bronx and Queens. Among the buyers during the week of July 20 were commercial condo developers, a charter school and a law firm. 1. Developer Anbau purchased adjacent properties in Chelsea at 428 and 432 West 19th Street with a combined lot area of 6,900 square feet, paying

Parent of Quicken Loans, Rocket Mortgage seeks $3.3B in IPO

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 08:00 AM PDT

Rocket Companies, the parent company of Quicken Loans and Rocket Mortgage, has set the bar for its upcoming initial public offering. The mortgage giant is targeting a haul of $3.3 billion from its public offering of 150 million shares, Bloomberg reported. The IPO is slated to price on August 5, according to filings cited by the report. Rocket filed for an IPO earlier this month, disclosing an annual profit over the past three years. The

Desperate hotel owners selling at discounts up to 30%

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 07:46 AM PDT

Cash-strapped hotel owners are selling properties at discounts and agreeing to sky-high interest rates with federal aid about to end. The desperate moves are mostly by small or private hotel owners, though some real estate investment trusts are also feeling the pinch, the Wall Street Journal reports. Chicago-based Watermark Lodging Trust sold Hutton Hotel in Nashville for $70 million, despite the property being valued at $90 million to $100 million. The REIT also raised $200

AOC seeks to block Trump’s recent effort to roll back fair housing rule

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 06:46 AM PDT

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is working to defund the Trump administration’s proposed fair housing rules before they even get off the ground. For years, the administration has talked of dismantling an Obama-era rule which President Donald Trump has described as an “effort to abolish the suburbs.” Last week, in what appears to be a bid to win over suburban voters, the president announced that it would finally happen. Ocasio-Cortez is seeking to frustrate the

Mortgage applications fall as fears of second wave rise

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 06:00 AM PDT

Homebuyers are pumping the breaks as mortgage rates, Covid infections and uncertainty rises. An index tracking the weekly volume of applications for loans to buy homes fell 2 percent, seasonally adjusted, in the fourth week of July. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s metric, known as the purchase index, has been up and down throughout July. Until the third week of the month, annual volume compared to the same weeks in 2019 was up for nine consecutive

HNA’s fire sale continues with One57 deal

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 05:30 AM PDT

HNA Group has sold a third condo unit at One57 at a significant loss, the latest in a long-running series of trophy dispositions for the once high-flying Chinese conglomerate. An entity affiliated with the firm sold a 67th-floor unit at Extell Development’s Billionaires’ Row tower for $17.2 million, property records show. That’s a 43 percent loss from the $30 million the company paid for the 4,500-square-foot pad in 2015. HNA grabbed the spotlight with splashy

How will NYC real estate fare without 65 million tourists?

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 05:00 AM PDT

Last year, travel organization Worldstrides organized experiences for 550,000 students and generated $650 million in revenue. But it was forced to issue refunds as the pandemic canceled trips, leaving the largest accredited travel program in the U.S. $768 million in debt. Worldstrides and 22 other affiliates of parent company Lakeland Tours filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy July 21. With the coronavirus cutting off tourism like a tourniquet, the damage is spreading across economies — such

The REInterview: What if Manhattan had four Central Parks’ worth of land to play with?

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 04:30 AM PDT

Land prices in Manhattan are among the highest in the world, and developers have become adept at extracting every possible square foot of value in a supply-choked market. But according to one prominent architect, there’s a lot more land to be had – and a more equitable and interesting New York to be enjoyed – if Manhattan were to say “no mas!” to one interloper: private cars. Vishaan Chakrabarti, founder of Practice for Architecture and

Redfin vowed more support for minority employees, but not everyone believes it will deliver

Posted: 29 Jul 2020 04:00 AM PDT

UPDATED, July 29, 2020, 1:13 p.m.: When Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman blogged about the brokerage’s pledge to fight racism, the move backfired. Some former agents and employees saw his remarks as disingenuous, based on their own experiences at the national firm. “Anybody who actually wants to impact Redfin and its culture for the better, my experience told me you won’t make it very far,” said Sam Tammareddi, who worked as a listings coordinator at Redfin’s