The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Compass lending service sues Nile Niami over Bel Air mansion

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 04:00 PM PDT

Compass is suing spec mansion developer Nile Niami, alleging he failed to repay a $200,000 loan that was meant to help ready a massive Bel Air home for sale. Compass Concierge, which fronts money to homeowners who are listing their properties, alleges its loan agreement on the 28,000-square-foot mansion at 627 Carcassonne Road expired in July. The brokerage, which appears to have loaned Niami the money in late August 2019, filed the suit Friday in

Proptech investors eye second $175M blank-check company

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 03:30 PM PDT

Capitalizing on the SPAC frenzy, real estate investors Joseph Beck and Thomas Hennessy are looking to raise $175 million for a second blank-check company in less than a year. Their new venture — PropTech Investment Corporation II — will look to merge with a real estate tech company with an enterprise value of $500 million or more, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday. Beck and Hennessy, veterans of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, are taking

We Company reverts name back to WeWork

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 02:23 PM PDT

In a throwback to a more innocent time — before anyone knew Adam Neumann packed a cereal box full of marijuana onto his private jet — the WeCompany is changing its name back to WeWork. The move is an attempt to return the company to its office-sharing roots, according to an internal memo cited by Reuters. “We want to be strategic. We want to be innovative. We want to be impactful. We want to be

Hudson’s Bay, Simon Property Group hit with $846M foreclosure lawsuit

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 02:20 PM PDT

Wilmington Trust is suing a joint venture between Simon Property Group and Hudson’s Bay Company for allegedly failing to make mortgage payments. Ten Saks Fifth Avenue and 24 Lord & Taylor locations are named in the lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, the South Florida Business Journal reported. The lawsuit alleges that the borrowers have not made any payments since March. Wilmington, which filed the complaint as part of

Adam Neumann returns with $30M investment in residential startup

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 11:25 AM PDT

Adam Neumann is back. In his first venture since leaving WeWork last year, Neumann is investing $30 million in Alfred Club, Inc., a startup that provides services — such as dog-walking, maintenance requests and rent-processing — in apartment buildings, Bloomberg News reported. Neumann’s family investment office, through an LLC, led the most recent $42 million funding round. Alfred has now garnered nearly $100 million in investments and operates in more than 100,000 apartment units. The

Magna Hospitality emerges as New York’s hotel vulture

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 11:22 AM PDT

A New England private investment firm is quickly becoming the biggest vulture feasting on New York City’s distressed hotels. Magna Hospitality Group is acquiring two Manhattan hotels with more than 460 rooms between them, as the owners walk away from the struggling properties, sources familiar with the transactions told The Real Deal. Those deals follow Magna’s recent acquisition of the 310-room Embassy Suites at 60 West 37th Street for $115 million — a 41 percent

MTA proposes percentage-based rent payments for Grand Central retailers

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 10:45 AM PDT

Even though there have been small signs of recovery in the retail sector, rent payments to landlords are still below pre-pandemic levels. To make up the difference, some landlords have been experimenting with solutions that will help them stay afloat. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees operations at Grand Central Terminal, is one such landlord: It has proposed collecting a percentage of rent from businesses within the train station based on gross revenues, Eater NY

These grocery stores saw the biggest drops in foot traffic

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 10:00 AM PDT

When governments began implementing stay-at-home orders in March, grocery stores were classified as essential businesses — but some were still hit hard by the pandemic. A new analysis of grocery store foot traffic from Placer.ai found that many supermarket chains have seen their business decline, and only three — Albertsons, Winn-Dixie and Meijer — saw increases in foot traffic. Those gains were small, however; foot traffic was up 6 percent, 7 percent, and less than

Porch.com’s losses raised “substantial doubt” about business viability: IPO filing

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 09:30 AM PDT

Ahead of a public offering, Porch.com’s accountants have said the cash-strapped startup’s recurring losses raised “substantial doubt” about its ability to stay in business. In a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, the home-services startup disclosed the findings from an independent public accounting firm for the year ending Dec. 31, 2019. Porch had $3.8 million in cash as of June 30 with a working capital deficit of $59.1 million, according to

Pandemic speeds last major bank’s exit from Wall Street

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 07:30 AM PDT

The last major bank on Wall Street is leaving the street, ending an era where working on Wall Street meant being on Wall Street. Deutsche Bank announced in 2018 that it would exit its current headquarters at 60 Wall Street and consolidate its workforce at the Time Warner Center in 2021. However, the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated its departure, according to the Commercial Observer. In a memo obtained by the Commercial Observer, the bank announced

Dropbox announces employees will permanently work from home

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 07:00 AM PDT

Dropbox describes itself as a company that allows customers to work from anywhere, and now its employees can too. The tech company is the latest to go “virtual first,” meaning its employees will permanently work from home. But that doesn’t mean that Dropbox is leaving its offices entirely. Instead, some of them will become “Dropbox studios” for collaboration and meetings, and the company will also seek out flexible office space. Employees will not be allowed

Chicago’s once booming office market is just trying to hang on

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 06:30 AM PDT

Lisa Davidson vividly remembers the freezing temperature that numbed her toes one winter day several years ago as she toured prospective buyers through downtown Chicago’s dilapidated but cavernous Old Post Office and its leaky roof. “It was hard to even walk through the building because it was in such poor condition from being vacant over the years,” said Davidson, a Savills broker who was part of the team representing the seller in England. New York-based

Real estate investments cost NYC pension funds $370M

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 06:00 AM PDT

In a big investment portfolio, some part of it will inevitably underperform. For the city’s biggest pension fund, that part has been private equity real estate. The New York City Employees’ Retirement System ramped up its exposure to that category, only to see it underperform the stock market by $260 million and rack up at least $110 million in fees between 2016 and 2019, New York Focus reported. During those years, the fund increased its

How’s the industry doing? TRD wants to hear from you

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 05:30 AM PDT

The Real Deal is rolling out a new survey to better gauge the current state of the real estate market. We will be using the results in the coming weeks to inform any stories about market sentiment and where real estate professionals think things are headed. Don’t worry — responses will be kept anonymous and it won’t take more than 10 minutes. Thank you for your participation! And as always, please email any news or

Check out this Destin pad in the latest episode of Quarantine Cribs

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 05:00 AM PDT

On the latest episode of Quarantine Cribs, Sotheby’s International Realty agent Jonathan Spears brought us over to Florida’s Emerald Coast to tour his custom-designed home in Destin. Spears, who leads The Spears Group at Sotheby’s, and his wife, were inspired to build the home after a Caribbean vacation. They incorporated a light-colored, beachy palette throughout, along with high ceilings, large windows, and an expansive indoor-outdoor space. He noted that the architecture also includes references to

Has homebuying peaked? Mortgage applications sink 2%

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 04:30 AM PDT

The housing shortage may have finally stopped the surge of hopeful homebuyers. An index tracking applications to buy homes fell by 2 percent last week from the week prior, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey determined. The MBA metric, known as the purchase index, was still up year-over-year, making it the 21st week the index has posted annual growth. But the slight drop from the previous week could be a sign that Americans’ unexpected urge

Fortis sues lenders as finances of “Leaning Tower” unravel

Posted: 14 Oct 2020 04:00 AM PDT

In a sign of deepening trouble for a problematic condo project, the funding agreement for Manhattan’s so-called Leaning Tower of Seaport has fallen apart. Fortis Property Group’s unfinished 60-story luxury building at 161 Maiden Lane has been besieged by construction delays and litigation for years. And now its lenders have stopped funding its construction loan. Issues first arose in 2017 when a construction worker fell to his death while working on the project, leading to