The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Ralph Lauren, Shvo Group feuding over Fifth Ave sublease

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 03:15 PM PST

Who deserves to be on Fifth Avenue? That question is at the heart of a legal battle between Ralph Lauren and the landlord of its store on the shopping corridor. In 2017, Ralph Lauren shuttered the 28,300-square-foot store, but continued to pay roughly $27 million annually for the unoccupied space. To lessen its losses, the luxury retailer made an agreement with Spanish fast-fashion chain Mango to sublease the storefront for around just $5 million annually.

Port Authority to raze, replace “hell on earth” bus terminal

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 03:01 PM PST

After years of being ridiculed as “hell on earth,” the Port Authority Bus Terminal will be torn down and rebuilt with street-facing retail, green space and several nearby towers. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Thursday it will raze its 70-year-old facility to construct a five-story, 2 million-square-foot building on the same Midtown site. The agency, which considered 30 options for the project over seven years, will keep buses running during

CoStar closes in on CoreLogic

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 02:49 PM PST

CoStar Group may be nearing its next acquisition. The data giant and a private group, led by Warburg Pincus, have emerged as the final two bidders for CoreLogic, a data provider for the real estate and mortgage industries, reported Bloomberg News. The bids are not known, but CoreLogic is said to be evaluating offers and will make a decision in the coming weeks. Ultimately, CoreLogic may opt to remain independent. For CoStar — which has

J&R Music founders sell Park Row apartment tower for $140M

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 02:15 PM PST

A half-empty apartment building near City Hall has traded hands at a major discount, in an indication of how the pandemic has impacted rental property values. Joe and Rachelle Friedman, the owners of the iconic but now-defunct J&R Music World, sold the 31-story apartment building at 15 Park Row — once the tallest building in the world — to investor Atlas Capital Group for about $140 million, sources familiar with the transaction told The Real

Kim Cattrall finds a buyer for her East Hampton cottage

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 02:00 PM PST

Actress Kim Cattrall has finally found Mr. Right — that is, a buyer for her longtime East Hampton cottage, according to the New York Post. The sale price was not disclosed. Cattrall, best known for her role in the former HBO series “Sex and the City,” first listed the 1,232-square-foot beachfront home for $3.25 million in October, but in December dropped the price to $2.9 million. Considering she bought it for just $420,000 in 1998,

Trump’s people claim Geoff Palmer and Tom Barrack backed Zangrillo pardon

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 01:30 PM PST

Donald Trump’s White House claimed developer Geoff Palmer lobbied the former president to pardon Miami developer Robert Zangrillo, whom federal prosecutors had charged in the college admissions scandal. The Trump administration said the pardon was also supported by Colony Capital chairman Tom Barrack, but Barrack denied that, according to the Los Angeles Times. Trump granted the pardon in his final hours as president. Palmer is an active political donor and a longtime supporter of Trump.

Brooks Brothers’ Madison Ave store could give way to Midtown East tower

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 01:08 PM PST

The retail apocalypse that sent one brand after another into bankruptcy last year could pave the way for a new skyscraper in Midtown East. The Brooks Brothers store at 346 Madison Avenue is being offered up as a development site that could be transformed into a 41-story, 700,000-square-foot tower, sources familiar with the offering told The Real Deal. The site is hitting the market after the iconic menswear brand — initially battered by changing trends,

Signature achievement: Bank’s loan deferrals down to 9%

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 12:45 PM PST

Signature Bank, one of the city’s most active multifamily lenders, saw an increase in income and a decrease in loan deferrals in the fourth quarter. The lender’s net income totalled $173 million, up from $148 million during the same period in 2019. Net income for the year was down, at $528 million, versus $586 million in 2019. Though an improvement, nearly 9 percent of the bank’s $49 billion loan portfolio remains in some sort of

LA’s scandal response: status quo

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 12:00 PM PST

The FBI brought down the hammer last year on Jose Huizar’s alleged criminal enterprise, stating that the former Los Angeles City Council member milked developers for more than $1 million in payments and gifts, ranging from prostitutes to money to settle sexual harassment lawsuits. In exchange, according to investigators, Huizar greased the wheels for their controversial projects — Shenzhen New World Group’s 77-story tower and Carmel Partners’ 35-story residential building in the Arts District. As

Compass’ Robert Reffkin bought $16M Tribeca pad: sources

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 11:05 AM PST

A few months before Compass filed confidentially to go public, CEO Robert Reffkin made another hush-hush move. The brokerage chief went into contract on a penthouse in Tribeca in June and closed a month later, according to property records, which identified the buyer as Red Heart Friends LLC. Sources confirmed that Reffkin is the real owner. The pad is located in a limestone-and-brick building on Greenwich Street. The property — built in 1911 and originally

Industry reacts to Cuomo’s proposed commercial eviction ban

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 10:45 AM PST

Commercial evictions could be on hold until at least May if Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2022 state budget proposal is enacted as-is. The governor first proposed the ban, which would go into effect through new legislation, as part of his State of the State addresses earlier this month. The current eviction ban, which has been repeatedly extended since it was enacted last March, is set to expire at the end of January. Much like New York’s

REBNY slaps Compass with $250K fine

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 10:00 AM PST

The Real Estate Board of New York has slapped Compass with a $250,000 fine for improperly going after its competitors’ exclusive listings. In an email to New York City agents, the trade group said the penalty was due to “repeated violations” of REBNY’s universal co-brokerage agreement (UCBA), a document that governs how agents share listings. All of REBNY’s residential members are bound by the UCBA, and in exchange they have access to its syndicated listing

Want a home in Greenwich? Data says you’d better hurry

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 09:15 AM PST

The housing market in Greenwich, Connecticut, has a problem luxury developers in Manhattan can only dream of: short supply. In the fourth quarter, 32 percent fewer homes were listed for sale than a year before, according to Bloomberg, which cited data from Douglas Elliman. In the same period, closed sales surged 141% to 282. The rate of sales means it would take only 3.4 months to sell all the Greenwich homes on the market today

Nightlife veteran John Blair inks deal for Hell’s Kitchen club

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 08:56 AM PST

New York City’s nightlife scene is dark for now, but one veteran club owner is betting on things bouncing back. Nightlife impresario John Blair signed a lease for a 20,000-square-foot venue at the former Playboy Club at the Cachet Hotel in Hell’s Kitchen. The asking rent for the space was about $75 per square foot. It’s a tricky time to begin working on opening a nightclub, as venues have been shut down since Gov. Andrew

Residential construction had busiest year since 2006: MBA

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 08:30 AM PST

Residential construction continued to surge as 2020 came to an end, finishing off homebuilding’s busiest year since the housing bubble burst. Housing starts in December increased for the fourth month in a row to an annual rate of 1.67 million units, seasonally adjusted, according to the Census Bureau’s monthly report on residential construction. That’s a 5.8 percent increase from November’s revised rate and up 5.2 percent year-over-year. Overall, the number of housing units that started

Financial disclosures show extent of Trump Org losses

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 07:47 AM PST

A financial disclosure report filed shortly after former President Donald Trump left office Wednesday has revealed the scope of losses faced by the Trump Organization in 2020. At the company’s Trump National Doral Golf Club outside of Miami, revenue fell 40 percent, according to the New York Times. At its Washington, D.C., hotel, revenue fell 63 percent. Overall, the company’s revenue was down 38 percent last year. “There were places that due to government mandates

Fifth Wall targets $250M for blank-check firm

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 07:03 AM PST

Fifth Wall is officially in the SPAC market and looking to raise $250 million for a new blank-check company. The Los Angeles-based firm said in a regulatory filing that it will issue 25 million shares of its new special purpose acquisition company at $10 per share. Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank are underwriting the deal. Headed by Blackstone Group alumni Brendan Wallace and Brad Greiwe, Fifth Wall is already one of the best-funded proptech VCs,

Developers pitch New York City casino

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 06:36 AM PST

New York needs money, and some real estate developers say they have just the solution: another casino. According to the New York Times, Vornado Realty Trust has proposed a gambling venue at its property near Herald Square; Morris Bailey has discussed having one at his own Herald Square property; and L&L Holding Company has pitched one idea as part of its $2.5 billion project at West 47th Street and Broadway. In the past, the state

State to develop wind turbine plant on Brooklyn waterfront

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 06:00 AM PST

The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal is set to be transformed into a hub for renewable energy. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority last week announced a partnership with Norwegian energy company Equinor to turn the site into a wind turbine manufacturing space, a project that will be completed in 2025, City & State reported. The Sunset Park project represents the largest procurement of renewable energy by any state government, and comes after

$6.5M Fort Greene townhouse sale breaks neighborhood record

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 05:00 AM PST

Brooklyn has another record-breaking sale under its belt, this time in Fort Greene — though it’s not quite as grand as the borough’s most recent unprecedented transaction. A brownstone at 198 Washington Park has sold for $6.5 million, setting a new price record for the neighborhood. The deal pencils out to about $758 per square foot. The 33-foot-wide home faces Fort Greene Park and spans 8,580 square feet over four levels. The renovated Victorian mansion

Seismic shifts in the flex-office market

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 04:30 AM PST

Montreal-based Breather, a company that rents workspaces by the day, made a bold announcement last month that reverberated throughout the world of flex-office operators. “Breather, in its current form as an operator, doesn’t make sense. And, to be frank, I’m not sure it ever made sense,” CEO Bryan Murphy told the Globe and Mail as he announced the startup would close all of its locations in the U.S., Great Britain and Canada. Flex-office companies emerged

Republican or Democrat? Catsimatidis picks his poison

Posted: 21 Jan 2021 04:00 AM PST

When I think of Feb. 14, three things come to mind: Valentine’s Day, Amazon canceling HQ2 on that date in 2019, and the deadline for John Catsimatidis to switch parties to run for mayor as a Democrat. I bet you didn’t predict that third one. Even folks who are following the free-for-all that is this year’s mayoral race have given little thought to Catsimatidis — despite the media dutifully covering the Republican billionaire’s periodic musings