The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

$25M Sousa townhouse in West Village faces foreclosure

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 03:00 PM PST

The former home of American composer and conductor John Philip Sousa is facing foreclosure. The Galinn Fund, which provided a mortgage to the current owner of the townhouse at 80 West Washington Place, filed a foreclosure notice Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court. In June 2019, Galinn issued a $3 million loan to 80 West Washington Place Holdings, the limited liability company listed as the property’s owner. In the filing, the lender alleges that

Jeffrey Epstein’s UES townhouse in contract for around $50M

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 02:09 PM PST

The Upper East Side townhouse once owned by late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has found a buyer. The home at 9 East 71st Street is in contract to sell for around $50 million, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the transaction. That’s $38 million less than it was originally listed for last summer, and $15 million below the discount that the property got in January. The 28,000-square-foot, 50-foot-wide townhouse

5 winning equestrian homes for sale near NYC

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 01:30 PM PST

Note: These listings are independently selected by our team. However, TRD may receive a commission if you transact a listing from our site. If you are looking for an investment property, an equestrian home — with both a main residence, as well as paddocks and stables for horses — may be worth ponying up for. These compounds are a perfect urban escape, with greenery, private stables and plenty of room for training a steed. The

With $3B IPO, title insurance startup Doma targets new business lines

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 12:35 PM PST

By going public in a $3 billion SPAC deal, title insurance startup Doma plans to pursue home appraisals, warranties and other adjacent business lines, the company said Wednesday. Like title and escrow, those services are a “manual, high-friction part of closing a mortgage,” CEO Max Simkoff said during an investor presentation to discuss the planned merger of Doma — formerly called States Title — with a blank-check firm backed by Mark Ein’s Capitol Investment Corp.

JLL gets in rental home business

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 11:00 AM PST

JLL is entering the single-family rental game. The commercial real estate giant is set to become a minority investor in Roofstock, an online rental housing investment platform, the Wall Street Journal reported. Roofstock will buy JLL’s Stessa, a real estate asset-management platform that has gained traction from smaller investors. It will also work with JLL clients who are interested in the single-family rental market. “The single-family rental asset class is seeing strong demand from our

Ellen DeGeneres looks to flip Adam Levine’s old pad for $54M

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 10:20 AM PST

Luxury real estate investors Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have listed their latest flip: a sprawling Beverly Hills mansion they bought from Adam Levine two years ago. The couple paid the Maroon 5 frontman $42.5 million for the home and are now seeking $53.5 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. The 10,400-square-foot mansion sits on an acre on Loma Vista Drive just above Sunset Boulevard. The ivy-draped home has five bedrooms and nine

Mack-Cali Realty names Mahbod Nia as CEO

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 09:30 AM PST

More than six months after a shake-up of its C-suite, Mack-Cali has named a new CEO. Mahbod Nia, a former head of NorthStar Realty Europe, will take the reins at the New Jersey-based based REIT as of March 8. He has been serving as a director on Mack-Cali’s board since June. During his tenure at NorthStar, Nia oversaw the REIT’s transformation, which helped drive a 40 percent increase in per-share net asset value. MaryAnne Gilmartin,

Office landlords offer amenities to reel in employees

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 09:00 AM PST

In Manhattan, where just 15 percent of workers have returned to the office, landlords are getting frustrated competing with employees’ couches. So they’re offering amenities ranging from on-site child care to dry-cleaning pickup and parking discounts — anything to bring back employees, according to the Wall Street Journal. Tishman Speyer, for example, is dangling free use of a new co-working space, an app to book services ranging from manicures to grocery delivery, newly installed picnic

January home prices up 10% in biggest annual gain in 7 years

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 08:30 AM PST

If January is any indication, the housing market isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. CoreLogic Home Price Index, which tracks national home prices monthly, showed prices were 10 percent higher in January than a year ago. It’s the first time since November 2013 that the index has reported double-digit annual growth. The index is seen as an early indicator of home pricing trends. No states had an annual decline in prices. The largest price

Grindr founder snaps up Gramercy penthouse listed at $29.5M

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 08:00 AM PST

A Gramercy Park penthouse was love at first sight for Grindr founder Joel Simkhai, according to the New York Post. Simkhai, who sold his dating app in 2018 for around $245 million, bought the unit at 215 East 19th Street, which was asking $29.5 million, a mere 30 days after it hit the market, the newspaper reported. The story was unsourced but did name the listing broker, Douglas Elliman’s Richard Steinberg. Last year, Simkhai listed

Gianaris: State should buy, convert distressed hotels and offices

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 07:30 AM PST

Hotels and offices have seen their values drop. Now a state senator wants New York to buy and convert some into affordable housing. A bill introduced by Sen. Michael Gianaris this week would let the state buy such distressed properties to house low-income and homeless people. Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed an office-conversion bill in January, but it did not call for public acquisitions. In the Gianaris bill, the state could use federal money such as

JPMorgan to sublet office space as it ponders work-from-home

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 07:00 AM PST

JPMorgan Chase is marketing a big chunk of its Manhattan office space as the company re-evaluates the future of its workforce. The New York-based bank is looking to sublet about 700,000 square feet at 4 New York Plaza in the Financial District and more than 100,000 square feet at 5 Manhattan West in the Hudson Yards area, Bloomberg News reported. Brokers at JLL are marketing the space. The move comes as JPMorgan is building a

Elion Partners buys $30M industrial property in Elizabeth

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 06:30 AM PST

Elion Partners has expanded its East Coast portfolio by scooping up a 8.6 acre industrial property for $29.7 million. The 202,000-square-foot building, at 1000 Jefferson Ave in Elizabeth, New Jersey, was sold by Seyon Group and Wheelock Street Capital. Seyon had paid $24 million for it in 2019. The acquisition is Elion Partners’ first in New Jersey. In South Florida, where the firm is located, Elion has been busy buying warehouses and industrial properties. Kassin

Benchmark picks up UES building; SNL snares Bronx warehouse

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 06:00 AM PST

Two investment sales between $10 million and $30 million closed during the last week of February — one in Manhattan and one in the Bronx — for a combined $24.3 million. The week prior saw one such sale. Here are the details for the two deals in the week ending Feb. 26. 1. Benchmark Real Estate Group purchased a 9,100-square-foot, mixed-use building at 826 Madison Avenue in Lenox Hill for $12.5 million. Jordan Vogel signed

Corcoran vet Lydia Sussek joins Elliman

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 05:30 AM PST

Not every agent gets a shout-out on their firm’s earnings call, but Lydia Sussek did. The broker, who’s been at the Corcoran Group for 14 years, has officially moved her business to Douglas Elliman. She’s being welcomed with rare fanfare, admitting that she recognized herself in Lorber’s comments during Elliman’s earnings call last week about recruiting “substantial brokers.” “It was me!” she said, explaining that the opportunity to join Elliman came up “organically” in a

Last call for senior housing program

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 05:00 AM PST

Developers have less than a month to submit plans under a senior housing program that the de Blasio administration is ending. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced that it will only accept applications for its Privately Financed Affordable Senior Housing program, or PFASH, through March 30. Developers then have until June 30 to close on their projects and finalize regulatory agreements with HPD. After that, the agency is pulling the plug on PFASH.

Mortgage rates surge — and refinance applications sink

Posted: 03 Mar 2021 04:00 AM PST

Requests for loans to buy homes increased last week as mortgage rates hit their highest point since July. An index tracking applications to purchase homes increased 2 percent, seasonally adjusted, from the prior week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The uptick came despite rates rising to their highest point since July 2020 in the biggest one-week gain in almost a year, according to Joel Kan, head of industry forecasting at MBA. The average rate

Manhattan comedy club sues Cuomo over pandemic closures

Posted: 02 Mar 2021 11:45 AM PST

This is no laughing matter. That’s the message the owners of the comedy club Stand Up NY are sending to Gov. Andrew Cuomo with a new lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, that challenges the “arbitrary and unconstitutional decision” to keep such venues closed during the pandemic. The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that because what the plaintiffs call “comparable businesses” can operate — it namechecks “Saturday Night Live,” Jimmy