The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Printing House condo board sues commercial owner for unpaid common charges

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 01:45 PM PDT

Condo owners at the Printing House complex in the West Village are suing the project’s former developer for unpaid common charges. Mountbatten Equities, which bought the former industrial property at 421 Hudson Street in 1975 and converted it into apartments, hasn’t been keeping up with the bills for 11 commercial condos it owns. The board claims it’s owed $786,295, according to a complaint filed this week in New York State Supreme Court. The board filed

Lennar makes giant bet on single-family rentals

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 01:00 PM PDT

One of the country’s largest homebuilders is making a giant bet on the single-family rental market. Lennar is launching a $4 billion platform that will buy single-family homes and townhomes to turn into rentals. Called Upward America Venture, it will target “high-growth markets,” the company announced. Miami-based Lennar said the venture will initially be capitalized with a $1.25 billion equity commitment led by Centerbridge Partners and Allianz Real Estate. CEO Rick Beckwitt said a portion

The show must go on: Broadway may be back by September

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 12:45 PM PDT

There’s a chance the curtain could rise on Broadway in the next few months. A year after Broadway theaters closed indefinitely, New York City officials are planning for shows to safely return in September, Bloomberg News reported. The city plans on setting up a vaccination site for theater workers over the next month, according to the report. Pop-up testing units are also in the works, as well as discussions on how to manage crowds before

The money’s moving to South Florida. Will the office leases follow?

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 12:00 PM PDT

Law firm Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman, now at downtown Miami’s Citigroup Center, plans to cut its space in half at its future office as many attorneys opt to work from home permanently. Across the street, at Southeast Financial Center, law firm Meland Budwick plans to expand by 18 percent. These contrasting approaches show the dichotomy of the South Florida office market. As some downsize or exit leases because they’ve found that employees can

E-notary startup Notarize triples valuation to $760M

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 11:15 AM PDT

Following a year of explosive growth, online notary startup Notarize has raised $130 million from investors — including Google’s parent company and Wells Fargo — to fuel its continued expansion. The round values the company at $760 million, more than triple its valuation of $250 million last March, according to CEO Pat Kinsel. The round brings Notarize’s total funding to $213 million. “It was clear when Covid hit that there was going to be extraordinary

Marriott, Lightstone Group bet on hotel recovery

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 10:45 AM PDT

Marriott and Lightstone Group are betting on an uptick in post-pandemic travel — particularly for those on a budget. The hotelier and developer are planning to open two Moxy hotels in Manhattan and Brooklyn next year, Crain’s New York reported. The new lodgings will be located at 145 Bowery on the Lower East Side, and at 353 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. The firms have previously collaborated on three other Moxy hotels in the city, in

Jollibee to open flagship at 1500 Broadway

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 10:01 AM PDT

Jollibee is betting on Times Square. The popular Filipino fast-food chain has inked a lease to open a 7,127-square-foot flagship at 1500 Broadway, between West 43rd and 44th streets. The space includes 3,127 square feet of ground floor retail space as well as 4,000 square feet on the lower level. Jollibee has more than 1,300 locations worldwide, but just two other New York City locations, at 6229 Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, and 609 Eighth Avenue

Judges mixed on how government shutdowns affect leases

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 09:30 AM PDT

Decisions on Covid-related rent cases are slowly rolling in, but on the question of whether the pandemic freed tenants from their lease obligations, the jury remains out. Most recently, a judge ruled that Philippe Chow, a luxury restaurant located in the Dream Hotel Downtown, owed rent to its landlord, despite being closed amid the pandemic. “According to the lease, plaintiff must make a choice: stay and pay rent or terminate and leave,” Judge Melissa Crane

Faith alone: How one Manhattan congregation got caught in HFZ’s downfall

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 09:00 AM PDT

Below the spire of Marble Collegiate Church lays a barren hole with construction tools, fire extinguishers and ladders hastily stacked around the edges. Three cranes excavating the West 29th Street site have been abandoned. A sign on a fence directs congregants, “confessions this way,” with an arrow pointing to the sanctuary. HFZ Capital Group had planned to build a boutique office tower at the NoMad location aimed at technology and media tenants, before the developer’s

Kaufman Org closes on $35M ground lease deal

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 07:45 AM PDT

The Kaufman Organization continues to expand in Midtown South after closing on a $34.5 million ground lease at the Haymarket Building. The organization signed a 99-year ground lease with MFM Properties for the 12-story office building at 135 West 29th Street, the Commercial Observer reported. It’s just a few blocks away from the two other properties Kaufman acquired since November: The company snagged an office building at 56 West 22nd Street for $48.5 million, and

Travel roars back — and summer rentals book up

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 06:31 AM PDT

Whether it’s to reunite with grandparents or an escape from work-from-home, Americans have set their sights on summer travel amid mass vaccination efforts. Searches for late flights on travel apps such as Hopper have increased by about 75 percent since February, the New York Times reported. More people hit KAYAK too, with its search traffic growing up to 27 percent each week. Those searches have led to actual decisions: Hopper reports that domestic bookings are

Compass and Side are both unicorns. How different are they?

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 05:30 AM PDT

No sooner did the venture capital-backed brokerage Side achieve unicorn status last week than the comparisons to Compass started rolling in. The firm, which targets “not all agents, just the best agents,” announced a $150 million round led by Coatue Management, putting its valuation around $1 billion. The capital will fund Side’s growth across the U.S., just as Compass moves forward with a long-awaited plan to go public at a $10 billion valuation. “Side is

Inwood tenants claim landlord using blaze to hike rents

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Tenants burned out of their rent-stabilized Inwood apartments in January have a theory: The landlord wants them to give up their leases so he can combine units and set new rents. It’s virtually impossible to substantially raise stabilized rents anymore, but that is indeed one way to do it. One hole in the Inwood tenants’ theory, though, is that the landlord, George Huang of the Heights Real Estate Company, has not exactly bowled them over

For New York landlords, PACE just isn’t moving fast enough

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 04:30 AM PDT

New York City landlords are racing the clock. In three years, most buildings must start meeting stringent emission caps to comply with a city law designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030. And if they don’t, landlords could be on the hook for millions of dollars in fines annually. The real estate industry has a potential lifeline to cover at least some of these costs: an obscure financing tool known as commercial

Real estate makes last-minute push to kill proposed preferred equity tax

Posted: 25 Mar 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Real estate players are using a letter-writing campaign and threats of lawsuits to try to stop a tax on preferred equity investors from advancing in state budget negotiations. On Tuesday, 13 local and national real estate organizations sent a letter expressing concerns over the impending tax to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as well as state Senate and Assembly leaders. The next day, the Mortgage Bankers Association, which organized the petition, encouraged its 80,000-strong membership to send