The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

More than 1 in 5 company execs plan to slash office space

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 02:57 PM PDT

Even as Covid vaccinations bring a return-to-office closer to fruition, more companies are expecting to reduce their real estate footprints. A recent survey conducted by the American Institute of CPA found that 21 percent of company executives said they expect to reduce their office space in the next 12 months, Bloomberg News reported. That’s up by 3 percentage points from the third quarter of 2020. Big employers including Dropbox, Zillow and Twitter have already announced

Prodigy Network files for bankruptcy as lawsuits mount

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 02:00 PM PDT

The beleaguered real estate crowdfunding company Prodigy Network filed for bankruptcy on Thursday as lawsuits pile up and its properties head into foreclosure. Prodigy Network, along with 10 affiliated companies in Delaware, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, meaning that the firm has no plans to restructure. According to the filings, the company and its affiliates currently have $102.4 million in assets and $6.4 million in liabilities. The filings show that Prodigy and its affiliates’ biggest

Legislators accidentally propose huge tax hike for co-ops

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 12:45 PM PDT

Oops. In an effort to extend a tax on New York corporations, state lawmakers wrote a bill that would triple or quadruple a tax on co-ops and raise owners’ dues by thousands of dollars a year. The mistake set off alarm bells for the real estate industry and apartment owners. Legislators are now pledging to fix the error before it has a chance to become law. “We goofed,” said Manhattan Sen. Liz Krueger, chair of

Midtown South owner offers big test for post-vaccine Manhattan

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 12:00 PM PDT

The owner of a Midtown South office building is testing investors’ appetite for Manhattan commercial space in a post-vaccination world. Enterprise Asset Management is looking to sell the ground lease on its 20-story office building at 360 Park Avenue South, sources with knowledge of the offering told The Real Deal. The 450,000-square-foot building will be completely vacant at the end of the year when the master lease on all of the building’s office space held

The REInterview: Real estate’s climate reckoning, with Fifth Wall’s Brendan Wallace and Greg Smithies

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 09:30 AM PDT

Real estate is the quiet sinner in the climate crisis. The industry might not be the Disney villain of greenhouse gases, cackling as it wreaks havoc on the world, but some estimates show it accounts for up to 40 percent of global carbon emissions. In major real estate markets such as New York, that number is over 70 percent. Why has the industry been unwilling to act on this issue? And how has it gotten

Jerry Seinfeld wants $15M for Telluride estate

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 09:00 AM PDT

Jerry Seinfeld wants to sell his Telluride, Colorado, home — and this time he’s not joking. The comedian and his wife, Jessica Seinfeld, listed the house for a second time and are now asking $14.95 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. They previously tried to sell the property for $18.3 million in 2011. The estate’s main house, spanning 12,300 square feet, was designed in Modern Farmhouse style and features a vaulted great room with mountain

The tri-state rental market’s endless summer

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 07:37 AM PDT

You could call it a different kind of March Madness. Just three months into the year, Colette Harron, a William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty agent in Connecticut, has already rented all but one property for the summer. Summer will be “completely packed and booked, I’m sure,” Harron said. The tri-state market has been hot ever since last summer. And this summer, the primary question on agents’ mind is whether they will have enough supply to

Black homeowners in NYC pay higher closing costs: report

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 07:16 AM PDT

Covid has exacerbated financial challenges facing Black homeowners looking to buy a home in New York City, according to a new report. The Center for NYC Neighborhoods said the average Black homeowner pays $7,000 more in closing costs than white buyers, and they face higher interest rates. The findings are based on a survey of homeowners and housing counselors that began in 2019, reported City Limits. Overall, Black homeownership in the city dropped 13 percent

Port Authority taps CBRE to manage WTC

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 06:30 AM PDT

CBRE is the new manager of the World Trade Center’s 16-acre campus in Lower Manhattan. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Thursday that it awarded CBRE a seven-year contract to manage the property, which includes the $3.9 billion Oculus transportation hub. The $850,000-a-year contract is effective July 1. The Oculus is both a high-end shopping center and transit hub that connects the subway and PATH rail system. The Port Authority put

WeWork to go public in $9B SPAC deal

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 06:00 AM PDT

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again: Two years after its failed IPO, WeWork has struck a deal to go public with a special-purpose acquisition company. The merger with BowX Acquisition Corp. would value the embattled flexible-office company at $9 billion including debt — a fraction of its $47 billion valuation in 2019. WeWork will get $1.3 billion in proceeds from the SPAC deal, including $800 million from a PIPE, or private investment

“It’s a great time to be a broker”: Newmark’s Jimmy Kuhn on finding success during the pandemic

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 05:30 AM PDT

When The Real Deal interviewed Newmark president Jimmy Kuhn in 2014, he told us that he doesn’t put much value on possessions. Seven years later, little seems to have changed about his attitude towards wealth. For Kuhn, the end goal has always been to empower marginalized communities. “If you’re not giving back,” he said, “why are you working?” In an interview with The Real Deal founder and publisher Amir Korangy, Kuhn reflected on how the

Demand for Hudson Valley homes expected to remain strong — and supply short

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 05:00 AM PDT

The New York State Association of Realtors believes that buyer demand will remain strong and supply short for homes in the Hudson Valley, according to the Hudson Valley Post. Home prices have steadily increased in the area since early last summer when authorities lifted restrictions on real estate showings. Continued demand and short supply means pricing will likely continue to increase. The median sales price in Columbia County rose 13.6 percent over the course of

Building owners face deadline for relief from emission caps

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Building owners can apply for a reprieve from the city’s stringent emission caps, but time is running out. Under Local Law 97, buildings considered the city’s biggest global warming contributors — those larger than 25,000 square feet — must meet new greenhouse-gas emission caps starting in 2024. But the law also allows owners of certain properties to apply for an adjustment to those limits that runs through 2029. The catch: Owners only have until July