The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

CoStar to buy Homes.com for $156M

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 03:20 PM PDT

CoStar Group is edging further into the world of residential real estate with its latest acquisition. The data giant announced Wednesday it had reached an agreement to buy residential listing platform Homes.com for $156 million in cash. Homes.com platform claims to have more than 1.8 million listings with feeds from 90 percent of the Multiple Listing Services across the country. Pending a regulatory review, the transaction is expected to close by the end of June

Buffalo Wild Wings chickens out on Harlem lease

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 12:45 PM PDT

Buffalo Wild Wings has flown the coop in Harlem. The restaurant chain is being sued by landlord Grid Properties after allegedly skipping out on almost $800,000 in rent at 300 West 125th Street. In addition, the lawsuit claims Buffalo Wild Wings owes $7.7 million in accelerated rent, since the lease is set to expire April 30, 2030, according to court records. The saga goes back several years: Buffalo Wild Wings signed a 15-year lease for

Pharrell’s Goodtime Hotel opens in Miami Beach

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 11:35 AM PDT

After roughly five years and $200 million, the Goodtime Hotel is almost open. The Washington Avenue hotel, developed by Imperial Companies’ Michael D. Fascitelli and Eric Birnbaum, opens Thursday. The developers brought on star talent to deliver and operate the property: Pharrell Williams, hospitality mogul David Grutman and designer Ken Fulk. The 266-key hotel, at 601 Washington Avenue, features about 100,000 square feet of public spaces, Grutman’s 30,000-square-foot Strawberry Moon restaurant and pool club, 45,000

General Assembly renews 40K sf lease in Flatiron District

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 10:31 AM PDT

General Assembly, the tech-focused continuing education organization, is staying put in the Flatiron District. The company confirmed that it recently inked a 10-year lease renewal for its 40,000-square-foot space at 915 Broadway. The terms were not disclosed, but sources familiar with the transaction told The Real Deal the parties negotiated a competitive deal, given the current market conditions. Founded in 2011, General Assembly has grown its presence in the Manhattan neighborhood, starting from a space

Robert Durst murder trial to restart following Covid delay

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 10:00 AM PDT

The murder trial of Robert Durst is set to resume in Inglewood next month, following a yearlong postponement precipitated by the pandemic. Jurors are set to return May 17 for informal questioning, according to the Associated Press. The defense team for the Durst Organization heir filed a motion for a mistrial because of the “extreme delay” and concerns over the future safety of jurors and others posed by Covid-19. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge

Big landlords invest $60M in “tenant experience” startup HqO

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 09:15 AM PDT

Commercial real estate firms Cushman & Wakefield, JLL and DivcoWest are betting on a “tenant experience” startup to help get workers back to their offices. Boston-based HqO said Wednesday that it closed a $60 million Series C. Cushman was a new investor in the company, along with Suffolk Capital and PruVen Capital. Prior backers JLL, DivcoWest, Accomplice, Insight Partners, Navitas Capital, Allegion Ventures and the Pagliuca family office also participated. The round brings HqO’s total

Mortgage requests, refinancings continue to drop

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 08:30 AM PDT

As properties fly off the market and prices continue to increase, buyers are reconsidering whether now is the time to find their dream home. An index tracking applications for mortgages to purchase homes decreased 3.7 percent, seasonally adjusted, from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. This is the third week that the number of applications has fallen. “The third straight week of declining purchase activity is a sign that rising home prices

Medical offices are just what the doctor ordered for landlords

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 08:00 AM PDT

Medical offices have been a bright spot for real estate investors during the pandemic, despite the fact that telehealth saw a boom during the pandemic. Doctors and medical professionals have remained on time with their rent payments in the past year, unlike other office tenants, the Wall Street Journal reported. While some tenants have paid less than 85 percent of rent collections, medical professionals have paid 95 percent of rent owed. And despite in-person visits

Howard Hanna accuses Compass of poaching agents, stealing trade secrets

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 07:30 AM PDT

Real estate brokerage Howard Hanna has accused Compass of stealing its agents and trade secrets before going public earlier this month. An amended complaint filed by the brokerage in Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, alleges that Compass encouraged three former Howard Hanna agents to breach their contracts, specifically their non-compete, non-solicitation and confidentiality provisions, Inman reported. The complaint does not mince words, accusing Compass of a “no-holds-barred approach” to poaching agents “in order to justify its narrative

Rob Gronkowski buys Hudson Yards home for $7M

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 07:00 AM PDT

The Bloomberg administration originally planned a stadium for the New York Jets at Hudson Yards. But instead of playing football there, Rob Gronkowski will be enjoying city views from his new apartment. The Super Bowl champion tight end scored a new pad at Related’s 35 Hudson Yards for $7 million, the New York Post reported. Though Gronkowski now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom, 2,652-square-foot apartment will serve as his escape

Adam Neumann gets $22M for California estate

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 06:30 AM PDT

WeWork’s co-founder and ex-CEO Adam Neumann has sold his northern California estate for $22.4 million, according to the New York Post. Neumann bought the sprawling property in 2018 for $21.4 million. The home sits on 10.8 acres outside the Bay Area and stretches over 12,500 square feet. Following his humbling exit from WeWork in 2019, Neumann put several of his properties on the market. The seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom home in Corte Madera was listed last August

Psychology professor closes deal on Billionaires’ Row condo

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 06:00 AM PDT

Who says a career in teaching won’t buy you a luxury Manhattan apartment? Signs point to Colgate University professor Caroline Keating as the new owner of a $16.8 million condo in Extell Development’s One57 skyscraper. Records show that Keating is the owner of a home in New Woodstock that shares the same address as the entity that closed the One57 deal on March 26. The previous owner of the New Woodstock home — which is

Homeowners’ property taxes grew twice as fast last year

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 05:45 AM PDT

Not even a pandemic can stop the growth of homeowners’ property taxes. In fact, it seems to have sped it up. The growth of property taxes on single-family homes doubled to 5.4 percent last year from 2019, an analysis found. The average U.S. home’s tax was $3,719, or 4.4 percent higher. The report by Attom Data Solutions blamed the increase on the rising costs of services to run local government and public school systems, but

EJF Capital seeks better luck with second Opportunity Zone Fund

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Manny Friedman’s EJF Capital is launching another Opportunity Zone fund after falling short of its expectations for its first. EJF will launch its second Opportunity Zone fund this week, targeting industrial and multifamily developments. The firm closed its first such Fund in January, with $280 million raised of a $500 million goal. It launched the fund in 2018. Through the fund, EJF has completed five developments, including multifamily projects in Washington, D.C., Jacksonville, Florida, and

Gary LaBarbera quietly takes helm of building trades statewide

Posted: 14 Apr 2021 04:00 AM PDT

In the months following the indictment of James Cahill, president of the state’s Building and Construction Trades Council, authorities accused the labor leader of having “extensive ties to members of organized crime.” The BCTC’s executive board also voted to replace him. Since that unpublicized vote, Gary LaBarbera has served as head of the organization, which represents more than 200,000 unionized construction workers. He is also still president of the city’s chapter, a position he has