The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

StreetEasy to hike rental listing fees by 50% on June 1

Posted: 18 May 2021 04:10 PM PDT

New York City agents can say goodbye to StreetEasy’s pandemic discounts. The Zillow Group-owned listing portal is raising the daily listing fee for rentals to $4.50 from $3 starting on June 1, The Real Deal has learned. StreetEasy had halved its standard $6 daily listing fee in March, as the pandemic brought the city’s residential real estate market to a near standstill. The portal alerted executives at least one major brokerage on Tuesday, according to

Ascent nabs $48M construction loan for LIC condos

Posted: 18 May 2021 03:49 PM PDT

What’s a condo developer to do when a pandemic injects uncertainty into the market? One decided to go bigger in a neighborhood already inundated with residential projects. Ascent Development has secured $48.2 million in new loans to construct a 130-unit condo building in Long Island City, according to financial documents recorded Monday. That’s 30 percent more apartments than when Ascent first filed plans for the building in 2019. “During the pandemic when everything slowed and

Billionaire hedge funder James Dinan pays $49M for Palm Beach spec mansion

Posted: 18 May 2021 01:45 PM PDT

Billionaire hedge fund manager and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner James Dinan purchased a waterfront spec mansion in Palm Beach. Dinan, founder and CEO of New York-based York Capital Management, and his wife, Elizabeth Miller, paid about $49.1 million for the 13,025-square-foot estate at 520 Island Drive. Luxury home builder Corey Schottenstein of Schottenstein Real Estate Group sold the Everglades Island property, records show. The price likely does not include commissions and other costs, including furniture. Dinan’s

Real New York sues Compass agents for breach of contract

Posted: 18 May 2021 01:00 PM PDT

Two Compass agents are in hot water with their former brokerage. Real New York is suing former agents Lyndsey Casagrande and Kenny Fung, alleging breach of contract and misappropriation of its confidential information, according to the complaint filed last week in a New York court. The firm accuses its former agents of continuing to use leads and confidential information from its company files and data as they do business at Compass — and soliciting Real

NYC landlords could find a lifeline in carbon trading

Posted: 18 May 2021 12:30 PM PDT

The year is 2030. New York City landlords, struggling to comply with city-mandated greenhouse gas emission caps, are on the hook for millions of dollars in fines — penalties that will only multiply in the coming years. This is the daunting reality that building owners face under Local Law 97. But there is a possible workaround. The city is considering a program that will allow building owners to trade carbon emissions. If implemented, landlords who

Jeff Winick sued by IRS for not paying taxes

Posted: 18 May 2021 11:05 AM PDT

Jeff Winick, the founder and CEO of Winick Realty Group and one of New York’s top retail brokers, is being sued by the IRS for not paying his taxes. In a complaint filed Monday, the IRS says that Winick underpaid taxes owed on approximately $23 million in income between 2012 and 2016, and avoided paying by renting and leasing his homes and cars and transferring assets to his daughter and other friends. In September, Winick

Greenwich Village site eyed for shelter has asbestos issues: lawsuit

Posted: 18 May 2021 10:30 AM PDT

A lawsuit filed last week by four tenants of a Greenwich Village apartment building could stall plans to turn it into a shelter for homeless women. The complaint cites high levels of lead paint and asbestos throughout 27 West 11th Street — toxins that could prove hazardous for the property’s elderly residents once construction begins, according to attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, who is representing the tenants — all of whom live in first- and second-floor

Warren Buffett bets on modular construction

Posted: 18 May 2021 10:14 AM PDT

The Oracle of Omaha is making a contrarian bet on modular construction. MiTek, a Missouri construction company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is launching a new modular building venture, the Wall Street Journal reported. The startup will partner with New York City-based firm Danny Forster & Architecture on the venture. The goal is to build rooms for hotels and apartment buildings in factories before sending them off to a construction site to be stacked.

Bill to audit 421a gets hearing as pols put subsidy in crosshairs

Posted: 18 May 2021 09:00 AM PDT

With the Affordable New York housing program, better known as 421a, expiring next year, lawmakers are targeting the controversial tax break — and racing to pass legislation that would audit projects that get it. The program offers developers a 35-year property tax break on new residential projects in exchange for making 25 percent to 30 percent of units affordable rentals. In April, Assembly member Emily Gallagher and Sen. Brad Hoylman introduced a bill to require

Premier Equities buys Tribeca hotel, inks Sonder to lease

Posted: 18 May 2021 08:20 AM PDT

Premier Equities bought the Duane Street Hotel in Tribeca for $18 million and signed short-term rental company Sonder to a lease there. The sale of the 43-room hotel at 130 Duane Street works out to $419,000 per room, according to the Commercial Observer. Hersha plans to use the proceeds to pay down debt. Sonder will lease the entire hotel. The rental company recently also leased the Flatiron Hotel from Premier Equities. Earlier this year, Sonder

Mortgage demand plummets to lowest level in a year

Posted: 18 May 2021 07:30 AM PDT

The once red-hot mortgage market is cooling down. Mortgage demand fell in April to its lowest level in almost a year, according to Inman, citing a report from the data firm Black Knight. The reason: refinancings have fallen off. Cash-out refinancings were down 13 percent from March to April, while rate-and-term refinancings plummeted 20 percent, per the report. Black Knight says there are 14.5 million homeowners who could still refinance their existing mortgage at a

Pension funds, private equity splurge on real estate

Posted: 18 May 2021 06:00 AM PDT

Some of the largest pension funds and private equity firms are once again gearing up to invest in commercial real estate. Between March and May 2020, commercial real estate prices dropped 11 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from Green Street. But in July, prices started rising and have since gained back about 7 percent. Private investment funds targeting real estate had about $356 billion in cash reserves in April, according to Preqin.

Office deals top last week’s mid-market i-sales

Posted: 18 May 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Five mid-market investment sales were recorded in the city last week for a total of $103.6 million, smashing the previous week’s total of just $39.6 million. Of those, the three biggest deals were for office buildings, including one with development potential in Midtown. Two of the five deals were located in Manhattan; another two were in Queens; and the Bronx rounded out the list. The Real Deal defines mid-market deals as those between $10 million

Gotham Org lands more loans for Lower East Side development

Posted: 18 May 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Gotham Organization has secured $50.4 million in financing for the second phase of its massive Lower East Side development project. Lender Wells Fargo issued a $22.5 million loan for a 16-story building at 60 Norfolk Street, part of the Broome Street Development project, according to loan documents filed with the city. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation & Development provided a $22.4 million loan, while Barings has committed to replace the construction loan at completion

How Marc Ganzi bet Colony Capital’s future on the next-gen economy

Posted: 18 May 2021 04:30 AM PDT

Entering an office building in the future, according to Marc Ganzi, will look something like this: “There won’t be security anymore. You’ll flash a bar code, it’ll say, ‘Yup, the elevator’s been activated, you have a meeting at 11 o’clock, you’re going to go to the 27th floor and get in Cab E.’ Everybody has some sort of fitness attachment that says what your heart rate is, where you’re going, how many steps you take.

Here’s what tenants are paying at Savitt Partners’ 530 Seventh Ave

Posted: 18 May 2021 04:00 AM PDT

The Savitt family — whose members include 1951 Australian Open and Wimbledon champ Richard “Dick” Savitt — has owned the Art Deco office tower at 530 Seventh Avenue since it was built in 1929. The 30-story Garment District property is now owned and operated by Savitt Partners, a real estate firm founded by Dick’s son Robert “Bob” Savitt in 2008. Under the terms of a 49-year ground lease that began in 2000, the building and