The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

“The ink on the leases” shows tenants still want office space: SL Green CEO

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 03:03 PM PDT

As rising Covid cases and delayed office returns dampen optimism about a near-term return to normal, New York City’s largest commercial landlord is still taking the long view. During a second-quarter earnings call Thursday, SL Green executives held firm in their belief that the city was poised for a strong post-pandemic rebound. “The commentary you’re hearing from us is commentary you should think about over a period of years, not September versus October, because that

5 Gatsby-esque homes fit for the Roaring 2020s

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 01:32 PM PDT

Imagine working from home in the Roaring Twenties. From 1922 to 1924, American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald and international partygirl Zelda Fitzgerald did exactly that from their 5,000-square-foot home in Great Neck, Long Island. It was on 6 Gateway Drive that Scott and Zelda hosted the debaucherous ragers that would come to define the Jazz Age, as immortalized in “The Great Gatsby.” Scott didn’t get much writing done there –– and you’d be hard-pressed to

Blackstone eyes return to hotel business as real estate fuels strong Q2

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 12:22 PM PDT

Blackstone backed out of hotels in the nick of time. “It wasn’t because we anticipated the pandemic,” said president Jonathan Gray on the firm’s Q2 earnings call Thursday. Rather, the investment giant saw greater promise in the rental housing, life sciences and industrial buildings it picked up in the past year — investments that helped it nearly double its distributable earnings year-over-year. Now, the firm is betting on recovery, with plans to pull hospitality, which

Lawsuit claims 15 Hudson Yards discriminates with “poor doors”

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 11:46 AM PDT

Three prospective tenants of a Hudson Yards tower claim that Related Companies has ignored city and federal laws by separating the building’s lower-income residents from inhabitants of the luxury condo units. Chanel Moody, Ayanda Carmichael and Ronnie Clark sued Related in federal court Thursday, alleging they won the city’s affordable housing lottery to live at what they thought was 15 Hudson Yards, only to find the units were in an “entirely separate part of the

Bidding wars drive Long Island home prices to new highs

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 11:15 AM PDT

As in similar markets, bidding wars drove up second-quarter home prices in Long Island’s suburbs as well as in its summer communities. In Nassau and Suffolk counties, not including the Hamptons and North Fork, 46 percent of all homes that sold in the second quarter went above the asking price according to Douglas Elliman’s quarterly report by appraisal firm Miller Samuel. In the Hamptons, 21 percent did. The high demand drove housing prices to all-time

Home sales rise in June, snapping four-month downward streak

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 10:45 AM PDT

Even as prices continue to rise, home buyers are finally starting to loosen their grip on their wallets. Existing home sales saw a modest increase in June, ending a four-month streak of declines, according to the National Association of Realtors’ monthly report. Sales jumped 1.4 percent over May, to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.86 million. That’s twice the rate of the previous increase in January, when home sales rose by 0.7 percent. Sales in

Housing investors went on spending spree in second quarter

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 10:15 AM PDT

Investors showed no fear of rising home prices in the second quarter, going on a spending spree not seen in the sector in more than 20 years. As home prices and rents appreciated, housing investors poured $49 billion into acquisitions during the second quarter. Investors were responsible for buying almost 68,000 homes, up more than 10,000 from the previous quarter, according to Redfin data reported by Bloomberg News. The Redfin report, including multifamily buildings, condos

Raging wildfires threaten lumber market, home builders’ costs

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 09:45 AM PDT

Just as lumber prices were finally falling, wildfires and extreme weather are threatening to pull them right back up. Fires raging in the western United States are beginning to have a negative impact on lumber output. Canfor, one of the biggest lumber producers on the continent, is among the companies cutting back production in response to the weather events, according to the Wall Street Journal. Canfor is curbing output at mills in British Columbia, where

De-Colonized: How Tom Barrack’s firm broke with its founder

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 09:00 AM PDT

In the autumn of 2018 and following political misadventures that would lead to his arrest on federal charges Tuesday, Thomas Barrack returned from a four-year hiatus to retake the reins at Colony Capital. While Barrack was occupied with Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign and intrigue in the Middle East, the real estate company he founded had fallen on tough times following its $19.9 billion all-stock merger with NorthStar. “It was a bad deal. It was

Nightmare darkens for largest Brooklyn condo project of 2019

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 08:15 AM PDT

A 15-unit development at 19 Hausman Street in Greenpoint, which topped The Real Deal’s list of the largest Brooklyn condo projects in 2019, filed for bankruptcy in April and is now being sued by its creditors. Just three years ago, Rafi Manor’s firm, M Development, was a leading developer in Brooklyn with 12 active projects. Now, Manor is facing foreclosure actions on four Brooklyn properties he helped develop: 135 Bayard Street, 517 Brooklyn Avenue, 744

Chicago approves $4B redevelopment project

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 07:45 AM PDT

Chicago gave the go-ahead to a massive, $3.8 billion redevelopment on the lakefront site of the former Michael Reese Hospital, promising economic revival for the predominantly Black neighborhood. The City Council overwhelmingly approved Bronzeville Lakefront, a years-in-the-making 7.8 million-square-foot mixed-use project led by Farpoint Development. The city will sell the 48.6-acre site to the Farpoint team for $96.9 million. Aldermen also approved spending $60 million from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s capital plan for street repair and

Distressed-property startup Sundae raises $80M in Series C round

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 07:15 AM PDT

Sundae, a real estate marketplace linking sellers and buyers of dated or damaged properties, raised $80 million in a recent Series C funding round. The funding round was led by Fifth Wall and General Global Capital. The technology company has now raised $135 million since August 2018, according to TechCrunch. The company, based in San Francisco, did not reveal the valuation upon which the Series C funding round was based. Sundae did report a 600

Farkas buys Lexington Ave hotel for $185M

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 06:31 AM PDT

When the Lexington Hotel reopens next month, it will be under new ownership: Andrew Farkas’ Island Capital has acquired the property for $185 million. The real estate merchant bank on Tuesday announced the purchase of the shuttered hotel in a joint venture with Three Wall Capital and MCR. The latter will manage operations under the Marriott International Autograph Collection brand. The seller was DiamondRock Hospitality, which bought the hotel 10 years ago for $333.7 million.

M&T Bank reports late-stage delinquent loans more than doubled in past year

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 06:00 AM PDT

Analyst expectations aside, M&T Bank enjoyed a profitable second quarter. The same can’t be said for the homeowners who count the firm as their lender. M&T posted adjusted earnings of $3.41 per share, shy of estimates, but nearly double the $1.74 per share in the same quarter last year. Second-quarter revenue, excluding brokerage services, hit $1.46 billion, beating consensus and topping the $1.1 billion in Q2 sales the bank posted in 2020. Yet over the

Watch: Can venture capital solve real estate’s wicked problems?

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Billions of venture capital dollars have flowed into real estate to improve the experience of residents, office tenants and landlords themselves. But where’s the money for the really important stuff? The climate crisis, the national housing shortage and other wicked problems? “The largest challenge is that there’s no silver bullet,” said Casey Berman, co-founder of proptech-focused VC firm Camber Creek Partners. “You can’t say we’re going to decrease the cost of construction by 90 percent,

Flooded, arrested, assaulted: A landlord’s horror story

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 05:00 AM PDT

As New York skidded toward lockdown, the landlord of a three-unit building in Queens was being thrown in handcuffs. It was March 17, 2020, and Roderick Compass remembers leaving work early to handle a distress call from the first-floor tenant at 146-08 181st Street, the home he owns and occupies in Springfield Gardens. The tenant’s ceiling was pooling with water because the second-floor renters had flooded their apartment — again. “He’s like, ‘You gotta get

As summer heats up, so do rental scams

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 04:30 AM PDT

Across the country, the summer months tend to be the busiest for renters. The weather is generally milder and more predictable, children are out of school and new graduates are entering the workforce for the first time. But amid the hustle for moving trucks and wardrobe boxes, scammers enter a busy season of their own. Although most rental scams are reported in January, victims lose the most money during the summer, according to a new

The land that time forgot: A North Fork real estate saga

Posted: 22 Jul 2021 04:00 AM PDT

It’s easier to spot open real estate from thousands of feet above. Just ask Enzo Morabito. Back in the early 1990s Morabito was scouring the entire East End for his clients, among them Annie Leibovitz, who was looking to buy on the waterfront. Google Earth was still just an idea on a Silicon Valley whiteboard, so to get a clearer view of their options, Morabito and the famed photographer took to the sky. Morabito hired