The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Epic storm Ida was reckoning for New York City real estate

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 01:26 PM PDT

When water started seeping into Jackeline Franco’s East Elmhurst home on Wednesday, she called the company that had just repaired her roof, frustrated that it was already leaking. Then she looked outside. “The water was mid-thigh, easily three feet above the ground,” she said. She and her family survived the storm, unlike more than a dozen other New Yorkers, but spent the next two days moving waterlogged furniture from the basement to the yard, hoping

HomeLight lands $100M in Series D equity, valuing company at $1.6B

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 12:55 PM PDT

Proptech firm HomeLight secured $100 million in a Series D equity raise that values the company at $1.6 billion. The San Francisco-based company, which earlier this year was reported to be edging toward an IPO, also raised $263 million in debt financing, bringing its total funding to-date to about $530 million. A platform designed to streamline the homebuying process by facilitating contingency-free transactions, HomeLight expects its annual revenue to triple to more than $300 million

Two Weatherproof $16M flood townhouses hit just as Hurricane Ida hammered New York

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 12:14 PM PDT

Vincent deFilippo braved Hurricane Ida’s torrential rain on Wednesday as he headed home to New Jersey, only to find that his basement had flooded. His first thought: What had become of his two luxury townhouses in Manhattan, which hit the market for $16 million each just days before the storm? The answer wasn’t long in coming. Neighbors had inches of water pooling their yard. Not so in either the Chelsea and Upper West Side homes.

Delta variant slams door on hospitality hiring

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 10:23 AM PDT

Job growth in leisure and hospitality slowed to zero in August, pumping the brakes on an economic recovery that had been revving up all summer. Including everything from restaurants and bars to hotels and casinos, the leisure and hospitality industry had accounted for half of private-sector job growth in July, when it added 380,000 positions. But job losses last month at restaurants and bars, as well as tepid hirings at hotels, undid the modest gains

Trump PAC a key tenant at strained Trump Tower

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 09:40 AM PDT

Donald Trump has at least one dependable tenant at Trump Tower in New York City: a Trump PAC. As other tenants have racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in arrears at the 75-percent occupied Midtown Manhattan building during the pandemic, the Make America Great Again PAC has reliably paid over $37,500 per month to lease office space on its 15th floor since March, according to the Washington Post. Rent isn’t the only payment the

Ugandan government sues art dealer over UES rent

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 09:00 AM PDT

An art dealer with a reputation for quarreling over bills for Edvard Munches and Keith Harings allegedly owes nearly half a million dollars in rent for his headquarters in a tony Upper East Side townhouse. Financier and art dealer Asher Edelman’s businesses owe nearly $470,000 in back rent on the Lenox Hill townhouse at 111 East 70th Street to the building’s landlord, the Permanent Mission of Uganda to the United Nations, court records show. Edelman’s

Buyers, rejoice: US housing market starting to normalize

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 08:30 AM PDT

Buyers shouldn’t break out the bubbly just yet, but things are starting to look up for them in the frothy housing market. Sellers have had a major advantage over the past few months as prices soared and inventory dwindled. Those trends are beginning to see slight reversals, however, according to Mansion Global. Housing inventory was still down 25.8 percent in August from a year ago, according to a Realtor.com report. But that’s better than in

No pictures, please! Supermodel Maria Kimberly’s Southampton home to be sold at auction

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 08:00 AM PDT

Supermodel Maria Kimberly’s Southampton estate will be up for sale at a no-reserve auction Sept. 21. Kimberly, who has appeared in Balenciaga ads and Vogue, built the home with her husband and real estate mogul Jay Landesman in 2004. She continued to work on the interior design of the house, which was finished in 2017. The home, at 68 Ridge Road, is situated on a 2.3-acre lot. The 6,000-square-foot residence itself has five bedrooms and

Ten most/least expensive cities to buy a median-priced home

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 07:03 AM PDT

Homebuyers looking for an affordable mortgage should cast their eyes towards the Steel City — and not the Golden State. A study from HSH.com sought out the most and least expensive metro areas in the United States, based on mortgage payments for a median-priced home. HSH.com calculated the data using second-quarter data from the National Association of Realtors and mortgage rates from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Using a standard 28 percent front-end debt ratio

Tallest project in Staten Island history OK’d by Planning Commission

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 06:37 AM PDT

A controversial development along the St. George waterfront in Staten Island has progressed to the decisive stage after approval from the City Planning Commission. On Wednesday, the commission approved zoning changes that allow for the construction of River North, whose three buildings would include the two tallest in Staten Island history. Eight commissioners approved the zoning changes, while two voted against them, one abstained and one was absent, according to the Staten Island Advance. River

eXp exec buys Zaha Hadid-designed Chelsea condo for $12M

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 05:30 AM PDT

It’s been a good year for virtual brokerage eXp Realty, and one of its parent company’s top executives is cashing in. Randall Miles, vice chair of eXp World Holdings, and his wife Karen picked up a condo at 520 West 28th Street for $12 million, or $3,000 per square foot, property records show. Miles went into contract on the West Chelsea property in April, according to property records. The 4,023-square-foot home overlooking the High Line

10 biggest new project filings in NYC

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Eight of the 10 largest new project filings in July were multifamily developments, totaling 2,470 units, according to Department of Buildings records. The 10 filings included four in Manhattan, three in Queens, two in Brooklyn and one in the Bronx. Manhattan’s were all for multifamily developments. Brooklyn and Queens each had one filing for a storage construction project. Here’s the full list, ranked by square footage: 1. 259 Clinton Street, Manhattan Starrett Corp. has revived

Schenectady project aims to prove Opportunity Zones can work

Posted: 03 Sep 2021 04:00 AM PDT

The Opportunity Zone program has yet to live up to its hype. Designed to incentivize investment in low-income areas, the federal initiative has instead become the scorn of critics who see it as little more than a tax break for the rich. One project in Schenectady, New York, seeks to change that narrative. Hudson Partners Development is constructing a four-building, 88-unit apartment complex that will offer workforce housing. The local developer said it has secured