The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

City tweaks Soho rezoning proposal, but critics remain unimpressed

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 03:09 PM PDT

The fate of the proposed Soho and Noho rezoning hinges on whether enough changes can be made to satisfy affordable housing concerns. Last week, City Planning suggested a few tweaks to the plan, including decreasing the amount of commercial space permitted in certain areas. The changes would slightly reduce potential floor area ratios for commercial space in two subareas, lowering the proposed ratio from 10 to 8 in the southeast end of the Soho rezoning

SL Green buys stake in 1601 Broadway for $121M

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 02:51 PM PDT

SL Green has acquired a stake in 1601 Broadway for $121 million. The 46-story Times Square building is home to the new Krispy Kreme flagship, a Crowne Plaza hotel and approximately 230,000 square feet of office space across nine floors. The site has about 216,000 square feet of unused air rights. The portion of the fee interest purchased by SL Green was previously owned by Walber Broadway Co., which bought into the building in 1987.

City Council committee approves Windermere office conversion

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 02:15 PM PDT

The City Council’s land use committee on Thursday voted to grant a special permit to remake the landmarked Windermere into a mixed-use commercial and residential building. The Windermere’s owner, Mark Tress, plans to convert the bulk of the building into about 55,000 square feet of office space. Should the full City Council follow the committee’s recommendation, Tress is set to also add a top-floor restaurant and rooftop bar and build out 6,400 square feet of

Michael Lorber sells Sag Harbor home for $5M

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 02:00 PM PDT

Former “Million Dollar Listing” star Michael Lorber is no stranger to selling expensive properties. But on one recent sale, Lorber knew the home more intimately than usual. Lorber recently sold his home at 2 Glover Street in Sag Harbor for an even $5 million, according to the New York Post. The price might have been a disappointment for Lorber, who was initially seeking close to $6.5 million. A former whaling captain’s residence, the house was

Cushman predicts widespread return-to-office in early 2022

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 01:42 PM PDT

Repeatedly delayed return-to-office plans may finally come to fruition in the coming months, a new report indicates. While office landlords and brokers once hoped that a majority of workers would be back at their desks after Labor Day, the spread of the contagious Delta variant has forced most employers to delay their plans. But a new report issued by Cushman & Wakefield predicts that the return-to-office trend in the U.S. and around the globe will

Vanbarton pitches Financial District office tower as resi conversion

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 12:48 PM PDT

Another of Lower Manhattan’s office buildings could be headed for a residential conversion. The last office tenants at 160 Water Street, a 1970s-era office building in the Financial District, will be vacating the 24-story property at the start of October. And with the nearly 500,000-square-foot building about to be empty, owner Vanbarton Group is looking to sell the glass-and-steel property, pitching it as a potential residential conversion. Vanbarton, headed by managing partners Gary Tischler and

Big win for Ian Bruce Eichner in legal war with Manhattan Club timeshare investors

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 11:52 AM PDT

Developer Ian Bruce Eichner has notched a major legal victory against timeshare investors in the swanky Manhattan Club. A federal judge dismissed a RICO suit filed by 200 timeshare investors at the club against developer Bruce Eichner and Bluegreen Vacations. The lawsuit deals a blow to timeshares investors’ chances of winning future fraud lawsuits against the developers. Eichner and his affiliated companies have battled the investors over 200 West 56th Street in Midtown for close

Central Park Tower condo sells for half its asking price

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 11:50 AM PDT

A price chop this big might cast some doubts on the world’s tallest residential tower. Gary Barnett’s Extell Development has sold a sponsor unit at its Central Park Tower at 217 West 57th Street for nearly 50 percent below its original asking price, property records show. The unit, a four-bedroom, 7,984-square-foot condominium, was originally asking $95 million. It went into contract in June and sold for $49.7 million when the deal closed this month. “The

Rialto sues to recover $18M on Diamond District building after owner’s murder-suicide

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 10:54 AM PDT

Rialto Capital is foreclosing on 33 West 46th Street, a 10-story office and retail building in the Diamond District. The property belongs to the estate of Jorge Justo Neuss, an Argentinian businessman who authorities said killed his wife and then himself late last year. But even before the family tragedy, Neuss’ building was in trouble. Neuss purchased the 34,500-square-foot building through an LLC in December 2009. He paid $11 million for the property, which Extell

New York and LA homes showed best risk-adjusted returns in the country

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 10:30 AM PDT

Though rising home prices and recent big-ticket office purchases have been held up as promising signs for economic recovery in major US cities, a Bloomberg column argues low price swings present a more encouraging forecast for some markets. For a 12-month period ending on June 30, the risk-adjusted return on home investments in New York City was 2.45 percent, pacing the nation’s biggest cities, according to Bloomberg data. Los Angeles ranked right behind New York

Nonbank CRE lenders expect bumper year

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 09:45 AM PDT

Pressure on nonbank lenders reached a fever pitch during the pandemic as large real-estate securities portfolios made the companies look vulnerable amid the industry’s virtual pause. Now, nonbank lenders are on pace for one of their biggest years for loan volume, analysts and executives told the Wall Street Journal. The sector proved resilient thanks to the Federal Reserve, which kept up lending and prevented banks from cracking down on mortgage finance companies. Ladder Capital is

Hopson Development Holdings, Silverback submit $320M Midtown East condo plan

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 09:16 AM PDT

Hopson Development Holdings and Josh Schuster’s Silverback Development are forging ahead with updated plans to bring a 35-story, 435-foot tall condo building to Midtown East. The developers last week submitted a plan for 131-141 East 47th Street, outlining 191 condo units and one commercial unit. The plan has a projected sellout of more than $320.7 million, according to PincusCo. It has taken years for the planned condo development to get off the ground. In 2015,

Singaporean REIT acquires US industrial portfolios for $3B

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 09:01 AM PDT

One of Singapore’s largest REITs recently acquired two industrial portfolios in the U.S., bringing its logistics ownership to over 70 million square feet. This month, Mapletree Investments acquired 117 properties totaling 22.3 million square feet in Chicago, Memphis, Houston and other markets, the company announced Thursday. The seller was not disclosed, and the REIT did not immediately respond to an inquiry. The deal follows the company’s July purchase of 24 properties totaling 6.1 million square

German investor buying 100 Pearl Street office tower for $850M

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 06:58 AM PDT

GFP Real Estate and the Northwind Group have agreed to sell the tower at 100 Pearl Street — previously known as 7 Hanover Square — to German investor Commerz Real. The price for the building was $850 million, or $900 per square foot, according to the Commercial Observer. Cushman & Wakefield arranged the transaction. The office building spans just under 1 million square feet and was recently renovated for $250 million. Changes to the 1983

Homeless shelter operator backs out of Trump Bronx golf course deal

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 06:23 AM PDT

One of New York’s largest operators of homeless shelters says it won’t be taking on Donald Trump’s troubled Bronx golf course after all. Just two days after the city appeared to have found a group to run the facility, an attorney for CORE Services Group, Inc. said in an email to executives that the nonprofit “has decided to withdraw from consideration,” The City reported. The deal was announced in a notice published Monday that revealed

August home contract signings rise after 2 months of decline

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 06:00 AM PDT

Employees who have the option to work from anywhere are increasingly buying homes in the Midwest and South, with affordability playing a key reason in the decision. Home contract signings rose across the country in August after falling for two straight months, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors. NAR’s pending home sales index, which looks at contracts signed for single-family homes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 8.1 percent from July. The

Here are Manhattan’s largest real estate loans in August

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Manhattan’s ten biggest real estate loans in August totaled $3.2 billion — almost triple July’s $1.2 billion. A construction loan for the Terminal Warehouse in Chelsea topped The Real Deal’s list of loans, while near-zero interest rates put building owners in position to refinance debt rather than sell assets at discounts. Office buildings made up most of large refinance loans last month, although a modular hotel on the Lower East Side and residential building in

WATCH: Creating The Post-Covid Office

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 05:00 AM PDT

While many companies have cut jobs in the last year, the pandemic has created at least one position at Gensler: anthropologist-on-call. “We’re trying to understand patterns [and] movement through space,” explained Co-Managing Partner Joe Brancato on the latest episode of Coffee Talk. “Why is one six person conference room on one side of a floor being used much more than the same conference room on another side?” Gensler, which specializes in commercial interiors, has had

Voucher recipients less likely to be vulnerable to eviction, study finds

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 04:30 AM PDT

Tenant advocates and lawmakers pushed for the extension of New York’s eviction ban on the grounds that the city’s most vulnerable — low-income renters with unstable sources of income — would bear the brunt of nonpayment filings once housing courts opened. A report co-published by NYU’s Furman Center this month adds nuance to that argument by highlighting that one vulnerable group may actually be less likely to face eviction — voucher holders. In a review