The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Fruchtlander family buys Hollywood, Florida rental for $32M

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 03:30 PM PDT

The Fruchtlander family is continuing its march into South Florida. FBE Limited, the family’s office, purchased The Club at Emerald Waters, a 300-unit, six-building complex spread across 4.9 acres in Hollywood, Florida. FBE paid $31.9 million for the property, according to the Commercial Observer. The rents charged at the complex range from $1,249 to $2,136 per month, according to Apartments.com. The complex last changed hands in 2014. Miami-based Monument Real Estate Services purchased the property

Julio Iglesias used shell companies to amass real estate portfolio: Pandora Papers

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 03:27 PM PDT

Singer-songwriter Julio Iglesias crafted his real estate portfolio in South Florida using shell companies, including for five properties on the ultra-exclusive Indian Creek Island, homes in the nearby town of Surfside, as well as for a property in Homestead. Iglesias’ purchase of these properties was revealed in the Pandora Papers, a massive leak of nearly 13 million offshore shell company documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Miami Herald reported. Though his

Cop accused of posing as landlord in scam

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 03:00 PM PDT

An NYPD officer is being investigated over accusations that he posed as the owner of the Queens home where he was a tenant and fraudulently rented out his own apartment to at least nine victims. Officer Burban Pierre allegedly lured apartment hunters with an ad on Craigslist and collected as much as $2,800 from his victims in exchange for sham leases, then refused to let them move into the basement apartment where he resided, the

Ecuadorian president, linked to US real estate, named in Pandora Papers

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 02:30 PM PDT

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso – who has been linked to roughly 130 South Florida properties – is among the heads of state named in the Pandora Papers. The trove of records reveals Lasso is linked to two trusts set up in South Dakota, but do not touch on the president’s alleged links to South Florida real estate. The Real Deal in July reported on Lasso’s alleged connections to properties, mostly condominium units and townhouses, in

Greystar buys Long Island rental complex for $118M

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 02:30 PM PDT

Long Island’s Port Jefferson Station has notched a hefty multifamily transaction courtesy of rental behemoth Greystar. The Vistas of Port Jefferson sold by The Benjamin Companies, based in Garden City, for $118 million, according to Long Island Business News. The transaction closed last week and about 80 percent of the complex was occupied at the time. Charleston, South Carolina-based Greystar swooped in shortly after construction on the complex was completed, LIBN reports. Construction began in

Construction startup Built lands $1.5B valuation

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 01:51 PM PDT

Built, a Nashville-based fintech startup geared towards the construction industry, snagged a $1.5 billion valuation. The company more than tripled its valuation after the latest fundraising round, where it raised $125 million, according to Bloomberg. The outlet reported investors in the latest funding round include Brookfield Technology Partners, 9Yards Capital, XYZ Venture Capital and HighSage Ventures. TCV led the funding round. Woody Marshall, a general partner with the growth equity firm, is joining Built’s board.

Demand could be cooling in Manhattan luxury market’s banner year

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 01:00 PM PDT

In the first three quarters of the year, the number of Manhattan luxury contracts inked was double what it was in 2020 and 42 percent of 2019’s haul. But the weekly volume of signed contracts is trailing off in recent weeks. Last week there were 22 purchase contracts signed for Manhattan homes asking $4 million or more, according to Olshan Realty’s weekly luxury contract report. There were 27 contracts signed in the borough the week

How to close a $65 million deal: New podcast episode out now

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 12:30 PM PDT

How does a star broker sell a $65 million home? This week on Deconstruct, we’re taking you on a tour of one of the priciest homes currently on the market in Los Angeles. In this episode, Compass broker Aaron Kirman walks us through 1108 Wallace Ridge — a 19,000-square-foot spec home in Beverly Hills. The home was built by developer and architect Michael Chen and is situated in the secluded Trousdale Estates neighborhood. Tune in

Columbia Property Trust gets 1st tenant in Greenwich Village office building

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 12:00 PM PDT

Columbia Property Trust’s boutique office building in Greenwich Village is looking to open in about a month’s time and its first tenant is set to join them. Newrez, a mortgage lending and servicing firm, is leasing two entire floors in the building at 799 Broadway and 11th Street, according to the New York Post. The firm — owned by New Residential Investment Corp. — signed on for 25,000 square feet indoors and four outdoor terraces

Lawsuit over debt haunts effort to sell retail condo at 808 Broadway

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 11:46 AM PDT

It’s looking like a not-so-happy Halloween for Rubie’s Costume Company. After putting the retail condo at 808 Broadway — which houses iconic costume store Halloween Adventure — on the market, Rubie’s is being sued by special servicer Rialto Capital Advisors over debt on the property. Rubie’s owes $12.5 million in principal on a mortgage loan, according to court records filed in Manhattan Supreme Court Friday. Rubie’s was notified of the default last November, according to

Head of NY’s rent relief program resigns

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 11:09 AM PDT

Michael Hein, commissioner of the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and the man in charge of New York’s bungled rent relief program, resigned last week, according to sources familiar with the matter. Hein was on the chopping block as Gov. Kathy Hochul moved to purge agency heads appointed by her predecessor Andrew Cuomo, the New York Post reported. Hein was one of nine state bureaucrats facing the axe. The former commissioner, speaking to

Brooklyn luxury contracts heat up in first week of October

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 10:34 AM PDT

Brooklyn luxury contract signings stayed hot last week even as temperatures cooled. Buyers signed 29 contracts asking $2 million or more in the borough, according to a new report from Compass. In all, the asking prices totalled $93.5 million, with a median of $2.97 million. That’s up from 22 deals the previous week, and just 15 before that. Seventeen of the contracts were for townhouses and 12 for condos. None were for co-ops. On average,

Sam Chang unloads two hotels as selling spree continues

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 10:00 AM PDT

Hotel developer Sam Chang has been on a selling spree. Two hotels developed by his McSam Hotel Group have just been sold: 350 West 39th Street in the Garment District hotel for $166 million — Chang’s biggest sale since the onset of the pandemic — and 100 Greenwich Street, to Concord Hospitality for $69 million. The buyer of 350 West 39th Street is not clear, but was represented by attorney Gregory Weingart from the Pittsburgh

It’s harder than it’s been in a decade to afford a mortgage

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 09:15 AM PDT

The housing market’s ongoing surge is one of several factors pushing back against Americans’ abilities to afford mortgages. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta determined that a median household would need to spend 32.1 percent of its income on mortgage payments for a median-priced home. That marks the highest percentage since November 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal. The percentage of income needed to make mortgage incomes on a median-priced home has also grown

Inside the King of Jordan’s Malibu luxury real estate spree

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 07:15 AM PDT

The King of Jordan secretly spent $70 million on neighboring Malibu properties through separate shell companies, according to one of the biggest leaks of financial documents. Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein spent more than $106 million on at least 15 homes across the United States and United Kingdom, according to a trove of files dubbed the Pandora Papers obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. In 2014, a company called Nabisco Holdings SA bought a

Robert A.M. Stern designing West Village spec house

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 06:15 AM PDT

RoundSquare Builders are working on their next spec house with Robert A.M. Stern’s architecture firm. The developer bought 107 Bank Street for $9.3 million on Thursday with financing from Maxim Capital Group, said Rob Kaliner, president of RoundSquare. The off-market deal came together in 10 days. The sellers were looking to move to another townhouse in Brooklyn and needed to close by the end of September. Leslie J. Garfield’s Matthew Lesser and Matthew Pravda brokered

Tenants rushing back to tour offices, but things still far from normal

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Office tenants are touring buildings at the highest numbers since the start of the pandemic — an early indicator that companies may be ready to commit to new workspaces and sign leases. But this early activity is still far below where it was pre-Covid. Across the country, tenants have been increasing their touring activity each month since December, according to the commercial real estate data firm VTS. Tour activity is closely watched as an early

Task force lays out possible changes to city’s tax lien sale

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 05:00 AM PDT

A task force studying the city’s tax lien sale is considering a range of options that include replacing the system, tweaking it and exempting some properties. The 12-person group, formed by City Council legislation passed in January, must come up with recommendations for the sale by Nov. 1. It has not committed to anything, but has released some ideas for how to make the system fairer without letting delinquent owners off the hook. One is

Landlords find way around housing court backlog

Posted: 04 Oct 2021 04:00 AM PDT

The latest eviction ban was supposed to give property owners due process — the chance to dispute a tenant’s claim that the pandemic had made it too tough to pay the rent. One month into the new system, however, attorneys say landlords with deadbeat tenants are too gun-shy to test it. And rather than wait out another sunset date and the case backlog to follow, some are taking suits to alternative venues for a more