The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Thor Equities sells Bryant Park office condo to Chinese firm for $11M

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 03:00 PM PDT

Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities has sold two floors of office space overlooking Bryant Park in a deal that indicates the city’s office condo market could be improving from its pandemic lows. The New York-based developer sold 11,158-square-foot of space at 24 West 40th Street to the Chinese textile company Loftex for $10.75 million, according to broker Rudder Property Group, which represented both parties in the deal. The purchase price fell well short of Thor’s asking

Compass lost $3.6B in market value as shares hit new low

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 02:01 PM PDT

UPDATED 10/11/2021 5:30 p.m. Shares of Compass, the second-biggest U.S. residential brokerage by sales volume, fell to an all-time low, six-and-a-half months after going public, amid uncertainty about the housing market and investors’ concerns that someone was looking to unload shares. The stock fell as low as $10.72 during Monday trading before closing at $10.74, down 5.37 percent from the open and 47 percent down from April 1, its first day of trading, according to

Brooklyn luxury contracts led by $10.7M condo, $6.4M Park Slope brownstone

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 02:00 PM PDT

A condo unit in Brooklyn Heights that went into contract last week not only marked a likely borough-high price for the year, but also led Compass’ weekly report of luxury contracts. The 4,544-square-foot condo at Quay Tower was asking $10.65 million, including $2,344 per square foot and four bedrooms, three bathrooms and one half bathroom. According to 6sqft, the unit on the 23rd floor included a grand entry foyer, a mudroom and a gallery. A

Urban Commons defrauded investor out of $1M in hotel venture: lawsuit

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 01:30 PM PDT

Trouble continues to mount for Los Angeles-based Urban Compass, the bankrupt owner of Lower Manhattan’s Wagner Hotel and former operator of the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles bankruptcy court, New York-based LLC Berritto Enterprises accused the developer and two of its executives of accepting a $1 million investment for a hotel venture, then making off with the funds after the deal fell apart. The plaintiff’s

KKR founders Henry Kravis, George Roberts step down as co-CEOs

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 01:00 PM PDT

Private equity firm KKR is undergoing its most significant leadership change since the company’s founding in 1976. KKR announced Monday co-founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts are departing as Co-CEOs of the company they founded, but will stay on as executive co-chairmen. Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall, who have served as co-presidents and co-COOs since 2017, will assume the roles of co-CEOs, effective immediately. The company in a news release called Bae the “architect” of

Data center provider snaps up 34 acres in Rockland to expand in New York metro

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 12:44 PM PDT

Data center provider DataBank has acquired a 34-acre site in Rockland, New York, to expand its capacity in the New York City metro region. The Dallas-headquartered company paid owner Skae Group $23 million for the site at 2000 Corporate Drive in Orangeburg. Skae Group bought it from Verizon in 2017 for $18.25 million, property records show. Rockland County Business Journal first reported the transaction. DataBank — whose real estate footprint includes 60 data centers and

Humming Homes, new home management platform, raises $5.6 million in seed round

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 12:30 PM PDT

Humming Homes, a home management startup that helps suburbanites care for lawns and fix leaky pipes, raised $5.6 million to help it expand beyond the northeastern U.S. Venture capital firm Greycroft led the round, with backers that included AlleyCorp, Thrive Capital, Sound Ventures and New Valley Ventures. It brought the startup’s total funding to $8.1 million. Humming Homes aims to provide home management for first-time homeowners, many of them millennials, who are finally abandoning urban

Hotel conversions race against the clock

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 12:00 PM PDT

On a nondescript corner in Brooklyn, sandwiched between on-ramps for the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, a long-vacant hotel formerly run by the Jehovah’s Witnesses is starting a new chapter. Aby Rosen’s RFR Realty acquired the 29-story building at 90 Sands Street for $135 million in 2017, intending to create, as his partner Ian Schrager described it to the New York Post, “the No. 1 hotel in Brooklyn.” Those plans never came to fruition, and a

Eleanor Roosevelt’s UES townhouse sells for 17% post-makeover price cut

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 10:35 AM PDT

Despite a modern makeover, the final sale price on Eleanor Roosevelt’s former townhouse didn’t live up to its original listing price. The former first lady’s home at 55 East 74th Street sold for $13.5 million, a 17 percent cut from when it was asking $16 million earlier this year. Meera Gandhi, founder and CEO of the Giving Back Foundation, had been trying to sell the property since 2018, when it hit the market with a

Manhattan luxury contracts surge to 6-month high in first week of October

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 10:00 AM PDT

A flood of deals last week proved that buyers’ appetite for Manhattan luxury homes has remained strong into October. Forty-six contracts were signed for homes asking $4 million or more in the borough, according to Olshan Realty’s weekly report. It’s the highest number of deals inked in one week since the third week of April, when 56 contracts were signed. “It was an extremely pleasant surprise,” said Donna Olshan, author of the report. “And there

Procore on the prowl

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 09:30 AM PDT

Hardcore Procore, the construction management platform, acquired Levelset for $500 million. It is the firm’s largest acquisition to-date and among the largest ever for a venture-backed construction software company. Analysts said the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, will sharpen Procore’s competitive advantage and help it corner business from specialty contractors — a nut no one has so far cracked. The acquisition also hints at the company’s move into other areas

Bobby Zar’s ZG Capital in contract for office building at 836 Broadway

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 08:45 AM PDT

Bobby Zar’s ZG Capital Partners is in contract for a largely vacant office building at 836 Broadway. The six-story building just south of Union Square includes 81,000 square feet and sold for $40 million. The property used to house New York University, which has since left the space. “It’s all on them to build it up,” said Skyline Properties President Robert Khodadadian, who has also been working on office deals in the area. “It shows

Orchard Technologies leases 107k sf at L&L’s 195 Broadway

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 08:05 AM PDT

Homebuying startup Orchard Technologies is nabbing some real estate of its own at L&L Holding Company’s 195 Broadway. The four-year-old firm, which reached a billion-dollar valuation last month, has signed a 10-year lease for 107,000 square feet at the Financial District office building. The lease includes the entire 25th and 26th floors, as well as part of the 24th floor, according to the New York Post. It’s not immediately clear how much Orchard paid for

Aurora’s Solar Carve office tower scores $300M refi

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 07:30 AM PDT

The owners of a boutique office building in the Meatpacking District landed a $300 million refinancing deal. Aurora Capital Associates, in partnership with William Gottlieb Real Estate, secured the loan from Pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank to replace the existing debt from the same lender for the building known as the “Solar Carve,” sources told The Real Deal. The 10-story, 160,000-square-foot tower at 40 10th Avenue was built in 2019. The owners did not return messages requesting

The pandemic gave NYC office buildings $29B haircut

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 06:47 AM PDT

The pandemic’s impact on the New York City office market remains unrelenting, according to figures from the state comptroller. The market value of office buildings in the city dropped by $28.6 billion — 16.6 percent — during the last fiscal year, per the report from State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. That marks the first decline since at least 2000. In the previous fiscal year, the total market value of office properties in the city reached $172

Trust-fund kids exploit NY housing subsidy program

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 06:00 AM PDT

The rich get slicker. Housing Development Fund Corporation cooperatives were designed with low-income homebuyers in mind. But the children of wealthy parents have found a loophole to take advantage of the special property tax break and discounted prices, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Close to 1,000 properties in New York City receive the special tax break. While income limits apply to buyers, wealth limits do not. That allows affluent offspring to acquire them in all-cash deals

Proposed bill would require landlords to pay for tenants’ internet

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Landlords in New York City are already on the hook for their tenants’ heat and hot water. A proposed City Council bill wants to add internet service to that list. The measure, introduced Thursday by Council member Ben Kallos, would require owners of multifamily buildings to provide free broadband internet to their tenants. If the bill is passed, existing buildings with 10 or more apartments would have until Jan. 1, 2026 to comply. “Every New

What tenants are paying at 345 Seventh Avenue

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 04:00 AM PDT

The following is a preview of one of the hundreds of data sets that will be available on TRD Pro — the one-stop real estate terminal that provides all the data and market information you need. The glass is half full — less, actually — at 345 Seventh Avenue, a century-old office building near Penn Station, and three smaller buildings that sold last month: Paying tenants occupy just 43 percent of their combined 212,000 rentable

Tug-of-war over anti-redlining law heads back to the drawing board

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 04:00 AM PDT

When Trump-appointed regulator Joseph Otting, previously a career banking executive, proposed a series of overhauls to a 1970s redlining law last year, critics viewed it as a giveaway to the banking industry. If that was the aim, it backfired. Banking interests and community advocates united in their opposition, with the latter filing a lawsuit to block the reforms from moving forward. Since proposing the changes, Otting has stepped down as comptroller of the currency, and