The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Creditors seize Oceanwide’s flagship SF project

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 05:04 PM PDT

Oceanwide, one of China’s biggest real estate companies, lost control of its flagship San Francisco project. Debtholders seized Oceanwide Center, which has been plagued by failed sales, $1.6 billion of ballooning costs and more than $40 million of mechanic’s liens, after two of the firm’s subsidiaries missed payments on $321.5 million of notes. Two debtholders seized the project, along with shares in Oceanwide’s parent, China Oceanwide Holdings International, which were used as collateral for the

Related Companies nabs land from Spitzer Enterprises for $77M

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 04:36 PM PDT

Related Companies has paid Spitzer Enterprises $77 million for nearly all its ownership interest in three Hudson Yards properties near to where a joint venture among the companies plans to develop housing. The deal gives Related 99.9 percent ownership in 17,300 square feet across three parcels, at 506 and 512 West 36th Street and 511 West 35th Street, which Spitzer bought in 2013 for $88 million. The transaction values the properties at 12 percent less

Here’s where housing funds stand in Biden’s slimmed-down spending bill

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 03:02 PM PDT

As Democrats tangle over the details of the Build Back Better reconciliation bill, its housing funding has been on the chopping block for weeks. Now, a clearer picture of the measure’s possible haircut is starting to emerge. President Joe Biden on Thursday laid out a new $1.75 trillion framework, shrinking the proposed spending plan from $3.5 trillion. In the latest iteration, $150 billion is dedicated to housing, down from $330 billion. The plan includes a

“Succession” pad up for grabs in Tribeca

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 02:15 PM PDT

Most people will never experience a day in the life of the Roy family from HBO’s “Succession.” Someone can live like a character from the show, though. The Manhattan condo unit belonging to Kendall Roy’s ex-wife on the series is on the market for $23.3 million, according to the New York Post. The apartment is located in the Woolworth Tower Residences in Tribeca. According to the Realtor.com listing, the 6,700-square-foot apartment on the 29th floor

With offices in flux, Empire State Realty Trust is pivoting to apartments

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 01:00 PM PDT

As the pandemic continues to cast a shadow of uncertainty over Manhattan office properties, the owner of the Empire State Building has its sights set on residential real estate. Office landlord Empire State Realty Trust — whose portfolio-wide vacancy rate increased to 16.5 percent in the third quarter — is acquiring two Manhattan apartment buildings totaling 625 units for $307 million, including $186 million in debt, according to an SEC filing. Chairman and CEO Tony

Startup Cover hauls in $60M to build homes in backyards

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 12:35 PM PDT

Cover, a Los Angeles-based startup that builds custom backyard homes for renters and financially challenged relatives, raised $60 million to scale up. Gigafund led the Series B round with participation from Valor Equity Partners and Founders Fund — early investors in Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla — and homebuilder Lennar, among others. The raise brings the startup’s total funding to $75 million. The company launched in 2017 and completed a $10 million Series A in

Daniel Boulud replacing iconic Augustine with new French bistro

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 12:00 PM PDT

A new bistro from renowned restaurateur Daniel Boulud will rise out of the ashes of Keith McNally’s Augustine. Boulud is set to open a French restaurant this spring at the Beekman Hotel in the Financial District, according to the New York Post. The outlet noted a liquor license application was posted in the window of the restaurant with the name Dinex, Boulud’s company. A name and a chef for the restaurant have not been picked

Nationwide contract signings cool in September as buyers await fresh options

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 11:45 AM PDT

The nationwide late-summer uptick in homebuying was short-lived. New contract signings dipped 2.3 percent month-over-month in September and were down 8 percent from September of last year, according to the National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index, which tracks signings for single-family homes, condos and co-ops. After two straight months of declines in June and July, signings jumped 8 percent in August before falling again last month. “Transactions slowed a bit in September and

NY seeks $540M in mortgage aid. Homeowners need $6B

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 11:15 AM PDT

Another day, another underfunded aid package. After the state’s rent-relief program left landlords $3 billion short, a preview of New York’s mortgage forgiveness program shows the forthcoming Homeowner Assistance Fund might do even worse. To help homeowners who fell behind on mortgages and other payments during the pandemic, the state applied for $540 million of a $10 billion federal assistance program in the American Rescue Plan, said Joseph Sant, general counsel and vice president of

Safehold snares ground lease under Ron Burkle’s troubled NoMad Hotel

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 10:30 AM PDT

Safehold, which specializes in acquiring ground leases, has once again done what it does best. The firm has purchased the ground lease at the debt-plagued NoMad Hotel for $77 million, according to public records, adding another hospitality property to its portfolio. Hotel assets make up 17 percent of Safehold’s portfolio, according to the company’s 2020 annual report. The seller was clothing manufacturer and distributor Haddad Brands. Billionaire investor Ron Burkle and hotelier Andrew Zobler own

Compass’ Reffkin: One-click real estate is the future

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 09:45 AM PDT

Compass CEO and co-founder Robert Reffkin sees a one-click solution as the future of real estate transactions. “I think we’re moving to a world where people expect everything to be in one place,” Reffkin said at Inman Connect Las Vegas, according to the outlet. “Amazon has everything in one place. When I buy a soccer ball for my 3-year-old on Amazon, I have 100 options on my plate and I can do everything right there.”

Upper West Side’s most controversial tower closes first condo sale

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 09:00 AM PDT

After fending off a wrecking ball last month, the Upper West Side’s most controversial condo building closed its first sale this week — a coda to a high-stakes battle between Big Real Estate and anti-development forces waged on the city’s skyline for three years. SJP Properties closed on its first sale at 200 Amsterdam Avenue on Wednesday, a little more than six weeks after the developer claimed victory over opponents who had sought to have

Long Island home prices reach 20-year high

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 08:15 AM PDT

At last report, Long Island home sales were heavy and listings were light, sparking bidding wars that drove prices to all-time highs. When the run-up would end, no one knew. But now we know this much: It wasn’t in the third quarter. In Nassau and Suffolk counties, excluding the Hamptons and the North Fork, average and median home prices rose to their highest levels in nearly two decades, according to Douglas Elliman’s quarterly report by

Realogy plans to “step up” iBuying venture to capitalize on hot housing market

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 07:30 AM PDT

Realogy expects the housing market’s hot streak to continue and plans on rapidly expanding its iBuying program to capitalize on it. The brokerage giant reported $2.2 billion in revenue in the third quarter — a 15 percent increase compared to the same period last year — as the housing market heated up amid eased pandemic restrictions. The company’s net income was $114 million, up $16 million from the previous year, according to its Thursday earnings

Jeff Sutton will get $9M back from Geox

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 06:45 AM PDT

S & A Retail, responsible for the United States operations of Italian footwear brand Geox, has reportedly agreed to pay $8.8 million in back rent and other fees to Sutton’s Wharton Properties. The agreement was discovered in documents posted to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, according to the Commercial Observer. In July 2020, S & A filed a lawsuit against Wharton that alleged the lease was “frustrated” by the pandemic, which knocked down foot traffic

NY fighting LA for housing bucks in Biden’s aid package

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 06:00 AM PDT

Political leaders from the East Coast and West Coast are fighting over a shrinking pie of federal housing funds in President Joe Biden’s proposed “Building Back Better” aid package. Democrats in Washington are considering slashing in half the funds currently allocated to address a slew of housing issues in their “Build Back Better” package to $150 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times. States address housing issues in vastly different ways, and representatives of each

REBNY and CoStar’s new listing portal will let agents pay for top placements

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 05:30 AM PDT

When the Real Estate Board of New York revealed earlier this month that it was launching a public listing portal with commercial data giant CoStar, agents and industry leaders asked: How would it make money? The answer: promoted listings. Citysnap, REBNY’s long awaited residential listing portal slated to launch next year, will offer agents the opportunity to buy preferred placements to increase exposure for their listings, CoStar founder Andrew Florance announced during the firm’s earnings

Top loans: Related exits Margaritaville, digs in at Truffles Tribeca

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 05:00 AM PDT

After some monster Manhattan real estate lending in August, lightning was not likely to strike again in September. And it didn’t. The 10 largest Manhattan property loans recorded last month totaled $1.1 billion, about one-third the August mark but on par with July’s. The largest one refinanced debt on an aging office building at 1441 Broadway Avenue while the second largest went to a condo conversion in Tribeca led by Related Companies. Related made the

CMBS set to break Financial Crisis record

Posted: 28 Oct 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Real estate owners have had a rocky love affair with cheap debt. Commercial real estate’s fixation with low interest rates has dragged it to China to court EB-5 investors and to Israel’s nascent bond market. But in recent years, real estate’s most steady source of it has been an old flame: commercial mortgage-backed securities. Even after a global pandemic left parts of the office market reeling and retail in the pits, property owners are increasingly

Sam Zell’s luxury rentals regain pricing power

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 03:44 PM PDT

There has been no uniform shape for recovery from the pandemic-driven downturn. In the case of Sam Zell’s Equity Residential, it’s V-shaped, at least for its pricing power at its nearly 80,000 luxury rental apartments, mostly in California and on the East Coast. The pandemic pushed the apartments’ monthly rent — that is, the weighted average of 12 months’ base rent including concessions — down $520 from March to December of 2020. But the figure

Aby Rosen dodges liability at Gramercy Park Hotel

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 03:16 PM PDT

If someone pays for RFR Realty’s default at the Gramercy Park Hotel, a judge says it won’t be Aby Rosen. Landlord Solil Management owns the dirt under the iconic hotel. The company sued to evict RFR and collect almost $80 million owed under the lease terms in April. The firm had been leasing the land for about $5 million per year, but stopped making payments in November 2020 after the hotel closed amid the pandemic.

Multifamily lender says loans in good shape, not endangered by rent law

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 02:37 PM PDT

Despite a sluggish quarter of loan growth, New York Community Bank, the state’s largest multifamily lender, assured investors Wednesday that its heavily rent-regulated portfolio is well-insulated against the state’s rent laws. The bank’s total loans, about three-quarters of which are on multifamily properties, ticked up about 1 percent to $43.7 billion on an annualized basis. The increase in the second quarter had been 4 percent. CEO Thomas Cangemi called the growth “modest,” but assured that

NY’s Foundation Capital, Nightingale aim to buy Loop office towers

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 01:45 PM PDT

New York real estate investors Foundation Capital Partners and Nightingale Properties, are buying two separate Loop office buildings in Chicago’s Loop, marking their first forays into the Chicago market. Foundation will pay $180 million for a 26-story office building at 2 N Lasalle Street, Crain’s reported. Nightingale is close to completing the purchase of a 29-story building at 200 W Jackson Boulevard for almost $132 million. The LaSalle Street property was sold by a joint

Solly Assa blames homeless for damages at MAve Hotel, sues insurer

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 12:56 PM PDT

After signing a deal to let homeless people stay at the MAve Hotel, Salim “Solly” Assa says he has been stuck with the bill for the damage they allegedly caused. The NoMad establishment, which is owned by Assa Properties, is suing insurer Lloyds of London for more than $1 million. The insurer declined to cover the cost of damage that Assa says occurred while the hotel was housing homeless families, according to a federal lawsuit

Newburgh jumps on good cause eviction train

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 12:00 PM PDT

The slow drip of New York municipalities approving good cause eviction laws continued this week, as Newburgh joined the small but growing list of towns passing the tenant protection legislation. Newburgh passed good cause eviction measures on Monday, City & State reported. The Orange County city followed in the footsteps of Albany and Hudson. Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Ithaca are among the other cities where such measures are being considered, the publication reported. In Kingston, for

As housing price growth plateaus, Shiller warns buyers of “bumpy” ride

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 11:16 AM PDT

After months of U.S. home prices rapidly accelerating, new figures show the growth is slowing — not that bargain hunters are ready to whip out their wallets. U.S. home prices rose 19.8 percent year-over-year in August, after July’s 19.7 percent annual increase, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index. The leveling off comes after four straight months of record-setting, increasing growth. “August data also suggest that the growth in housing prices,

Realogy, Home Partners of America iBuying venture hires first CEO

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 10:15 AM PDT

A joint venture between Realogy and Home Partners of America is poised to grow with the hiring of its first CEO. iBuying venture RealSure is hiring former Walmart executive Katie Finnegan as chief executive, Bloomberg reported. Finnegan previously worked as the top e-commerce executive for Rite Aid and a WalMart executive. The hire signals RealSure is poised to accelerate growth, as noted by Bloomberg. The iBuying venture will have some additional expansion help beyond its

Padel (it’s a sport!) club to open in Brooklyn warehouse

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 09:42 AM PDT

The city’s first “padel” club will open in a 30,000-square-foot Williamsburg warehouse next year. No, it’s not spelled wrong. And padel is not paddle tennis or pickleball. It is, however, a fast-growing sport that fans say is fun and easy to play. But in case that’s not enough to make the Brooklyn business viable at 307 Kent Avenue, the club will have a restaurant, too. The facility, to be called Padel Haus, is the brainchild

Vornado’s Roth reportedly batted down de Blasio’s plans for Fifth Ave. busway

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 07:36 AM PDT

Plans for a Fifth Avenue busway reportedly hit a snag after one of real estate’s most prominent figures aired his concerns to the city. Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth met with Mayor Bill de Blasio earlier in October at City Hall in regards to the Fifth Avenue busway plans, The New York Times reports. Shortly after the meeting, the city’s transportation commissioner broached reconsideration of the two-year-old plan with staffers. The original plan for

Rudin’s Dock 72 notches Food52 as second tenant

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 06:50 AM PDT

Dock 72 has notched its second tenant as an online cooking and home website is set to make its move from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Food52, the site founded by former New York Times food editors Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs in 2009, is departing Chelsea for the Brooklyn Navy Yard office building developed by Rudin Management and Boston Properties in cooperation with WeWork. The developers announced the lease on Tuesday. Food52 is leasing approximately 42,000

CoStar profits up, but demand for apartment ads sinks

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 06:00 AM PDT

UPDATED Oct. 27, 2021, 12:11 p.m.: CoStar Group’s profits ticked up in the third quarter as revenue returned to a double-digit growth rate. However, with apartment hunting pushing vacancy rates to historic lows, demand for apartment advertising has weakened, generating headwinds for the company’s online market platform Apartments.com, the company said. “This spike in occupancy levels is unprecedented,” CEO Andy Florance said on an earnings call. “I believe it begins to reconcile in the next

MTA chair: 10 new towers may not fund Penn Station expansion

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 05:30 AM PDT

UPDATED Oct. 27, 2021, 11:55 a.m.: For nearly two years, the fate of Penn Station has been linked to the construction of 10 nearby commercial towers. That coupling may be coming undone. During his 2020 State of the State address, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that revenue generated from acquiring and redeveloping properties surrounding the station would help pay for eight new tracks a block south of the transit hub. The General Project Plan mentions payments

Moral hazard: Landlords face new scrutiny about tenant mix

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 05:00 AM PDT

As the biggest landlord on the Las Vegas strip, Vici Properties guzzles up extraordinary amounts of electricity to power all those neon signs, slot machines and air conditioners in the middle of the desert 24 hours a day. But while the company can point to energy reductions and carbon offsets at its casinos, it can’t erase its original sin: Vici’s tenant is vice. For some investors, that’s a problem. Socially conscious investors are paying more

Why Gary Barnett is selling Central Park Tower at 25% off

Posted: 27 Oct 2021 04:00 AM PDT

New York City’s priciest condominium project is proving to be a lot less expensive than advertised. Since closings began at Gary Barnett’s Central Park Tower in February, sales have hit public records for 33 units, most boasting prized park views. But per square foot, the high-flying developer is getting 25 percent below what he was aiming for, according to an analysis by The Real Deal. The average sale price per square foot was $5,063, compared