The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Greystar sells multifamily portfolio to Ivanhoé Cambridge for $3.6B

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 04:13 PM PST

Weeks before the pandemic locked down the U.S., Greystar CEO Bob Faith emphasized his bullish stance on multifamily real estate, telling Bloomberg that the sector “offered stability going into a potential downturn.” This week’s $3.6 billion sale of 30 properties in growth markets including the Sun Belt and coastal suburbs underscores his point. The South Carolina-based multifamily owner unloaded the nearly 10,000-unit portfolio to Canadian real estate investment firm Ivanhoé Cambridge, PERE reported. After toying

City takes aim at controversial property seizure program

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 03:15 PM PST

The city is considering a series of changes to a controversial program that transfers distressed multifamily properties to developers. Under the third-party transfer program, the city identifies apartment buildings with outstanding tax debt and hazardous violations and sells them to approved nonprofits and developers to create and maintain affordable housing. The program has been criticized for disproportionately affecting homeowners of color and has been the subject of litigation involving low- to mid-income co-ops unable to

Majority stake in Winick Realty auctioned to insiders as IRS waves red flags

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 02:13 PM PST

The majority stake in bankrupt Jeff Winick’s namesake brokerage has sold to the highest bidder, but the IRS is less than satisfied with the result. A group of Winick Realty Group insiders walked away from a bankruptcy auction Tuesday with a 63 percent stake in the firm, sources told The Real Deal. Louis Eisinger, Lee Block and Steven Baker — who sources say is already a 10 percent partner in the brokerage — were selected

Mystery buyer closes on “Jenga Tower” penthouse for $45M

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 01:35 PM PST

Three months after going into contract, the penthouse atop Lower Manhattan’s “Jenga Building” has sold for $45 million, records show. The buyer, identified only as Misfit Owlet LLC, purchased the two-floor unit at 56 Leonard Street from another LLC, Uticon Investments, which bought it for just under $48 million in 2017. The sale fell $5 million short of the penthouse’s last ask of $50 million, which would have made it the priciest Downtown penthouse sale

Adam Neumann breaks his silence

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 12:54 PM PST

Meet the new Adam Neumann, same as the old Adam Neumann. The WeWork co-founder, who presided over one of the most spectacular rise-and-fall stories in modern business, made his first public remarks since he was forced out of his startup two years ago. From listening to Neumann’s account, relayed to New York Times DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Tuesday, it would appear he made the same mistakes any startup CEO might make. He grew too

After 7 years of vacancy, landlord fills Walmart cavity with wholesaler

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 12:00 PM PST

A wholesaler is cooking up a new location at a vacant retail site on Long Island. Restaurant Depot is taking over 65,000 square feet at the Riverhead Plaza shopping center, 765 Old Country Road. It has signed a 15-year lease with landlord Philips International. The Riverhead space was previously occupied by Walmart, which abandoned it in 2014 to move 3 miles west to 1890 Old Country Road. It’s been vacant ever since. Nearly 47,000 square

Short-term rental firms Vacasa, Sonder, Inspirato planning public offerings

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 10:59 AM PST

Three short-term rental companies with plans to go public in the coming months are set to take advantage of recent surges in demand for stints at vacation properties. Vacasa, Sonder and Inspirato are all planning on going public in the coming months, the Wall Street Journal reports. Each company fills a different niche around vacation rentals, but they all count billion-dollar valuations and plan to take the SPAC route straight to the stock market. Vacasa,

“Good luck finding people”: Sternlicht warns of labor shortage for infrastructure bill

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 10:19 AM PST

On a call where Barry Sternlicht and executives at his Starwood Property Trust touted the strength of their portfolio and the global real estate market, Sternlicht took a minute to sound off on the government’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill. Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of the real estate investment trust, citing construction costs increasing 2 percent monthly, said the Biden administration–backed bill will push costs up even further for materials such as steel, concrete and piping.

Vornado’s 220 Central Park South approaches $3B in total sales

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 10:00 AM PST

What happens when the world’s most profitable condo hits a major sales milestone? Vornado Realty Trust doesn’t celebrate and tell. The next deal at 220 Central Park South will almost certainly push the value of total sales at the exclusive Billionaires’ Row tower past the $3 billion mark. On an earnings call last week, Vornado announced that it had closed sales on 104 of the building’s 118 units as of Sept. 30, garnering net proceeds

Urban Realty Partners picks up Vinegar Hill dev site for $49M

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 09:33 AM PST

Urban Realty Partners recently snapped up a development site in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn, for almost $50 million. The developer through an LLC purchased 218 Front Street from Emily M. Wang for $48.5 million, according to PincusCo. The transaction in the Vinegar Hill neighborhood closed towards the end of October. The property is slightly less than 42,000 square feet, but has room to grow with an additional 105,000 square feet of air rights. Combined, the total

Investors consistently scoring with single-family rentals

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 08:45 AM PST

Single-family homes built for rent are proving to be the strongest market angle for investors, delivering strong returns based on sustained demand, short supply and high prices. Securities advisory Green Street tracks investment returns on 18 different property sectors. Data reported by the Wall Street Journal show the expected risk-adjusted return on built-to-rent investments is 8 percent on average, higher than the weighted average return of 6.1 percent across all sectors. Money and construction have

Mall owner Pyramid Management reaches settlement on defaulted loan

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 08:15 AM PST

Pyramid Management Group has a lot of problems, but a delinquent loan is no longer one of them. The New York-based mall operator reached a settlement Nov. 4 with lender Axonic Capital after defaulting on a $20.5 million mezzanine loan on the Galleria at Crystal Run shopping mall in Middletown, New York, court filings show. Pyramid took out the loan for the mall at 1 Galleria Drive in September 2018, but stopped making payments in

Startup GetCovered aiming to be “Shopify of insurance” for carriers, agencies

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 07:20 AM PST

Insurance technology companies like Lemonade have made inroads on the traditional real estate insurance market over the last five years by providing simple, low-cost access. Now, a fledgling proptech startup is helping legacy carriers and agencies compete. GetCovered, a New York and Los Angeles-based firm launched in 2018, raised $7 million in a Series A round with the lofty ambition to become the “Shopify of insurance” for legacy carriers and agencies — a one-stop shop

Highgate, Cerberus acquire CorePoint Lodging for $1.5B

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 06:31 AM PST

CorePoint Lodging, a publicly traded lodging REIT spun off of the La Quinta hotel brand, is being acquired by a joint venture at a deal valuing the company at nearly $1.5 billion. Affiliates of Highgate and Cerberus Capital Management agreed to acquire the company, CorePoint announced Monday. The affiliates will pay $15.65 per share, an approximately 42 percent hike from July 13, the day before CorePoint announced its exploration of strategic alternatives. CorePoint stockholders stand

Workers wield the bargaining power in return-to-office plans

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 05:30 AM PST

As return-to-work plans gather more steam, a survey of building managers and commercial real estate advisors found firms are largely deferring to their employees to determine what shape office life will take. There’s one facet of the office’s future where workers are getting the most wiggle room: their schedules. Most organizations plan to let employees pick how many days they will work remotely, according to a report by commercial real estate advisory Blue Skyre IBE.

Village theater back on market after failed deal; 3 more warehouses sell

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 05:00 AM PST

Warehouses remain all the rage in the city’s investment sales market. The sprawling properties may be mundane as far as New York City real estate assets go, but investors threw $50.5 million at them last week, making up a majority of middle-market transactions, records show. One property that could appear in this report soon is the historic Cherry Lane Theater in the West Village. The Lucille Lortel Theater Foundation’s $11 million, off-market purchase of the

How an unheralded developer survived NYC’s fraught rezoning process

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 04:30 AM PST

Two weeks before the New York City Council was to vote on an upzoning to let Tom Li turn a Prospect Heights McDonald’s into an apartment complex, the developer was not feeling too optimistic. Anti-development fervor stretched across the city. The local senator, Jabari Brisport, had fingered Li’s project and its ilk as responsible for “bleeding out Black people from the community.” The community board had rejected it, as did Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams,

City law protecting commercial tenants faces test in appeals court

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 04:00 AM PST

Weeks after a federal court deemed it potentially unconstitutional, a key pandemic-era protection for the city’s commercial tenants is about to face its first judicial test. After ZAVŌ Restaurant & Lounge stopped paying rent on its 15,000-square-foot space at 1011 Third Avenue in March 2020, landlord Olshan Properties sued to collect at least $795,000 from owner Ilya Zavolunov and his son Michael, who personally guaranteed ZAVŌ’s 15-year lease. The suit was filed last August, after