The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Newest unicorn is property-services startup Lessen

Posted: 30 Nov 2021 06:00 AM PST

A historic year for proptech fundraising has produced another unicorn. Lessen, a real estate management platform that connects property owners and operators to electricians, cleaners and other service providers, raised $170 million in a Series B round, pushing its total funding so far to $214 million — nearly quadruple its previous fundraising — and valuing the two-and-a-half year-old company at more than $1 billion. Proptech venture capital firm Fifth Wall, which led Lessen’s $35 million

Westbury apartment project scores 20-year tax break

Posted: 30 Nov 2021 05:30 AM PST

A 72-unit apartment building proposed for downtown Westbury is one step closer to reality for the developer, which secured a 20-year tax break from Nassau County. The county’s Industrial Development Agency granted several breaks to Farmingdale-based Terwilliger & Bartone Properties, according to Newsday. The tax subsidies are linked to a proposed $23 million project at 461 Railroad Avenue, the site of a produce warehouse. Under the IDA’s arrangement, the developer will pay slightly more than

Light i-sales precede heavy eating

Posted: 30 Nov 2021 05:00 AM PST

During the short week preceding the Thanksgiving holiday, multifamily sales continued to light up the mid-level i-sales market. Three of four sales recorded between $10 million and $40 million were residential buildings, with two properties selling in Manhattan and one each in Brooklyn and the Bronx. One rental building sold for half-a-million less than its 2013 purchase price, while the former head of real estate development at WeWork helped sell a property for Spaxel. Thanksgiving

City Council eyes bringing back tax break for property owners

Posted: 30 Nov 2021 04:00 AM PST

More than a year after letting the once-popular J-51 tax break lapse, the city may revive it. The City Council is considering a measure that would reactivate J-51 through June 30, 2022, and apply it retroactively to projects left in the lurch when the the J-51 abatement and exemption expired in June 2020. Proponents of the bill argue that J-51, provided to help offset the cost of residential renovations or conversions, is critical to preserving

Manhattan luxury market logs best Thanksgiving week ever

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 03:15 PM PST

The holiday week gave New York’s high-end real estate agents plenty of reasons to be thankful. Thirty-seven, to be exact. That is how many contracts for homes asking at least $4 million were signed last week, the most during Thanksgiving week since Olshan Realty began tracking luxury Manhattan contracts in 2006. The average number of contracts signed during Thanksgiving over the past decade has been 12. The asking prices for the 37 deals totaled just

Treasury Department to ease rent relief backlogs with reallocations

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 02:47 PM PST

States struggling to keep rent relief efforts alive could soon benefit from a Treasury Department plan to reallocate funds. Rental-assistance money would be shifted from municipalities with unused funds to those who desperately need it, the Wall Street Journal reported. Officials didn’t specify to the Journal which states and municipalities would gain and lose funds, nor how much would be reallocated. The initial reallocation is set to be unveiled early next month, the Journal reported.

Shokai Group picks up unsold NoMad condos for $81M

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 02:00 PM PST

Lendlease and Victor Group have resorted to a bulk buyer to unload condo units at 277 Fifth Avenue, selling 22 of them at a discount to the Shokai Group. City records show the nearly $81 million sale closed at the beginning of the month. The three companies were all partners on the development of the 55-story building, with the Shokai Group serving as the primary financial backer. On its website, the building touts that units

Black Friday retail traffic stuck below pre-pandemic levels

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 01:22 PM PST

Even after the peak of the pandemic, Black Friday no longer appears to be the saving grace of retailers around the country. Retail traffic in the United States dropped 28.3 percent from 2019’s holiday, according to preliminary data from Sensormatic Solutions reported by CNBC. The data show traffic was up 47.5 percent from last year, when coronavirus restrictions and concerns were more rampant. Sensormatic still predicts that Black Friday will mark the biggest in-store shopping

Brownstones rule Brooklyn’s luxury market Thanksgiving week

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 12:23 PM PST

Brooklyn brownstone owners had something to be thankful for last week, as eight of the stately properties were among the priciest homes to go into contract in the borough. The biggest price tag of the bunch belonged to 527 3rd Street in Park Slope, which was asking $7.25 million when it lined up a buyer. The restored, turn-of-the-century brownstone spans 4,016 square feet with five bedrooms and four bathrooms. The home features a finished cellar,

California falling short in creating affordable housing, new ‘report card’ shows

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 11:00 AM PST

California cities and counties didn’t permit nearly enough housing last year to keep pace with the state’s production goals, and much of what they approved wasn’t affordable to most residents, a new “report card” shows. Jurisdictions reported issuing about 109,000 housing permits last year, about three-quarters of what they would have needed to issue to meet state mandates to provide housing for people of all income levels. More than 70 percent of those permitted units

Coachella resort fraudster duped Sam Nazarian

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 10:00 AM PST

A 37-year-old woman is facing up to 20 years in prison after duping investors — including Sam Nazarian — out of millions for a resort in Coachella that never even broke ground. Serena Shi pleaded guilty to wire fraud after tricking investors out of $23 million for down payments on condos, a pot the Los Angeles Times reports she instead used for a slew of lavish personal expenses, including travel, cars and clothing. Shi spent

KPF expands at Tishman Speyer building after sweetener

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 09:15 AM PST

For the second time in recent weeks, Tishman Speyer had a tenant renew at 11 West 42nd Street with a sweetener thrown into the mix. Architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox renewed its lease at the building, the New York Post reported. The company added 38,000 square feet on the seventh floor, bringing its presence in the building to 100,000 square feet. Luckily for KPF, the bills won’t come due on the expanded floor for some

New firm pays $50M for Edgewater multifamily

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 08:00 AM PST

A new player has entered the real estate market with its first purchase of a multifamily asset in Edgewater, New Jersey. Skylight Real Estate Partners, in a joint venture with PCCP, acquired Infinity Edgewater, according to the Commercial Observer. The deal cost slightly more than $50 million and the JV received a $34.5 million, five-year, floating rate loan from PGIM to fund the acquisition. Skylight is being helmed by industry veterans with track records at

Build it and we will come: Turner Construction moves HQ to Tishman Speyer’s Spiral

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 07:15 AM PST

Turner Construction is leasing 75,000 square feet at Tishman Speyer’s The Spiral at 66 Hudson Boulevard. The New York Post reported the deal, which marks the general contractor throwing a lease behind its work as the project’s builder. The lease is for 13 years, according to the Post, and Turner will be moving from 375 Hudson Street to its new headquarters in January 2023. Asking rents in the building — set to be completed next

Here they come: Map shows projects planned in rezoned Gowanus

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 06:30 AM PST

Even before the City Council signed off on the biggest rezoning of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure, some eager developers got their projects going in Gowanus. A spate of plans were filed with the Department of Buildings prior to the final approval of the 82-block rezoning, which was passed by the City Council last week. It was a fairly safe bet: Both the de Blasio administration and the two local Council members, Brad Lander and

Now streaming: TRD’s podcast on Zillow’s iBuying collapse

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 05:45 AM PST

Earlier this month, Zillow quit the iBuying business. The firm said it would stop flipping homes, citing heavy losses, and would lay off 25 percent of its staff. Reporter Erin Hudson has been documenting exactly what happened at Zillow and the subsequent fallout of the firm’s abrupt retreat. On this week’s episode of TRD’s podcast, “Deconstruct,” Hudson speaks to Sean Black — part of the team that founded Trulia, which sold to Zillow for $2.5

The upstate land grab behind the solar power boom

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 05:00 AM PST

The future of American energy lies in a 30-acre field at the base of the Finger Lakes, tucked between rolling hills and two-lane roads. It contains 23,000 solar panels producing nine million kilowatt hours of electricity each year, enough to power 840 average American homes. And then there are the sheep. Welcome to the weird world of agrivoltaics. It’s an increasingly popular practice that mingles sheep, bees and even some crops amid rows of photovoltaic

Ex-Newmark brokers appeal 1-year ban after judge upholds noncompete

Posted: 29 Nov 2021 04:00 AM PST

Three former Newmark brokers who jumped ship to CBRE are fighting back against the enforcement of a non-compete agreement that they claim is destroying their careers. Denver-based brokers Terrance Hunt, Christopher Cowan and Shane Ozment — who specialize in multifamily sales — are appealing an injunction issued by a New York judge in July that prevents the trio from providing brokerage services in Colorado for one year. “There’s almost no injunction that’s more severe,” Theodore