The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

State aims to sell Albany’s Kiernan Plaza

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 03:30 PM PST

Kiernan Plaza in downtown Albany is in need of a new conductor as the state looks to sell the former train station. Albany Nanotech, which is overseen by the state-run development agency NY CREATES, is aiming to sell the historic building it purchased for $3 million in 2013. No asking price for the property has been set, according to the Times Union. “With Kiernan Plaza’s prime downtown location, [the state] believes the site can be

Adams backs rent freeze, if analysis supports it

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 02:30 PM PST

Mayor Eric Adams favors freezing rents for regulated tenants this year — in theory. Addressing the state legislature Wednesday during a hearing on the governor’s executive budget, Adams said he does not believe the city’s stabilized tenants should face rent increases, if the Rent Guidelines Board’s analysis supports a freeze. That is a big “if.” The board’s staff each year releases a series of reports that suggest a range of rent increases and are generally

Buyer beware: Proptech SPACs have lost their shine

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 02:00 PM PST

For proptech companies considering going public, it may be prudent to wait. Most of the proptechs that did so over the last 18 months the fashionable way — via mergers with special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs — have been duds, their stock prices today in the gutter. The caution that now surrounds SPACs has dampened a market that a year ago was blazing, fueled by pandemic-era spending on technology and investor enthusiasm for the

Judge denies Kushner’s attempt to force $186M multifamily deal

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 01:15 PM PST

Kushner Companies’ purchase of a $186 million suburban apartment portfolio is officially dead after a New Jersey judge allowed the seller to back out, denying Kushner’s attempt to force the deal’s closure. Court documents suggest the pandemic was largely to blame for the sale’s collapse. In January 2020, two months before Covid arrived on the East Coast, a Kushner affiliate agreed to pay nearly $267 million for a 1,000-unit portfolio of seven properties across northern

Douglas Elliman reports record-shattering sales in 2021

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 12:30 PM PST

When Douglas Elliman made its debut as a publicly traded company in December, it did so with significant momentum, coming off a record-shattering 2021 in which it nearly matched its output from the previous two years combined. The brokerage reported $51.2 billion in sales last year, according to an SEC filing last week, up from $29.1 billion in 2020 and $28.8 billion in 2019. Elliman reported 32,405 transactions for the year, also a record, up

Gural family puts up East Williamsburg warehouse up for $30M

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 11:45 AM PST

The Gural family’s GFP Real Estate is looking to sell an industrial property on the border of East Williamsburg and Bushwick for $30 million, more than twice what it paid in 2014. The decision was made after a Chinatown-based noodle manufacturer renewed its lease for the 71,500-square foot Brooklyn building for 10 years. Financial terms were not disclosed. Located at 7 Bushwick Place, the three-story industrial building has been occupied since 2004 by Twin Marquis,

Givenchy swaps for Versace at Wharton’s 747 Madison Avenue

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 11:00 AM PST

The flags of 747 Madison Avenue are changing as one international luxury brand is replacing another at the Wharton Properties building. Italian fashion house Versace is replacing French luxury label Givenchy at Jeff Sutton’s property, according to documents filed with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange reported by the Commercial Observer. Wharton is asking Givenchy to leave by March 8 after an agreement allowed either side to terminate the lease as early as next month. Givenchy

WeWork sublets Midtown space to Santander

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 10:15 AM PST

Santander Bank is relocating its headquarters as part of an unconventional agreement with WeWork. The co-working company sublet about 160,000 square feet at 437 Madison Avenue in Midtown to Santander Bank. WeWork will manage the space, which is located three blocks away from Santander’s current headquarters. A spokesperson for Santander confirmed the move, while a representative for WeWork declined to comment. WeWork leased about 362,000 square feet in the 40-story office building owned by the

Exit interview: What’s next for Rudin’s former tech chief John Gilbert

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 09:30 AM PST

If it’s true that data is the new oil, it’s “gooey” and “thick” in its natural state. Real estate owners need software to refine it and make it valuable. That’s according to John Gilbert, Rudin Management’s former chief technology officer and chief operating officer, who stepped down last week after a three-decade tenure with the developer. Moving forward, Gilbert will focus on his role as executive chair of Prescriptive Data, the Rudin subsidiary he co-founded

Landlord who created fake tenants will repay tens of thousands but avoid fines

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 08:45 AM PST

A Manhattan landlord sued by tenants for illegally jacking up rents has entered an agreement with the attorney general to repay them tens of thousands of dollars. Despite the overcharges, the owner, 560-568 Audubon Realty, and its principals, Fred and Alex Hay, won’t be fined. Often regulatory authorities seek penalties to deter would-be offenders. In the case of 560-568 Audubon Avenue in Upper Manhattan, the landlord concocted fake tenants to hike the maximum rent of

NYCHA residents fear evictions amid record arrears

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 07:30 AM PST

Thousands of New York City public housing residents fear a wave of evictions as authorities contend with a record amount of unpaid rent and the state’s exhausted relief fund. NYCHA is owed more than $364 million in rent for 2021, marking the largest amount of unpaid rent in the agency’s history, the agency told the New York Times. More than 68,000 households in the system are behind on rent as of November, approximately 42 percent

WeWork partners on flex space availability

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 06:40 AM PST

CEO Sandeep Mathrani is putting the “we” in WeWork in a strategic partnership with a flex workplace startup aimed at expanding the company’s global reach. WeWork is joining forces with office space marketplace Upflex to provide increased access to coworking spaces, according to an SEC filing. Financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed. The partnership will give WeWork members access to Upflex’s aggregated portfolio of more than 4,800 third-party spaces across the globe. Upflex’s

Investment sales bustle in trendy Soho, Brooklyn neighborhoods

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 05:45 AM PST

Wall Street luminary Richard Jenrette brought small-cap stocks to the masses and made a fortune, some of which he poured into real estate restoration. A vestige of his legacy showed up in one of last week’s 11 investment sales between $10 million and $40 million, as his former home and office changed hands. The $20 million deal, for adjacent East 93rd Street properties, was among six mid-market sales in Manhattan recorded in the first week

Nationwide housing inventory plunges to historic low

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 05:00 AM PST

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. America’s housing inventory has been tightening for two years, but it absolutely cratered in the last three months of 2021. For-sale inventory plunged 31.6 percent in the fourth quarter, dropping to a historic low of just 753,102 units nationwide

Agents, developers dismiss headwinds facing new NYC condos

Posted: 09 Feb 2022 04:30 AM PST

It will take more than another Covid variant and a shifting economic outlook to dim Lightstone’s spirits. The developer behind the David Adjaye-designed condo tower at 130 William Street is riding high after a frenzied year for the city’s new development market, when it closed sales on more than 150 units at full ask. Scott Avram, Lightstone’s senior vice president of development, is among those who believe the boom is just beginning. “I don’t think