The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

BEB acquires Kips Bay mixed-use for $55m

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 03:09 PM PST

Long Island-based BEB Capital bought a Kips Bay apartment building from AD Real Estate for $55.2 million, public records show. Ivy 30, the 18-story development at 312-316 East 30th Street, features 65 apartment rentals and three offices. The building ties with another owned by the Long Island-based real estate development and investment firm in Bayside, Queens, for the firm’s largest by unit count. AD Real Estate owns a spate of residential, retail and office properties

Apple sets April 11 return-to-office deadline for U.S. corporate employees

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 02:00 PM PST

Apple told corporate employees in the U.S. to return to the office at least once a week starting April 11, joining tech companies such as Google in rolling out the new policy after a back-and-forth that began in June and ended in December. Employees will be expected to work from the office two days a week by May 2 and three days by May 23, according to an internal memo from CEO Tim Cook obtained

Please, buy my co-op: Fifth Ave home for sale (again) for $45M off initial ask

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 01:37 PM PST

Is Manhattan’s hot luxury market finally hot enough to find a buyer for former U.S. ambassador and pharma exec Bruce Gelb’s Carnegie Hill co-op? The prewar co-op owned by Gelb at 1060 Fifth Avenue is back on the market for $20 million — a $45 million discount from its original asking price in 2016, when it was one of the priciest listings in the city. As the years wore on and the listing bounced from

Hackensack weighs 268-unit project downtown

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 12:43 PM PST

Hackensack is considering trading parking spots for affordable homes next to the city firehouse, despite the presence of a religious center in the development zone. The City Council is weighing a proposal for 268 units, 60 of which would be affordable housing according to NorthJersey.com. The body recently introduced a measure for an amended redevelopment plan, which will have its next hearing in three weeks. “We’ll be getting 60 affordable housing units within a stone’s

A metaverse convert: Proptech Swivel pivots business to virtual worlds

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 10:45 AM PST

True to its name, Austin-based proptech firm Swivel is about to pull a major one-eighty. The company, which creates digital twins of offices for remote touring and floor planning, let go an undisclosed number of employees this week as it transitions its business to focus on designing commercial space for the metaverse, co-founder and CEO Scott Harmon told The Real Deal. Swivel will “help clients build and deploy” digital office and retail real estate in

Apollo buying Greenwich office for $200M

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 10:00 AM PST

You know what they say about a live-in landlord. Marc Rowan’s Apollo Global Management is buying the Greenwich building where the private equity firm is opening its new Connecticut office for more than $200 million, sources told The Real Deal. Apollo is in contract to buy 100 West Putnam Avenue from Rockpoint Group. The company is opening an office in the building as it expands its footprint outside New York “as part of a broader

Shopping-center REIT Cedar Realty Trust sells entire portfolio for $1.2B

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 09:31 AM PST

Shopping-center REIT Cedar Realty Trust has reached agreements to sell off its entire portfolio in at least three transactions totaling $1.2 billion. The Long Island-based firm’s portfolio includes 53 properties spanning approximately 7.6 million square feet of gross leasable area, spread across eight northeastern states from Virginia to Massachusetts. The largest chunk of the portfolio, its 33 grocery-anchored shopping centers, will be sold for $840 million to a joint venture between real estate investment firm

Black Spruce scored $675M for American Copper Buildings buy

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 09:00 AM PST

Josh Gotlib’s Black Spruce Management is receiving help in its massive purchase of the American Copper Buildings. JPMorgan is providing $675 million in acquisition financing to Black Spruce and Orbach Affordable Housing Solutions for the purchase of the Murray Hill luxury apartment towers at 626 First Avenue, the Commercial Observer reported. Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group and the Baupost Group are selling the property for $837 million. Bloomberg reported in December the deal is expected

Can the world’s most famous skyline also be the most forward-thinking on climate?

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 08:15 AM PST

If asked to think about Bill de Blasio and climate change, your first thought might very well be the infamous convoy of SUVs that brought him from Gracie Mansion to the Park Slope YMCA every morning. Poor optics aside, the former mayor’s climate policies, particularly when it came to New York City’s built environment, were among the most ambitious and innovative in the country, according to Ben Furnas, who served as his climate czar. “I’d

Devilish listing: Former NHL star Ilya Kovalchuk selling NJ mansion

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 07:30 AM PST

The devil that came up from Georgia is willing to make a deal: Former NHL star Ilya Kovalchuk has relisted his New Jersey mansion at a discount. Kovalchuk and his wife, singer Nicole Andrazajtis, listed the 22,000-square-foot mansion they built in Alpine for about $15 million, the New York Post reported. The couple first tried to sell the home at 10 Frick Drive for $18 million in 2019, then lowered the ask to $16 million

Sapir selling Madison Avenue office towers

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 06:45 AM PST

The Sapir Organization is looking to empty its hand of two Midtown buildings. The developer is marketing the Midtown South buildings at 260 and 261 Madison Avenue, according to the Commercial Observer. A person with knowledge of the deal told the outlet Sapir is aiming to sell the properties for about $600 million. The two office properties span close to 1 million square feet and are approximately 80 percent leased. One of the tenants is

William Pears picks up 62 condos for $25M

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 05:45 AM PST

Blimey! That’s a lot of apartments. A shell company tied to the William Pears Group, a British real estate investor led by the billionaire Pears brothers, bought 62 condo units worth a combined $25 million, public records show. The spending spree spread across two developments: 15 apartments at the Blair House in Sutton Place and 47 apartments at Kips Bay Towers. The firm spent $19.35 million at Kips Bay and $5.63 million at Blair House.

Home shopping in the suburbs? Listings still scant

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 05:00 AM PST

February listings on Long Island and Westchester ticked up from the month before, but the supply of available homes remains near record lows, limiting the number of contracts signed. New signed contracts have fallen year over year in both markets since early last summer, although they rose slightly over January levels, according to a February report compiled by Miller Samuel for Douglas Elliman. Data for Long Island does not include the Hamptons or North Fork,

Resi royalty: Ranking Manhattan’s top residential brokerages of 2021

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 04:30 AM PST

Since hitting the market for a whopping $65 million in late 2019, the penthouse occupying the 18th and 19th floors of 15 Central Park West experienced all the hallmarks of selling through a pandemic. Listed by a cautious owner — who wasn’t quite sure whether he really wanted to sell — the duplex endured months while in-person viewings were banned, followed by a summer and fall in which Manhattan’s condo market remained at a crawl.

Affordable housing tops outer-borough loans with $1.4B for NYCHA upgrades

Posted: 04 Mar 2022 04:00 AM PST

Totalling $1.35 billion, the three largest real estate loans issued in the outer boroughs in January came from public-private initiatives to repair public housing facilities in Brooklyn. The New York City Housing Authority secured federal funds for repairs through PACT, a program that allows private companies to manage NYCHA buildings while capping tenants’ rents at 30 percent of household income. In the private capital market, Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital secured refinancing for

Oceanfront estate in Hamptons fetches $50M

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 04:00 PM PST

Another oceanfront home in Sagaponack has sold for an eye-popping sum. The contemporary style oceanfront mansion at 7 Fairfield Pond Lane sold to undisclosed buyers for $50 million in an off-market deal, making it the second priciest deal of the year so far. The home’s previous buyer, and presumably the seller in this deal, was masked by a limited liability company. Built in 2012, the home totals 10,000 square feet and is situated on 3.15

New development activity spikes in February — even in Queens

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 02:30 PM PST

New development sales stayed hot in February. Developments reported 402 sponsor contracts last month, a 35 percent increase from February 2021, according to a report from Marketproof. They asked a combined $1.07 billion, or about $2.7 million per unit. February was a particularly strong month for some of the city’s most prolific builders. JDS Development reported the biggest contract, for a penthouse at 111 West 57th Street asking $53.8 million. Naftali Group nabbed second and

As Russians seek a haven for assets, access to U.S. real estate won’t be easy

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 02:00 PM PST

News reports from Russia this week show people lining up at ATMs and banks in a rush to withdraw cash as sanctions from Europe and the United States plunge the Russian Ruble to record lows. Some are now seeking to move their money overseas. An attorney who has worked with Russian buyers said many wealthy people — not oligarchs, but people of considerable means — are trying frantically to get their money out of the

Editor’s note: From Russia without love

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 01:20 PM PST

There were heady days a decade ago when Russian buyers set records in New York City’s real estate market, including the $88 million purchase of a condo at 15 Central Park West by billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev as a gift for his 22-year-old daughter. Foreign money looking for a safe haven — and flashy Russian money in particular — helped fuel the city’s real estate run-up after the Great Recession. How different the situation has

Construction-tech startup OpenSpace raises $102M Series D

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 12:30 PM PST

OpenSpace, a construction-tech startup that supplies digital mapping technology to developers and contractors, has raised $102 million in Series D funding. The fundraise values the San Francisco-based company, founded in 2017, at $902 million, “more than doubling” its valuation from last spring, when it raised $55 million in Series C funding, co-founder and CEO Jeevan Kalanithi said Wednesday. Construction can be chaotic and therefore difficult to document. OpenSpace’s approach involves using third-party, 360-degree cameras strapped

TRD’s March issue is live for subscribers!

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 12:00 PM PST

Welcome to March and another new issue of The Real Deal. This month, we look at the story dominating headlines in our industry and others: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its impact on real estate. We also shine a light on a once-scrappy NYC lender growing up and going national, crunch the numbers to determine Manhattan’s top real estate brokerages, look at the latest influx of cash that’s lighting up luxury markets and more in

Peloton founder backpedaling on $55M East Hampton estate

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 11:30 AM PST

Former Peloton CEO John Foley is hitting the brakes on an East Hampton estate mere months after buying it. Foley and his wife, Jill, are quietly marketing their estate at 442 Further Lane in East Hampton, the New York Post reported. While there are no online listings for the waterfront property, they are reportedly peddling the home at a loss. The report indicates the couple is changing gears on the Hamptons home. They signed a

Aby Rosen’s RFR plans 375-unit Gowanus building

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 10:13 AM PST

Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding, which had been trying to sell its Gowanus development site, is advancing efforts to build on it instead. The firm filed plans with the Department of Buildings on March 1 to build a 265-foot, 20-story, mixed-use building at 175 3rd Street, directly across from Whole Foods. The plans call for 375 apartments in the Brooklyn neighborhood as well as retail space. The building is expected to span 647,000 square feet, including

Joe Simone’s Post Road Plaza facing foreclosure

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 08:32 AM PST

UPDATED March 3, 2022, 1:35 p.m.: Joe Simone’s pandemic-ravaged shopping center in Port Chester could be sold off as a bank has filed a $15.75 million foreclosure action against the retail hub. Wilmington Trust sued Simone and Post Road Realty in Westchester Supreme Court last month, according to the Westchester & Fairfield County Business Journals. The bank is asking for the Post Road Plaza shopping center at 260-262 Boston Post Road to be sold and

Israeli regulator throws support behind Starwood bond default suit

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 07:15 AM PST

Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group is under increased scrutiny in Israel as a lawsuit against the developer counts support from a securities regulator. The Israel Securities Authority is providing financial support for a class action lawsuit against Starwood, the Wall Street Journal reported. The move is because the lawsuit is in public interest and will likely be certified by a court, but the action doesn’t guarantee support for the plaintiffs beyond paying a portion of

Isaac Kassirer’s stuck with stabilized apartments — and rent strike

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 06:30 AM PST

For landlords whose business model was flipping rent-regulated apartments to market rate, the 2019 rent law was crushing. The legislation closed most of those paths, dragging down the values of regulated buildings. Some of their owners have called it quits. But others have soldiered on, trying new tactics to achieve the same result. For one, Isaac Kassirer of Emerald Equity Group, a decision by the state last month proves that creativity isn’t enough to secure

Amazon to close book on 68 brick-and-mortar stores

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 05:45 AM PST

Amazon, which has done nothing but grow since its founding in 1994, will shutter all of its brick-and-mortar bookstores. The e-commerce giant is scripting the final chapter for all 68 of its storefront bookstores, pop-ups and shops carrying toys and home goods in the U.S. and United Kingdom, Reuters reported. The announcement marks an about-face for Amazon, which began as an online bookseller and helped drive retailers such as Borders out of business. Amazon opened

Loss of tax break will deflate Gowanus, Soho rezonings, industry says

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 05:00 AM PST

When officials signed off on an 82-block rezoning of Gowanus, they also created a path for developers to swiftly obtain approval for foundation work. This is key for projects looking to qualify for 421a. The property tax break sunsets June 15, and developers must have foundation footings in place by then to receive it. Developers are very aware of this deadline: Just this week, at least four filed applications with City Planning for an intermediary

February home contract signings give NYC buyers hope

Posted: 03 Mar 2022 04:00 AM PST

After pandemic buyers and stingy sellers set the housing market ablaze in New York City, the pace of contract signings has begun to slow. The change, while not dramatic, offers a glimmer of hope to buyers who have been whipsawed by bidding wars for more than a year. In Manhattan, agreements last month to buy condos dropped 11 percent from 498 a year ago to 445, according to a report by Douglas Elliman compiled by