The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

AvalonBay’s 473-unit New Jersey project advances

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 03:15 PM PDT

AvalonBay is one step closer to cracking the vault at Valley National Bank’s headquarters in Wayne. The developer is moving ahead with a proposal to bring nearly 500 units, including nearly six dozen for low-income residents, to the New Jersey town. The local planning board is set to hear AvalonBay’s application for the redevelopment of the bank building on April 25, NorthJersey.com reported. The Virginia-based firm and the town spent months negotiating an affordable housing

Peter Nicoletti sues JLL, alleging retaliation and discrimination

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 02:30 PM PDT

Prominent capital markets broker Peter Nicoletti has sued JLL, where he worked for more than a decade, claiming the firm discriminated and retaliated against him while he underwent treatment for leukemia. Nicoletti, who left JLL for Colliers International in 2020, claims he was in fact fired by the brokerage. He initially filed the lawsuit against JLL in federal court in March 2021, Bisnow reported, alleging he was pushed out by JLL executives after being forced

Brookfield scores $438M for Mott Haven megadevelopment

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 02:00 PM PDT

Brookfield Properties secured a tsunami of funding from Apollo Global Management for its waterside development in the South Bronx. The real estate developer received $438 million to build a 982,000-square-foot, mixed-use building at 101 Lincoln Avenue in Mott Haven, according to city records. The building will provide 921 units spread across 25 stories. The overall development, which Brookfield is calling Bankside, will cover 4.3 acres and supply more than 1,350 apartments, 30 percent of which

Homebuilder confidence slides for third straight month

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 11:00 AM PDT

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index — which tracks homebuilder confidence in current and future single-family home sales and traffic of potential buyers — slid for the third month in a row. The index dropped two points from February’s revised total, bringing builder confidence to 79 points in the first time the index dropped below 80 since September. Some current factors appear to be in builders’ favor. Demand for homes has

“A steal”: Billionaire John Paulson sells gallery space at steep discount

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 10:00 AM PDT

Scrap metal magnate Adam Weistman is buying a one-of-a-kind property next to the Frick Museum. Part home, part art gallery, the 6,500-square-foot French Classical property at 11 East 70th Street was sold for $5 million by billionaire John Paulson, according to Compass agent Rachel Glazer, who represented the buyer. The two-story property, originally designed as a residence by artist and photographer Charles I. Berg, had been on and off the market for much of the

14 unions back good cause eviction. Will it matter?

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 09:00 AM PDT

Last week, 14 labor unions sent a letter to Albany calling on lawmakers to support good cause eviction. The legislation, they wrote, would protect their members from “price-gouging, speculative displacement, and discriminatory evictions.” The good cause bill would give tenants a defense against eviction in housing court if their rent is raised by more than 3 percent or 1.5 times the regional inflation rate, whichever is higher. The letter went to Gov. Kathy Hochul, Assembly

Compass claims top US brokerage spot for 2021 sales

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 08:15 AM PDT

After just missing the top spot in a 2021 brokerage ranking, Compass has come out as the largest in the United States in terms of closed sales volume. Real Trends cited rapid growth in terms of agent count and rising home prices for the brokerage’s debut in the No. 1 spot based on 2021 earnings reports. “In less than 10 years, we went from nothing — not existing — to #1,” CEO Robert Reffkin wrote

Watch: How materials science may change our skyline

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 07:30 AM PDT

For decades, concrete, glass and steel have dominated our largest urban environments, enabling spectacular engineering feats and allowing millions to live, work and play in our great cities. But these materials have several major problems. They are expensive. They are complicated and time-consuming to build with. And they put a huge strain on the planet: In major cities like New York, real estate can account for up to two-thirds of carbon emissions. To continue constructing

Legal Aid Society sues its own landlord over office conditions

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 06:45 AM PDT

The Legal Aid Society’s latest landlord fight is hitting close to home. The nonprofit legal aid provider sued the landlord of its Brooklyn offices, amNY reported. The organization on Tuesday accused the Brooklyn-based Leser Group of failing to keep its offices at 111 Livingston Street habitable, including a mold infestation the organization said has been raging for years. Legal Aid said the conditions have prevented its 500-person staff from returning to the Downtown Brooklyn office.

Opulent townhouse sale sets Upper West Side record

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 05:45 AM PDT

A mystery buyer has paid a record Upper West Side price for an enormous townhouse. The six-story, 10,000-square-foot mansion at 248 Central Park West went for $26 million, making it the neighborhood’s most expensive townhouse ever, according to the New York Post. It’s one of only three single-family homes remaining on the famed avenue. The home, built in 1887 by William Noble, was listed for $30 million. It has a heated lap pool, six bedrooms,

Tile maker’s deal in NoMad leads mid-market sales

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 05:00 AM PDT

With no single deal above $30 million, the middle of the investment sales market saw a modest $128.2 million in real estate change hands last week. Porcelain tile maker Florim met its customers more than half-way last week, buying a commercial condo unit in a luxury apartment building in NoMad, while ASB Real Estate Investments sold two properties in Williamsburg for a combined $45 million. Also, a site where an 84-unit apartment building is planned

As war roils markets, apartment REITs gain favor

Posted: 17 Mar 2022 04:00 AM PDT

Stocks have had a rocky 2022. Inflation and the Fed’s efforts to curb it by raising interest rates, along with weak economic forecasts and the invasion of Ukraine have dragged the S&P 500 down more than 10 percent this year. In early March, the index suffered its sharpest one-day drop since 2020, and iInvestors now expect a bear market in 2022. But analysts say one sector is poised for growth: real estate investment trusts focused

Warehouse buyer Faropoint continues New Jersey shopping spree

Posted: 16 Mar 2022 03:30 PM PDT

Faropoint is continuing its foray into North Jersey’s red-hot industrial sector, picking up a last-mile logistics center in the Meadowlands for 35 percent more than it traded for a year ago. The Israel- and New Jersey-based investment firm acquired a 62,000-square-foot property at 121 Moonachie Avenue, about two miles north of the Meadowlands Sports Complex, for $17.7 million. Digital printing company Content Critical is the building’s sole tenant. The seller was Valley Stream, New York-based

Fed hikes interest rates as inflation concern simmers

Posted: 16 Mar 2022 03:15 PM PDT

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since 2018, boosting the benchmark by a quarter of a percentage point, and outlined six more hikes this year, as the central bank moves to slow inflation and keep the economy from overheating, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Fed’s benchmark federal funds rate will now be between 0.25 percent and 0.5 percent after sitting near zero for two years. The announcement came after two

NYC construction deaths fell in first year of pandemic

Posted: 16 Mar 2022 03:00 PM PDT

The onset of the pandemic hampered construction in New York City, perhaps contributing to a decline in the number of deaths on the job. Of the 59 fatal work injuries in 2020, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, 13 were at construction sites, a decline from 24 the year before. Five of the industry’s 2020 deaths resulted from falls, slips and trips, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Specialty trade contractors accounted

Investment group buys entire street in Greenwich Village

Posted: 16 Mar 2022 02:20 PM PDT

In Manhattan’s ultra-competitive real estate market, it’s a rare feat for a buyer to scoop up an entire street at once. But that’s precisely what happened earlier this month, when investment firm Firebird Grove bought 11 buildings up and down Patchin Place, a gated cul-de-sac in Greenwich Village, from Morgan Holding Capital for just over $32 million. The quiet alleyway off of West 10th Street is lined by three-story townhouses with a mix of residential

Carmel Partners looks to sell FiDi skyscraper for $500M+

Posted: 16 Mar 2022 01:30 PM PDT

Another trophy Manhattan apartment building is up for sale. Ron Zeff’s Carmel Partners is looking to sell its nearly 500-unit rental tower at 19 Dutch Street in the Financial District for more than $500 million, The Real Deal has learned. Carmel purchased the development site, then with an address on nearby Fulton Street, in 2014. In building the 64-story, 330,000-square-foot tower, the company decided to embrace the narrow Dutch Street. The building includes patterns and

Mortgage rates surge toward 3-year high

Posted: 16 Mar 2022 12:30 PM PDT

Mortgage rates soared to their highest level in nearly three years last week, sending mortgage applications in the opposite direction. Applications dropped 1.2 percent in the week ending March 11, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The Market Composite Index, which measures loan application volume, dropped 1.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week. Applications for refinancing dropped 3 percent from the previous week and 49 percent year-over-year. The hampered interest from

Office to industrial trend likely to be “minimal”: Prologis

Posted: 16 Mar 2022 11:45 AM PDT

As demand for suburban office space has dwindled over the past two years, some industrial developers and investors have touted conversions to industrial space. That doesn’t necessarily make it a major trend, according to Prologis, the biggest industrial REIT in the world, with nearly 1 billion square feet of logistics space. The conversion of office to industrial is “likely to be minimal,” Prologis said in a report, city regulatory, zoning and cost issues associated with

Hotels battle insurers for Covid coverage

Posted: 16 Mar 2022 10:45 AM PDT

It may be two years into the pandemic, but loss-of-business lawsuits keep rolling in. Three New York City hotels have sued their insurers over Covid-19, seeking benefits they claim are owed under their policies. The Life Hotel at 19 West 31st Street; the Pearl, at 233 West 49th Street in the heart of the Theater District; and the Belvedere, at 319 West 48th Street, are plaintiffs in three separate cases. The Life Hotel — in

How to build a home in 30 days: Con-tech startup Diamond Age raises $50M

Posted: 16 Mar 2022 09:30 AM PDT

The U.S. is short a few million homes. A construction-tech startup is betting it can bridge the gap without swinging a hammer. Diamond Age, which says its automated manufacturing tools can produce a single-family home in 30 days instead of the typical seven months, raised $50 million in Series A funding to scale its business. The Phoenix-based company, co-founded in 2018 by CEO Jack Oslan and CTO Russel Varone, said this week that it partnered