The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Midtown hotel portfolio sale suggests big value drop

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 02:15 PM PDT

A portfolio of four Manhattan hotels traded hands in a deal that could reflect how far property values have fallen in the struggling sector. Massachusetts-based Sonesta International Hotels purchased the Benjamin, the Shelburne Hotel & Suites, the Gardens Suites Hotel and the Fifty Hotel & Suites from Denihan Hospitality Group, the company announced Wednesday. The price was not disclosed, but lender Ramsfield Hospitality Finance announced that it provided Sonesta with a $239 million acquisition loan

Realogy reports strong quarter, expands iBuying

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 02:00 PM PDT

UPDATED April 28, 2022, 6:55 p.m.: Realogy expanded its iBuying arm to seven more markets last quarter, according to the company’s first-quarter earnings report. Investing in the joint venture with Blackstone’s Home Partners of America, called RealSure, has been a priority for the company since last year. RealSure also has a selling product, which is now in 25 markets, but iBuying is the riskier endeavor, as Zillow’s disastrous experiment with the strategy showed. Meanwhile, a

High court rescues near-dead property tax challenge

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 12:17 PM PDT

An industry-backed quest to overhaul New York’s property tax system has received new life. The state’s highest court on Thursday granted Tax Equity Now New York permission to continue its legal challenge to the city’s property tax system. In a lawsuit against the city and state, TENNY argues that the system undervalues homes in affluent neighborhoods and disportionately burdens communities of color. A mid-level appeals court tossed TENNY’s lawsuit in February 2020, citing the legislature’s

Judge says Cushman failed to properly value Trump properties

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 11:56 AM PDT

UPDATED April 28, 2022, 7:09 p.m.: A Manhattan judge is taking a dim view of Cushman & Wakefield’s role in allegedly misleading valuations of Trump Organization property. Judge Arthur Engoron accused the commercial real estate giant of being inconsistent in “adhering to its internal quality control practices when conducting appraisals on behalf of the Trump Organization,” the Daily Beast reported. The state judge’s comment was in his Wednesday order compelling Cushman to comply with New

New Yorkers moving in face of steep rent hikes

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 10:00 AM PDT

As demand for their units increases, landlords are raising rents at renewal time, prompting more tenants to walk. Sam Zell’s Equity Residential saw its renewal rate drop 5 percentage points from the beginning of the year to 60 percent, Bloomberg reported. The lessened renewal rate is a sign renters are taking their chances on finding cheaper lodging than re-upping at a much higher rate than they initially signed on for. The market is competitive, though,

Inside Traded, real estate’s vanity mirror

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 09:02 AM PDT

Allan Lebovits was ready for the spotlight. He brought gold-rimmed sunglasses. Lebovits is the founder of BridgeCity Capital, a Brooklyn-based company that bills itself as a “millenial marketplace for real estate capital.” He and Moishe Loketch, who handles business development (“work hard, play hard and embrace the challenges of the deal,” his bio reads), went to the U.S. Open in September to schmooze with a lender. The crowd at the tennis match was full of

Brown Harris Stevens agents sued for alleged “sexcapade” in clients’ home

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 08:00 AM PDT

James and Laura Glen expected an easy payday when they listed their three-bedroom condo in a red-hot Hamptons market with Brown Harris Stevens last spring. But listing agents Christopher Burnside and Aubri Peele had other uses for the unit in mind, the couple claimed. In a lawsuit filed last December, the Glens alleged that rather than soliciting offers for the home, the agents used the guise of an open house to engage in a “sex-capade”

House to Biden: Seize and sell Russian real estate

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 07:30 AM PDT

The House of Representatives has an idea of what to do with seized Russian real estate: sell it. The House passed nonbinding legislation on Wednesday, urging President Joe Biden’s administration to confiscate and sell the assets, the New York Times reported. Only eight representatives voted against the essentially symbolic bill. The bill calls on Biden’s administration to create an interagency working group, which will then discuss how Biden can seize assets of Russian oligarchs sanctioned

How we make cement isn’t set in stone: Brimstone raises $55M in huge pre-revenue round

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 07:00 AM PDT

Brimstone Energy is taking on a challenge of biblical proportions: producing mass-market, zero-carbon Portland cement, a key building material. If it succeeds, the implications for the real estate and construction industries are so enormous that investors have poured $55 million into the startup before it has made a single dollar. Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and DCVC co-led the Series A round, with participation from Fifth Wall’s climate tech fund, Amazon through its Climate Pledge

Huge UWS mansion with stalled renovation gets another price cut

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 05:45 AM PDT

A cavernous Upper West Side mansion offering river views, condo-like amenities and ornate limestone features designed by renowned architect C. P. H. Gilbert is back on the market for $16 million — $9 million less than it was asking a year ago. The hefty price cut is likely because the landmarked townhouse at 3 Riverside Drive comes with a catch: A buyer will need to finish a nearly three-decade string of renovations that proved too

Essex Property earnings beat estimates as Bay Area rents recover

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 05:00 AM PDT

As California’s rental market rebounded from the pandemic, the Bay Area lagged — an outlier that weighed on the balance sheets of major apartment owners like San Mateo-based REIT Essex Property Trust. Not any more. Essex’s Northern California revenues, which overwhelmingly derive from rents on its 23,000 units in the Bay Area, jumped 3.4 percent annually in the first quarter, the company reported Monday. It was the first time since early 2020 that its revenues

Lawsuit targets 171-unit development in Paterson

Posted: 28 Apr 2022 04:00 AM PDT

A local councilperson running for mayor is joining several Paterson residents in saying a 171-unit development should not have been approved. Councilperson Michael Jackson and four citizens filed a lawsuit against the city’s zoning board, challenging approval of the five-story development, the Paterson Press reported. The plaintiffs allege Paterson’s Board of Adjustment approved the development despite the fact that it exceeded limits on height, surface footprint and number of units. They also claim that housing