The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Sellers of luxury homes gain from South Florida’s flipping frenzy

Posted: 12 May 2022 04:30 AM PDT

The first big flip in recent memory seemed too good to be true. Russell Weiner, the billionaire founder of Rockstar Energy Drink, sold two North Palm Beach homes for more than $48 million — $15 million, or 45 percent more than he paid to acquire the properties from Swedish model Elin Nordegren just one month earlier. That was the fall of 2020. Since then, buyers of multimillion-dollar properties across South Florida have fielded offers from

NYC rents soar as Covid deals die

Posted: 12 May 2022 04:00 AM PDT

Rents in New York soared so high in April that even discounted leases hit new heights. Net effective median rent on a unit with concessions in Manhattan hit a new high last month at $3,870, according to a monthly report by appraisal firm Miller Samuel for Douglas Elliman. The price point marks the highest annual surge rate on record — nearly 39 percent above April 2021 levels. That increase comes as so-called Covid deals that

NewYork-Presbyterian takes 75K sf at Tishman Speyer’s Spiral

Posted: 11 May 2022 03:50 PM PDT

NewYork-Presbyterian is the latest high-profile tenant to lease space at Tishman Speyer’s The Spiral in Hudson Yards. The medical center said Wednesday it has reached a 20-year agreement to open an Och Spine outpatient care facility at the real estate firm’s under-construction, 65-story tower overlooking the Hudson River and the High Line. The facility will occupy 75,000 square feet on the second floor of the building, 66 Hudson Boulevard. Financial terms were not disclosed. Tishman

“A tremendous ordeal”: Lawyers in $97M Durst buyout slam case

Posted: 11 May 2022 02:30 PM PDT

Their decade-long court battle with Douglas Durst over a Long Island City development site is over. But lawyers representing the investors who bought out Durst last week for $96.9 million say it could have been avoided. “It was a tremendous ordeal and probably a waste of an immense amount of legal fees going through what we went through with Durst,” said Jay Neveloff, a partner at Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel. The Durst Organization held

Brad Zackson’s Dynamic Star borrows $115M for Bronx, LIC projects

Posted: 11 May 2022 12:30 PM PDT

Brad Zackson’s development firm scored three loans totaling $115 million for its Fordham Landing project in the Bronx and a planned Long Island City office tower. Connecticut-based Dynamic Star, led by Zackson and Gary Segal, secured the bridge loans from Columbia Pacific Advisors, according to a release. The financing will be used to reposition the site of an office project at 23-10 Queens Plaza South in Long Island City and to maintain adjacent properties at

Airbnb listing backfires on Hudson Valley woman

Posted: 11 May 2022 11:30 AM PDT

Listing your upstate home on Airbnb might draw frowns from neighbors but usually not public criticism — unless you were a politician who vehemently opposed short-term rentals in the past. Rebecca Wolff, a former member of Hudson’s Common Council, started a scandal in the Hudson Valley city by listing her home on Airbnb, the Times Union reported. Wolff fought against short-term rentals for part-time residents during her political tenure, which went from 2020 to 2022.

Cushman pushes back on subpoena in Trump property probe

Posted: 11 May 2022 10:30 AM PDT

Cushman & Wakefield is resisting an order to comply with an investigation into Donald Trump and the Trump Organization. The commercial real estate giant filed an appeal Wednesday, seeking to overturn a judge’s decision to uphold a subpoena in the probe by New York Attorney General Letitia James. As part of the civil inquiry, James is seeking information about Cushman’s appraisals of several Trump properties, including 40 Wall Street. In its appeal, Cushman argued it

Midwood closes on $102M West Village property, plans renovations

Posted: 11 May 2022 09:44 AM PDT

John Usdan’s Midwood Investment and Development is planting its flag in the West Village. Midwood on Tuesday closed on its $102 million purchase of a 158-unit apartment building at 56 Seventh Avenue from BlackRock, the company said. The Real Deal first reported that Midwood had struck a deal for the mixed-use property, known as Candela Tower, in March. MetLife Investment Management provided a $63.5 million loan for the purchase, which was brokered by a Cushman

Brookfield to spin off asset management business

Posted: 11 May 2022 09:10 AM PDT

Brookfield Asset Management is planning to spin off its asset management business. The Toronto-based investment manager plans a new entity that will control Brookfield’s fee-generating assets including real estate, infrastructure, credit, private equity and renewable energy, Insider and Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Brookfield’s goal is to allow investment in a publicly traded entity that generates and is separate from Brookfield’s $50 billion in directly owned assets. Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt previously

NYCHA sent thousands of false Section 8 termination notices

Posted: 11 May 2022 08:00 AM PDT

The New York City Housing Authorities has been sending tenants into a panic with erroneous notices saying their Section 8 subsidy would be cut off. NYCHA sent the incorrect termination notices between August and March, The City reported. The letters were sent because NYCHA employees believed tenants didn’t submit paperwork to recertify income and household status, when the real cause was a NYCHA computer glitch. Officials believe the bug stemmed from the upgrade of a

Former fuel oil terminal hits market in Gravesend

Posted: 11 May 2022 06:45 AM PDT

A sizable industrial site could gas up the commercial real estate market in South Brooklyn. One of the fuel oil terminals formerly owned and operated by the Bayside Fuel Oil Depot Corporation in Gravesend has hit the market, the Commercial Observer reported. Instead of a traditional sale, the brokers are aiming to ground lease the property for either 49 or 99 years. The 2.5-acre property at 1776 Shore Parkway includes a two-story building and several

Toll Brothers to build 355 apartments in Stamford; Schuster out

Posted: 11 May 2022 05:30 AM PDT

Toll Brothers has chosen Stamford for its first big multifamily play in Connecticut. The publicly traded homebuilder’s apartment division is developing a 355-unit luxury complex at 777 Summer Street in the city’s downtown. The project, the first in the state for Toll Brothers Apartment Living, will be a joint venture with Boston-based private equity firm CrossHarbor Capital Partners, the companies said Tuesday. Capital One and Comerica Bank provided the developers with a $94 million construction

Eviction redux: Crown Heights family faces second ouster

Posted: 11 May 2022 05:00 AM PDT

Three months ago, a Crown Heights family was ushered by activists back into their home after being locked out by real estate operatives whom they accused of stealing it. But now they might be evicted again. A housing court judge has agreed to hear arguments on whether to reinstate an eviction warrant that in February had ousted the family from their home of more than 70 years. Judge Jack Stoller’s decision came days after an

The Closing: Jeff Goldberg

Posted: 11 May 2022 04:30 AM PDT

Jeff Goldberg’s Fairstead — the multifamily investment firm he founded with his brother, CBRE’s Andrew Goldberg, in 2014 — is a family business. It’s just not the family business. “My entire family, all my cousins, everyone owns bagel bakeries. That’s the family thing you do,” said Goldberg, who, in deference to the bloodline, ran his own bakery in the Meatpacking District in the 1990s before heading to law school and then real estate. Today, Fairstead

Oceanwide loses control of Manhattan supertall site

Posted: 11 May 2022 04:00 AM PDT

Oceanwide Holdings has lost control of a Manhattan development site where it planned to build a 1,500-foot skyscraper. The Financial District property, 80 South Street, is in receivership after Oceanwide failed to pay back $165 million out of a $175 million loan from Midtown-based DW Partners, according to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week. Oceanwide defaulted when it missed a $1.3 million payment in January. A representative for Oceanwide could not

Douglas Elliman profits plunge more than 50%

Posted: 10 May 2022 03:27 PM PDT

In its second earnings report after being spun off from a tobacco company, Douglas Elliman came to grips with a harsh reality: It’s difficult to run a profitable brokerage. Net income fell by more than 50 percent to $6.5 million in the first quarter, down from $14 million the year prior. Consolidated operating income was $7.9 million, compared with ​​$14.2 million a year ago. Just a quarter earlier, it was $20.1 million. In part, the

Hedge funds, investment firms rare bright spot for office leasing

Posted: 10 May 2022 02:45 PM PDT

Money managers are making waves with office leases, but even their deep pockets aren’t enough to pick up the beleaguered market. Hedge funds and investment firms are embracing office space in Manhattan, unlike many other companies that are retreating, Bloomberg reported. Financial services firms, insurers, private equity, hedge funds and asset managers accounted for 35 percent of new leases in the past two years by square footage, according to Savills Research. As equity markets rose