The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

HFZ Capital Group sold off 46 apartments at its Chatsworth co-op conversion on the Upper West Side for $38 million, records filed with the city Friday show. The buyer was an entity linked to the Safras, the billion-dollar Brazilian banking family that is a minority-owner of the GM building. A receptionist at Safra & Co. told The Real Deal that no one was available to comment and would not be commenting. Executives at HFZ did […]

Despite handing over control of his family real estate and golf course business to his sons after ascending to the presidency in January, President Trump is still involved in the business, if you believe an email sent by a revenue manager at one of his hotels. “DJT is supposed to be out of the business and passed on to his sons, but he’s definitely still involved,” wrote Jeng Chi Hung, revenue manager for the Trump […]

The architecture firm behind the largest new project started this year was Ohio-based Ford & Associates. The firm was hired by Matrix Development Group, which plans to build a 2.3- million-square-foot commercial manufacturing building at 546 Gulf Avenue in Staten Island. Part of the building will be home to Amazon’s first distribution center in New York. The Seattle-based behemoth announced in June that it planned to take 975,000 square feet. The project is the second […]

From TRD Miami: A Bitcoin evangelist who goes by the moniker “Paychecks” paid nearly 18 Bitcoin for a condo, in what appears to be the first cryptocurrency-only real estate transaction in South Florida. Ivan “Paychecks” Pacheco, who co-founded the cryptocurrency website Bits to Freedom, paid 17.741 Bitcoin, or the equivalent of $275,000, for a two-bedroom unit at 777 Northeast 62nd Street in Miami’s Upper East Side neighbborhood, according to brokers Stephan Burke and Carol Cassis. The […]

You should expect to see some giants rising in the outer boroughs over the next few years. A majority of the largest development projects started this year are located in Brooklyn and Queens, according to plans filed with the city’s Department of Buildings. The biggest project for which plans were filed with the city this year is an Amazon-anchored warehouse in Staten Island that will span more than 2 million square feet. The Real Deal […]

Sam Chang is joining the jam packed Long Island City hotel market. The developer’s McSam Hotel Group has closed on the $7.8 million purchase of 38-04 11th Street, where he is planning to build a 142-key hotel spanning 43,458 square feet, The Real Deal has learned. The site already has approved plans and a foundation in place, allowing Chang to start construction almost immediately. Chang purchased the site from Greenwich Street Equities‘ Alec Shtromandel, who […]

According to this week’s market reports, condominium resales in the $1 million to $3 million segment — which are likely to be impacted by the tax bill’s cap on the mortgage interest deduction — are up 11 percent in the fourth quarter, and Crumbs Bake Shop made a comeback with 12 new stores in 2017. Residential Luxury sales | Olshan Realty In terms of luxury sales volume, 2017 surpassed 2016 by 6 percent, with a […]

Condominium development in Brooklyn slowed to a more modest pace in 2017, according to a ranking of offering plans accepted by the New York state Attorney General’s office this year. Of the 10 biggest projects ranked by targeted sellout on acceptance, just one development was aiming for a price point above $100 million, compared to three last year. The 10 developments are all new construction and scattered throughout the borough, from Greenpoint to Sheepshead Bay. […]

Views of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade won’t be improving anytime soon. The New York State Court of Appeals ruled against the community group Save the View Now on Wednesday, which had filed a lawsuit arguing that the hotel component of the Pierhouse development in Brooklyn Bridge Park is 30 feet higher than its 100-foot limit, partially blocking views of the Brooklyn Bridge, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. State Supreme Court Justice […]

The Real Deal is turning the page on a new year with our latest Westchester and Fairfield Market Report! Click here for last year’s issue The new issue picks up where TRD leaves off, with a ranking of Westchester’s top residential brokers, an inside look at top homes sales on Connecticut’s Gold Coast, a check in on hotels in both counties, a look at equestrian estates in Westchester and a sit-down with RXR Realty’s Scott […]

An unorthodox mixed-use development could be on its way to Brooklyn above a stretch of the Long Island Rail Road. The MTA has released a Request for Proposals for a 3.8-acre stretch of airspace above freight rail tracks on 61st Street between 8th Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway, according to Bklyner. The agency wants to see proposals for mixed-use developments with affordable and market-rate residential units, office space, retail space and parking, and the project […]

The real estate cryptocurrencies you can buy right now (or soon) Don’t get bummed about Bitcoin’s bubble. Buck up and buy another cryptocurrency … if you dare. TRD researched the alternative currencies on the web to deliver an assessment of the real estate-specific cryptocurrencies that are available today, from PRO to ATL to RC tokens. [TRD] The value of US housing stock grew by $2 trillion in 2017 The country overall saw a 6.5 percent, […]

From TRD LA: The year proved to be a tough one for many in Tinseltown, as it was filled a series of sexual harassment scandals that brought down many men in power (not to mention the devastating wildfires). The world of real estate was not spared the drama, as 2017 brought about some of the juiciest lawsuits in years — featuring everything from an alleged Ponzi scheme to cocaine-filled cars. The Real Deal kept a vigilant eye […]

Manhattan’s apartment market did not end the year on a high note. The median price for apartments in the borough was at $1.08 million for the fourth quarter of 2017, a 4.6 percent increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2016 but a 9.8 percent decrease compared to the second quarter of the year, according to the Wall Street Journal. The borough’s ultraluxury market slowed down as well, with contract signings at apartments for $10 […]

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo stepped up his effort to crack down on title insurance companies in 2015, the industry dispatched a small army of lobbyists to Albany. Amid continued scrutiny of what the state calls excessive marketing expenses, title insurers spent 67 percent more on paid lobbyists during the first half of 2017 than they did three years prior, according to data from New York’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics. According to JCOPE, companies including […]

Good news for anyone who listed a $4 million apartment in 2015: You probably found a buyer — finally — in 2017. Price cuts and protracted marketing times defined this year’s luxury market, according to Olshan Realty’s year-end market report, which found that properties asking $4 million or more took 433 days to sell. That compares to just 318 days in 2016. And this year’s deals also came with an average discount of 8 percent. […]

Thinking of flying Warren Buffett’s flag to boost the profile of your bootstrapped brokerage? It’ll run you $25,000. That’s how much it costs to become a franchisee of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, the conglomerate’s real estate franchise network of over 1,200 offices across the U.S. Earlier this year, Berkshire Hathaway came to New York City, traditionally a fiefdom of independent brokerages but still a market in which franchise brands have a substantial footprint. A third of […]

Bye-bye, billions. In 2017, office towers continued their dominance among New York City investment sales, but the deals were often smaller than in recent years. The nature of the Manhattan trophy tower game shifted under the weight of a sluggish, transitional market. Billion-dollar building sales were scarce, as owners opted to sell partial stakes, recapitalize or refinance in lieu of an all-out sale. The city is on pace to record $32.5 billion in New York […]

UPDATED, 11:11 a.m., Friday, Dec. 29: At least 12 people were killed when a fire raged through a rental building in Bronx’s Belmont neighborhood, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio. It was the deadliest fire in New York in decades. More than 160 firefighters were on the scene at 2363 Prospect Avenue, a five-story, 26-unit building constructed in 1916 and owned by D&A Equities. De Blasio said that in addition to the dead, at least four people […]