The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Self-storage developer picks up Flatiron District parking garage for $32M

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 03:41 PM PDT

The Zucker Organization parted ways with a parking garage that sits a couple of blocks from Madison Square Park — and the buyer is a self-storage developer. The facility, a four-story Icon Parking garage at 41 East 21st Street, sold for roughly $32.2 million to Georgia-based Mequity Companies, according to property records filed Thursday with the city. Representatives from Zucker and Mequity could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday evening. Mequity, led by CEO […]

Lightstone kicks off Opportunity Zone fund with hotel project in Williamsburg

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 03:00 PM PDT

The Lightstone Group is joining the ranks of companies launching Opportunity Zone funds, and their first investment is in Williamsburg. Lightstone and partner PKS Group plan to raise $500 million for the fund, the company told The Real Deal. Their first project will be a 203-key Moxy hotel in Williamsburg, the fifth Moxy location for Lightstone in New York City. It also has Moxy properties in Times Square and Chelsea, along with a pair of […]

Treetop gets $76M loan for Bronx multifamily complex

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 02:30 PM PDT

Adam Mermelstein and Azi Mandel’s Treetop Development has scored a $75.9 million loan for one of its Bronx affordable housing complexes. Wells Fargo provided the Freddie Mac mortgage for the Teaneck, New Jersey-based firm’s property at 1600 Sedgwick Avenue, known as the Riverview Apartments, according to documents filed Thursday with the city. Wells Fargo declined to comment and Treetop did not respond to requests for comment. Treetop is the property’s beneficial owner, and the non-profit […]

It ain’t easy being green: MedMen cannabis startup in financial straits, report says

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 02:00 PM PDT

As it opened up dispensaries across the country, MedMen has been the poster child for the fast-growing mainstream cannabis industry. But a new report suggests the Los Angeles-based startup could be running on fumes. Financial statements released last month showed that the company did not have “sufficient funds generated from operations” to cover its short- and long-term needs, and needed to find more financing, according to a CNBC report. A former executive at the Culver […]

Another new residential project is on its way to East New York

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 01:30 PM PDT

East New York is getting another new residential project, this one from Catholic Charities of Brooklyn & Queens. The organization is planning to build a 73,000-square-foot building with 155 units at 2367 Pacific Street, according to plans filed with the city’s Department of Buildings on Thursday. It will stand eight stories and 80 feet tall. Catholic Charities did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The city rezoned East New York in 2016, and […]

TRD talks Trump Tower Chicago’s empty retail on WGN

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 01:00 PM PDT

The Real Deal’s Alex Nitkin appeared on WGN Radio’s Opening Bell Thursday to discuss his investigation into the decade-long retail vacancy at Trump Tower Chicago. Nitkin and TRD’s Joe Ward wrote a story examining how the tower has landed just one small retail tenant since it opened in 2009, with a 70,000-square-foot deck space having never signed a single tenant. He attributed the retail space’s performance – among the worst in the history of Chicago’s […]

How low can they go: Mortgage rates fall again, enticing borrowers

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 12:30 PM PDT

As quick as they shot up, mortgage rates have fallen back down. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to a hair above 4 percent this week, according to Freddie Mac data first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The number is the lowest since January 2018, just before the average began to steadily rise to a November peak to just below 5 percent. High mortgage rates in the fall pushed mortgage applications […]

Speakers just announced for The Real Deal’s 12th Annual NYC Showcase and Forum

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 11:25 AM PDT

The Real Deal’s 12th annual NYC Real Estate Showcase and Forum is shaping up to be one of our biggest and most exciting events yet. Mark your calendars for May 15 and join us at the Metropolitan Pavilion for a full day of programming, networking and deal making. Our 4,500+ attendees will get access to a dynamic lineup of industry leaders that will give you insights you need to stay on top of the industry’s […]

Glenwood Management refinances UES tower with $127M loan

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 10:30 AM PDT

Glenwood Management has refinanced another one of its Upper East Side luxury apartment towers. Glenwood, founded by the Litwin family, landed a $127 million Fannie Mae loan from Prudential Multifamily Mortgage for its 33-story complex called the Fairmont, according to a public record filed Thursday with the city’s Department of Finance. Neither party immediately returned requests for comment. The Fairmont, which Glenwood has owned for decades, is located at 300 East 75th Street near Second […]

Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: Rye mansion owner sues developer over ‘defects,’ CBRE sees rise in office-to-resi conversions… & more

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 10:00 AM PDT

Rye mansion owner sues developer over ‘numerous defects’ The owner of a mansion in Rye has slapped its developer with a lawsuit claiming the home “was not constructed in a skillful and workmanlike manner” and “suffers from numerous defects,” the Westchester County Business Journal reported. The unidentified buyer bought the 7,976-square-foot home at 135 Highland Road from the developer for $5.4 million back in 2017, but discovered a number of leak-related problems soon after, according […]

Median-priced homes still unaffordable in nearly 75% of US counties: report

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 09:30 AM PDT

The U.S. housing market continues to cool down, and here’s another possible reason why. The average annual wage isn’t enough to afford a median-priced home in more than 70 percent of the counties in America, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ first-quarter “U.S. Home Affordability Report” released Thursday. Those unaffordable counties include the usual suspects: Los Angeles, New York, Miami-Dade, San Francisco, and San Diego. The national median home price was $237,500 in the first quarter […]

Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital is coming to the Meatpacking District

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 09:00 AM PDT

Starwood Capital Group is opening an office in New York City. Barry Sternlicht’s real estate investment firm has signed a lease for the eighth floor of 40 10th Avenue, according to Bloomberg. Aurora Capital Associates and William Gottlieb Real Estate are developing the Meatpacking District property, known as the Solar Carve building. Starwood is taking 14,258 square feet in the roughly 160,000-square-foot office building, which should be finished this spring. Sternlicht’s firm has offices in […]

Compass is targeting $1B in revenue. Can the firm deliver?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 08:40 AM PDT

This story originally ran in The Real Deal’s September 2018 issue. Robert Reffkin did not want his picture taken. Not in front of an illuminated Compass logo. Not seated. And certainly not with his arms crossed. Six years after co-founding the residential brokerage industry’s first unicorn with Ori Allon, Reffkin is working hard to cultivate the image of someone who is harnessing nearly $800 million in venture capital to transform the way real estate agents […]

Savanna picks up 521 Fifth Ave for $381M

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 08:02 AM PDT

Savanna is buying the former Lefcourt Colonial Building at 521 Fifth Avenue. SL Green is selling the property to Savanna for $381 million, it announced on Thursday. The building stands 39 stories tall and spans 460,000 square feet, and the deal should close in the second quarter of 2019. SL Green owns 50.5 percent of the building, and a joint venture between LaSalle Investment Management and Quantum Global Real Estate known as Plaza Global Real […]

Long Island is getting its 4th medical marijuana dispensary

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 07:30 AM PDT

Another medical marijuana dispensary is slated to open on Long Island — this time in East Farmingdale. Manhattan-based Acreage Holdings is opening the dispensary, called the Botanist, on Broadhollow Road on Friday, Newsday reported. It will be near a Costco and Farmingdale State College. It will be Long Island’s fourth dispensary. The location is also Acreage’s fourth location in New York state. The others are in Buffalo, Middletown and Jamaica, Queens. Acreage operates 24 other […]

HUD charges Facebook over housing discrimination through its ad platform

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 07:05 AM PDT

The Department of Housing and Urban Development charged Facebook on Thursday with violating fair housing laws. The charge is for Facebook enabling housing discrimination through its advertising platform, Politico reported. It stemmed from an investigation launched last year. Several outside investigations have found that Facebook’s ad targeting allows advertisers to exclude people by categories including gender, race and ethnicity. “Facebook is discriminating against people based upon who they are and where they live,” HUD Secretary […]

These real estate heavyweights were invited to Cuomo’s secretive fundraiser

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 06:30 AM PDT

Developer Douglas Durst and billionaire John Castimatidis were among the bigwigs invited to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s secretive fundraiser earlier this month. Durst, chairman of the Durst Organization, donated but didn’t attend the event, which was held at the St. Regis Hotel, the New York Times reported. The minimum donation per couple was $25,000. Catsimatidis said he did not contribute or go to the event — and said he was invited because of his longtime friendship […]

JLL’s “corrupt” culture enabled “securities fraud” and sexual harassment, broker alleges in lawsuit

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 06:00 AM PDT

A former JLL capital markets broker claims in a lawsuit that her supervisor ordered her to commit securities fraud and enabled clients to sexually harass her, and that the company ignored her repeated complaints. Amanda Ly, who worked in JLL’s Los Angeles office until December, says that JLL “perpetrated a corrupt culture that valued profits over basic decency and that was hostile, offensive, and belittling.” Ly filed the suit in L.A. County Superior Court. Ly […]

Barneys plans to give up space at its Madison Avenue flagship

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 05:40 AM PDT

Following a significant rent hike, Barneys New York plans to shrink its flagship Manhattan store by more than half. The department store owner is in talks to let go of up to five of the nine floors the store occupies at 660 Madison Avenue, the New York Post reported. The move is an effort to cut back on Barneys’ $30 million in annual rent. Executives have floated giving up floors five through nine and possibly […]

Activists in this city want to seize 200K apartments from landlords

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 05:00 AM PDT

“Are we heading back to socialism now?” asked Germany’s largest tabloid, Bild, earlier this month. The reason? A referendum initiative in Berlin is seeking to expropriate 200,000 homes from the city’s biggest landlords and convert them into social housing, The Nation reports. The proposal, known as “Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen and Co,” would affect a total of 10 companies, each of which owns at least 3,000 units in the rapidly-gentrifying German capital. “Resistance against gentrification has […]

Building on a prayer: Why big property deals and new developments involving churches are on the rise

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 04:30 AM PDT

The city’s real estate industry isn’t known for showing mercy. But as New York continues to grapple with an affordable housing crisis, developers are increasingly teaming up with institutions known for doing just that. Big property deals and new developments involving churches are on the rise, sources say, from Ebenezer Plaza in Brownsville to Trinity Church’s growing presence in Hudson Square. “Everybody is trying to see how they can partner in a joint venture with […]

Extra Space, PGIM pick up self-storage properties for $114M

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 04:00 AM PDT

Extra Space Storage and PGIM Real Estate have snapped up two more of LSC Development’s self-storage properties, for a total price tag of about $114.2 million. The most recent buy was for a $43.3 million, four-story facility at 976 Cypress Avenue in Ridgewood, according to property records filed Tuesday. And last month, the self-storage REIT and PGIM, the real estate investment arm of Prudential Financial, dropped roughly $70.9 million for another five-story building at 1320 […]