The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

The Real Deal ranks the East End’s top luxury brokers, billionaire buys four Amagansett parcels for $35M & more Hamptons real estate news

Posted: 23 May 2019 03:30 PM PDT

Despite a down market, Hamptons resi brokers remain resolute The Real Deal rolled out this week it’s annual ranking of the top East End brokers and brokerage firms, and one again, the Vichinsky brothers from Bespoke Real Estate topped the list. Cody and Zachary Vichinsky, both former Corcoran Group brokers, set up their Water Mill-based boutique in 2014. The broker duo had topped previous Hamptons broker rankings put together by TRD, but this year were […]

Sour grapes at 111 West 57th: AmBase tries again to reclaim the Manhattan supertall

Posted: 23 May 2019 03:00 PM PDT

At 111 West 57th Street, the under-construction luxury residential tower’s legal history is as long as the tower is tall. And it’s about to get longer. AmBase Corporation, a Connecticut-based holding company that invested $65 million equity into the building’s initial partnership, has filed its fourth claim against the developers of the project, accusing them of a “corrupt agreement” that wiped the firm’s stake in the project and is now seeking to again to reclaim […]

Port Authority considering three options for new Midtown bus terminal

Posted: 23 May 2019 02:30 PM PDT

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is moving ahead with plans to replace the “world’s busiest” bus terminal. The agency announced on Thursday that it was moving forward with the formal environmental review process for the project and released a 180-page scoping document for public review, Politico reported. “We are strongly committed to replacing this legacy, over-capacity facility, and look forward to a spirited dialogue with all stakeholders on how the project […]

Chicago banker accused of bailing Manafort out of foreclosure in exchange for Trump administration post

Posted: 23 May 2019 02:00 PM PDT

The chairman of a Chicago bank who allegedly bailed Paul Manafort out of foreclosure in exchange for a high-level post in the Trump administration was charged with bribery by federal prosecutors on Thursday. Stephen Calk, chairman of Federal Savings Bank, pressured his bank to lend Manafort $16 million in a string of three separate loans to try to gain an appointment in the Trump administration, prosecutors said. According to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan district […]

How it happened: Doug Harmon and Leona Helmsley

Posted: 23 May 2019 01:30 PM PDT

In the late 1990s, when Cushman & Wakefield’s Doug Harmon was still a fairly anonymous broker at Eastdil Secured, a man at a dinner party in Anguilla let him know that Leona Helmsley wanted to sell a $5 billion portfolio of property she inherited from her husband, Harry. His career has never been the same. Details about Harmon’s relationship with the infamous “Queen of Mean” came out in a new Financial Times profile on the […]

Kushner closes $1.1B multifamily buy with financing from Berkadia

Posted: 23 May 2019 01:02 PM PDT

Kushner Companies closed on its purchase of a $1.1 billion portfolio of Mid-Atlantic apartment buildings with financing from Warren Buffett’s commercial lending company, according to sources. Berkadia Commercial Mortgage provided Kushner with nearly $800 million in debt to finance the purchase of the portfolio of 6,000 rental apartments in Maryland and Virginia from private-equity firm Lone Star Funds, sources said. The deal closed yesterday. A spokesperson for Kushner Companies declined to comment, and representatives for […]

City sues HomeAway for failure to submit listings data

Posted: 23 May 2019 12:23 PM PDT

The city is suing HomeAway to force the short-term rental website to turn over records related to listings on its platform. As part of its investigation into short-term rentals, the city in February hit HomeAway and Airbnb with a subpoenas for records of thousands of listings. Information on listings for properties marketed on Vrbo, a HomeAway affiliate, also were requested. While HomeAway’s counsel has acknowledged receiving the request, the company hasn’t turned over any documents […]

Engel & Völkers is breaking into Brooklyn

Posted: 23 May 2019 11:30 AM PDT

Engel & Völkers will be the newest entrant into Brooklyn’s residential market. The firm announced on Thursday that it has opened three new locations in the borough in Dumbo, Prospect Heights and Cobble Hill led by broker Donald Brennan. Brennan’s eponymous brokerage, Brennan Real Estate, will now do business as Engel & Völkers Brownstone Brooklyn. The Brooklyn team will work with both buyers and sellers in the borough. “Now more than ever in this shifting […]

Blackstone’s next real estate debt fund is aiming for $5B

Posted: 23 May 2019 11:05 AM PDT

Blackstone is aiming to raise $5 billion for its latest real estate debt fund. The fund, Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies IV, will have an emphasis on the U.S. but also focus on property-related wagers globally Bloomberg reported citing an investor presentation. Debt funds in the U.S. have seen strong interest in recent years, as investors seek better yields and protection from falls in property values. According to research firm Preqin, real estate debt funds […]

Home prices roar in Arlington, whimper in Manhattan post-Amazon

Posted: 23 May 2019 10:30 AM PDT

Manhattan home prices have sputtered along after Amazon scuttled plans for part of its HQ2 in Long Island City, while the Arlington, Virginia market is getting a big boost form the tech effect. Pricing in Manhattan grew just 2.4 percent between the time Amazon made its announcement in November of last year and April, according to realtor.com figures cited by Bloomberg. In Arlington, however, home prices have grown 17.3 percent during the same time. “With […]

Glenwood refinances another UES tower with a $102M loan

Posted: 23 May 2019 09:45 AM PDT

The deals between Prudential and Glenwood are continuing to hum along. Prudential Multifamily Mortgage has provided Glenwood with a $102 million loan backed by Fannie Mae to refinance their residential property at 1365 York Avenue, according to property records. The residential property is located by East 73rd Street and known as The Somerset. It stands 37 stories tall and contains 490 units, and rentals go for an average price of about $4,500, according to StreetEasy. […]

NY golf course property tax bill comes up short

Posted: 23 May 2019 09:00 AM PDT

Legislation that sought to smooth the greens for higher tax rates on New York golf courses is not likely to pass this year. The property tax bill, which stemmed from a tax assessment challenge by the Trump National Golf Club, essentially would’ve raised taxes on golf course owners by letting such letting such facilities be appraised by their “highest and best use rather than current use,” according to the proposed legislation. New York lawmakers are […]

Domed penthouse at 240 Centre Street gets yet another price cut

Posted: 23 May 2019 08:30 AM PDT

Remember that penthouse nestled in the domed clocktower at the New York Police Department’s former headquarters? It’s back on the market — and with another price chop. Douglas Elliman’s Tal and Oren Alexander and the Modlin Group founder Adam Modlin listed the 5,500-square-foot penthouse at 240 Centre Street this week for $19.5 million. That’s down from its original ask of $39.9 million in 2015, back when it was first listed with Linda G. Calka. Tal […]

De Blasio names Clare Newman president of Governors Island

Posted: 23 May 2019 07:45 AM PDT

Mayor Bill De Blasio has appointed Clare Newman, the current executive vice president of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, to be president and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island. Newman will replace current president Michael Samuelian, who was also appointed by De Blasio, Crain’s reported. Samuelian was pushed out by former Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, and is slated to step down in June. The leadership shakeup comes amid a potential rezoning on two development sites […]

One of the country’s largest landlords accused of “Ponzi scheme-like” scam

Posted: 23 May 2019 07:00 AM PDT

The Securities and Exchanges Commission and the Justice Department are alleging that Robert Morgan, one of the largest landlords in the country, ran a “Ponzi scheme-like” scam. The SEC filed civil charges against Morgan, who they say raised $110 million from more than 200 investors — promising returns of 11 percent — only to use that cash as a “fraudulent slush fund” to pay previous investors, the Wall Street Journal reported. Investors are still owed […]

Social media tips from some of the Tri-State area’s top homesellers

Posted: 23 May 2019 06:15 AM PDT

Should the new maxim of salesmanship change from ABC — Always Be Closing — to ABP — Always Be Posting? Some brokers might say so. Top producers in the tri-state area are now more than ever using social media posts to Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn as a way to raise brand awareness and attract clients, while also promoting the luxurious lifestyle that goes along with their high-end listings. Using an unscientific sampling of tri-state brokers […]

Brookfield, Fortress among bidders vying for Anbang’s US hotel portfolio

Posted: 23 May 2019 05:50 AM PDT

Chinese officials looking to sell Anbang’s portfolio of 15 U.S. hotels received offers from 17 bidders, including Brookfield Asset Management, Fortress Investment Group and Blackstone Group. The bids for Chicago-based Strategic Hotels had a spread of more than $1 billion and reached as high as $5.8 billion, according to Financial Times, which also identified South Korea’s Mirae Asset Management and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, as potential suitors. The portfolio includes the JW Marriott Essex House on […]

WeWork signed four leases this week for its “headquarters” offering

Posted: 23 May 2019 05:00 AM PDT

In its quest to gobble up as many leases as possible, WeWork has signed another four locations in Manhattan this week for its “headquarters” offering. The flexible office space giant, which is signing dozens of deals as it gears up for an initial public offering, inked leases with APF Properties on four Manhattan locations totaling 110,000 square feet, the firms said Thursday. The spaces, at 25 West 45th Street, 28 West 44th Street and 183 […]

Will Boston Properties’ latest real estate bets withstand a downturn?

Posted: 23 May 2019 04:30 AM PDT

Boston Properties is riding high on Wall Street. But the success of some of its less tested plays in new development and shared office space could be riding on how much longer the economy grows. For now, the real estate investment trust is beating out two of its top competitors on the stock market, Vornado and SL Green, and has $2.7 billion in new projects underway — almost entirely ground-up — that are nearly 80 […]

Brokers in cabs: Corcoran Group’s Sydney Blumstein

Posted: 23 May 2019 04:00 AM PDT

In the second episode of The Real Deal‘s new series “Brokers In Cabs,” the Corcoran Group’s Sydney Blumstein talked about agent gossip, how a dating competition in her rental broker days led to gobs of new business, the appeal of first-time homebuyers, and why she thinks many developers are three years behind the curve and out of touch with buyers. Blumstein, a New York native who works with her parents on the Blumstein Team, has […]