The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

A lender who last month signalled intent to foreclose on 125 Greenwich Street, the troubled downtown residential tower, will auction the mezzanine debt on the building next month. The lender, United States Immigration Fund, provided a $194 million mezzanine loan to the project’s sponsors in 2017. Led by Nick Mastroianni, the firm raises funds through the EB-5 visa program. Since topping out at 88 floors earlier this year, the Rafael Vinoly-designed building has been marred […]

Airbnb has been an almost perfect embodiment of Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” culture since it burst onto the scene in 2008. The company — which claims to have more than 6 million listings globally (a number it says is more rooms than the six largest hotel groups combined) — became very popular very fast with the public. But it’s also faced aggressive opposition from the city government and the hotel industry since the […]

H. Ross Perot, the computer services billionaire and two-time presidential candidate left behind a legacy of quotable quips, entrepreneurship, wealth and extensive property. Perot, who died on Tuesday at 89, implored Americans during his first presidential run in 1992 ”to look under the hood.” So, we’ll do that with some of his residential property. But unlike his most famous catchphrase, “It’s just that simple,” uncovering all his residential holdings is not so easy. The Perots […]

The LeFrak Organization is looking to sell another one of its office buildings on the Jersey City waterfront. The company, led by prominent developer Richard LeFrak, has put the 22-story Newport Centre 4 office building on the market with an asking price north of $400 million, sources told The Real Deal. The asking price works out to more than $425 per square foot for the building, whose address is 545 Washington Boulevard. A representative for […]

Bridge Investment Group said it had raised $509 million through its Opportunity Zone fund, becoming one of the few big firms to meet its fund-raise goal for the federal tax incentive program that targets development projects in distressed areas. The company announced on Tuesday it had pooled money from 500 investors, and will seek real estate projects nationwide, according to Bloomberg. The fund plans to invest in 12 developments across eight cities, including Queens, N.Y., […]

For the second year in a row, public real estate companies added more women than men to their boards. During the spring proxy season, real estate investment trusts added 60 new female members, meaning 50.4 percent of the 119 new directors were women, according to data from Ferguson Partners. Last year, 52 percent of new directors were women, which was the first time the majority of newly elected members were female, the Wall Street Journal […]

For years, Naftali Group has been putting together a development assemblage along Madison Avenue. Now, the developer landed the financing it needs to move forward with a condominium project at the site. Bank Hapoalim provided the developer with $120.4 million in construction financing for 1039-1045 Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side, according to property records. Architect Peter Pennoyer will design the project, according to Naftali. The debt package includes a $16 million project loan, […]

Four years after hitting the market, the penthouse at Toll Brothers’ 1110 Park Avenue sold for $17.25 million — nearly 50 percent off the original $35 million asking price. Records show the buyers, Michael and Frida Vasinkevich, went into contract on June 21 and closed on June 28, narrowly missing the new mansion and transfer tax on high-end homes that went into effect July 1. According to FINRA, Michael Vasinkevich is licensed financial adviser with […]

Real estate developer William Zeckendorf has sold his 17th-floor apartment at 740 Park Avenue for $29.5 million. Property records identify the buyers as American businessman Peter May and his wife, Leni May. The couple could not be reached for comment. Peter May’s firm Trian Partners owns beverage companies Snapple and fast-food chain Arby’s, among others. Zeckendorf bought the two-bedroom co-op in 2011 for $27 million from video game magnate Gregory Fischbach and his wife Linda. […]

A Brooklyn Airbnb host who claimed he was unfairly targeted by the city in retaliation for his advocacy will move forward with a civil rights lawsuit after a U.S. District Court judge dismissed some of his claims but declined to throw out the suit in full. Stanley “Skip” Karol, who lives in Sunset Park, claimed the city unfairly targeted him after he testified at a 2018 council hearing about proposed legislation that would compel Airbnb […]

Toby Moskovits sold her once-distressed Crown Heights apartment building to Harbor Group International for $117 million. Harbor Group – headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia – purchased the 193-unit building at 564 St. John’s Place in late June, according to property records filed with the city Tuesday. The purchase price works out to more than $606,000 per unit. Representative for Moskovits’ Heritage Equity Partners are Harbor Group could not be immediately reached for comment. Steven Vegh of […]

Stearns Holdings, the parent company of residential mortgage lender Stearns Lending, filed for Chapter 11 protection Tuesday morning after agreeing on a debt-restructuring plan with majority owner Blackstone Group. The restructuring will erase $184 million in outstanding bond debt from the California-based firm’s balance sheet, the Wall Street Journal reported. Stearns is also seeking court authorization to continue normal business operations during the bankruptcy process, including the payment of suppliers and vendors, and salaries and […]

Pending Long Island home sales slipped slightly in June Having halted four consecutive months of gains in May, pending home sales in Nassau and Suffolk counties slipped again in June, Long Island Business News reported. The outlet, citing data from the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island, said that 3,004 homes were contracted for sale last month, a 1 percent dip from the 3,035 homes that moved in June 2018. The numbers also represented a 3 […]

Investment in property technology, which allows its owners to monitor and manage commercial and residential real estate, is soaring and China is leading the way. Proptech startup investment totaled $7.8 billion between 2013 and 2017, and China accounted for 36 percent of that, according to JLL, as reported in Bloomberg. Last year, proptech investment jumped to almost $20 billion, and it hasn’t slowed down in 2019, Bloomberg reported. Property technologies use data to help individuals […]

UPDATED, July 9, 12:27 p.m.: Women-focused co-working space The Wing is opening its second location in Brooklyn, signing on for roughly 17,000 square feet at Largo‘s 71-75 North 7th Street in Williamsburg. The firm, which counts WeWork and actress Kerry Washington among its investors, will take the second and third floors of the three-story building, a source told The Real Deal. The Wing revealed plans to open in the neighborhood in April of last year. […]

Saatchi & Saatchi is coming home. The advertising agency’s parent company, French multinational media giant Publicis Groupe, has inked a massive, long-term deal at the former Saatchi & Saatchi Building at 375 Hudson Street, the New York Post reported. In addition to a 20-year renewal on a 680,000-square-foot lease several years before expiry, the firm is taking up another 280,000 square feet at the building starting in August. Publicis is planning to relocate all of […]

It’s business as usual. That’s the message Deutsche Bank has sent to New York’s real estate industry following the weekend announcement it would shutter its investment banking arm’s equity sales and trading divisions and slash thousands of jobs worldwide. The German bank has been battered in recent years, enduring losses and a declining reputation in part based on its associations with President Trump. And while news of the company’s restructuring and job cuts sent shockwaves […]

In last week’s mid-market world on New York City investment sales, the city closed on the acquisition of a new school site in Brooklyn and ARGO Real Estate and Bsafal picked up a mixed-use building in Manhattan. 1. A mostly vacant four-story, 25,000-square-foot commercial building at 64 University Place in Manhattan sold for $30 million, or about $1,185 per square foot. The seller was an entity tied to Bernard-Charles Inc., and the buyers were ARGO […]

A controversial mixed-use project on Long Island overcame a key hurdle Monday when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement with a development group to build the first new Long Island Rail Road station in nearly 50 years. The deal will see New York Arena Partners, a private group behind the proposed $1.26 billion redevelopment site on state-owned land surrounding the Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, pay $97 million of the expected $105 million cost […]

Jumaane Williams is New York City’s sixth public advocate, a role that has infuriated many local real estate players since at least 2010 — when the office began publishing its “100 worst landlords” list on Bill de Blasio’s watch. Under Williams, the office will continue to publish the list (with a few potential changes for those who clear their violations) while finding other ways to hold landlords accountable for how they manage their properties. The […]

Eliot Spitzer and John F. Kennedy International Airport topped the list of the biggest outer borough loans recorded last month. Spitzer’s company Spitzer Enterprises claimed the top spot with a $328 million loan for its massive multifamily project at 420 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, while the revamped TWA Flight Center at JFK took second place with a $270 million loan. All loans in the top five were worth more than $100 million last month. Overall, […]