The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Developers will soon be able to move forward with projects under a program that grants density and height boosts in exchange for setting aside housing for seniors in their buildings. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development plans to issue a term sheet for privately financed senior housing projects under the Affordable Independent Residences for Seniors program. AIRs, which launched in March 2016 as part of the Zoning for Quality and Affordability text amendment, allows […]

A New York-based private equity firm and a multifamily investor recently closed on their $24 million acquisition of a 238-unit portfolio spread across eight buildings in Fairfield County, Connecticut. MLK Real Estate Capital arranged the joint venture, which will renovate the units and re-lease them at market rate. The Real Deal has learned that the private equity firm and its sponsor, a Bridgeport-based multifamily operator, bought 110 units at 150 Anton Street in Bridgeport and […]

The head of City Connections Realty has no regrets. David Schlamm, 61, has made a few mistakes, but they’ve made him a more confident decision-maker. In 2004, his boutique brokerage was one of the first in New York City to adopt a high-split “100 percent commission model.” The move made waves in a market where larger, better-known brokerages maintained lower splits in the name of building their brand. The best split today at City Connections […]

As democratic presidential candidates look to distinguish themselves from the pack and demonstrate their progressive bona fides, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kamala Harris are teaming up to strengthen protections against housing discrimination. The duo proposed a bill that would outlaw the so-called “one strike” rule, which has been on the books since 1996 when Bill Clinton ordered an eviction for anyone in public housing committing a violent or drug-related crime. In effect, the legislation would prohibit […]

UPDATE, Wednesday July, 10, 2019, 7:22 p.m.: Fredrik Eklund has officially left the New York City rat race — at least as a home base. The celebrity broker at Douglas Elliman packed up his family and traded his Downtown Manhattan apartment for a luxe-looking Beverly Hills home with sweeping views of Downtown Los Angeles, as he revealed in an Instagram post on Wednesday. In a lengthy message, the broker, who rose to fame after being […]

A New York investor poured $500,000 into an entity managed by a group of real estate developers who were raising $13 million to buy a property in Queens. But those funds were used by the group — whose members misrepresented their experience in the real estate industry — to buy the property for themselves, cutting the investor out of the deal, alleges a new lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Eastern […]

Zillow Group and Compass have buried the hatchet over allegations that the SoftBank-backed brokerage poached three technology executives from the listings giant. The two companies — at odds since Zillow filed two separate lawsuits in April — said Wednesday that they settled those cases, which were filed in federal and Washington state court. “The two companies have agreed to resolve their differences,” a Compass spokesperson said, “and look forward to working together to help the […]

The owners of the Crown Building are in advanced talks with a pair of lenders to refinance the prized Fifth Avenue property. Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties and Brookfield Asset Management have signed a term sheet with French lender Natixis and Apollo Global Management for a $900 million loan to refinance the 92,000-square-foot retail condominium at the building, people with knowledge of the discussions told The Real Deal. The new loan would refinance $720 million in […]

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Compass — the $4.4 billion Softbank-backed brokerage that’s shaken up the real estate landscape over the past seven years — was hit with an explosive and wide-ranging lawsuit Wednesday by a key rival accusing it of price-fixing and collusion, “predatory” poaching and unfair business practices. Realogy, in a 68-page complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court, alleges the firm routinely engages in “illegal schemes to gain market share at all costs and to damage, or even […]

Publicly-traded real estate firms have in recent years taken on cheaper, riskier debt in an effort to offset borrowing costs. The debt, known as commercial paper, has become increasingly popular for firms looking to settle accounts or inventory payments, according to the Wall Street Journal. But the cheap debt, which is around a half-point cheaper than bank credit facilities, could leave REITs unable to refinance if investors lose confidence suddenly. While commercial paper makes up […]

Newark office tower within Opportunity Zone finds a buyer Newmark Knight Frank announced Tuesday the sale of 550 Broad Street in downtown Newark, NJBIZ reported. The brokerage was tapped earlier this year to market the 18-story office tower on behalf of its now former owners, Ridgewood-based Heritage Capital Group and German investment manager Dr. Peters Group. The 294,242-square-foot building, constructed in 1966, is located within a designated Opportunity Zone. The Real Deal reported last week […]

Robert de Niro’s second attempt to bring a major film studio to New York is going smoothly, so far. His new project, Wildflower Studios at 87 19th Avenue in Queens, comes at a time when film companies are flocking to the city. Last year, 332 films were made in the city, more than double the figure in 1980, according to the New York Times. Adam Gordon, the president of Wildflower, told the times that he and […]

The tide is turning in favor of U.S. homesellers, who are set to benefit from a slowing in new listings coming to the market. Last month, U.S. homesellers added 40,000 new listings to the market last month, an increase of only 2.8 percent year over year, according to Mansion Global. While it brings an end to an oversupply of housing stock that came online in 2018 and the first half of 2019, the slow in […]

History is repeating itself for the New-York Historical Society. NYHS originally parted with the five-story townhouse at 15 West 76th Street in 1997. Now, more than two decades later, the nonprofit has bought the property back for $16.5 million from hedge funder David Berkowitz and his wife Nancy, property records show. The couple also simultaneously granted NYHS a $12.5 million mortgage. Public records indicate that when the historical society previously owned the townhouse, mortgages were […]

A 15-acre estate designed by New York-based architect Robert A.M. Stern in the Monmouth County township of Middletown was recently listed for sale by Christie’s International Real Estate. The property at 722 Navesink River Road, whose price is available upon request, was most recently home to recording artist and rock star Jon Bon Jovi, whose given name is John Bongiovi Jr. Forbes first reported in late June the property coming on the market, but did […]

From Lenox Hill to Clinton Hill, these are the $10 million to $20 million investment sale deals that recently traded in New York City. 1. An entity linked to Taube Management Realty picked up 241 East 73rd Street — a five-story mixed-use building in Lenox Hill — for $17.5 million, according to property records. The seller, another limited liability company managed by attorney Hari K. Samaroo, acquired the property for $12 million in 2017. The […]

The six-story building at 600 Broadway had long served as an informal welcome sign to Soho with Hollister’s logo splashed across its broad side facing Houston Street. But in recent years, a new building went up next door and blocked the property’s northern façade. The loss of its branding status became all the more tangible in late May when Abercrombie & Fitch said it will close the Hollister store this year after a decade in […]

The former head of operations at Prodigy Network has sued the crowdfunding firm and its CEO for breach of contract, less than two months after a similar suit was filed by a former executive. In a complaint filed Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court, Maria Alejandra Rincón claimed she was granted 75,000 Prodigy Class B incentive units in 2017, to be paid in quarterly installments of $266,950 following her termination in February 2019. However, she claimed […]