The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Agents using StreetEasy’s “Expert” program should expect higher fees

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 04:00 PM PDT

StreetEasy is reforming its “Building Expert” program effective Thursday, but lack of transparency over fees is causing concern and confusion. The controversial pay-to-play program launched in 2015 under the premise that participating agents would pay a fee to have their contact information displayed alongside building descriptions where they’d done transactions. To qualify as an expert, agents must have closed at least one deal at the property in the past five years. The program, dubbed StreetEasy […]

Adam Neumann wants to live forever – that and more zany news about WeWork’s CEO

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 01:43 PM PDT

The controversies surrounding the We Company’s pending public offering have been almost nonstop — and Adam Neumann has been at the center of almost all of them. Since the WeWork parent company filed its S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month, investors have raised concerns about issues ranging from the amount of control Neumann has over the company to his leadership style to his efforts to trademark the term “We.” And now […]

Fed cuts rates, signaling caution ahead for real estate investors

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 01:04 PM PDT

The Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to again cut its benchmark interest rate, this time by 25 basis points, sends a message to commercial real estate investors that the bank is proceeding cautiously, one industry pro said. “The Fed clearly has some concerns that they’re responding to,” said Sam Chandan, associate dean at New York University’s Schack Institute. The Fed cut rates to a range between 1.75 and 2.00 percent, a widely anticipated move. The […]

An up close with Adam Neumann, Tom Barrack’s buyers remorse: Daily digest

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 12:34 PM PDT

Every day, The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page throughout the day, starting at 9 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com Video produced by Sabrina He A trillionaire, prime minister of Israel and president of the world. Those are all the things WeWork founder and CEO Adam Neumann has said he wants to be, according to […]

Croman backed out of deal over rent-control concerns: lawsuit

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 12:28 PM PDT

Notorious landlord Steve Croman has been hit with another lawsuit, this one accusing him of backing out of a deal to buy a Greenwich Village property. Croman’s company Ecalp Corp. went into contract to buy the five-story, nine-unit multifamily building from North Hudson Realty at 297 West 12th Street in April, and the deal was scheduled to close June 27, according to the lawsuit. North Hudson gave Croman’s company plenty of opportunities to inspect all […]

Bernie Sanders unveils details of $2.5T housing plan: “We need a homes guarantee”

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 11:36 AM PDT

Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders released his much-anticipated $2.5 trillion housing plan today. The Vermont senator and presidential candidate would cap annual rent increases at 3 percent or one and a half times the consumer price index, whichever is higher. He would also allow states and cities to pass their own rent-control standards, even if they had stricter limits on rent increases. Sanders also promised to enact “just cause” eviction, which limits the cases in which […]

Mystery buyer snaps up controversial Rivington House for $160 million

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 10:40 AM PDT

Slate Property Group and its partners have sold their Rivington House property — the former nursing home that became a flashpoint of controversy for Mayor Bill de Blasio three years ago. Slate, China Vanke and Adam America Group sold the 150,000-square-foot building at 45 Rivington Street last week to an anonymous buyer for $159.6 million, property records filed with the city Wednesday show. The identity of the new owner could not be immediately determined. The […]

Tom Barrack has buyer’s remorse over Colony Capital’s merger with NorthStar; looks to shed distressed assets

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 10:30 AM PDT

Three years later, Tom Barrack has buyer’s remorse. As his firm, Colony Capital, embarks on a $325 million venture into digital infrastructure, it first needs to offload much of its real estate portfolio from its disastrous merger with NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. Share value of the Los Angeles-based Colony still hasn’t fully recovered from that 2016 deal. Barrack and other Colony execs have acknowledged they misstepped when they closed the $19.9 billion all-stock transaction for […]

Here’s what the $10M-$30M NYC investment sales market looked like last week

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 09:45 AM PDT

Last week in New York City mid-market investment sales, a Bronx multifamily portfolio changed hands for $14 million and a commercial condominium unit in Murray Hill went for $17 million. Here are the details on the city’s recent trades filed with the Department of Finance. 1.) In Red Hook, an industrial building at 145-65 Wolcott Street and two nearby lots traded for $21.5 million. Seller Gregory Iovine sold the single-story asset to W-G Capital Advisors, […]

The Daily Dirt: Corcoran launched probe into data breach

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 08:35 AM PDT

Corcoran Group is investigating its data breach — but the damage seems to have already been done. Last week, an email containing agent splits, marketing budgets and gross commission income was sent to everyone at Corcoran. The brokerage, along with law enforcement and a third-party forensic investigator retained by parent company Realogy Holdings, are investigating the incident, E.B. Solomont reports. The firm has since removed the email from its servers, and cautioned both its brokers and […]

Compass’ top communications exec to depart

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 07:45 AM PDT

Jason Post, Compass’ head of communications, is leaving the SoftBank-backed brokerage after nine months on the job. The former Uber executive is taking a job at Google, he said. “I’m proud of what I accomplished at Compass, but I’m excited to move on to a new opportunity and I wish everyone at Compass well,” said Post, who gave his notice last week but started telling people Tuesday. Post joined the real estate firm in January […]

Historic Slave Theater site will soon be co-living property

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 06:45 AM PDT

The Collective has filed plans for a 150-unit co-living project at the vacant site of the historic Slave Theater. The project, at 1215 Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, will span about 239,000 square feet and stand 10 stories tall, according to plans the British co-living company filed with the Department of Buildings. It could open in early 2022, Brownstoner reported. The Collective purchased the site in March for $32.5 million and said it planned to construct […]

Tiny-home “oasis” eyed for LA desert — and NYC

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 05:15 AM PDT

Having spent the last year and a half building this tiny home prototype, the Saat family believes that “the future of real estate is tiny homes on wheels.” Watch this video to learn about their plans to change a desert outside Los Angeles to a tiny-home oasis and build a 20-floor tiny-home tower in the heart of New York City.

It’s not just Chinese buyers retreating from NYC’s condo market

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 04:30 AM PDT

On Friday, Aug. 23, President Trump escalated his trade war with China in a series of tweets that labeled Chinese leader Xi Jinping an “enemy.” That same day, in Hong Kong, demonstrators formed a human chain across the territory in a show of solidarity with anti-government protests that had been raging for months. In Brazil, meanwhile, wildfires spread across the Amazon, wiping out millions of acres of forestland. And in the U.S., economists sounded alarms […]

Embattled Prodigy Network CEO Rodrigo Niño to step down

Posted: 18 Sep 2019 04:00 AM PDT

Prodigy Network founder Rodrigo Niño is stepping down from his position as CEO amid mounting financial and legal issues, The Real Deal has learned. Prodigy, a real estate crowdfunding platform, has faced criticism from investors in recent months over underperforming investment properties and unpaid distributions. On Monday, an investor in one of Prodigy’s newest projects — the 13-story Standard Hotel in Chicago — filed a lawsuit alleging the firm was “insolvent” and had used investments […]