The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

City crafting overhaul of landlord tax break

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 02:23 PM PDT

Landlords are finally getting some love from the de Blasio administration. The city is preparing a proposal to overhaul a tax break program, in part to make it more appealing to owners of apartment buildings. Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Louise Carroll said the J-51 tax break needs to be “right sized” because the incentive hasn’t kept up with the market. “We’re looking at the program holistically, both as to what would be

Adam Neumann-backed co-working firm raising $500M, REBNY says rent laws cost city $1B: Daily digest

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 02:20 PM PDT

Every day, The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news. We update this page in real time, starting at 9 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com This page was last updated at 5:20 p.m. Video produced by Sabrina He A co-working firm backed personally by Adam Neumann is raising $500 million. Selina, which provides office space to travelers, is seeking to launch a fund to invest into U.S. properties.

Avi Dorfman’s $200M suit against Compass granted jury trial

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 02:08 PM PDT

Avi Dorfman, who says he’s a co-founder of Compass, has been fighting for a $200 million stake in the firm for five years. Now, a jury will decide if he’s entitled to it. In an Oct. 1 ruling, a New York judge denied the SoftBank-backed firm’s motion for summary judgment, and said Dorfman is entitled to a jury trial. He may also be in line for monetary damages related to his claims that he helped

Kushner goes to Broward, buying site near Fort Lauderdale train station

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 02:00 PM PDT

Kushner Companies is making its first big real estate play in Fort Lauderdale. The company, led by Charles Kushner, Nicole Kushner Meyer and Laurent Morali, is under contract to purchase three properties for $49 million across the street from the Virgin Trains station in downtown Fort Lauderdale’s Himmarshee District, sources told The Real Deal. Swire Properties of Hong Kong is selling the lots at 200, 300 and 520 West Broward Boulevard. The land totals 4.2

For mall owners like Simon, Brookfield and Vornado, Forever 21 bankruptcy signals more trouble ahead

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 01:42 PM PDT

When South Korean immigrants Jin Sook and Do Won Chang landed at Los Angeles International Airport in 1981, they had nothing. The couple eventually scraped together a modest savings and opened their first clothing store in Los Angeles. Over three decades later, they turned that single store into a fast-fashion empire known as Forever 21, which had 800 locations across the globe and at its peak was raking in $4.1 billion in annual sales. Yet

Legislature eyes changes to “just cause eviction” bill

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 01:00 PM PDT

Just cause eviction, a measure derided by the real estate industry and abandoned last legislative session, is likely to resurface in Albany next year — but with some changes. Sen. Brian Kavanagh, Housing Committee Chair and one of the bill’s sponsors, said Wednesday that the proposed standard for whether a rent increase is “unconscionable” will likely be amended. The bill, whose prime sponsor is Sen. Julia Salazar, states that tenants cannot be evicted for being

Hudson Yards megadevelopment inspires a new line of sex toys

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 12:30 PM PDT

Hudson Yards has been the butt of some jokes, but now it will be the joke of some butts. Design studio Wolfgang & Hite has developed pink silicone versions of many buildings in the Related Companies’ megadevelopment, according to Dezeen. Those include a butt plug shaped like Thomas Heatherwick’s the Vessel and a dildo shaped like Kohn Pendersen Fox’s 10 Hudson Yards. “The city and developers have been jerking each other off for decades, so

The Daily Dirt: Amazon pushes further into brick-and-mortar space

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 12:16 PM PDT

Amazon, often blamed for killing retail, is doubling down on brick-and-mortar. The e-commerce giant is moving forward with plans to open grocery stores across the country, the first of which will open in Los Angeles. The company is also eyeing the New York metro-area, as well as Chicago and Philadelphia, for possible store locations, the Wall Street Journal reports. These stores will be separate from Whole Foods, which Amazon purchased in 2017 for $13.7 billion.

Tenant organizer challenging incumbent doesn’t think “anyone should be paying rent”

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 11:32 AM PDT

A tenant organizer backed by the socialist group that helped propel Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez into Congress is targeting a Brooklyn legislator — and landlords. “Fundamentally, I don’t think anyone should be paying rent,” said Phara Souffrant, whose campaign against Assemblymember Walter Mosley is supported by the Democratic Socialists of America. “That’s my hidden agenda.” Mosley has for seven years represented District 57, which includes Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights and parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown

Watch: A-Rod on the benefits and pitfalls of being a celebrity investor

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 11:05 AM PDT

Alex Rodriguez has been investing in real estate for decades. He made his first purchase — a duplex outside of Miami that he needed a $48,000 downpayment for — when he was 22. But in the years since, the former Yankee third baseman, who is now 44, has built a sizable national real estate portfolio. He has thousands of units, all under the A-Rod Corp. umbrella, in U.S. markets like Chicago, North Carolina and Texas.

Lennar reports 13% uptick in Q3 profit amid sluggish housing market

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 10:30 AM PDT

Lennar Corp. reported an uptick in net income and home deliveries in its third quarter, but signs still point to a broader slowdown in the housing market. The Miami-based homebuilder reported $513.4 million or $1.59 per share in third quarter net income, up 13.3 percent from $453.2 million or $1.37 per share in the third quarter of 2018. At the same time, revenue from home sales increased 2 percent, year-over-year, to $5.3 billion. Lennar’s third-quarter

Car dealer drops $38M for condo at 220 CPS

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 07:45 AM PDT

He’s no stranger to deals, and this one’s big. An entity tied to Michael Cantanucci, owner of a national luxury car dealership, has dropped $38.1 million for a 4,814-square-foot condo at 220 Central Park South, property records show. That works out to just over $7,900 per square foot. The four-bedroom condo stretches across both the 54th and 55th floors of the ultra-luxury Vornado Realty Trust tower, and includes five bathrooms and a powder room. The

Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman is behind a new TV drama about NYC real estate

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 07:00 AM PDT

It plays out in the tabloids. Now, New York City’s real estate scene is set for the silver screen. An untitled family drama set in the upper echelons of New York’s real estate scene is currently in the works. Gabriel Sherman, an acclaimed author and Vanity Fair correspondent, is behind the new show, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Sherman’s biography on the late Fox News president Roger Ailes inspired the “The Loudest Voice,” which has

Low mortgage rates are killing Manhattan’s all-cash buyer

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 05:15 AM PDT

After sales soared last quarter, Manhattan’s residential sales market is crashing back to reality — though low mortgage rates are softening the landing. The number of closed sales fell by more than 14 percent year over year in the third quarter, and the average sales price dropped to $1.65 million, down from over $2 million last quarter and $1.9 million in 2018, according to Douglas Elliman’s report authored by appraisal firm Miller Samuel. The swift

A-Rod is coming for NYC and SoFla real estate

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 04:30 AM PDT

Alex Rodriguez has seen both his professional and personal life covered exhaustively in newspapers across the country for decades now. But since retiring as the Yankees’ star third baseman in 2016 — and, according to Forbes, pocketing over $480 million during his 22-year, pro-baseball career — he’s become even busier. He’s now juggling regular media appearances with color commenting baseball games (he’s a broadcaster for Fox Sports and part of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball team)

Revealed: Corcoran’s “hacked” files

Posted: 02 Oct 2019 04:00 AM PDT

One third of the Corcoran Group’s gross commissions last year came from just 37 of its 1,239 brokers. The New York firm gave at least one top agent a $120,000 marketing budget. And, besieged by well-funded rivals who’ve poached top producers, Corcoran has shelled out sums as high as $275,000 for agents to use at their discretion. These are some of the revelations gleaned from documents leaked to every Corcoran agent last month, and analyzed