The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

The cyclical nature of Miami’s condo market has many developers shifting toward rentals – but not Michael Shvo. The New York developer, who is making a big push in Miami Beach, said that as long as you have the right site and project, the overall market’s performance is irrelevant. “It doesn’t really matter what the market is. You build something special in the right location, you’re not competing with something in Brickell or in Wynwood,”

Gary Barnett, in the midst of a showdown with Upper West Siders over a condo tower he is building, is making another big play in the area. Barnett’s Extell Development is putting together a development site north of Columbus Circle. As part of that effort, it is in contract to buy the New York Institute of Technology’s property at the corner of Broadway and West 61st Street for about $90 million, sources told The Real

Essex Realty’s Steven Livaditis may have been the last broker in Chicago to close a condo deconversion deal during its glory days, when only 75 percent of sellers had to approve a bulk sale. Hours before a new rule upping the deconversion threshold to 85 percent of sellers went into effect, his client closed on a 26-unit condo building in Edgewater. Several attorneys told him that other condo associations around Chicago were scrambling to get

The last two times that Bel Air’s massive Casa Encantada sold — in 1979 and 2000 — it broke the record for highest residential sale in the nation. Now, the storied estate is on the market again at $225 million, instantly becoming the country’s priciest residential listing. The 40,000-square-foot Georgian-style mansion, owned by financier Gary Winnick, is officially up for sale, according to the Los Angeles Times. If it sold at ask, the price would

At 10:26 a.m. on Oct. 9 — nine days after WeWork shelved plans for an IPO — Compass CFO Kristen Ankerbrandt fired off to her staff a set of talking points distancing the brokerage from the fallen unicorn. “It may seem obvious,” she wrote in response to mounting questions from agents and employees. “But it’s worth stating that it is hard to draw any parallels between our businesses.” Ankerbrandt cited their divergent customer bases, industries

Marriott International has purchased the Union Square W Hotel and plans to overhaul the century-old property, the company announced Thursday. The seller was Westbrook Partners, which bought the hotel at 201 Park Avenue South just a year ago, according to public records. In a press release Thursday, Marriott indicated that it spent $206 million to acquire the 270-key hotel, but a deed filed with the city’s Department of Finance on Wednesday put the sale price

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Bickering by the de Blasio and Cuomo administrations over who’s responsible for New York City’s “broken” property tax system enlivened a dreary afternoon in an Appellate Division court Wednesday. “The city argues that their hands are tied by what the state’s done. And the state argues that everything they’ve done is fine, so it’s the city’s fault. It’s a little bit like a Marx Brothers’ movie,” said plaintiff’s attorney James Brandt in an interview afterwards.

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 at throughout the day, starting at 9 a.m. ET. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com This page was last updated at 9 a.m. The City Council has its sights set on a raft of new housing bills. Council members, which last year passed a slew of tenant protections,

In the two New York City mid-market investment sales made public last week, AB Capstone picked up two Long Island City sites, and an entity linked to City Urban Realty scooped up a residential building in Brooklyn. Here are the details. 1. AB Capstone bought a pair of adjacent properties in Astoria for $24.5 million from a limited liability company. The sites, each with a two-story industrial building, are at 34-08 46th Street and 45-01

During a recent earnings call, Starwood Property Trust CEO Barry Sternlicht broached a touchy topic in the real estate world: the possibility of a recession. The head of the $56 billion real estate investment trust told investors and analysts that “the only thing we have to worry about is a calamitous recession,” warning of a slowing economy largely thanks to the national political environment. Specifically, Sternlicht said Starwood needs to be “über-careful” in the hotel

UPDATED, 8:36 a.m.: There is growing unease about an impending recession, but at least one economic indicator isn’t pointing in that direction. U.S. home foreclosures dropped sharply in the third quarter, with New York City, South Florida and Los Angeles all registering declines. Overall, 143,105 U.S. properties had foreclosure filings from July through September, down from nearly 172,000 over the same period last year, according to an Attom Data Solutions report released Thursday. The numbers

Columbia Property Trust is buying Normandy Real Estate Management in a deal worth about $100 million, Columbia announced on Wednesday. Columbia has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Normandy’s operating platform, along with its general partner interests in a trio of active management funds, the company said. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year. Columbia president and CEO Nelson Mills said in a statement that the merger will allow the

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 4:30 p.m. Video produced by Sabrina He Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s Opportunity Zone fund hasn’t been a big draw. The Hampshire Christie Qualified Opportunity Fund hoped to attract $250 million for real estate projects when it launched

Sapir Corp. and its partners planned to build a 1.7 million-square-foot project on an assemblage of land north of downtown Miami. But the Israeli real estate firm is now looking to sell the property. The site, at 1768 Northeast Second Court, is in an Opportunity Zone, which would give a buyer substantial tax incentives. The property is in the Edgewater neighborhood of Miami, near the Arts & Entertainment District. Sapir Corp. Chairman Alex Sapir said he’s

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal secretary, testified in March that Trump inflated property values in order to get financing, and a comparison of his tax returns and loan records by ProPublica shows how. In documents provided to the lender for two of the buildings, Ladder Capital, the rent rolls were inflated to double what was reported in Trump’s 2017 tax returns. At one building, occupancy figures were reported that were well above what was

 After the sweeping changes to the rent law in June, multifamily landlords are reconsidering their usual practice of renovating rent-regulated apartments that become vacant. The law slashed financial incentives to improve individual units as well as to make building-wide upgrades, and eliminated rent increases that stem directly from vacancy. Some real estate attorneys have cited cases of landlords keeping apartments vacant as they push legislators to change the new law. The Real Deal reporter Georgia

New development condo report Manhattan • Inventory expanded as developers filed more units than were purchased • Developers filed six plans with a total of 130 units • The state approved one plan with 10 units valued at $4.8 million • Buyers purchased 107 units valued at $426 million Supply  Demand

Each week, The Real Deal and CityRealty look back at Manhattan’s priciest apartment sales.

Since lawmakers clarified last month that agents and brokerages can only charge up to $20 for the preparation of rental applications, the pain has been felt acutely by some. The cap, which was part of the rent law passed in June and applies to brokerages and agents representing landlords, claimed its first victim last week when Nooklyn founder and CEO Harley Courts stepped down amid backlash over the firm’s slashing of commissions and delaying of

A pair of tech giants are battling it out over some prime office space in New York. Facebook and Apple are both interested in leasing space at Vornado Realty Trust’s conversion of the massive James A. Farley Post Office, according to the New York Post. Facebook has been in talks for 740,000 square feet of space in the project since at least September, but Apple has more recently decided it wants to lease all four

David Johnson was in Central Park on a Sunday afternoon this spring when his daughter called from her room at the Lexington Hotel to say goodbye. She intended to commit suicide. According to Johnson, he frantically called the hotel 11 times before someone picked up and heard his warnings — and when he arrived at the front desk, he found no action had been taken and was advised to wait his turn. It got worse,

Famed architect and watercolorist Steven Holl founded his company as a two-person practice in Chelsea in 1977. The firm has since grown to 40 people across two offices, one around the corner from Hudson Yards and the other in Beijing. Steven Holl Architects has completed more than 60 projects in the U.S., China, Japan and other countries. Holl and his colleagues worked on the $41 million Hunters Point library, which opened in September — nearly

Tenant advocates who won a sweeping overhaul of New York’s rent law have a new target — the entire housing market. Housing Justice for All, a statewide coalition of tenant groups, will unveil demands Wednesday for next year’s legislative session that include “good cause” eviction, $3 billion in state funding for public housing and the elimination of rent increases for major capital improvements and the tax abatement formerly known as 421a. There’s more. The group