The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

The group that pushed hardest for the overhaul of New York’s rent laws that shocked landlords is now targeting six Democratic senators from Long Island for their ties to the real estate industry. Tenant coalition Housing Justice For All released a report Thursday saying the senators have accepted $1.5 million in campaign contributions from real estate firms in 2018 and 2019, with a sharp increase in donations this year. The report, prepared by coalition member

Every weekday The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news. We update this page throughout the day starting at 9 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com. This page was last updated at 6:55 p.m. Developer jumps ship to co-living firm. Simon Koster joined UK-based the Collective as its U.S. head of development last month. He previously was a principal at JDS Development, the firm behind 111 West 57th Street and

Redfin’s revenue jumped 70 percent during the third quarter as the brokerage’s instant home-buying business raked in $80 million. That iBuying growth represents a 600 percent gain for the Seattle-based discount brokerage, which is one of several firms betting on iBuying nationwide. But during an earnings call Wednesday, CEO Glenn Kelman said he is wary of growing too quickly by making poor investments in homes that Redfin can’t sell for a profit. “Growth is easy

Douglas Elliman powerhouse agent Frances Katzen, 44, runs a 10-person team of luxury brokers that has closed $2.5 billion in total sales and sold more than $250 million annually since 2010. Her team also produces the Katzen Report, a monthly newsletter that covers trends and data in New York City real estate. Katzen was born in Cape Town, but when she was five, her family left South Africa due to the apartheid regime, and her

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

One of the Corcoran Group’s top-producing teams in the Hamptons has defected to Compass. Cee Scott Brown and Jack Pearson, along with team member Jeremy Dunham, worked in Corcoran’s Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor offices. With $500 million in sales to date, they were Corcoran’s No. 1 team in the Hamptons as recently as 2017. In a statement, Pearson said Compass would give the team a leg up in a competitive environment. He specially cited Compass

It’s been a rough stretch for some real estate crowdfunding platforms, but one just scored new financing and three new execs. Portland, Ore.–based CrowdStreet landed $12 million in Series C financing, the firm said Wednesday, bringing its fundraising haul to $25 million since its 2013 launch. CrowdStreet said the investors in the new round include individuals, such as former ESPN chief marketing officer Carol Kruse, and commercial real estate sponsors. The company, which claims to

Japanese investment firm Unizo Holdings, which is at the center of a heated takeover battle back home, has struck a deal to sell one of its two remaining New York City properties. A joint venture of the Kaufman Organization and the French insurance firm AXA Financial has signed a contract to buy Unizo’s Flatiron District office building at 40 West 25th Street for more than $120 million, sources told The Real Deal. The contract price

For the second month in a row, projects in Brooklyn and Queens comprised the entire list of New York’s top outer borough loans. The top loan last month was $195 million in financing from Wells Fargo to the Rochdale Village co-op in Queens. At the No. 2 spot was a $147 million loan from Brooklyn Finance Company for two American Realty Advisors parcels on 57th Avenue in Maspeth. The first Brooklyn loan came in at

Compass is making it easier for agents to cash in on shares of the company stock. The Softbank-backed firm announced changes to its agent equity program, which now allows agents to purchase shares of restricted stock that will vest by 2021 — or sooner if the company goes public. Previously, agents could buy stock options that would vest in four years. “This is an exciting change that eliminates the need for participating agents to pay

The Real Deal is back in the Bahamas! We’re thrilled to announce TRD‘s Future City 2020, our second annual three-day event for C-Suite executives in the fields of development, tech, brokerage, construction, marketing, design, and finance. Last year, VC funding for Proptech hit record levels, with more than $12B in investment in the first part of 2019. Today’s market is moving quickly as new technologies, companies, laws, and cultural shifts change the real estate landscape.

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son admits he made massive mistakes in his handling of the Japanese company’s multi-billion dollar investments into U.S. tech companies, WeWork in particular. “My own investment judgement was really bad,” he said at a Tokyo news conference, according to the Wall Street Journal. “I regret it in many ways.” After writing down the value of its holdings in WeWork and 20 other investments, SoftBank’s $100 billion tech-focused Vision Fund posted a

The restaurant group behind the iconic Smith & Wollensky steakhouse and popular eateries like Quality Meats and Quality Eats is planning to open a new restaurant in the West Village. Quality Branded signed a lease for 5,600 square feet spread across the ground floor and lower level at 2 Bank Street, according to the brokers who negotiated the deal for landlord Sky management. Lee & Associates’ Brad Schwarz negotiated the deal with James Ficelman. Asking

UPDATED at 2:15 p.m.: Moody’s Analytics has abandoned an investment in a commercial real estate data firm tied to an embattled industry figure. The information-services firm, which oversees a commercial real estate data portal, had taken a 23.8 percent stake in Empirical CRE, a company led by Doug Curry. Last month Curry made headlines after his former firm, Xceligent, lost a copyright infringement case against a competitor, CoStar Group. “Moody’s has divested its entire stake

In the fifth episode of The Real Deal’s “Brokers In Cabs” series, Compass broker McKenzie Ryan talks about her love of performing in public, landing her first deal at the age of 12 and how being a “child star” and gymnast set her up for a career in real estate. Watch the full video above to see Ryan share why she never gets nervous, how she nailed her big breaks and more.

The top 10 Manhattan loans recorded in October totaled just under $5 billion, a 66 percent increase from the month prior. The largest was Fosun International’s $1.1 billion refinancing of its flagship property at 28 Liberty Street, which it was rumored to be selling. 1) Fosun finance — $1.1 billion Deutsche Bank and HSBC provided $1.025 billion to refinance Fosun International’s mixed-use property at 28 Liberty Street. CBRE, which was previously reported to be marketing

Rotem Rosen is moving on. That is, into a new penthouse. The Israeli developer, having legally separated from his wife, Zina Sapir, has taken up residence in a 6,200-square-foot Park Avenue penthouse, a person familiar with the matter told The Real Deal. His new pad, a top-floor unit at 502 Park Avenue, had an asking rent of $70,000 a month, according to its StreetEasy listing. With views over Park Avenue, the home includes five bedrooms

The The Real Deal’s tri-state quarterly for fall is on its way, packed with the biggest real estate news from Long Island and the Hamptons, New Jersey, Westchester and Fairfield counties. The issue will be available to subscribers November 20, with the print edition hitting mailboxes the following week. Features in the issue will include: • Big in the ’Burbs: A look at the resi brokerages from NYC pumping up their presence in the tri-state

A criminal case in Rochester could affirm or impair New York tenants’ ability to organize their buildings. Ryan Acuff, a tenant organizer and outspoken member of the City-Wide Rochester Tenant Union, was arrested Oct. 22 for trespassing at a tenant celebration of renovations and improved living conditions. According to Acuff, he was a guest of Kawanais Smith, a building resident and leader of the City-Wide Tenant Union of Rochester. Acuff was in Landsman Development Corporation’s

Here are two real estate events coming to New York City next week! Host: MetaProp NYC Date: Nov. 12 to Nov. 13 Time: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. MetaProp NYC is holding its MIPIM PropTech New York event over two days at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th Street. Come to this event to network, hear discussions on the various ways technology is changing the real estate industry, take part in startup competitions and attend

Former owners of a rental building in Far Rockaway have agreed to pay $1 million to settle a federal lawsuit accusing them of discriminating against people who had been incarcerated. Sandcastle Towers Housing Development Fund Corp., Weissman Realty Group and Sarasota Gold settled the case Tuesday. It centered on the 917-unit Sand Castle apartment complex, the Daily News reported. The landlords, who no longer control the building, did not admit liability. But the social service

UPDATE: Nov. 6, 2019, 2:55 p.m.: Discount retailers. Luxury department stores. Children’s stores. Home goods giants. The retailers that filed for bankruptcy so far in 2019 — and those on experts’ watch lists — have spanned the spectrum. And with an ever-growing list of stores in the red, the outlook for the real estate they occupy continues to be grim. While some retailers, like young-adult fashion chain Forever 21, plan to use bankruptcy filings to

UPDATED Wednesday Nov. 6, 2019, 1:02 p.m.: Douglas Elliman’s net income plummeted last quarter and its parent company plans to cut back on payouts to investors. Vector Group will halve its quarterly cash dividend to $0.20 per share starting in the first quarter of 2020 and will no longer pay an annual dividend, CEO Howard Lorber announced Tuesday. He confirmed that investors would receive a dividend of $0.40 per share for the third and fourth

Jersey City voters’ reviews of Airbnb are in, and the startup did not make the grade. In a closely watched referendum Tuesday a majority of residents overwhelmingly supported tighter limits on short-term rentals in the city, including an annual 60-day cap at properties where the owner is not on site, and a ban in buildings with more than four units. The result is a major blow for Airbnb, which spent $4.2 million backing an aggressive