The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Corcoran shakeup: Bill Cunningham out; Gary Malin now COO

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 04:45 PM PST

Bill Cunningham, the Corcoran Group’s president of sales, is leaving the firm, The Real Deal has learned. The move is part of a broader shakeup that will also see Gary Malin, president of sister firm Citi Habitats, add the role of COO of Corcoran to his responsibilities. In an email to agents Thursday, Liebman said Cunningham’s departure is one of several changes underway at the company, which is a subsidiary of publicly traded Realogy. Corcoran

Battle of the boroughs: Tallying the city’s top law firms by real estate loans

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 02:15 PM PST

UPDATED: Nov. 7, 2019, 10:22 a.m.: Fried Frank also topped the list of law firms that oversaw the largest commercial loan volumes in Manhattan, with a whopping $6.97 billion among just 22 deals. That put the firm way ahead of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which came in second place with $5.88 billion among 36 deals. The largest loan handled by Fried Frank across the city in the same time period was a $600 million-plus loan

Exposed: Playboy has left the Playboy Club New York

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 01:34 PM PST

Playboy Enterprises has stripped all of its licensing from its pricey Manhattan members-only club. The recently revamped restaurant and club on West 42 Street was a local branding play for the global brand with an affiliate of Merchants Hospitality that’s been operating the venue since it opened in September 2018. That came to an end last week. Playboy confirmed in a statement to The Real Deal that it has terminated its agreement for the club

Durst deadlocked with owners of prime LIC site

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 12:47 PM PST

A Long Island City development site next to Amazon’s abandoned headquarters location — mockingly called “Lake Vernon” for its large puddles — has racked up thousands of dollars in fines for being a mosquito breeding ground. But it’s not the owners paying the bills at 44-02 Vernon Boulevard. Rather, it’s the Durst Organization, which holds the debt on the property and has been trying to foreclose on it for more than a decade. The developer

Developer files plans for mixed-use project facing BQE

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 12:30 PM PST

After overcoming concerns about air and sound pollution, Brooklyn developer Bruchy Lefkowitz is moving ahead with plans for a 90-unit mixed-use development facing the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway near Brooklyn Navy Yard. Lefkowitz, doing business as 462 Lexington Ave LLC, plans to build a 106,000-square-foot, nine-story building at 205 Park Avenue, according to documents filed Wednesday with the Department of Buildings. About a quarter of the building’s residential floor area, or 23 units, will be made permanently

New boutique office building headed for East Village’s St. Mark’s

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 11:15 AM PST

Another high-priced, boutique office building is moving forward in Midtown South. Real Estate Equities Corp.’s development at 1 St. Mark’s Place in the East Village landed a nearly $80 million construction loan, according to property records filed with the city Wednesday. South Korean financial services firm Hana Financial Group provided a $31.1 million mezzanine loan, and Madison Realty Capital provided a $48 million first mortgage. A representative for REEC — headed by Brandon Miller and

It’s official: Facebook is taking 1.5M sf in Hudson Yards

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 10:50 AM PST

Facebook has officially inked its long-rumored lease at Hudson Yards. The tech giant will take more than 1.5 million square feet of office space across three buildings and 30 floors of the development, landlords Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group announced on Thursday. This includes about 1.2 million square feet at 50 Hudson Yards, 265,000 square feet at 30 Hudson Yards and 57,000 square feet at 55 Hudson Yards. “We’re excited to expand our offices

SoftBank’s $3B payout to WeWork’s investors is delayed

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 10:15 AM PST

After everything that’s happened at WeWork, shareholders now have a new worry. SoftBank is delaying a $3 billion tender offer for WeWork shareholders. In a letter WeWork sent to shareholders Nov. 8, and obtained by The Real Deal, the Japanese conglomerate’s offer would commence “within five business days of the completion” a $1.5 billion investment in the struggling office startup. That $1.5 billion payment was released to the company Oct. 30, which would have made

Another megaproject coming to Flushing

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 08:49 AM PST

The real estate boom in Flushing will continue with yet another megaproject. The development, at 131-01 39th Avenue, will span about 664,000 square feet, including 339,000 square feet of residential space, 314,000 square feet of commercial space and 11,000 square feet of community space, according to plans filed Tuesday with the Department of Buildings. It will stand 19 stories and 245 feet tall with 368 residential units. Queens developer Andy Zhu sold the site in

WeWork under pressure as losses soar to $1.25B

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 06:25 AM PST

WeWork lost $1.25 billion in the third quarter — up from $497 million in the same time period last year. The parent of the troubled-office startup also reported a surge in revenue to $934 million in the months following Sept. 30, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing a report to debtholders this week. The $1.25 billion loss falls in contrast to the $638 million loss posted in the second quarter. The company blamed the third-quarter

WeWork losses soar, SoftBank asked Jared Kushner to divest from Cadre

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 06:05 AM PST

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 9 a.m. Donald Trump has been taken to court many times by lawyers, brokers, contractors and others who claimed that he owed them money. Now the shoe is on the other foot, as the Trump Organization copes with

“That’s the best you can do?” Eliot Spitzer and Eran Chen on their recent project

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 05:15 AM PST

Architects and developers need each other, but their dynamic often puts them at odds. Developer and former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer sat down with his architect Eran Chen to discuss finding common ground and chemistry as they worked on their recently completed rental complex along Williamsburg’s waterfront, 420 Kent Avenue. Chen’s firm, ODA, has designed a handful of new buildings along Brooklyn’s waterfront, including 10 Jay Street for Glacier Global Partners and Triangle Assets,

Is NYC’s townhouse market in trouble?

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 04:30 AM PST

As a percentage of the city’s housing stock, townhouses aren’t just small, they’re minuscule. But they’ve attracted outsized attention in recent months. Most notably, this summer, a 48-foot-wide limestone mansion on East 67th Street sold to hedge-fund mogul John Griffin for $77 million — the highest price ever paid for a residential townhouse in New York City. While that blockbuster deal set a new benchmark, sources say it’s not reflective of what’s going on in

The city’s rental growth is slowing

Posted: 14 Nov 2019 04:00 AM PST

New York City’s rental market in October continued to see gains — thanks to languid home sales — but the growth is slowing. The median rent in Manhattan edged up last month to $3,500. But the increase was slight, at just 0.1 percent year-over-year, and flat from September 2019, according to Douglas Elliman’s recent rental market report. The borough’s net effective rent, which includes concessions, grew 0.7 percent year-over-year to $3,409. This growth has been