The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Time Warner Center duplex sells after $20M discount

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 02:59 PM PST

Towering over Central Park, unit 70B at the tony Time Warner Center embodied luxury living when it was listed at $35 million in 2014. The 3,491-square-foot duplex apartment featured custom white concrete floors, a sculptural staircase and a private elevator. But after cycling through a series of brokers, the condo ended up on the discount rack — relatively speaking. With its asking price whittled down to $15 million — more than half off the original

At the desk of: Rich Sarkis

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 02:00 PM PST

Rich Sarkis’ office has no imposing mahogany table or wall of photos featuring him with celebrities or industry powerbrokers. His white desk is largely barren, save for a few essentials. But Sarkis’ Midtown office is a long way from the tiny Chelsea space where he co-founded his company, Reonomy, back in 2013. The real estate data and analytics firm has grown massively since then. That growth has been fueled by some of the largest investors

At 220 CPS, three deeds in one day fetch $150M

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 01:21 PM PST

It’s been a busy day for 220 Central Park South in the city’s property records department. Another three buyers have closed on luxe pads for $26.8 million, $31 million and — wait for it — $93 million, according to deeds that hit records Tuesday. All of the buyers closed on their purchases between Dec. 3 and 5. Like many new development deals that are closing these days, two of the buyers went into contract back

Platinum Properties’ fête draws big names

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 01:00 PM PST

Fur, sparkles and prominent names in real estate were the mainstays of Platinum Properties’ holiday party this year. The brokerage’s party was one of the rare industry events held on a Saturday night. The venue was the boutique hotel Mr. C Seaport’s bar and lounge area. Investor Isaac Chetrit, ODA’s founding principal Eran Chen, Rudin Management Company’s chief investment officer Neil Gupta and Cipriani Wall Street general manager Paolo Scocco were among the industry players

Why things look good for the housing market right now

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 12:15 PM PST

The year is rounding out on a strong note for the construction industry. As homebuilder sentiment hits a 20-year high, new government data shows that privately owned housing starts climbed 3.2 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.37 million — up from 1.2 million in November 2008. Building permits in November hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.48 million, a 1.4 percent increase on the revised October rate, and the

Landlords face mandate to install safety devices

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 11:40 AM PST

Landlords may soon need to pay for extra features to accommodate senior and disabled tenants — but the city would help foot the bill. A bill sponsored by City Council member Justin Brannan would require multifamily landlords to install items such as grab bars in bathrooms and treads on apartment floors at the request of a senior or tenant with a disability. Under the measure, depending on what’s installed, landlords would be eligible for property

Woman killed by falling façade at Himmel + Meringoff’s Midtown office building

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 11:08 AM PST

A 60-year-old woman on Tuesday was struck and killed by a piece of façade that fell off a building near 49th Street and Seventh Avenue. Police said in a statement that around 10:45 a.m. they received a report of an unresponsive woman with head trauma near 152 West 49th Street. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. The Department of Buildings said its engineers were at the site to inspect the structure of 729

Acadia, Prusik make $28M Soho retail play

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 10:32 AM PST

Acadia Realty Trust is continuing to gobble up Soho retail space with another $28 million buy. The Rye, New York-based real estate investment trust picked up the leasehold interest in the retail space occupied by Victoria’s Secret Pink at 565 Broadway, property records show. PincusCo first reported the news. Acadia’s partner on the deal was the Prusik Group, a source told The Real Deal, and the seller was an Aventura, Fla.-based entity linked to Marsha

Massive Kent Avenue project lands fashion brand as first tenant

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 09:59 AM PST

The fashion brand Kith has signed a lease for almost 58,000 square feet at 25 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg. The project was previously pitched as a possible second headquarters for Amazon. Kith will be its first tenant, Bloomberg reported Monday. The building stands eight stories tall and is the first ground-up commercial building developed in Williamsburg in more than 40 years. About 90 Kith employees will work in the property. The company plans to relocate

Real estate stocks see best returns in 5 years, but trail S&P

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 08:00 AM PST

Declining interest rates have helped push real estate stocks to their best returns in five years. Real estate stocks as a whole had returns of more than 20 percent through the first 11 months of 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported. Warehouse owners performed the best with a year-to-date return of 46.7 percent as of Monday’s close, while mall owners continued to struggle as brick-and-mortar retailers retrench. Real estate investment trusts had one of their

Chicago is the nation’s hottest medical office market

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 07:30 AM PST

Someone call a broker! Chicago has significantly outpaced other major U.S. cities for net absorption and deliveries of medical office product, with nearly 1 million square feet of positive net absorption over the past year ending in Q2 2019, according to a new report from CBRE. Chicago tallied 915,000 square feet of positive net absorption, compared with Atlanta, which came in second at 557,000 square feet. This demand has led to an increase in product,

China’s largest co-working firm eyes a New York IPO

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 07:00 AM PST

China’s largest co-working company, Ucommune, has filed plans for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The offering could take place as early as next month, the Wall Street Journal reported. It will represent a test of investor sentiment following WeWork’s IPO debacle this fall — was WeWork’s failure a symptom of problems specific to the company, or is the co-working business model as a whole now in question? “The fact that

Ben Carson vs. the critics

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 06:30 AM PST

Ben Carson’s office is what one might expect from a former neurosurgeon: clean, with few distractions, in a sterile, hospital-like setting. The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has routinely characterized the agency’s 1960s-era concrete semi-circular structure — the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building — as the ugliest in Washington, D.C. One of the few paintings in his office is of members of the president’s original cabinet, including Carson, crossing a

Landlord group’s new legislative agenda looks for ways to up rents in regulated units

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 06:13 AM PST

A small landlord group has unveiled its top housing priorities for next year, which include a proposal to create a new program that allows landlords to increase rents on stabilized apartments. The Community Housing Improvement Program on Tuesday unveiled its legislative agenda for next year, which includes a proposal to replace the Individual Apartment Improvement program with the “Housing Preservation Act.” The HPA would allow a landlord to temporarily hike legal rents by 1/90th of

Cuomo announces new state rules following Newsday’s discrimination exposé

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 06:02 AM PST

A month after an undercover investigation exposed widespread racial discrimination in Long Island’s housing market, New York state has announced new regulations to combat the problem. The regulations, approved Monday by the New York State Real Estate Board, require agents to disclose fair-housing information and the New York State Human Rights Law to prospective clients, to prominently display notices on fair-housing laws at all offices, and to preserve video recordings of anti-discrimination training classes. “Housing

StreetEasy’s “brazen tactics” favor its advertisers, REBNY alleges

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 05:00 AM PST

The Real Estate Board of New York this week accused StreetEasy of using “brazen tactics” to steer consumers to agents who advertise on its site — despite a proposed rule that would ban the practice. In a letter to state regulators, attorneys for REBNY said Premier Agent, the portal’s controversial agent advertising program, “falls woefully short” of pending standards that require third-party websites to make a “clear and conspicuous” reference to the listing agent, and

Proptech company HqO closes $34M funding round

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 04:30 AM PST

A proptech company focused on the “tenant experience” at commercial properties has raised $34.2 million in a series B funding round. HqO, which developed technology to unify “tenant-facing technology, amenities and conveniences into a single platform,” has now raised $53 million in venture capital in total, the company said in a statement Tuesday. HqO CEO Chase Garbarino said the experience of commercial office tenants is usually quite convoluted because people “have to navigate disparate systems

New York City’s biggest multifamily landlords in 2019

Posted: 17 Dec 2019 04:00 AM PST

Amid breathtaking upheaval in the multifamily market’s economics, the ranking of New York City’s five largest rental landlords featured only one change. And four of the five top rental landlords from last year’s rankings either maintained or reduced their rental holdings except for A&E Realty Holdings, which increased its rent-regulated multifamily holdings. Landlord-crushing reforms to rent regulation were passed in June despite fierce lobbying from several of the biggest property owners in the city. Breaking from