The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Alex Rodriguez partnership buys first New York apartment building

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 03:30 PM PST

Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez and his partners scored their first real estate purchase together for $66.25 million, The Real Deal has learned. The retired Yankees slugger, real estate investor, entrepreneur and broadcaster partnered last year with broker Adam Modlin and Ofer Yardeni’s Stonehenge NYC with plans to buy $1 billion worth of value-add multifamily real estate in New York City. A-Rod Corp, Stonehenge NYC and Modlin Group paid $707 per square foot and about $581,000

REBNY taps Heastie’s bestie for tax-break campaign

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 03:00 PM PST

The Real Estate Board of New York has hired a lobbyist with longstanding ties to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to get a key tax break extended. Patrick Jenkins, whose eponymous firm expanded rapidly after Heastie took the helm of the lower chamber in 2015, is tasked with getting the Relocation and Employment Assistance Program renewed before it expires June 30. Jenkins was Heastie’s roommate at SUNY Stony Brook in the 1980s and continues to be

Rental listing prices jump on hundreds of apartments during broker fee ban: report

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 02:30 PM PST

The industry predicted that banning tenant-paid broker fees could lead to rent increases, and a new analysis finds it did — in 438 cases. The findings from listings platform Localize.city show a dramatic increase in asking rents on those units during the period earlier this month when New York Department of State regulators banned tenant-paid broker fees. The analysis found that the sharp rent hikes happened during the week of Feb. 3 — when The

Ceruzzi Properties secures $350M to refi Midtown East tower

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 01:30 PM PST

Ceruzzi Properties snagged a $350 million loan to refinance its luxury condominium tower in Midtown East. Ceruzzi Properties snagged a $350 million condo inventory loan for its luxury condominium tower in Midtown East. Meritz Securities provided the financing for the Centrale at 138 East 50th Street, according to Commercial Observer. The loan replaces $300 million in financing that Madison Realty Capital provided in 2017. In 2013, Ceruzzi bought the development site from Extell Development for

All Year closing in on $675M refi for Rheingold Brewery development

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 12:00 PM PST

A big deal is in the works for All Year Management’s massive mixed-use project on the former Rheingold Brewery site, also known as Denizen Bushwick. The Brooklyn development firm led by Yoel Goldman has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with “a consortium of leading financial institutions in the U.S.” for a $675 million refinancing of both phases of the development, according to a disclosure filed with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The first phase

NYC carpenters union elects new president following 2 resignations

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 11:50 AM PST

UPDATED Feb. 20, 7:40 p.m.: The New York City District Council of Carpenters has elected a new president, following the recent resignations of two of the union’s leaders amid allegations of misconduct. Paul Capurso won by a significant margin, raking in 1,624 of the 3,668 votes tabulated by the union on Thursday. The results await certification by the district council’s court appointed monitor on March 9, followed by a swearing in ceremony. The union counted

City will convert 14 apartment buildings into housing for homeless

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 11:14 AM PST

The city has taken the next step in converting over a dozen Manhattan and Bronx apartment buildings into housing for hundreds of homeless New Yorkers. The Neighborhood Restore Housing Development Fund Corp., a nonprofit that partners with the city on affordable housing projects, paid $74 million for the 14 buildings, property records show. The seller was landlord Mark Irgang, according to records. The city provided about $80 million to finance the purchase. “Through this latest

Foes of 200 Amsterdam say other towers safe from cut-down

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 11:10 AM PST

One of the skyscraper critics that won a shocking ruling against an Upper West Side condo project last week said it has no plans to take other towers to court, despite a claim by the developer’s attorney that many buildings are threatened by the decision. According to the Municipal Art Society — the longtime advocacy organization fighting what it calls New York’s “accidental skyline” — SJP Properties’ tower at 200 Amsterdam Avenue represents a unique

Compass is going to trial in Avi Dorfman case

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 09:54 AM PST

It looks like Avi Dorfman, who is suing Compass to be recognized as a co-founder, will get his trial after all. In an attempt to avoid a courtroom faceoff, the SoftBank-backed firm had appealed an October ruling by a New York judge, who granted Dorfman a trial. But an appellate court judge has just denied the appeal. “The documentary evidence in the record shows that Dorfman actually performed at least some of the alleged actions

Real estate’s rent law reckoning: Who’s getting hit hardest, and who’s escaping New York?

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 09:00 AM PST

Before climbing into bed on June 11, Robert Nelson found himself bracing for a “horror show.” The leaders of the state Senate and Assembly had just announced that they’d reached an agreement to radically tilt rent regulations in favor of tenants, curbing how landlords in the city could increase rents on roughly 1 million stabilized apartments. “My heart dropped. I was in disbelief,” Nelson said. “That was a really poor night’s sleep. I don’t think

WeWork announces Shyam Gidumal as new COO

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 07:31 AM PST

Fresh off announcing its new CEO, WeWork has hired Shyam Gidumal as its chief operating officer. Gidumal spent eight years working in consumer products and retail at Ernst & Young before departing in June 2019, according to his LinkedIn page. He began his career at Boston Consulting Group, where he made partner. The announcement comes on the heels of WeWork hiring real-estate veteran Sandeep Mathrani as its new CEO. Mathrani, the former CEO of Brookfield

PE firm to take Victoria’s Secret private as Leslie Wexner steps down

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 06:50 AM PST

Leslie Wexner has agreed to sell his controlling stake in Victoria’s Secret to a private equity firm and to relinquish his roles chairman and CEO of L Brands, the chain’s parent company. According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the deal, Sycamore Partners will purchase 55 percent of the company and take it private. The deal values the struggling business at $1.1 billion, a striking fall from its peak valuation of $29 billion

Ken Griffin in contract for Calvin Klein’s Hamptons compound

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 05:59 AM PST

Billionaire Ken Griffin has added another property to his ever-expanding luxury portfolio. The hedge funder, who famously dropped $238 million on a penthouse apartment at 220 Central Park South, is in contract to buy a compound in Southampton that belongs to Calvin Klein, according to the Wall Street Journal. Klein purchased the original property at the site in 2003 for almost $30 million. The seller was Francesco Galesi, a real estate executive. After a gut

Say what? Some eye-popping comments from real estate execs

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 05:00 AM PST

Real estate heavy hitters are nothing if not passionate about their business. But that can sometimes lead them to say things that raise eyebrows outside their rarefied circles. From Lightstone’s David Lichtenstein’s hyperbolic comments on Amazon’s pullout to Equity Group Investments’ Sam Zell’s unfortunately worded explanation of how his firm promotes women, many industry players have strong opinions and aren’t afraid to express them — even when it might be better not to. The phenomenon

“We’re the elite”: What backlogged Chinese EB-5 investors are planning next

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 04:30 AM PST

They would be known to each other only by their noms de guerre: Mecky, Mr. Xu, Julie, Mr. Li, Richard, Jenny and Big Sis. When the seven EB-5 investors gathered at the Eddington House cafe in Shanghai, known as a favorite haunt of the essayist Eileen Chang during the pre-revolutionary era, it was the first time any of them had met in person — although they had been in contact on WeChat for months. For

A major Bronx landlord is shorting All Year’s bonds. Are his concerns legit?

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 04:00 AM PST

Yoel Goldman’s All Year Management received some good news earlier this month, when the ratings for two of its bond series were upgraded one level. But the Brooklyn multifamily developer is still facing scrutiny from investors, one of whom decided to take a short position after discovering what he called possible irregularities in property records filed with the city. The investor, Ardon Wiener of Bronx-based real estate firm Chestnut Holdings, wrote a letter to the