The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Meridian takes page from startups, names CrediFi’s Ely Razin CIO

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 04:37 PM PST

Ely Razin, founder of the recently shuttered real estate data firm CrediFi, is joining Meridian Capital Group as the brokerage’s first chief innovation officer, The Real Deal has learned. In the new role, Razin will be tasked with expanding Meridian’s digital and analytics strategy, the company said. At a time when many real estate players are looking for a technological edge, that will mean building on Meridian’s existing data sets and tech stack and creating

US hotels brace for coronavirus impact

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 03:08 PM PST

Hotel owners and investors in the U.S. are now in wait-and-see mode, bracing impact amid the spreading coronavirus. Businesses and vacationers around the world have already been canceling reservations and major events have been postponed as coronavirus cases continue to grow. In the U.S., there have been 115 cases in more than a dozen states. Worldwide, over 90,000 people across over 70 countries have been infected. KHP Capital Partners, which invests in hotels across the

The Closing: Don Cappoccia

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 01:45 PM PST

Donald Capoccia is a founding member and principal at BFC Partners, which has pioneered development in emerging neighborhoods like the Lower East Side, East Harlem and Downtown Brooklyn and is tackling some of the largest projects in the city today. Capoccia started his company 35 years ago with partners Greg Baron and Peter Ferrara and now works with their sons, Brandon Baron and Joseph Ferrara. BFC’s current developments include the six-acre Essex Crossing megaproject on

City unveils vision for gargantuan Sunnyside Yard project

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 12:50 PM PST

The de Blasio administration and Amtrak on Tuesday released a plan for 12,000 affordable housing units above Sunnyside Yard. The master plan, which is preliminary, calls for the decking over of 115 acres of active rail yard to accommodate construction of rent-stabilized homes offered through a program modeled after Mitchell-Lama. Six thousand apartments would be set aside for families earning less than 50 percent of the area median income. The other half of the units

Suit against Rabsky’s Broadway Triangle project dismissed again

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 12:45 PM PST

An appellate court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that accused Rabsky Group’s Broadway Triangle project of discriminating against people of color. Churches United for Fair Housing in 2018 asked the court to nullify the rezoning of the former Pfizer site in Brooklyn where Rabsky is building its project. The suit also sought to implement a requirement that the city conduct racial impact studies whenever it rezones a property: Churches United argued that the

Deadly tornadoes destroy at least 140 buildings in Tennessee

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 12:30 PM PST

At least 140 buildings were destroyed and 22 people killed after tornadoes tore through Tennessee early Tuesday, including parts of Nashville that have undergone a massive development boom in recent years. Rubble from collapsed buildings, snapped power lines and broken trees shut down cities across the state, including stretches of downtown Nashville, Putnam County and Davidson County, according to the Associated Press. More than 44,000 customers lost power, Nashville Electric said. A group of severe

City backs developers in fight over 200 Amsterdam Avenue

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 12:20 PM PST

The city has thrown its weight behind developers fighting to save their condominium tower from deconstruction. In an appeal filed Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Law Department challenged a state judge’s February ruling that revoked a permit issued for 200 Amsterdam Avenue. The ruling, which frowned on the gerrymandered 39-sided zoning lot that developers used to construct their 668-foot building, followed years of challenges that went back and forth between the Board of Standards and

Tenant coalition blasts rent-hiking MCI program in excoriating report

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 11:45 AM PST

The tenant coalition that drove last year’s tectonic shift in New York’s rent law now has its sights on one of the last remaining ways to raise stabilized rents. Housing Justice for All released a report today blasting the practice of allowing rent increases for major capital improvements in New York City’s rent-stabilized housing. The analysis seeks to debunk the real estate industry’s claims that curtailment of the program last year will prevent small landlords

WeWork sells Managed by Q to rival startup at 90% discount

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 11:30 AM PST

WeWork has sold a facilities management company for nearly $200 million below what it paid less than a year ago. The deal puts an end to a lengthy bidding war for the company. Managed by Q was bought by rival startup Eden for $25 million, according to people familiar with the transaction. It’s a far cry from the amount WeWork paid for the firm last April, a $220 million cash and stock deal that included

The Real Deal’s Winter 2020 Tri-state issue is live!

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 10:30 AM PST

The Winter 2020 edition of The Real Deal’s Tristate issue is live for subscribers! Below, Special Issues Editor Heidi Patalano gives you a look at what’s inside the issue: From the hamlets of Long Island to the sprawling suburbs of Los Angeles, there’s a problem so pervasive it’s got its own acronym, recognized by anyone who’s ever put a project plan in front of a community board for approval. NIMBYism, or “not in my backyard,”

NYC’s ghost towers: How many Manhattan luxury condos are owned by people who don’t live there?

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 09:30 AM PST

Over the course of three head-spinning weeks in January, billionaire Ken Griffin went on what can only be described as a real estate buying binge. First there was a $59 million penthouse on Chicago’s Gold Coast. That was followed by a $122 million mansion overlooking St. James’s Park in London. Then, for the hedge funder’s pièce de résistance, he bought the record-breaking $238 million condo at 220 Central Park South. Griffin obviously isn’t the first

Fed cuts interest rate amid coronavirus fears; hotel stocks sink

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 08:46 AM PST

UPDATED, 4:13 p.m., March 3: The Federal Reserve announced an emergency rate cut on Tuesday morning, a direct response to growing fears over the economic fallout of the coronavirus, which has already slammed real estate stocks and hit the hospitality industry particularly hard. Stocks began stabilizing Monday on word that the Fed could cut the benchmark rate, but fell Tuesday following the announcement. The Dow dropped nearly 800 points on the day, with Hilton, Marriott,

City targets startup Guesty for facilitating illegal Airbnb networks

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 07:45 AM PST

At a Midtown event last week, a marketing manager for Israeli startup Guesty said New York was “one of [the] biggest, if not the biggest market” for the short-term rental management company. The city now says most of that market is illegal. The mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement announced Monday that it had opened an investigation into the firm, and has filed a subpoena seeking records about its activities in the city. “You’re not using

Citadel Securities expands nearby lease while waiting on 425 Park

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 07:00 AM PST

As construction at L&L Holding Company’s 425 Park Avenue nears the finish line, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities is inking a three-year extension at its current home five blocks south, in a move that will likely ease its upcoming transition to the $1 billion office development. Citadel Securities, a financial firm which is distinct from Griffin’s similarly named hedge-fund business Citadel, is doubling its existing 60,000 square foot sublease at Vornado Realty Trust’s 350 Park Avenue,

Douglas Elliman rolls out new marketing campaign and, finally, a modern website

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 06:15 AM PST

Douglas Elliman is launching another splashy marketing campaign, but this time it’s got a new website to boot. The brokerage’s new image-heavy site, built by Gabriels Technology Solutions, marks its first such overhaul in nearly a decade. Following industry standards, the site is built with responsive design — meaning it adjusts when viewed on mobile devices — and includes curated sections, such as neighborhood guides, optimized to boost its ranking by search engines. “We’re fully

Coronavirus disruption is slowing down the global luxury market

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 05:37 AM PST

Apartment tours via WhatsApp. Surgical masks at open houses. As the coronavirus outbreak disrupts international travel and threatens to infect millions worldwide, sellers of luxury real estate worldwide are seeing their business impacted in many ways. Chinese buyers were still the single largest group of foreign homebuyers in the U.S. last year despite a steep drop-off, spending $13.4 billion on U.S. property, Bloomberg reported. “I tell them that I have some nice properties that I

Tech inked big office leases in February, but not the biggest

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PST

UPDATED, March 3, 10:46 a.m. New York City’s office largest leasing deals were cumulatively smaller in February than the previous month, but larger than in February of last year. Tech giants Amazon and Apple again inked large leases last month, but the largest deal was signed by Whittle School & Studios. The total space taken by February’s top 10 office leases made public was 1.8 million square feet, down 23 percent from January’s total but

What the broker fee limbo means for agents, firms, landlords and renters

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 04:30 AM PST

Sarah Saltzberg got an email just after 9 p.m. on Feb. 4 alerting her that state regulators had issued guidance banning most tenant-paid broker fees. “This blindsided us,” she said. “The sky is blue. Now all of a sudden the sky is red. Change your entire business model.” Saltzberg — one of more than 20,000 licensed real estate brokers in New York City — leads Bohemia Realty Group, a 152-agent firm that focuses on rentals

Coronavirus chaos didn’t dampen luxury contract signings last week

Posted: 03 Mar 2020 04:00 AM PST

Concerns about COVID-19 may have sunk stocks last week, but they didn’t appear to have any effect on Manhattan’s luxury home market. Twenty-seven properties above $4 million went into contract between February 24 and March 1, according to a report from Olshan Realty. It was the highest-performing week since November and matched the total from the same week in 2018. The signings came at a time of global volatility as countries struggled to contain the