The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Chinese real estate billionaire Guo Wengui has relisted his massive pad at the Sherry-Netherland hotel. And if he gets what he’s asking for, it would mark a steep discount for what he paid for the home five years ago. Wengui, an outspoken critic of Chinese government, is now asking for $55 million for the 15-room home — a nearly 19 percent price cut from what he bought the home for in 2015. “This is a

Netflix just inked a seven-month lease at Durst Organization’s 1155 Sixth Avenue, marking one of the first deals signed as part of the developer’s new flexible office space arm. The streaming service is taking the entire 27th floor, which spans 16,563 square feet, at the Midtown tower, Durst representatives told The Real Deal Tuesday. The deal was one of three signed as part of “Durst Ready,” a flexible office space leasing division that Durst launched

In industrial real estate, it’s a close race to the top. Blackstone and Prologis are going head to head to be crowned the firm that holds the most industrial space on the planet. But the logistics real estate investment trust has bested the private equity giant, at least for now. Prologis has ownership stakes in 964 million square feet of industrial space, while Blackstone has about 800 million square feet of logistics and last-mile warehouse

WeWork has temporarily closed the offices of its Meetup business after an employee tested positive to coronavirus. The employee has not been in the office at 12 East 49th Street since last Thursday, and started showing symptoms on Friday, according to an internal memo shared with The Real Deal. “As a result, Meetup has instituted a mandatory work from home policy for all NYC employees and they will not be in the building until further

The “handshake deal” has been a core component of real estate transactions for decades, but the rapidly spreading coronavirus could mean that the age-old term no longer applies. “I’m a big handshaker,” said G&M Realty founder Jerry Wolkoff. “But now, I don’t even do the fist bump. I give them the elbow.” Coronavirus cases have been surging in New York, and health officials have recommended replacing handshakes with fist or elbow bumps as a way

In nature, April showers bring May flowers but at The Real Deal, April is our time to share the latest on what’s going on in luxury home listings, Sunnyside Yards, REIT stocks and more. Below is a sneak peek of what we’ll be dishing on in the April issue: Luxury home plays: a deep dive into listings platforms Business strategies in the face of Coronavirus Breaking down Sunnyside Yards’ multibillion-dollar housing bet The multifamily market’s

UPDATED, March 10, 2:47 p.m.: New York City’s largest office landlord is now reckoning with the coronavirus at three of its buildings. Three workers have tested positive for the virus at three separate SL Green Realty office towers. The buildings are at its 1.1 million-square-foot property at 1185 Sixth Avenue, 1 million-square-foot building at 100 Church Street and 570,000-square-foot building at 125 Park Avenue. “At 1185 Avenue of the Americas, an employee of one tenant

An anonymous buyer has closed on a $51.4 million condo unit at Vornado Realty Trust’s ultra-luxury 220 Central Park South tower, edging the building closer to sellout. The buyer, identified only as 220 Property Holdings LLC, went into contract for the unit in 2015, according to property records. The deal closed last month. The 5,935-square-foot unit takes up the entire 61st floor and includes four bedrooms, five bathrooms and two powder rooms. The buyer was

Michael Shvo has closed on his purchase of 530 Broadway, according to property records. Jeff Sutton and Joe Sitt sold the Soho retail property to a Shvo-led partnership for $382 million, slightly less than the $400 million the property originally went into contract for. The deal includes a $210 million loan from LoanCore. Sutton and Sitt had been mulling a sale of the building for years, putting it on the market in 2016 with a

With tech companies and co-working firms leading the way, more office tenants have gravitated toward open floor plans, both to cut costs and encourage the sharing of ideas. But there’s something else the setups could encourage: the spread of a virus or disease. That possibility has increased as the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe. The average office space per seat in North America fell by 14.3 percent to 195.6 square feet between 2018

Zumper, a rental platform and Zillow competitor, said Tuesday that it closed a $60 million funding round to bulk up its engineering team and invest further in its ability to process rental payments online. The Series D, led by e.ventures, brings the San Francisco-based startup’s total funding to $150 million raised from investors including Greycroft, Kleiner Perkins and Axel Springer, along with real estate players the Blackstone Group, Divco West and Marcus & Millichap. Founded

Indian hotel company Oyo is joining several U.S. companies in a bid to grow its vacation-home rental business in the U.S., according to the Wall Street Journal. The model involves either managing vacation-home rentals on behalf of owners or renting out apartments, which can then be sub-leased to travelers. Oyo, which specializes in managing budget hotels and has raised $3 billion from SoftBank, currently operates about 50 vacation homes in the U.S., and is now

 As Manhattan’s luxury condo market settles into an extended slump, more developers are coming around to the idea of renting out their unsold units, both as a marketing tactic and a way to wait out the crunch. But it’s not for everyone. Because condo developments are generally funded with debt that is meant to be paid off quickly as units sell, the amount of rent a developer would need to charge to cover debt obligations

BD Hotels’ efforts to renovate the landmark Chelsea Hotel faces a potential roadblock, as the Department of Housing Preservation has argued that unsafe conditions caused by the renovations amount to tenant harassment. The department’s lawyers argued on Friday that the owners’ request for a Certificate of No Harassment should be denied, The City reported. The certificate is necessary for work on the property to continue, and a final determination has yet to be made “We

As foot traffic declines at New York City retailers and restaurants amid coronavirus fears, the de Blasio administration is stepping in to help small businesses stave off layoffs and closures. The city will offer businesses with fewer than 100 employees interest-free loans of up to $75,000, if they can demonstrate sales decreases of 25 percent or more, the mayor announced Monday. Very small businesses with fewer than five employees will be eligible for cash grants

Lofty units with Central Park views dominated last week’s priciest listings. Combined, the top five listings in New York City totaled $127.7 million, that’s $20.7 million more than the previous week’s total. Here’s a look at the five most expensive properties to hit the market between March 2 through March 8, according to an analysis of StreetEasy and Compass data. 1. 111 West 57th Street, Unit #68 | Midtown | $30 million The three-bedroom sponsor

After a period of fear and loathing over potential impacts of the 2017 federal tax law, buyers are coming back to the table in Westchester. The top brokers and brokerages in the county say they have been making up for lost time — and they have the sales volumes to show for it. In The Real Deal’s annual ranking of top brokerages, Houlihan Lawrence topped the list, logging $788.2 million in sales of homes priced

In the dog-eat-dog world of residential brokerage, the battle for talent is among the fiercest. “In the life of a brokerage, everything revolves around hiring and retaining agents,” said Eddy Boccara. He leads a New York City-based real estate data firm Space, which tracks brokerages’ agent count, retention rates and growth. He said his business exists because of the hunger of New York firms — particularly mid-sized firms with less than 300 agents — which

Madison Realty Capital, a private real estate investment firm heavily backed by public pension money, has been stuck with a nearly half-empty rental portfolio in Manhattan’s East Village. When the New York-based firm financed controversial landlord Raphael Toledano’s purchase of the 16 buildings in 2015, critics called the deal overleveraged. Madison lent $124 million for a portfolio that cost $97 million. But the lender had its reasons. The firm, led by Josh Zegen, Brian Shatz