The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

More major retailers furlough employees, withhold rent

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 02:09 PM PDT

The retail bloodbath continued Tuesday as more major chain retailers said they would furlough employees, suspend rent and institute executive-level pay cuts to get through the coronavirus crisis. The parent company of Urban Outfitters, for instance, said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it was furloughing a “substantial number of store, wholesale and home office employees” for two months while continuing to provide benefits. “This is the first time in our 50-year history

David and Victoria Beckham buy condo at Zaha Hadid-designed tower in Miami

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 01:15 PM PDT

David and Victoria Beckham paid about $24 million for a full-floor unit at the Zaha Hadid-designed One Thousand Museum condo tower in downtown Miami. Beckham Brand Limited, David Beckham’s partnership and licensing company, closed on the 10,000-square-foot unit this week. Throughout South Florida, closings are being pushed back or canceled due to the global health crisis, brokers say. The Beckhams had toured the 62-story, 84-unit tower at 1000 Biscayne Boulevard last summer. The retired soccer

Manhattan resi listings continue nosedive: report

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 01:15 PM PDT

The first full week of New York’s stay-home policy saw a massive drop in new residential listings in Manhattan. An analysis by data firm UrbanDigs compared new listings, contract signings and withdrawals of homes from the market in the fourth week of March in Manhattan to the same period in 2019. The results show steep declines in residences going into contract and listing inventory, while the pace of de-listings rose. The report found only 63

Home lending in the time of corona: “Underwriting is really difficult right now”

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 12:38 PM PDT

How do you underwrite a home mortgage when the economy is in flux and everyone is forced to stay indoors? Alan Rosenbaum, CEO and founder of GuardHill Financial Corp.; Ace Watanasuparp, senior vice president and national director of strategic sales at Citizens Bank; and Mark Favaloro, president of the New York Association of Mortgage Brokers joined editor James Kleimann for a TRD Talks Live discussion Monday, where the panelists addressed the challenges — and bright

Retail rout continues as Simon furloughs a third of employees

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 10:15 AM PDT

Simon Property Group, the nation’s largest mall owner, is furloughing 30 percent of its workforce, the latest in a wave of coronavirus-related layoffs and furloughs in the battered retail industry. Among those furloughed are employees at Simon’s Indianapolis headquarters and at malls and outlet centers across the country, according to CNBC, which first reported the news. The company, which on March 18 announced it would be temporarily closing all its mall properties, also permanently laid

Judge OKs $42M settlement by LeFrak, Battery Park City tenants

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 10:15 AM PDT

A judge has approved the roughly $42 million settlement between the LeFrak Organization and tenants at a Battery Park City complex. New York State Supreme Court Judge Melissa A. Crane signed off on the settlement Sunday, determining that it was “fair, reasonable and adequate,” according to court documents. The class-action suit, filed in 2014, accused a LeFrak-controlled entity of neglecting heating repairs at Gateway Plaza, a six-building, 1,712-apartment residential complex in Lower Manhattan. LeFrak had

Airbnb announces relief package. Some hosts say it’s not enough

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 10:00 AM PDT

Once again, Airbnb is in damage control. After facing backlash from hosts for changing its cancellation policy in response to Covid-19 — offering guests full refunds without penalties — the startup’s CEO has announced a relief package and issued an apology. “I’m sorry that we communicated this decision to guests without consulting you—like partners should,” Brian Chesky said in an open letter to hosts. The company has established a $10 million relief fund for “superhosts”

Ginnie Mae to use natural disaster program to help struggling mortgage servicers

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 08:45 AM PDT

Nonbank mortgage lenders, who are bracing for a massive cash crunch as borrowers across the country seek loan forbearance because of the coronavirus crisis, are set to get some relief thanks to a government program reserved for natural disasters. Ginnie Mae, an agency within the Department of Housing and Urban Development that guarantees more than $2 trillion worth of mortgage-backed securities, plans to implement a pass-through assistance program through which it will advance principal and

US Open complex, more NYC hotels to be converted into hospitals

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 08:15 AM PDT

As it continues to search for real estate that can be converted to medical facilities to ease the burden on hospitals caused by coronavirus, the city is set to lease thousands of hotel rooms — and in some cases, entire hotels. City, state and federal authorities are working to rent hotel rooms to serve as non-intensive care facilities for Covid-19 patients and others, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. The mayor discussed the conversion process

John Legend, Chrissy Teigen snap up another Nolita penthouse

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 07:29 AM PDT

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen have scooped up a second penthouse in their Nolita building. The celeb pair dropped $7.7 million for another penthouse at the Brewster Carriage House, property records filed Tuesday with the city show. The couple had previously shelled out just over $9 million for another penthouse in the building, where at one point they owned a one-bedroom apartment. The attorney who signed the deed as Teigen and Legend’s representative declined to

Closing in the time of Covid-19: “We’re pulling out all the stops”

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 07:15 AM PDT

Closing in the time of coronavirus is onerous but not impossible. Developers are agreeing to a variety of contingencies, attorneys are personally ferrying dossiers between parties, and staid institutions including banks and co-operatives are being surprisingly flexible. “I’ve become a $650 [per hour] messenger, but, you know, whatever it takes to get it done we’re trying to do,” said Jeffrey Schwartz, managing partner and head of the real estate practice at Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg

Homeland Security says real estate is “essential business”

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 06:46 AM PDT

As the real estate industry remains split on whether the services it provides are “essential” during a pandemic, one federal agency has weighed in with an emphatic “yes.” Workers in both residential and commercial real estate, including settlement services and government workers who facilitate mortgage and real estate deals, were included in a “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce” advisory list released Saturday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Inman reported. “This

WATCH: Developer Sharif El-Gamal has Covid-19. But he’s one of the lucky ones

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 06:15 AM PDT

Sharif El-Gamal is one of the lucky ones. The founder and CEO of Soho Properties, developer of 560 Seventh Avenue in Times Square and 45 Park Place in Tribeca, has tested positive for Covid-19, he said in an interview with The Real Deal Monday. But he’s making a full recovery, and is aware that many in his hometown are facing a very different reality. “I’m almost 100 percent better. I’m one of the blessed people

“It’s scary:” Landlords praying tenants pay April rent

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 05:45 AM PDT

For the first time during the coronavirus crisis, Gov. Andrew Cuomo acknowledged Monday that he does not intend to forgive the rent for cash-strapped tenants. The 90-day ban on evictions will suffice, the governor said. “You can’t be evicted for non-payment of rent, but it’s not that you won’t owe rent. You signed a contract,” Cuomo said. “Even the people to whom you have to pay rent have to pay rent. They have bills to

Pricey listings including UES townhouse, Central Park Tower condos go live

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PDT

The week after Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered real estate brokers to stay home, some were still busy launching listings amid the pandemic. In fact, last week’s new-to-market properties are pricier than the previous week’s. The total value of the most expensive new listings to come online last week was just over $108 million, compared to the prior week’s total of $62 million. Three of the five priciest listings are at Extell Development’s Central Park Tower.

Long Island’s biggest landlord gets even bigger

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 04:30 AM PDT

In a nearly half-billion-dollar deal, Fairfield Properties, owned and led by the Broxmeyer family, acquired a seven-property portfolio with 1,496 units last year, further cementing the firm’s stature as the island’s largest residential landlord. The 40-year-old Melville-based firm closed on the $472.5 million sale of Home Properties, owned by Lone Star Funds, making it by far the largest multifamily transaction on the island last year. “It goes to our business model and strategy,” Gary Broxmeyer,

Stimulus gives brokers lifeline, but may not be enough for deluge of unemployed

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 04:00 AM PDT

Real estate brokers are generally in the eat-what-you-kill business, working as independent contractors whose main source of income is a commission check rather than a salary. In New York City alone, there are more than 50,000 licensed real estate brokers, a majority of whom get paid only when they close a deal. In past crises, those workers were usually left out of government bailouts designed to assist companies keeping employees on the payroll. Now, the