The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Judgment means NYC eviction discussions can resume

Posted: 19 May 2020 02:55 PM PDT

New York City’s eviction machine has taken the first step toward a return to normalcy. Though new eviction cases still can’t be filed, a new court directive issued Tuesday indicates that eviction conferences, or negotiations facilitated by a judge, can resume virtually. That has resulted in hundreds of such conferences being scheduled across the boroughs, according to a spokesperson for the court. The ruling would apply to cases where both sides are represented, if either

CoStar adding $1.25B to war chest

Posted: 19 May 2020 02:44 PM PDT

CoStar wants to add $1.25 billion to its war chest. The commercial real estate data giant announced the sale of common stock Tuesday. In a regulatory filing, the company said it would use some of the proceeds to fund new acquisitions and “to finance the growth of its business.” With a $24 billion market cap, CoStar is already the largest provider of commercial real estate data in the U.S. Since November, it’s spent more than

Alex Sapir wants to take his firm private. This could be the right time

Posted: 19 May 2020 02:10 PM PDT

Alex Sapir has another chance to do something he failed to pull off three years ago — seize greater control of his eponymous real estate investment firm by buying out its outstanding shares and going private. In the middle of a pandemic that has slammed stock prices on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, where the firm is listed, may be just the right time. An LLC controlled by Alex Sapir is offering to buy up

“For years we all laughed at them”: office brokers warm to virtual tours

Posted: 19 May 2020 01:30 PM PDT

Smaller buildings could be the next big idea for office developers. “I think you’ll see development; it might be more bespoke in nature,” said Savills’ David Goldstein, in a TRD Talks panel Monday on the future of the office market. “Occupiers will come back – in a different form, granted, maybe not as massive as they were in the prior cycle, or as dense of course. But I think you’re going to see some bold

Borough leaders will talk reopening on TRD Talks

Posted: 19 May 2020 01:10 PM PDT

At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20, borough presidents Gale Brewer of Manhattan, James Oddo of Staten Island and Eric Adams of Brooklyn will join TRD‘s Erik Engquist to talk politics, development and restarting the city’s economy. Each of the three elected officials has carved out an important place in the political establishment. Brewer is something of an institution in Manhattan, having ascended to the City Council from the 1990s staff of the first public

About 25% of NYC renters didn’t pay in May: survey

Posted: 19 May 2020 12:53 PM PDT

About one quarter of New York City apartment dwellers haven’t paid their May rent, highlighting the impact the coronavirus crisis continues to have on residents and property owners. About 25 percent of residential tenants skipped rent altogether in May, according to a survey by landlord trade group Community Housing Improvement Program. The property owners surveyed comprise about 100,000 apartment units, a small slice of New York City’s more than 3 million rental households. The results

Kushner Companies moving from 666 Fifth to GM Building

Posted: 19 May 2020 12:30 PM PDT

No longer will Kushner Companies executives have to be reminded every time they set foot in their headquarters about the risky decision that plagued the firm for years. The real estate company is moving its headquarters out of 666 Fifth Avenue and into the top floor of the GM Building, where it will sublease 20,500 square feet of space for 10 years from the Brazilian bank Itau Unibanco Holding, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Game point: Lacoste USA is restructuring, renegotiating retail leases

Posted: 19 May 2020 12:00 PM PDT

A nearly 90-year-old French sportswear label is calling the game for its American retail business. Earlier this month, Lacoste USA’s chief financial officer Karine Sansot-Vincent sent a letter to its landlords announcing that it would seek to renegotiate leases as reducing costs would be “vital” to its “ability to be a viable company in the future.” The letter, seen by The Real Deal, notes that the company has retained restructuring counsel at law firm Arent

Manhattan home deals jumped 52% last week

Posted: 19 May 2020 11:35 AM PDT

The losing streak is over. After dropping for six consecutive weeks, the number of Manhattan homes that went into contract finally went up, an UrbanDigs report shows. The data firm found 47 contracts were signed last week to purchase Manhattan homes, up 52 percent from the previous week’s 31, which had been a new low during the lockdown. The market has not nearly recovered, though: The 47 deals were still down 80 percent from the

Cast away: Pier 1 to liquidate assets, shutter business

Posted: 19 May 2020 11:22 AM PDT

Pier 1 Imports’ plan to sell the home decor company has turned into a plan to shut down, becoming the latest retail casualty of the coronavirus pandemic. The chain has filed a motion seeking approval from a bankruptcy court to start winding down its retail operations as soon as possible once its 540 remaining stores nationwide are allowed to reopen. The announcement was made Tuesday. Pier 1 plans to sell its inventory and remaining assets

Katerra CEO steps down from construction startup

Posted: 19 May 2020 10:40 AM PDT

Katerra CEO and co-founder Michael Marks is stepping down from the Softbank-backed construction startup to work full-time as managing partner for one of its investors. Marks, who founded the California-based company alongside longtime friend Fritz Wolff and Silver Lake’s James Davidson in 2015, will be replaced by Katerra’s chief operating officer Paal Kibsgaard, the company announced Tuesday. Marks indicated that he will move full-time to his existing role as managing partner of venture capital firm

Brookfield’s planned $800M sale of massive SoFla resort called off

Posted: 19 May 2020 10:00 AM PDT

Jeffrey Soffer’s planned purchase of Brookfield Property Partners’ 1,000-room Diplomat Beach Resort Hollywood is called off, as hoteliers nationwide reel from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Brookfield reported in its first quarter earnings filing that its sale agreement was “terminated by the third-party purchaser.” Soffer’s Aventura-based Fontainebleau Development was the proposed buyer of South Florida’s second biggest hotel at 3555 South Ocean Drive in Hollywood, at a price of about $800 million, according to

New York City’s residential reckoning

Posted: 19 May 2020 09:30 AM PDT

Arlene Reed is still reeling from a deal that took months to go into contract. By the end of February, the Warburg Realty broker was helping guide a buyer through an accepted offer on a $3.9 million apartment in a new construction condo project on the Upper East Side. But before the parties inked the contract, New York woke up to the threat of coronavirus. The stock market had taken a nosedive, businesses were shuttering

Alex Sapir will rent out units at struggling luxury condo project in Miami

Posted: 19 May 2020 08:20 AM PDT

The Sapir Corp. is hoping to attract renters to its luxury condo building in Surfside. Alex Sapir’s company filed a disclosure with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that it plans to rent out units at the newly built, 12-story, 16-unit condominium at 8955 Collins Avenue in Surfside. The company secured a 12-month extension to pay back its construction loan and secured lender approval to rent the units to cover costs and provide flexibility in light

Major restaurants and cafes seek rent cuts, irking landlords

Posted: 19 May 2020 08:00 AM PDT

As coronavirus closed stores across the country in March and April, many landlords proved willing to work with tenants and defer rent payments to a later date. Reducing rent outright, however, is another story. According to accounting rules, deferred rent can still be booked as income, whereas reduced rents are treated differently, the Wall Street Journal reported. Rent reductions can also impact property values and the landlord’s ability to get loans. “We are not offering

Koch makes $200M bet on Amherst Holdings’ single-family rentals

Posted: 19 May 2020 07:16 AM PDT

Soon after calling off a $2.3 billion deal to acquire a fellow single-family rental landlord, Amherst Holdings has landed a big investment from Koch Industries’ real estate arm. Charles Koch’s Koch Real Estate Investments has made a $200 million preferred-equity investment in Amherst’s single-family rental business, Bloomberg reported. The deal had been in the works for over a year and closed earlier this month, sources told the publication. At an 80-percent loan-to-value ratio, the Koch

TRD INSIGHTS: Work-from-home could empty expensive cities

Posted: 19 May 2020 06:46 AM PDT

Before the coronavirus pandemic, many of the world’s most profitable corporations set up camp in major cities, seeking to draw from the abundant talent residing — or wanting to reside — in urban centers. But with the coronavirus pandemic heralding a corporate work-from-home revolution, a survey found more than 6 in 10 city dwellers are looking to leave, according to a new survey from online real brokerage Redfin. The survey, which polled 900 Redfin users,

Pricing gap stalls distressed asset investors, for now

Posted: 19 May 2020 06:22 AM PDT

Distressed asset investors might have to wait a bit longer for their “opportunity of the century,” as the coronavirus pandemic has slowed deal-making while the pricing gap between buyers and sellers remains large. While sellers are currently ready to concede about 5 percent on pricing, buyers are expecting cuts of as much as 20 percent, according to Bloomberg. This has made deals hard to come by, all while private equity firms worldwide are sitting on

Real estate crowdfunding pioneer Rodrigo Niño dies

Posted: 19 May 2020 05:41 AM PDT

Rodrigo Niño, who went from selling condos at Trump Soho to founding a high-profile New York crowdfunding platform, has died at 50. Niño had been receiving treatment for cancer for several months. His death was first reported by La Republica, a publication in his native Colombia. The year leading up to his death had been a rocky one: Niño and his firm, Prodigy Network, had been hit with a string of lawsuits from investors in

TRD Insights: Multifamily loan maturities will jump to $128B by 2025

Posted: 19 May 2020 05:00 AM PDT

A recent analysis found an estimated $73 billion in multifamily loans will mature this year, up nearly 12 percent from 2019. But that total pales in comparison to the expected multifamily loan maturities over the next five years, according to the data from CBRE’s analysis of Trepp and Mortgage Bankers Association. In 2021, maturities will reach $83 million, and they will keep rising, peaking in 2025, when $128 billion in multifamily loans will mature. Loan

Not your father’s distress: Down market could be opportunity of a lifetime or a big letdown

Posted: 19 May 2020 04:30 AM PDT

As the coronavirus pandemic bore down on the economy, veteran investor Tom Barrack emerged as one of the loudest voices urging a lifeline for the real estate industry. Barrack, the head of Colony Capital and a longtime friend of President Donald Trump, penned a series of much-discussed blog posts and took to the airwaves, warning that the real estate industry could collapse. His alarm hit close to home when Colony disclosed this month that it

Judge green-lights mezzanine foreclosure of Hidrock’s Midtown hotel project

Posted: 19 May 2020 04:00 AM PDT

New York state’s coronavirus foreclosure ban does not apply to mezzanine loans, a judge has ruled, putting to rest a question that has raised concern in the commercial lending world in recent weeks. New York Supreme Court Judge Frank Nervo vacated a temporary restraining order that had prevented Henry Silverman’s 54 Madison Partners from holding a foreclosure auction for its equity interest in Hidrock Properties’ 161-key hotel project at 12 East 48th Street. Mezzanine loan