The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

For anyone who thinks time has become meaningless in the coronavirus era, two big real estate investors are arguing over how long two days is. Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities and Mactaggart Family & Partners broke out their abacus and calendar as they argued over a key deadline in a nearly $24 million Flatiron District retail deal, according to a new lawsuit. Thor’s deal to sell 933 Broadway to Mactaggart fell apart earlier this month. And

Marcus & Millichap plans to lay off 20 percent of its workforce as the publicly traded commercial real estate brokerage goes through a restructuring. The company, which is headquartered in Calabasas and has a market cap of $1.12 billion, revealed its pandemic response plan in a May 11 public filing. Part of the plan was “a reduction of the company’s employee workforce of approximately 20 percent,” which comes to about 175 of an 877-person workforce.

David Bistricter just landed the largest residential construction loan of the year for his massive three-tower apartment complex in Greenpoint. The Bank of China and SL Green Realty provided Bistricer’s Clipper Equity with $386 million in financing for the developer’s massive rental project at 77 Commercial Street, sources told The Real Deal. Bistricer will use the financing to construct a trio of rental buildings with some 720 units. Representatives for Bistricer and Bank of China

Eastern Union Funding settled its lawsuit with a group of brokers who bolted the firm two weeks ago over its new commission policy. The mortgage brokerage also said it’s on a hiring spree to expand the new model. On Monday, attorneys for the company withdrew the petition they filed in court last week, accusing the eight brokers of breaching their employment agreements by starting their own competing firm and taking with them trade secrets. The

A partnership between Brookfield and Philip M. “Tod” Waterman III of Waterman Interests has taken over the Lever House from Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’ RFR Holding. A source said Waterman will be responsible for all aspects of leasing and management of the landmark property at 390 Park Avenue. “We are excited about taking control of the iconic Lever House and will soon be announcing our plans for investing a substantial amount of capital to

The number of Manhattan residential deals in-contract jumped 52 percent, providing a glimmer of hope in what has been an increasingly grim market over the last month and a half. UrbanDigs data show there were 47 in-contract deals from May 11 to 17, up from 31 the week prior. That increase follows six consecutive weeks of declines. While the number of deals grew, the total amount dropped slightly, to $68.7 million from $69.3 million the

Alan Jemal has accused his brother Steven Jemal of having “unclean hands” in a lengthy affidavit that sheds new light on the legal battle between the siblings. The brothers have filed dueling lawsuits accusing each other of stealing from their family real estate business, which includes their mother, Ruth, and owns about 100 buildings throughout New York City. Alan has claimed that Steven stole more than $650,000 from several of their management companies, while Steven

A Brooklyn landlord is accusing Compass of capitalizing on Covid-19 to get out of its lease. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, landlord Stuart Venner said the residential brokerage used the pandemic to ask for rent relief — and ultimately walk away from its office — at 384 Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill. Although Compass told the landlord it was “reducing its real world footprint,” Venner cited the firm’s $1.6 billion in venture funding as evidence

The reopening of the New York Stock Exchange trading floor Tuesday accompanied a burst of optimism in the stock market as the Dow rallied more than 500 points, or 2.2 percent. And real estate stocks helped power the increase. The FTSE Nareit All REITs index rose by 3.68 percent on Tuesday, outpacing the broader markets. The index had previously risen by 6.9 percent over the past week, with all REIT sectors — from data centers

Chicago-based indie brokerage @properties has acquired a significant stake in Virginia-based firm Nest Realty, giving it a foothold in five additional states in the South amid an expansion push. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Nest Realty’s leaders Jonathan Kauffmann, Keith David and Jim Duncan will retain an ownership stake in Nest and continue to oversee day-to-day operations, the brokerages said in a joint statement. Nest will also continue to maintain its brand

Landlords managed to yank nearly 8,000 apartments out of rent regulation using high-rent vacancy decontrol last year before that method was banned in mid-June. The deregulation of 7,878 units in five and a half months was a 70 percent increase from all of 2018, according to a new report by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board. About 61 percent of the apartments were in Manhattan. Until the state’s Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act ended the

The queen of Latin pop and her music producer husband picked up a new home in South Florida. Mexican singer and actress Thalía, whose real name is Ariadna S. Miranda, and Tommy Mottola paid $8 million for unit 307 in the south tower of the Four Seasons Residences at The Surf Club in Surfside, property records show. Mottola, a former chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, is chairman of Mottola Media Group. The couple

Affordable housing developers are pushing back on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plans to cut the budget for housing. The developers say their projects are on hold and may fall through entirely as a result, according to Politico. Others say the cuts and delays may prompt some developers to steer clear of future affordable housing projects. And a petition started by the New York Housing Conference asking de Blasio to undo the cuts has garnered 87

Stephen Ross predicts the coronavirus pandemic will result in a “flood of cases going to the bankruptcy court.” The chairman of Related Companies appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Tuesday to discuss the impact of the virus, and said he’s especially concerned about the effect on retailers and small businesses. “Many of them probably don’t have the wherewithal to reopen,” he told CNBC. Neiman Marcus, which anchors Hudson Yards, is one of Related’s most high profile

Victor Sigoura isn’t letting a soft luxury market or a pandemic hold up his boutique condo on the Upper East Side. The former chief investment officer at Naftali Group closed a $133 million construction loan from ACORE Capital for the 19-story project at 109 East 79th Street, Commercial Observer reported. Sigoura’s development company, Legion Investment Group, spent more than $62 million assembling the project site and filed plans for construction last year. The site sits

UPDATED Wednesday, May 27, 2020, 6:39 p.m.: Molly Townsend has landed on her feet — at Triplemint. Townsend had been Douglas Elliman’s executive manager of sales and oversaw 600 agents from the firm’s Manhattan flagship at 575 Madison Avenue, but was laid off in April amid sweeping cuts driven by the pandemic. Townsend said Triplemint’s outgoing vice president of sales Amy Kane reached out to her in early April and over “casual conversation” told Townsend

The botched sale of SL Green Realty’s Daily News building has become a courtroom battle. The real estate investment trust, one of New York City’s largest commercial landlords, is suing the Chetrit Group to keep the deposit the buyer put down for the $815 million deal that went sideways in late March, Crain’s reported. The battle for the $35 million deposit was telegraphed earlier this month when Jacob Chetrit asked the escrow agent to prevent

SmartRent, a startup that develops “smart home” hardware and software for rental apartments, has raised $60 million to bulk up its offerings. Tapping into demand for contact-free services, the company will use the fresh round of capital to add new products and grow its engineering and sales teams, co-founder and CEO Lucas Haldeman said. The Series C was led by Spark Capital, with participation from Fifth Wall, Energy Impact Partners, the Amazon Alexa Fund, Bain

Greystar, one of the largest multifamily property owners in the country, is accused of gathering extensive financial and personal information on several prospective tenants without their knowledge or consent. Eight tenants at Greystar-owned apartment buildings in Los Angeles have filed suit, saying the giant landlord broke California’s Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act by concealing “the nature and type of investigative consumer reports they would procure from the plaintiffs.” Greystar was sued last August for violating

Starwood Capital’s seven-property regional mall portfolio, already beset by high vacancy rates and in deep trouble with Israeli investors, has hit a new low as the coronavirus has sunk rent collection to around 20 percent. Now, with bondholders poised to accelerate payments and a senior lender threatening to foreclose, six competing proposals to restructure the assets have emerged, according to documents recently filed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The first batch, submitted May 17,

State legislators are back in action, but their cancel-rent bills are not. Lawmakers are tabling the controversial bills and instead focusing on more politically feasible measures, at least for now. One reason for legislators’ caution may be the coming elections — a June 23 primary and a general election in November. Canceling rent does not play well in some competitive districts. And Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is wielding broad executive powers and high approval ratings

Homebuyers are back in the game as reopening continues. The volume of mortgage applications to purchase homes increased by 9 percent last week, according to the seasonally adjusted weekly index kept by the Mortgage Bankers Association. It marks the sixth consecutive week the purchase index has risen. According to Joel Kan, MBA’s executive at the helm of industry forecasting, last week’s increase was the highest since mid-March. “The home purchase market continued its path to