The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Shakeup at Cushman: Mobley out, McDonald promoted

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 03:16 PM PDT

Cushman & Wakefield is making changes at the top of its Americas division, replacing CEO Shawn Mobley with Andrew McDonald, who is being promoted from head of the company’s western region. Mobley is leaving the firm, but it is unclear what his plans are, according to Commercial Observer. “I’m reassessing and refocusing both my personal and professional priorities,” he wrote in a note he posted to LinkedIn Wednesday. He joined Cushman in 2011 from the

Landlords can now file evictions, but proceedings remain on hold

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 03:00 PM PDT

New guidance clears the way for new evictions filings, but the future of those proceedings remains unclear. The pause on most eviction filings expired Monday night and now, landlord attorneys can file evictions with fewer restrictions, according to a Wednesday memo from the New York Office of Court Administration. Filings no longer have to be accompanied by affidavits stating that the attorneys have ensured the tenant is not protected by a separate ban on evictions

What happens if Trump banishes TikTok, savior of NYC’s office market?

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 02:35 PM PDT

When TikTok inked a massive lease in Times Square in May, the deal was viewed as a beacon of hope for a bleak office market. But this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News that the U.S. is considering banning the video-sharing app over concerns that its Beijing-based parent, ByteDance, will share user data with the Chinese government. “We are taking this very seriously. We are certainly looking at it,” Pompeo said. “With

Pandemic slammed brakes on nearly half of would-be homebuyers: Survey

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 01:55 PM PDT

The coronavirus has upended pretty much everything, so it’s no surprise that nearly 45 percent of renters who were looking to buy a home say the pandemic has delayed or derailed those plans. Younger would-be-buyers still have hope. The older ones? Not as much. That’s according to a newly-released survey from Rentcafe — conducted at the end of May — which also found that nearly a quarter of renters said they doubt they will ever

To survive, NYC retailers are treating average Joe’s like they’re rich

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 01:40 PM PDT

Personal shopping is coming to the masses. New York’s retailers are responding to low foot traffic by normalizing systems previously available to only the upper echelons of its customer base, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some Manhattan stores are allowing shoppers to take clothing, hand-picked by their staff, home to try on. Others are conducting in-store shopping by appointment only and displaying clothing racks outside. Retail stores were allowed to reopen on June 8,

Flushing developer throws mini-empire into bankruptcy

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 12:54 PM PDT

A real estate portfolio that stretches across Flushing, Manhattan and Long Island has been pulled from the auction block as its owner filed for bankruptcy. Flushing developer and supermarket owner Jeffrey Wu threw three LLCs holding mezzanine debt on his properties into bankruptcy Wednesday. The loans, which total $15.3 million, had been put up for sale in an auction scheduled to close at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The auction was postponed. Wu, who also goes by

Not over yet: Hidrock sues over auction of Midtown hotel project

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 12:50 PM PDT

Hidrock Properties isn’t done fighting for its Midtown hotel project, which its mezzanine lender was approved to foreclose on in May. In a new lawsuit filed Monday, the developer alleges that real estate investment firm 54 Madison Partners’ foreclosure auction, which took place in June, was a “sham.” Hidrock is seeking a judgment to undo the sale and at least $40 million in damages. “In this supposedly ‘public’ auction there were no third-party bidders because

TRD Insights: These hotel businesses got big PPP funding

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 12:21 PM PDT

More than 8,100 hotel businesses across the country received federal coronavirus assistance of $150,000 or more through the Paycheck Protection Program. The data was part of the government’s massive release on Monday of information on PPP funding recipients. By number of jobs retained, California (86,000), Florida (55,000), New York (46,000), Texas (39,000) and Illinois (18,000) were the states where lodging businesses received the most PPP assistance from the Small Business Administration. In total, 81 lodging

Malls allowed to reopen in New York state — with strict guidelines

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 11:09 AM PDT

Mall walkers and shoppers can rejoice: Malls will be allowed to reopen Friday in regions of New York state where phase 4 is permitted, as long as they meet stringent guidelines. Malls are allowed to welcome customers back if they install enhanced HVAC filtration systems, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday. Malls previously were delayed beyond phase 4, along with gyms and theaters. “The more we learn about COVID, the clearer it is that safe ventilation

Midtown parking garage partially collapses

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 10:45 AM PDT

UPDATED, July 8, 2020, 2:59 p.m.: A five-story parking garage in Murray Hill partially collapsed on Wednesday afternoon. A spokesperson for the city’s Department of Buildings said its inspectors “were called to the scene at 205 East 38th Street, Manhattan, to investigate reports of a partial façade collapse.” The inspectors found that a 45-by-10-foot section of bricks collapsed from the parapet level of the garage’s façade onto the sidewalk. The agency said one injury was

Incidents at Nooklyn and Core outrage Black agents, staff

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 09:50 AM PDT

For weeks after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police, Brooklyn agent Wileen Saint Louis watched as companies across corporate America spoke out against racial injustice and promised to take a hard look at their own practices. Missing from the conversation was her own firm, Nooklyn, a rental-focused brokerage based in Bushwick. “The silence of this company has spoken volumes to me and has been an utter disgrace,” Saint Louis wrote

Money in the bank: Here are the South Florida real estate players who got PPP loans

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 08:35 AM PDT

UPDATED, July 7, 6:30 p.m.: Many of South Florida’s top developers, contractors, hoteliers, architects and restaurateurs got a piece of the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program. Companies tied to the Related Group, Dezer Development, A-Rod Corp, Shoma Group, Whitman Family Properties and Coastal Construction are among those who scored PPP loans, according to the Trump administration’s release of the data. The release follows the recent approval of a third phase of applications for the $670

AMC nears deal to avoid bankruptcy

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 07:52 AM PDT

AMC is trying to stave off the final curtain. The movie theater chain is close to hammering out a restructuring deal that would save it from bankruptcy, according to the Wall Street Journal. The deal involves bondholders providing a $200 million senior loan and exchanging their unsecured claims for second-lien debt at an undisclosed discount. Meanwhile, Silver Lake Group, a private equity firm that has a seat on AMC’s board, will move into a first-lien

Brooks Brothers files for bankruptcy

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 07:05 AM PDT

Brooks Brothers, which has 500 stores across the globe, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday. The move had been expected as the 200-year-old clothing chain struggled first with a shift from a formal dress code in the workplace to a more casual one, and then ultimately the coronavirus. Brooks Brothers will use the bankruptcy process to find a buyer for the business, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company has a $75 million debtor-in-possession

Quicken Loans’ IPO filing reveals $1.8B in Q1 revenue

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 06:45 AM PDT

The parent company of Quicken Loans and Rocket Mortgage is officially going public. Rocket Companies filed for an initial public offering on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported. In initial filings, the company disclosed turning an annual profit for the last three years, and its offering size is currently listed as $100 million. The IPO was first reported last month by the Financial Times. Rocket Companies reported earning $1.8 billion in revenue and $97.7 million in profits from

Size of home purchase loans hits record high

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 06:10 AM PDT

Homebuyers celebrated before the July 4 holiday weekend by applying for mortgages. An index tracking applications to buy single-family homes increased 5 percent last week, seasonally adjusted, from the week prior. The Mortgage Bankers Association metric, known as the purchase index, fell for the last two weeks in June. Joel Kan, MBA’s executive at the helm of industry forecasting, called last week’s rebound a “recovery,” noting that it was the highest level of purchase applications

Compass debuts AI tool to advise on home renovations

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 06:00 AM PDT

Compass is launching an AI-powered tool to help homeowners visualize improvements and determine what upgrades to make, building on the firm’s program that fronts the cost of home renovations. Compass Lens draws on hundreds of millions of listing photos and uses artificial intelligence to make recommendations to maximize the home’s value, the brokerage said. Specifically, its data set includes scores of “before and after” pictures of renovated homes that sold. Compass engineers devised a room

NY Attorney General Tish James puts eviction filers on notice

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 05:49 AM PDT

A pandemic and a statewide eviction ban didn’t stop at least one law firm from filing eviction notices — which sparked an investigation from New York Attorney General Letitia James. Her probe of Manhattan law firm Kucker, Marino, Winiarsky and Bittens, which led to a June 30 settlement, found that dozens of eviction notices sent to tenants were a violation of the public health law, executive law and general business law. The investigation may also

Retailers boost rent payments but Covid surge prompts caution

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 04:30 AM PDT

The amount of rent Burger King paid in June compared to May was a whopper. The fast-food chain forked over 100 percent of what it owed landlords last month, compared to 63 percent the month before. The same went for Dave & Buster’s, where the new motto could be “Eat, Drink, Play…and Pay!” as landlords for the chain also collected all of June rent compared to 67 percent in May. As states have reopened for

Mall owners team up with “dead-celebrity dealmaker” but can they rescue moribund retailers?

Posted: 08 Jul 2020 04:00 AM PDT

Deep into a marathon set of high-pressure meetings to save bankrupt retailer Aeropostale from being chopped up and sold for parts, Jamie Salter thought some comic relief was in order. The Authentic Brands Group founder and CEO pulled out his phone and called Shaquille O’Neal — his company’s second-largest individual investor — to crack wise with the attorneys and investment bankers who had spent days in a General Motors Building office putting together an 11th-hour,