The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Three years ago, Silverstein Properties and Vornado Realty Trust were among four finalists to redevelop the FBI’s headquarters. The government scrapped that plan, but the project’s renewed momentum — in the form of funding tucked into a proposed Covid relief bill — presents another opportunity for developers. As part of the second major federal coronavirus relief package, Senate Republicans proposed setting aside $1.75 billion for a new FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. According to the

In one of just a handful of marquee office-leasing deals since the pandemic hit New York, financial services firm Raymond James is taking 160,000 square feet at 320 Park Avenue. Raymond James, headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, is consolidating from smaller locations in Manhattan, the New York Post reported. The 730,000-square-foot Midtown tower is owned by Mutual of America, which according to the Post had recently put some of its space up for sublease. The

UPDATED, July 28, 9:30 a.m.: Homebuilder Stuart Miller sold a newly built waterfront spec mansion on Miami Beach’s Star Island for $49.5 million. Miller’s Twenty-Two Star Island LLC sold the property at 22 Star Island Drive to the Hopadrepo Trust, led by trustee Donna Forlizzi, records show. Forlizzi owns Family Offices Services & Support in the Boston area, according to her LinkedIn profile. The 17,000-square-foot modern estate, with seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and an additional

CoStar Group’s second-quarter profits slid 4.5 percent to $60 million as it incurred higher operating costs and slower sales during the pandemic. During the quarter, the data giant reported $35 million in net new sales, down from $59 million during the same period last year. But as sales picked up during reopening, CoStar said it notched a record $22 million net new sales in June. Despite the pandemic, CoStar said its quarterly revenue jumped 16

When it rains, it pours. These aren’t the drops that seem to drench New York City nearly every afternoon this summer, but the lawsuits that are piling up against Knotel, claiming the flex-office company is skipping out on rent. Since the beginning of July, at least four landlords have sued Knotel alleging the company owes a total of $1.6 million in unpaid rent, court records show. The barrage of claims has accelerated in the past

As hotel owners stare down dramatic drops in revenue and ponder an uncertain future, Mayor Bill de Blasio is still pushing for a proposal that would severely limit hotel construction throughout the city, according to multiple industry sources. Last year, the mayor said he supported requiring developers to obtain a special permit to build hotels throughout the five boroughs. Some criticized him for championing the proposal, noting that it followed the powerful Hotel Trades Council’s

A pair of properties in Beverly Hills totaling almost two acres are headed to the market for a combined $38 million. They’re being listed by Robert Flaxman, the CEO of Crown Realty & Development who recently served a month in jail for trying to cheat his daughter into college by inflating the ACT test score, according to the Wall Street Journal. He was one of many parents, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, swept

Trust betrayed. Contracts breached. Family exploited. Relationship destroyed. The bitter feud that has been playing out between two former real estate business partners and brothers-in-law, Alex Sapir and Rotem Rosen, has been a toxic divorce. It includes accusations of scheming, double-crossing and theft, and includes several members of their families. The two men have been going at each other since 2017, when they mostly parted ways in a $75 million buyout deal. Rosen’s actual divorce

With small businesses across the city closed or on the brink of failure, a Manhattan lawmaker introduced a bill Tuesday to give some in his borough a break. The legislation from City Council member Keith Powers would temporarily repeal the commercial rent tax for businesses for the remainder of the Covid-19 state of emergency. The 3.9 percent tax is imposed on base rent for commercial properties south of 96th Street in Manhattan. The bill would

In December 2018, Google CFO Ruth Porat announced plans for the search giant’s new 1.7 million-square-foot campus in Manhattan’s Hudson Square, a move that would allow the company to “more than double the number of Googlers in New York over the next 10 years.” It was the latest in a series of billion-dollar moves that had made Google one of the most consequential office tenants in core U.S. office markets, with a large presence in

Corcoran Group is expanding its Northern California presence, saying Monday that it is absorbing Discovery Bay Properties in Contra Costa County. The acquired firm, formerly an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway’s Intero franchise, will become part of Corcoran’s “Corcoran Global Living” California brand, said Michael Mahon, CEO of Corcoran Global Living. Discovery Bay Properties has 100 agents, Mahon said, and nine employees. He declined to specify financial terms of the deal, or discuss what Discovery Bay

The coronavirus pandemic put brakes on the office condominium market in Manhattan. And the recovery likely won’t be quick, according to industry veterans. Manhattan’s office condo market saw a 66 percent decline in sales volume during the first six months of 2020 compared to the last six months of 2019, according to data from Rudder Property Group. The figure, about 98,000 square feet, is the lowest amount of square footage sold in a six-year period

Despite its roots as a landlord for freelancers and startups, WeWork has spent the past several years pivoting towards larger “enterprise” tenants. The co-working firm’s new CEO, as well as the economic fallout of coronavirus, are now solidifying that trend. For the first time ever, companies with more than 500 employees accounted for more than half of WeWork’s core revenue in the second quarter, excluding operations in China and India, the company said. “If you

The coronavirus may have made travelers wary of staying in a hotel with strangers, but hotelier André Balazs is betting that private clubs with familiar clientele will be able to overcome some of these concerns. Balazs is planning to convert Los Angeles’ historic Chateau Marmont into a members-only model by the end of this year, and may then introduce the concept in other cities like Milan, Paris and Tokyo, the Wall Street Journal reported. While

The past eight months have been a wild ride for Maefield Development’s $2.4 billion mixed-use hotel and retail project at 20 Times Square, home to Marriott’s Times Square Edition hotel. The trouble started in December, when French bank Natixis — along with its many co-lenders — sought to foreclose on a $650 million leasehold mortgage they had provided in 2018 as part of a larger $2 billion package that enabled Maefield to buy out its

Plans to rezone Industry City are, once again, dead on arrival — should the developer decide to move forward. Brooklyn Council member Carlos Menchaca said in an Instagram video posted Tuesday that he “strongly opposes” the rezoning. Under City Council custom, as the local member, he has the power to make or break the proposal.   View this post on Instagram  After a long process, i am opposing the Industry City Rezoning and will vote

Brokerage giant Marcus & Millichap is acquiring New York-based competitor Mission Capital Advisors. Acquisition talks began last year and the transaction was set to close in the first quarter before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Commercial Observer reported. Sources told the outlet that the merger was motivated by potential to combine the firms’ loan origination and loan sales businesses, and the opportunity for Mission Capital to leverage Marcus & Millichap’s knowledge of local banks. Mission Capital

After a massive shakeup of Mack-Cali’s board, MaryAnne Gilmartin is temporarily stepping in as the New Jersey-based real estate investment trust’s CEO. Gilmartin, through an agreement between Mack-Cali and her company MAG Partners, will serve as CEO for six months or until the company finds a replacement, whichever happens first, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mack-Cali, in turn, will pay MAG Partners a monthly fee of $150,000 and offer a one-time

Density, a startup that anonymously tracks how people move through buildings, has raised $51 million from heavy-hitting investors in time to help offices reopen for business. The Series C brings the New York City startup’s total funding to $74 million as companies scramble to keep employees safe at work. The round was led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from 01 Advisors, the investment firm co-founded by former Twitter exec Dick Costolo. Other backers included Upfront

Developers who stand to gain from Inwood’s reinstated rezoning may have celebrated too soon. After an appellate court unanimously upheld the city’s rezoning of Inwood, affordable housing budget cuts could stand in the way of new projects, according to Crain’s. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development is set to have its budget slashed by 40 percent amid a severe revenue crunch, which is estimated to cost the city 21,000 affordable apartments over the next

Certain co-op owners will soon be spared from a law requiring them to register their apartments with the city’s affordable housing portal. The City Council is poised to pass a bill Tuesday that would exempt Housing Development Fund Corporations — income-restricted co-ops that were taken over and repaired by the city starting in the 1970s and then sold to private owners — from a 2018 law that requires owners to market “affordable” apartments on a

A group of Chinese EB-5 investors is pushing Related Companies to open its books after the developer halted payments in June because of the pandemic. A lawyer representing 30 investors sent a letter July 16 to Related CEO Jeff Blau demanding an on-site inspection of the company’s financial records so investors could see whether Related was able to repay them. In a separate letter, they requested written assurances that their distributions would be paid. The