The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Top luxury sales in Brooklyn last week put a premium on outdoor space, as many in the city adjust to working from home for the foreseeable future. For the week ending Oct. 11, Brooklyn buyers snapped up 12 homes asking $2 million or more, according to Compass’ weekly market report. While the total number of contracts signed was similar to last week, when 11 deals were inked, sales volume rose to $39.3 million from $28.6

The widow of Barneys New York Chairman Fred Pressman is listing a Southampton home she built with her late husband 45 years ago, according to the Wall Street Journal. The home spans 6,000 square feet on Meadow Lane, one of the more exclusive and expensive neighborhoods in the already exclusive and expensive Hamptons. It’s sometimes called “Billionaires Lane” and the $52.5 million price tag on the Pressman house is a good illustration of why. The

Indoor dining has resumed in New York City, but it may not be enough to save some of the city’s most famous restaurants. Take the Grand Central Oyster Bar: Two weeks after it reopened, the 107-year-old restaurant has shuttered again, citing a lack of foot traffic, the New York Post reported. The restaurant closed in March along with most other non-essential businesses. Because of its location — within the Beaux-Arts train terminal, without any option

Autumn is a time for falling leaves, pumpkin pie and Spirit Halloween reappearing to take up unoccupied space in strip malls and commercial corridors. This year, even as trick-or-treating becomes an unknown, there are more Spirit Halloween locations to go around. The company has opened more than 1,400 storefronts nationwide, an increase from last year, according to the New York Times. The reemergence comes even as competitors close up shop. Party City, for example, has

The two priciest residential deals in Manhattan last week were for condo units asking more than $20 million. That’s a promising sign for the ultra-luxury sector, which has seen some of the biggest declines since the pandemic hit. The deals were among 14 in total last week — three more than the week prior, and a significant jump on the weekly average of four during the lockdown, according to the latest market report from Olshan

Connecticut is seeing more than just leaves changing color and flight-avoiding tourists. It’s also seeing a high volume of home buyers looking to move. Sales of single-family homes in the third quarter increased 30 percent year-over-year, to 13,960 from 10,698, according to a report by Compass. Average price surged 26 percent, to $478,915. Homes also didn’t languish on the market, selling after just 64 days, or 6 percent faster than last year’s 68. “With more

Marriott Hotels has been sued by a Manhattan landlord for the alleged misappropriation of $12 million at its now-defunct Marriott East Side hotel. An Ashkenazy Acquisition-backed joint venture, which owns the building at 525 Lexington Avenue, filed the lawsuit against Marriott in New York State Supreme Court last week, Crain’s reported. According to the suit, the hotel used $12 million from maintenance and repair reserves to boost its balance sheet. The landlord also seeks $42

Silverstein Properties has closed on a $171 million refinancing deal for an office building in Midtown. The five-year loan for 529 Fifth Avenue was provided by JPMorgan Chase and was arranged by Walker & Dunlop, Commercial Observer reported. The 20-story, 283,000-square-foot commercial building, originally built in 1958 and designed by Emery Roth & Sons, is located just north of Grand Central Terminal and Bryant Park. The building’s anchor tenant, accounting firm Citrin Corporation, will leave

Related Companies is taking tenants at one of its Manhattan malls to court. The developer has sued six of its retail tenants at the Shops at Columbus Circle in the Time Warner Center for nonpayment of rent, PincusCo reported. The lawsuits, filed Thursday in New York State Supreme Court, seek to recover a total of $7.5 million in unpaid rent and other charges that have accumulated since the start of the pandemic. Individual suits were

A federal judge has blocked a religious group’s efforts to quash Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s latest restrictions on large gatherings in Covid-19 hot spots in New York City. On Friday, Judge Kiyo Matsumoto of Federal District Court in Brooklyn denied Agudath Israel of America’s request for a temporary restraining order against Cuomo’s executive order, the New York Times reported. That order limits the number of people who can congregate in houses of worship in areas where

Things were going great for the Port Authority until Covid-19. Now it’s asking Washington for billions of dollars. Sound familiar? In some ways, the bi-state agency is better positioned than Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who are looking for a combined $24 billion from the Trump administration and Congress, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which wants $13 billion. For one thing, the Port Authority is requesting only $3 billion. For another, it

Opendoor’s open book Since announcing plans to go public with a SPAC, Opendoor’s been offering potential investors a peek under the hood. Last week’s 650-page prospectus gave an unvarnished account of its financials, including nearly $1 billion in losses since 2013. The filing also shined a light on the volatility of this year’s business: The company lost $118 million on nearly $2 billion of revenue during the first half of 2020. By comparison, it lost

Home sales in Brooklyn fell last quarter at the highest rate in 11 years, illuminating the crushing effect of the lockdown on real estate in the second quarter, when most of the contracts were signed. Buyers purchased 1,481 properties between July and September, according to Douglas Elliman’s market report for the third quarter of 2020. That was 43 percent below the third quarter of 2019,when 2,596 properties sold. In Brooklyn’s luxury sector, sales fell about

Long Island is aiming to keep the business it grabbed from New York City during the pandemic, and now it has marching orders. Those include: more live-work housing, new uses for fading malls and corporate campuses, pop-up retail for downtown vacancies and outdoor enhancements. The Long Island Regional Planning Council, a regional planning organization representing Nassau and Suffolk counties, commissioned two studies to set its priorities for the area’s economic development. Among the findings were

Investors are increasingly turning to the cold storage sector, which showed surprising resilience through the first few months of the pandemic. Lineage Logistics, the world’s largest landlord of temperature-controlled storage, pulled in $1.6 billion in a fundraising round that ended last month, according to the Wall Street Journal. Americold Realty Trust, the only public real estate investment trust specializing in cold storage, saw a 6 percent increase in net operating income in the second quarter.

New England Patriots quarterba… ahem, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is reportedly finalizing a $7.5 million deal for a waterfront mansion in Clearwater. TMZ reported on Thursday that Brady was expected to close on the deal later in the week, although the listing agency has denied Brady is involved with the sale, according to the Tampa Bay Times. TMZ did not list a source in its article. Listing agent Sophia Vasilaros said, “Tom Brady

A London townhouse that Sting once called home has hit the market for £12.95 million, or approximately $16.9 million. The British multi-hyphenate — he sings, acts, writes musicals — and his wife, Trudie Styler, lived in the home, located in the borough of Westminster, for about two years, though it’s not clear when, Mansion Global reported. The current owners bought the five-bedroom, six-bathroom home in 2009. The seven-story property was built in 1775 in the

In an oversupplied market slowed by the pandemic, it seems anything that can set a Manhattan condominium apart may be worth pursuing. The marketing team behind Forkosh Development’s under-construction Hillrose28 came up with a boozy promotion to attract potential buyers — a rosé created for the building and available exclusively at the sales gallery, according to the New York Post. The wine is aptly named Hillrosé28. Corcoran Sunshine just launched sales for the 43-unit building

Qatar is offering incentives to noncitizens and foreign investors amid an oversupply in the housing market that has sent prices falling. The government, which limits the regions where non-Qataris can buy property, said it will expand that area in an effort to attract a wider buying pool, according to Bloomberg. The country will also adopt a two-tier residency program to open up government benefits to some foreign property owners of luxury real estate. Those benefits

President Donald Trump’s real estate firm has earned millions as its hotels and resorts served as political backrooms for those seeking favors from the administration. The Trump Organization’s hotels and resorts received $12 million from 60 patrons with business before the government during the first two years of Trump’s presidency, a New York Times investigation found. Many of those customers — including developers, financial institutions and foreign governments — saw their interests advanced, according to

Dollar General is launching a new brand aimed at higher-income earners — and keeping the focus away from the “dollar” in its name. The new brand, Popshelf, will still sell inexpensive products in its stores, with most items priced at $5 or less, the Wall Street Journal reported. But the stores will carry fewer Dollar General staples (like food) and more nonconsumable items, including home decor, craft supplies, and beauty products. Dollar General, which operates

One of the creepiest homes in cinema history is hitting the market — and just in time for Halloween. A four-bedroom house in the western Pennsylvania town of Perryopolis is asking just $300,000. Its claim to fame? It appeared in the 1991 thriller “The Silence of the Lambs” as deranged killer Buffalo Bill’s home, according to Inman. The home is an otherwise modest 110-year-old Victorian that sits on 1.76 acres about 30 miles outside Pittsburgh.

Renewed hope for an economic stimulus package lifted markets to their highest level in three months, with real estate stocks largely following the trend. The market volatility index VIX fell this week by 10 percent, a reflection of fewer trading swings. Housing construction continued to be a bright spot: Lennar, one the nation’s largest homebuilders, has notched record high stock values each week since August. On Friday, the company reached a record $84.07 per share,

Another New York City hotel has succumbed to the struggling economy. The Roosevelt Hotel at 45 East 45th Street is shuttering after nearly a century in operation, Reuters reported. The 1,015-key hotel is owned by Pakistan International Airlines and managed by United Hotels Company. “Due to the current economic impacts, after almost 100 years of welcoming guests to The Grand Dame of New York, The Roosevelt Hotel, is regretfully closing its doors permanently,” the hotel

When Brooklyn Boulders sued a Williamsburg landlord in May to get out of its lease, it was among the first in what would become a wave of retail lease disputes. While the parties continue to hash things out in court, landlord Double U Realty, led by principals Jay and Michael Weitzman, has landed $41 million in bridge financing for the mixed-use building at 56 North 9th Street. The lender was JPMorgan Asset Management, according to

Microsoft is joining the ranks of Facebook, Twitter, Zillow and other companies that have developed permanent work from home options for their employees. The tech giant unveiled “hybrid workplace” guidance that permits employees to work from home for less than 50 percent of their working week, or receive manager approval for permanent remote work, according to the Verge. Under the guidance, employees give up their office space if they choose to work remotely, but may

In a typical year, the holidays are peak season for malls — but this isn’t a typical year, and shopping centers that have already been hurt by the pandemic will continue to feel the economic crunch in the leadup to the holiday shopping season. Only 45 percent of shoppers plan to visit a mall to do some or all of their holiday shopping, down from 64 percent last year, Bloomberg reported, citing data from a

A London-listed private equity firm that struggled with a $1 billion bet on U.S. real estate unloaded one of its large Brooklyn development sites for more than $100 million. David Zalaznick’s JZ Capital Partners sold its stake in the large waterfront property at 18 India Street in Greenpoint to the multinational construction and development firm Lendlease, sources familiar with the sale told The Real Deal. Lendlease paid $110.8 million all cash for the site —

The lights will stay out on Broadway for at least another seven months. The Broadway League, which represents the industry’s producers and theater owners, announced Friday that the White Way’s 41 theaters will not reopen until next May at the earliest, the New York Times reported. By that point, theaters will have been closed for more than a year. Even the target date of May is up in the air; Charlotte St. Martin, the president

New York’s largest multiple listing service is getting even bigger. Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, which merged with the Long Island Board of Realtors in 2018 to form OneKey MLS, has now merged with the Bronx-Manhattan North Association of Realtors, Inman reported. New York City remains one of the only metro areas in the country without a centralized listing system, although this merger brings that possibility closer. BMNAR previously had its own multiple listing service,

When malls received the green light to reopen a month ago, it should have been a celebratory moment, given the owners of most shopping centers hadn’t let customers in for six months. But one month in, the results have been mixed. Malls have been trying to provide a sense of normalcy for both their shoppers and retailers, but they can operate at only 50 percent capacity, which has led to dramatic drops in foot traffic.

The average size of the top 10 outer-borough loans in September was significantly smaller compared to previous months. The largest deal was $65 million, which would have barely made it into the top 10 of The Real Deal’s pre-pandemic rankings. That loan was issued for a last-mile facility in the South Bronx — industrial is one of the few sectors that has fared well in the current downturn. Also on the list are several smaller

Evictions may resume in New York on Oct. 12, but with “important caveats,” the court system announced today. In a memo released Oct. 9, Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks said that residential evictions — including those for non-payment of rent and for breaking lease terms — can go forward, but the proceedings are expected to take longer than usual. According to Marks’ guidance, default judgments will resume Nov. 3, which means that an eviction could proceed

Flex-office startup Industrious is expanding in Brooklyn with a 21,000-square-foot location at Asher Abeehsera’s 1000 Dean Street in Crown Heights. The firm is taking over management of the space from now-defunct rival Ignitia, which shuttered in July after revenue dropped off during the pandemic, according to news reports. The space will reopen under the Industrious brand in November, the company said. CEO Jamie Hodari said despite the soft office market, demand for “hub-and-spoke” office setups

The founder and chairman of the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts will formally step down, months after sending lewd videos to a Quicken Loans executive. After taking a leave of absence from AIME, Anthony Casa said he will make his departure permanent, HousingWire reported. In July, Casa sent a video message to Quicken Loans Austin Niemiec along with comments of a sexual nature about Niemiec’s wife. Casa shared the video with executives of other firms,

Lawyers for the Trump Organization have persuaded a Manhattan judge to reconsider allowing New York Attorney General Letitia James to enforce a subpoena. On Wednesday, Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that although he said last month that attorneys for the Trump Organization should hand over documents related to property valuations, he will now review those documents first, Bloomberg reported. Engoron granted a petition from the Trump Organization to reconsider whether its lawyers had foregone

The Kips Bay office townhouse owned by legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser, who created the “I ❤️ NY” logo, finally sold. The 9,000-square-foot building at 207 East 32nd Street sold for $7.5 million, or $833 per square foot, according to Adelaide Polsinelli, a vice-chair at Compass. Polsinelli began marketing the property in 2019, and had hoped to sell it for $12 million before the pandemic struck. The buyer is the literary magazine The New York

The death of the mall is an idea as ingrained today as the waft of baked pretzels and department store perfume less than a generation ago. Even David Simon — who took the country’s leading mall owner public in 1993 and continues to reign over the firm — has his doubts. “Do we have too many malls?” Simon Property Group’s CEO rhetorically asked investors during the company’s second quarter earnings call. “Sure.” Traffic at the

Millions of renters believe they will be evicted from their homes in the next two months due to eviction, according to the results of a new survey. The U.S. Census Bureau found that of 58 million households it surveyed, 14.7 million — or a quarter of the total — had no or only slight confidence in their ability to pay rent next month, according to a Household Pulse Survey conducted for the week ending Oct.

Just a few months after nearly sweeping their state primary contests, socialists in New York City aren’t putting down their hammers and sickles. The Democratic Socialists of America are scheming to build on those wins, including by establishing a City Council caucus. The group also plans to take advantage of the economic crisis to decommodify land and housing by “systematically undermining” the political power of the real estate industry, according to an internal document obtained