The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

New York lost $755M in real estate tax revenue this year: REBNY

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 04:00 PM PDT

September was the cruelest month yet for tax revenue generated from real estate sales. The number of transactions has slumped, draining city and state coffers of vital revenue, according to a report released Thursday by the Real Estate Board of New York. All told, the city and state have missed out on $755 million in tax revenue this year as tax receipts have fallen by 42 percent from last year. Tax revenue is responsible for

Another fitness studio in Manhattan goes belly-up

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 03:00 PM PDT

An independently owned gym in Lower Manhattan has fallen victim to Covid-19, joining a long list of businesses ravaged by the pandemic. Tribeca Health & Fitness, located at 107 Chambers Street, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Friday and announced its permanent closure on its website. “We are heartbroken to announce that we will not be reopening,” the website said. “The prolonged Covid closure has made it impossible for us.” Since 2017, Allison and Fred

Blackstone bets big on life-science buildings with $14.6B deal

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 02:15 PM PDT

Blackstone Group sold a portfolio of 93 life-science buildings to a separate fund the asset manager controls for $14.6 billion, in a transaction that represents a $6.5 billion gain in value from when it acquired the properties in 2016. The New York-based commercial real estate behemoth said that rather than cash out of the BioMed Realty Trust holdings, which is the second-largest owner of life science buildings in the U.S., investors opted to stay in,

Starwood suing HFZ for $157M over co-op conversion loan default

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 01:49 PM PDT

Starwood Property Trust is suing Ziel Feldman’s HFZ Capital Group, charging the developer defaulted on loan payments at an Upper West Side co-op conversion and failed to abide by a forbearance agreement. Starwood— through SPT Chatsworth Holdings — is seeking $157 million, according to the federal suit it filed Tuesday in New York. The company alleges that HFZ, Feldman and his wife, Helene are in default on the senior and mezzanine loans, an unsecured loan

Developer James Loewenberg dies; shaped modern Chicago skyline

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 12:45 PM PDT

Developer James Loewenberg, whose vision for architecture and livable neighborhoods helped shape the modern Chicago skyline, died at 86. The cause was pancreatic cancer, according to Crain’s. Loewenberg’s recent achievements include developing the Aqua and Vista skyscrapers downtown, which he did as co-CEO of Magellan Development Group, Crain’s reported. Loewenberg created Lakeshore East development, an 83-acre site stretching from Michigan Avenue to Lakeshore Drive with high-rise residential towers flanked by shops, parks and transportation. It

“There’s a lot of money to be made”: IRS targets foreign real estate investors

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 12:12 PM PDT

In the past month, the Internal Revenue Service has announced two new audit campaigns targeting overseas investors who own or hold interests in U.S. property. The campaigns focus on foreign investors selling their interests in U.S. real estate and those who receive rental income from their American properties. The IRS generally expects to collect 15 percent of the amount a foreign seller realizes off a transaction, though exceptions can be made if the property is

Richard Ruben accuses Jonathan Resnick of usurping control of Midtown building

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 11:05 AM PDT

UPDATED, Oct. 16 2020, 4:30 p.m.: Richard Ruben has accused business partner Jonathan Resnick of usurping control of a luxury mixed-use building the two own, in a lawsuit that claims the building has “fallen on hard times.” In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, attorneys representing Ruben, the CEO of Ruben Companies, accused Resnick, who leads Jack Resnick & Sons, of taking control of a joint $20 million bank account, censoring information and restricting

Financial District sales price jumped 123% last quarter: report

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 10:15 AM PDT

The Financial District’s sales market drove activity in Lower Manhattan last quarter. Platinum Properties’ quarterly market report found that sales and rental markets stuttered back to life as prices slid and deal volume remained low, with the exception of FiDi’s sales market. The median sales price in FiDi increased last quarter to $1.89 million from $848,000 at the same time last year — a 123 percent jump. The average price per square foot is now

Iranian princess sells her waterfront Boca Raton home

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 09:30 AM PDT

UPDATED, Oct. 16, 12:50 p.m.: The owner of a European hotel chain bought a waterfront Boca Raton home for $5.5 million from an Iranian princess who is the granddaughter of the former Shah of Iran. Mikhail Avrutin bought the house at 444 East Alexander Palm Road from Mehrdad Fallah-Moghaddam and Mahnaz Zahedi, according to records. Zahedi is the daughter of Shahnaz Pahlavi, a princess of Iran and the first child of the former Shah of

Centric Brands downsizes at the Empire State Building

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 08:45 AM PDT

Centric Brands is downsizing at the Empire State Building. The company, which previously occupied 300,000 square feet on three floors, signed a lease for 212,000 square feet, Commercial Observer reported. The company inked a 10-year lease directly with the Empire State Realty Trust, in lieu of its previous sublease agreement from Global Brands Group. The asking rent per square foot was in the low to mid $70s. “As part of Centric Brands’ reorganization, they considered

Homebuyers with bad credit increasingly locked out of the market

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 08:10 AM PDT

Not everyone is reaping the benefits of a low-mortgage rate environment. As mortgage lenders tighten their belts, available housing credit has hit the lowest level since February 2014, leaving hopeful homebuyers with poor credit scores struggling to qualify for loans, Bloomberg News reports. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index tracking available housing credit monthly has fallen eight of the nine months this year. The index is down 35 percent year-over-year. One of the starkest examples is

Dangerfield’s comedy club to close its doors

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 07:30 AM PDT

Dangerfield’s comedy club has closed its doors permanently, citing “untenable” financial burdens. The legendary club, which Rodney Dangerfield and Anthony Bevacqua opened in 1969, said that the lack of official guidance from the city and state on when venues can re-open placed a “severe financial burden on its New York City operations,” Vulture reported. The venue’s owners vowed to reopen in a different location at a future date, according to a statement on its website.

Trump may throw in towel on Seven Springs

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 07:05 AM PDT

The Trump Organization is considering the sale of a sprawling Westchester estate that, after years of the company’s unsuccessful attempts to develop it, has come under investigation. Local agents said the property, known as Seven Springs, would sell for around $50 million or even less, although President Donald Trump’s business has valued it at nearly six times that figure over the years, the Wall Street Journal reported. The firm lowered its valuation after agreeing to

Bed Bath & Beyond will renovate, not close, Chelsea store

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 06:30 AM PDT

Bed Bath & Beyond will not be closing its Chelsea location. The home goods retailer had filed a notice with the department of labor Oct. 9 announcing that 113 employees will undergo layoffs at 620 6th Avenue and that the store would permanently close in January. However, Bed Bath & Beyond told The Real Deal Friday that it will not shutter the location. Instead the store will close for renovations and become a flagship location

Real Estate’s guide to the 2020 election

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 05:35 AM PDT

With three weeks to go until Election Day, the nation’s first developer-in-chief is trailing in the race when it comes to donations from his own industry. But little is surprising in an economy reeling from the pandemic, raging wildfires and civil unrest. To get an idea of where real estate players are putting their money as President Donald Trump and Joe Biden prepare to square off on Nov. 3, The Real Deal has pored over

Single-family saves the day. Q3 resi sales up in South Florida

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 05:00 AM PDT

As out of towners continued flocking to South Florida, residential sales surged in the third quarter, according to Douglas Elliman’s reports. Single-family home sales did especially well, rising in the double digits, year-over-year, across the tri-county region. “In most of the markets we’re covering … sales have generally risen from 50 [percent] to 100 percent as a release of the pent-up demand,” said Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel Inc., who authored the reports. Miller said

NYC rents continue to drop, and landlords are feeling the crunch

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 04:30 AM PDT

UPDATED, Oct.16 2020, 10 a.m.: Rents across the city continued their downward slide in September, and hundreds of frustrated landlords are feeling the crunch — and demanding relief. Median rents in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens all fell in September, according to an analysis of active apartment listings as of Sept. 30 by The Real Deal. The largest decrease was Queens, where the median rent fell nearly 12 percent, from $2,600 to just $2,295. The drop

Chinese “seashell house-hunting” proptech firm makes huge splash in US

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 04:00 AM PDT

Beike Zhaofang, the Beijing-based online real estate platform, hit the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 13 with a gargantuan “pop” as they say on Wall Street — despite all tensions between the United States and China. Through its parent company KE Holdings, the Chinese housing intermediary backed by SoftBank sold 106 million shares at $20 each during its initial public offering, while first-day trading opened 75 percent above the offer price and would end