The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Thor Equities’ troubles at 597 Fifth Avenue are mounting. The firm’s $105 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan tied to the Charles Scribner’s Sons Building has gone into special servicing, according to a Trepp report. Joe Sitt’s firm has not made a loan payment on the 86,000s-square-foot building since July. Thor’s attempt to pay off part of the loan at a discounted amount was rejected by the servicer, according to Trepp. The mortgage on the Midtown

Target is opening yet another location in New York City. The big-box retailer has signed a lease at 258 Eighth Avenue in Chelsea, currently occupied by a sprawling — and bankrupt — New York Sports Club. Target will take up a 28,000-square-foot retail space in the base of a to-be constructed mixed-use rental building, according to a statement by a spokesperson for JJ Operating, who purchased the site in 2017 for $107 million. The building

A company tied to the Witkoff Group bought a vacant waterfront lot on Miami Beach’s North Bay Road for $8 million. The New York-based real estate investment and development group, led by Steve Witkoff, bought the nearly half-acre lot at 4766 North Bay Road, according to records. A spokesperson for the company did not return a request for comment. The seller was JPMorgan Chase Bank, which bought the property at public auction for $5.4 million

Churchill Real Estate has filed a lawsuit against a company tied to CTW Realty’s Gary Tse in order to collect a $20 million foreclosure judgment. The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, is Churchill’s apparent attempt to counter Tse’s recent move to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the shell company, 381 Broadway Realty, which faces foreclosure and $23 million in debt, including $20 million from Churchill. In the complaint, Churchill alleges that

Compass has tapped underwriters for a potential public offering that would be among the most buzzed-about IPOs in the residential world. The SoftBank-backed firm, which jolted traditional brokerages when it launched eight years ago, has hired Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as underwriters, Bloomberg reported. It is looking at a potential IPO sometime in 2021. Founded in New York in 2012, Compass has raised more than $1.5 billion from investors including SoftBank, Fidelity, Wellington Management,

With Broadway dark, one actor is working his way back into the limelight in an unconventional fashion. Kyle Barisich, who played Raoul (and just about every other male role) in “The Phantom of the Opera” over 11 years, is now starring as the social media and marketing manager and broker for Compass’ CeeJack Team in Sag Harbor. “For actors, for people in the creative arts and for people in so many other industries that depend

Lendlease has promoted one of its veterans to lead the company’s New York construction operations. Steven Sommer, who has worked for the construction giant for more than three decades, is stepping into the role of executive general manager and president of New York construction, the company announced this week. Sommer will take over for Ralph Esposito, who left earlier this month to join Suffolk Construction as its president of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region operations. Sommer

Adam America Real Estate recently secured two loans totaling $63 million for an Upper West Side development that’s been in the works for several years. An entity tied to MSD Partners issued a $37.8 million construction loan and a $25.2 million project loan for the property at 2503-2509 Broadway. The company was formed by the partners of MSD Capital, a private investment firm founded by tech billionaire Michael Dell. An entity tied MSD Capital originally

Sales of new, single-family homes ebbed last month, but are still far ahead of where they were a year ago. October sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 999,000, a 0.3 percent drop from September’s revised estimate of 1.002 million. But home sales are still up 41 percent from a year ago, according to government data. Americans are continuing to take advantage of record-low mortgage rates to buy new homes, squeezing existing supply.

As Manhattan’s office landlords struggle to get people to return to the workplace, the city’s biggest provider of on-demand, in-person meeting spaces and conference centers has scaled back its footprint. Convene in recent weeks has closed three of its New York City locations, or about a fifth of its portfolio in the city. The three meeting spaces — at 780 Third Avenue, 730 Third Avenue and 810 Seventh Avenue — shuttered in mid-October, a spokesperson

The city’s largest construction union is taking steps to root out possible ties to organized crime among its members. The New York City District Council of Carpenters, which has been under court supervision since 1994, is expanding the authority of its federal monitor to bring charges against union members suspected of “knowingly associating with any member or associate of any La Cosa Nostra crime family or any other criminal group,” according to an order filed

At J’s Cleaners, business had clawed up to 40 percent of pre-pandemic levels last month. But now, with Covid-19 soaring again, that number is expected to plummet. “If this thing keeps dragging, many small businesses will close. Maybe I could be one of them,” owner Albert Lee, who plans to permanently shutter four of his 15 locations, told Bloomberg. He is losing $1,000 to $2,000 monthly per store. As workers abandon suits for sweatpants, dry

Investment in Opportunity Zones is growing at a rapid pace, and so is skepticism about the program — and whether its incentives for pouring cash into low-income communities amount to a tax dodge. The Economic Innovation Group, a policy group that’s a proponent of the program, identified 186 real estate and business investments in Opportunity Zones in the United States. Of those, the majority — 145 — are in real estate, the New York Times

New Jersey could be getting some part-time neighbors back on a full-time basis. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are expanding their “cottage” by the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster. In the plans are four new pickleball courts, a relocated heliport, and a spa and yoga complex, the New York Times reported. The renovations are taking place as Manhattan awaits the couple’s decision about returning there with their three children when they exit Washington. Speculation

Zillow’s Rich Barton and CoStar’s Andy Florance (JD Lasica via Flickr; Getty) Having cornered commercial real estate, CoStar has a new target. The data giant’s $250 million purchase of Homesnap, announced Sunday, gives it a foothold in residential sales, where it will go head-to-head with Zillow, Realtor.com and others. Until now, CoStar’s focus was limited to rentals. The deal brings CoStar’s bet on the residential sector to more than $2 billion, and represents a huge

When Deutsche Finance Group looked to crack the U.S. real estate market, it set its sights on a prime Manhattan corridor. In August 2018, the German investment firm’s new U.S. subsidiary picked up the top floors of the Gucci building with New York-based developer Michael Shvo and Turkish real estate mogul Serdar Bilgili for $135 million. The partners are planning to redevelop 25 floors at 685 Fifth Avenue into Mandarin Oriental-branded luxury residences with views

For more than 45 years, New York wine enthusiast Peter Morrell and his wife, Cathy, rented a penthouse in a pre-war building near the East River. The apartment boasted views of the UN building and a terrace where the family could take in eye-popping firework displays on the Fourth of July. Not only that, but it was rent-stabilized. As the years went by, many of the 81 apartments at 865 First Avenue were converted to

A lawsuit’s demise secured Inwood’s rezoning this week, but the litigation may have done lasting damage to some projects. The state’s highest court on Monday rejected a bid to appeal a lower court’s reinstatement of the rezoning, paving the way for the creation and preservation of 5,000 affordable housing units. When the City Council approved zoning in 2018 to encourage housing construction, the economy was humming and the city’s coffers were overflowing. Now developers and

As the holiday season kicked off, buyers and homeowners got hungry for home financing. An index tracking the number of mortgage applications to purchase homes increased 4 percent last week, seasonally adjusted, compared to the prior week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey. It was the second consecutive weekly increase for the metric, known as the purchase index. The index had not grown for seven straight weeks until the second week of November.