The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Andrew Chung plans massive industrial project in Long Island City

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 02:58 PM PST

Long Island City may have lost out on Amazon’s corporate campus, but the area is quickly becoming New York’s unofficial package headquarters. Andrew Chung’s Innovo Property Group plans to build an 842,175-square-foot, five-story warehouse at 23-30 Borden Avenue in Long Island City. The last-mile distribution facility will have three stories of industrial space and two stories of studio and accessory space, according to plans filed with the Department of Buildings. Innovo partnered with Atalaya Capital

“Leaning” Seaport condo facing foreclosure on $120M loan

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 02:33 PM PST

The lender behind a troubled condominium building in the South Street Seaport is seeking to foreclose on more than $100 million worth of loans tied to the property and strip the developer of ownership. Bank Leumi USA wants to foreclose on $120 million in loans it issued to developer Fortis Property Group to construct a 60-story luxury residence at 161 Maiden Lane. The bank first tried selling the debt in October, claiming Fortis defaulted on

Soho sale by art collector Henry Buhl tops Manhattan luxury deals

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 02:30 PM PST

A pair of lofts owned by New York art collector and ex-banker Henry Buhl topped the list of luxury contracts signed in Manhattan last week. Marketed as a combination opportunity, the units at 102 Prince Street and 114 Greene Street together exceed 7,000 square feet and were asking $19 million. Buhl, a 90-year-old philanthropist, owned the residence for 30 years, filling it with an impressive collection that reportedly included sculptures by Rodin, Botero and Picasso.

Construction worker killed by wall collapse in Brooklyn

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 02:00 PM PST

A construction worker was killed Monday when a brick wall in the backyard of a Sunset Park home collapsed. The New York City Fire Department responded to 454 42nd Street just after 1 p.m., finding that a 10-foot retention wall in the property’s backyard had fallen on two workers, Gothamist reports. One of the workers was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other was transported to NYU Langone Hospital. It is unclear what kind

Gal Gadot picks up beachfront penthouse in Malibu

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 01:50 PM PST

It’s a big month for Gal Gadot — and not just because of the debut of “Wonder Woman 1984.” The actress, whose latest in the “Wonder Woman” series was released Christmas Day, dished out $5 million for a penthouse along Malibu’s waterfront, according to Variety. Ocean views abound in the 2,000-square-foot pad: The unit features a floor-to-ceiling wall that rolls away for access to a large, seafront balcony. There’s also a dramatic skylight. The seller

$59M in luxury deals inked in Brooklyn last week

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 12:35 PM PST

In the second to last week of 2020, the number of contracts signed for Brooklyn properties asking $2 million or more remained the same as the past week, while the total sales volume increased slightly. In all, 18 contracts were signed for a total of $59 million, according to Compass’ weekly report on Brooklyn’s luxury market. Of those, eight were for townhouses and eight were for condos — and in a break with the past

Lawsuits pile up against Cuomo’s indoor dining ban

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 11:45 AM PST

Two new lawsuits have been filed against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, alleging that the ongoing ban on indoor dining in New York City is unconstitutional. The first suit, filed in the Eastern District of New York on behalf of co-plaintiffs Kellogg’s Diner and Toscana, argues that the indoor dining ban violates the equal protection clause and the due process clauses of the 14th Amendment, because “shutting down a business is a significant incursion on the rights

Landlords criticize “asinine” eviction and foreclosure bill

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 11:09 AM PST

UPDATED, Dec. 28, 2020, 7:55 p.m.: Landlords are feeling uneasy as new legislation to stop evictions for two months is about to become law. The state Senate and Assembly voted today to pass the Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020, which will limit evictions and foreclosures on some properties until May 1, and put all such matters on ice for two months. Tenants and property owners with fewer than 10 units can access

Meghan Trainor picks up Encino mansion from TMG Fresh

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 10:20 AM PST

Meghan Trainor is the latest famous musician to pick up a pad in Los Angeles’ Encino neighborhood. The singer — best known for her 2014 debut hit “All About That Bass” — dropped $6.6 million on a 9,000-square-foot mansion replete with a recording studio, Variety reported. Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez and Kelly Clarkson have all recently purchased homes nearby. Trainor’s new home was built in 1998, and rapper TMG Fresh (Doug Jordan) installed

Here are the 10 biggest office leases in Brooklyn and Queens of 2020

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 09:35 AM PST

Signs of a pandemic-fueled market slowdown are obvious when looking at the top office leases in Brooklyn and Queens this year — six out of the 10 deals in The Real Deal’s ranking closed in January and February. But in the few months before the pandemic took hold, several large leases were signed. The sum of top 10 deals in 2020 was 1.44 million square feet, a 20 percent increase from the 2019 total. That

NorthPoint acquires disputed Staten Island development site for $85M

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 08:50 AM PST

NorthPoint Development has acquired a development site of about 206 acres on Staten Island for $85 million. The seller was Kinder Morgan, a Houston-based energy infrastructure company, PincusCo reported. NorthPoint, a Missouri-based industrial developer, has been eyeing the property, which consists of two parcels including about 175 acres at 4101 Arthur Kill Road, The Real Deal reported in August. Staten Island Marine Development, a remediation company also known as SIMD, filed a lawsuit against Kinder

Cracks in the foundation: Construction’s kickback problem

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 08:10 AM PST

A small Queens glass company sent out a letter in 2017, alerting clients that it had fired three of its employees. It did not say why, but that became clear soon enough. Authorities had discovered an alleged bribery scheme centered not on little-known Jonathan Metal & Glass but on Turner Construction and Bloomberg. Executives from the two giant firms were charged with accepting millions of dollars’ worth of payoffs in exchange for inflating interior construction

Federal housing agency extends forbearance options for multifamily landlords

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 07:20 AM PST

Multifamily landlords that are having trouble with mortgage payments are in luck: The Federal Housing Finance Agency has extended forbearance options for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac until Mar. 31. The measure was originally set to expire on Dec. 31. Struggling landlords who have federally guaranteed mortgages and want to take advantage of the forbearance options must also extend benefits to their tenants, according to HousingWire. To qualify, landlords must notify tenants

Lower East Side affordable complex lands $162M construction loan

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 06:35 AM PST

UPDATED, Dec. 28 2020, 3:20 p.m.: A mixed-use building in the works on the Lower East Side landed a $162.4 million construction loan from Wells Fargo and US Bank. The loan is for 55 Suffolk Street, which is part of the two-building Broome Street Development complex (which also includes 64 Norfolk Street), spearheaded by a joint venture between the Gotham Organization and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, Commercial Observer reported. In total, 400,000-square-foot project —

“A garbage year”: The state of Manhattan’s luxury resi market in 2020

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 06:01 AM PST

Donna Olshan isn’t mincing words when it comes to the state of Manhattan’s luxury residential market in 2020. “I just consider 2020 a year you can throw out,”Olshan said. “It’s a garbage year.” It’s a sentiment that rings true on multiple levels, and in the context of Manhattan properties priced above $4 million — which Olshan has tracked since 2005 in a weekly report — the numbers are irrefutable. According to her latest report, which

Ron Burkle buys Michael Jackson’s “Neverland Ranch” for $22M

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 05:30 AM PST

Billionaire investor Ron Burkle has purchased Michael Jackson’s former “Neverland Ranch” for $22 million, a far cry from the $100 million the sprawling estate was once asking. Property records spotted by the Wall Street Journal show that a “Remember LLC” bought the 2,600-acre Santa Barbara County plot on Dec. 17, and the publication traced that LLC back to Burkle. The seller is a joint venture between the late pop megastar’s estate and Colony Capital, which

Brooklyn dominates top development site deals of 2020

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 05:00 AM PST

The biggest development site deals of 2020 were notable for the lack of Manhattan properties on the list. Of the five biggest deals, four were located in Brooklyn, and one in Queens. All told, the five largest land sales totaled slightly more than $427 million, a roughly 30 percent decrease from the five biggest deals in 2019. Here are the the year’s biggest deals: 1. 1 Java Street | $110.8M Buyer: LendLease Seller: JZ Capital

The Covid churn: Inside resi brokerages’ recruiting games

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 04:30 AM PST

It’s a long-held tenet of the business that agents switch firms when times are bad — and few years in recent memory have been worse than 2020. “When the market is super strong… agents don’t really move,” said Scott Durkin, president and chief operating officer of Douglas Elliman. “That’s a natural evolution of the business.” Now, a volatile market has sent brokers running, some from the business altogether. Nearly 4,000 agents terminated their licenses between

NYC’s 10 most active developers of 2020

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 04:00 AM PST

Construction timelines were disrupted across the city this year as sites deemed unessential were shut down. Still, work at many projects — including some of the largest ongoing developments — either qualified as essential or received approval from the Department of Buildings to move forward. And despite some delays, The Real Deal’s ranking of the most active developers in 2020 closely mirrors last year’s list, as well as 2018’s, with some minor shuffling among the