The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

WeWork claims the Chetrit Group is threatening to illegally draw down on a multimillion-dollar letter of credit at its Midtown Manhattan location. In a complaint filed in NewYork State Supreme Court, the flexible-office provider claims that its lease at 404 Fifth Avenue requires the landlord to first provide WeWork with a notice of default. Even if those conditions were met, the state’s eviction moratorium precludes the default notice from being served, WeWork claims. And it

 New York’s mid-market investment sales bounced back in a big way in the final week of 2020. Four sales in the $10 million to $30 million range in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx combined for $81 million. That was far above the $58 million across five sales the week before. Mid-market sales in the city had been steady for several weeks prior, hovering at around $100 million. Here are more details for the week ending

A Holmby Hills estate that asked $180 million when Ponzi schemer Robert Shapiro owned it has sold for about half that amount. Owlwood Estate, a 10-acre property that includes a 12,000-square-foot mansion, sold for $88 million to Calch Urban Investments, a Chicago-based LLC, Variety reported. The publication did not identify the true buyer, except to say it was a billionaire. The off-market deal for the three-parcel property at 141 South Carolwood Drive closed just before

 Two Brooklyn Heights townhouses asking just under $11 million and $7 million, respectively, went into contract last week, bringing a weird year for real estate to a close on a relatively high note. A total of 21 Brooklyn homes asking $2 million or more went into contract last week, for a combined value of $69.7 million, according to Compass’ weekly report. That’s a sizable jump up from contract activity over the previous two weeks, where

Lakers star center Anthony Davis sold his Westlake Village mansion two years after he bought it, and for $1 million less than he paid. The 16,000-square-foot mansion in Westlake Village’s North Ranch Country Club Estates sold for $6.6 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. Davis bought the home in 2018 for $7.5 million, a year before he joined the team. He listed it in April for $8 million. Davis was a free agent when

Homebuilding continued to boom in November, new data show, while concern is growing over the lack of nonresidential projects. Construction spending overall grew to an estimated $1.46 billion in November, seasonally adjusted, up 0.9 percent from October, according to the Census Bureau’s monthly report. Private residential projects, including home renovations, accounted for 45 percent of the total with an estimated $658 billion put toward private homebuilding, up 2.7 percent from the revised October figure. It

After a bruising year, 2021 is off to a strong start for Manhattan’s luxury market. Between Dec. 28 and Jan. 3, buyers signed 17 contracts for properties above $4 million — the highest post-Christmas week total since at least 2006, when Donna Olshan began tracking luxury deals, according to her latest market report. Seven of those deals were for townhouses, representing the highest number of townhouse contracts of any week since last January. Olshan put

 A 1.2 million-square-foot mall in Massapequa, New York, is under new ownership. Retail REIT Urban Edge Properties announced that it’s acquired Sunrise Mall in Nassau County from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield for $29.7 million, plus as much as $6 million of additional contingent consideration. The mall is spread out over 77 acres, with anchor tenants that include Macy’s, Sears and Dick’s Sporting Goods. It’s currently just 65 percent occupied. “Sunrise Mall is a unique asset with a prime

Delshah Capital has landed a $180 million refinancing for its luxury rental conversion project at 30 Morningside Drive in Morningside Heights, the developer announced Monday. Arbor Realty Trust funded the new loan, which takes out $130 million in construction financing provided by Square Mile Capital in 2017. It will also allow Delshah to redeem a $50 million bond series it issued on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that year. Delshah founder and CEO Michael Shah

The Guggenheim Museum has renewed a 31,400-square-foot lease for its storage facility at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Commercial Observer reported. In addition to the museum’s renewal at Building B, IEH Corporation, a manufacturer of electronic parts for aerospace and military technologies, also inked a 20,400-square-foot renewal, along with eyeglass maker Lowercase NYC, which renewed 2,160 square feet at the same building at 140 58th Street, according to the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which

Billionaire developer John Catsimatidis wants to expand his nearly finished Ocean Drive rental complex in Coney Island by adding three larger towers — and if the city doesn’t approve those plans, he may take the investment of about $1 billion to Florida. “You’ve got to get the best for your investment,” Catsimatidis told the New York Post. “Why spend in New York when you can build in Florida.” The Gristedes owner has been developing a

After nearly eight years as a publicly traded company, Brookfield Property Partners could be going private. Brookfield Asset Management, the real estate firm’s parent company, announced a proposal to buy the shares of Brookfield Property Partners that it does not already own at a value of $16.50 per share, or $5.9 billion. The deal would be a significant discount from the company’s book value per share of $27.02 per share, according to Yahoo Finance. The

New year, new face for NYC’s City Planning Commission: Tenant advocate Cea Weaver — known to the real estate industry as one of the architects of 2019’s landmark rent law — could be part of the powerful planning board. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams plans to appoint Weaver, 32, the campaign coordinator for tenant coalition Housing Justice for All, to the commission, the New York Post reported. William Gerlich, a spokesperson for Williams, called Weaver “one

As 2020 came to a close, The Real Deal turned to an expert for a view of some of the nation’s biggest housing markets. Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers’ Jonathan Miller sat with TRD editor-in-chief Stuart Elliott to dive in to the state of the market in New York, Miami-Dade County and Los Angeles. Miller compared NYC’s uneven market with the booms in Palm Beach, Miami, and out in Los Angeles. “After the lockdown ended, there

It was a Wednesday night in April 2019, and Will Thomas was outnumbered. Only two other members of pro-housing group Open New York had made it to a public meeting about the future of Soho, which most attendees wanted to remain unchanged. Still, Thomas gamely took the microphone and declared that Soho should build more housing, especially affordable housing. That’s when the booing started. When he finished, someone cursed at him. Another called him a