The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

City Council bill demands racial disparity study for some rezonings

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 04:16 PM PST

Certain rezonings may soon require an extra step in the city’s land use review process. The City Council’s land use committee is set to hold a hearing Monday on a bill that would mandate a racial disparity study for applications that seek a density boost or change in use or involve four or more adjacent blocks. The bill would apply to proposals going through the seven-month Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which applies to rezonings,

Cuomo: Extend commercial eviction ban through the spring

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 03:45 PM PST

The ban on commercial evictions may continue through the spring, if Gov. Andrew Cuomo has his way. The governor announced today that as part of his 2021 State of the State address, he’ll propose legislation extending the moratorium through May 1, along with new protections for renters who are facing financial hardship because of the pandemic. “The pandemic shouldn’t get in the way of our ability to provide space for our businesses and roofs over

Related Cos. CEO Jeff Blau sells Miami Beach condo

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 03:00 PM PST

Related Companies CEO Jeff Blau sold his Miami Beach condo for $5 million. Blau’s One Ocean LLC sold unit 601 at One Ocean to One Ocean 601 LLC, both Delaware entities. Blau acquired the 3,342-square-foot South Beach condo in 2016 for $4.5 million, property records show. Blau did not respond to a request for comment. The buyer of Blau’s unit listed a Chicago address that matches @properties office in the city’s River West neighborhood. Dora

RedSky hands over Williamsburg retail portfolio valued at $145M

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 02:21 PM PST

Embattled developer RedSky Capital has transferred ownership of a portfolio of Williamsburg retail properties in a deal valuing them at $145 million. The company, headed by Benjamin Bernstein and Benjamin Stokes, handed over ownership of the 14 properties near North 6th Street and Bedford Avenue, property records filed with the city Friday show. RedSky handed the keys back to its mezzanine lender on the property, BlackRock, in a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure action. BlackRock then did

Jordache’s Ralph Nakash buys Rockefeller pad for $9.9M

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 02:10 PM PST

A Manhattan co-op that’s been in the Rockefeller family since the 1960s has sold for $9.9 million. The buyer was Ralph Nakash of the Nakash real estate family and co-founder of Jordache Enterprises, according to Compass broker Clayton Orrigo, who represented both sides in the deal. The 15th-floor unit at 812 Fifth Avenue was purchased in 1963 by former U.S. vice president Nelson Rockefeller, who knocked through the building’s south wall to connect the unit

Hemsworth bros sell Malibu crash pad

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 12:30 PM PST

With demand especially high for Malibu real estate, the brothers Hemsworth tapped in. Actors Chris (“Thor”), Liam (“Hunger Games”) and Luke (“Westworld”) Hemsworth sold their 4,600-square-foot Point Dume pad for $4.25 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. That’s nearly 25 percent more than the trio paid for it in 2016, and a 13 percent discount from the $4.9 million they listed it for in the fall. The home at 6315 Gayton Place, on 1.3

One57 condo sells at record 51% loss

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 11:45 AM PST

A condo at Extell’s One57 sold for $16.75 million — more than 50 percent below its previous purchase price, marking a record resale loss at the Billionaires’ Row tower. The three-bedroom unit on the 58th floor originally sold in 2014 to an LLC, One 57 Realty, for $34 million. As the pandemic took hold in March, it was listed with Corcoran for $24.8 million, according to StreetEasy. That was already a good deal lower than

JLL backs out of selling Trump’s DC hotel

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 10:22 AM PST

JLL has dropped its involvement with the effort to sell President Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel. The real estate brokerage is ‘“not going to be involved in selling that hotel,” a JLL spokesperson told Washington Post reporter Jonathan O’Connell, who tweeted the news Friday morning. A JLL spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Real Deal. The Trump Organization had tapped JLL, headed by CEO Christian Ulbrich, to market the

Leisure and hospitality lost 500K jobs in December

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 10:00 AM PST

The coronavirus continued to have disparate effects on real estate in December, with some sectors continuing to shrink while others regain ground. A rise in Covid cases and government closures of indoor dining contributed to a loss of nearly 500,000 leisure and hospitality jobs. Restaurants and bars accounted for 372,000 layoffs. Nearly half of all restaurants expect further layoffs in the next three months, according to a recent survey. In New York, 78 percent of

Wells Fargo sells Penn Plaza hotel leasehold mortgage for $51M

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 09:40 AM PST

Banks want to lend money to hotels, not own them. So some folks at Wells Fargo probably popped a little bubbly this week. Wells Fargo sold a $51 million senior leasehold mortgage secured by a Marriott in Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Plaza, and lent $30 million to help the buyer take it off the bank’s hands. Magna Hospitality paid a little less than $57.4 million to buy the $51 million senior loan and assume control of the

Manhattan retail rents hit new lows

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 09:00 AM PST

The coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly taken a huge toll on Manhattan’s retail sector, leading to stores closing and rents dropping along even the most posh shopping corridors. But those problems were in place well before the pandemic took hold, according to a new report from the Real Estate Board of New York. In the fall of 2020, all 17 of the Manhattan retail corridors that REBNY tracks saw their average asking rents drop from the

Dome-shaped New Jersey house asks $295K

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 08:15 AM PST

A funky, dome-shape home in Forked River, New Jersey is on the market for $295,000, according to Realtor.com. The 1,400-square-foot home was built in 1972, and has just two bedrooms and one bathroom. The house is built around a large open room that’s lined with cedar and has several windows. A spiral staircase leads up to a main bedroom, located in a lofted area close to the top of the domed room. The other bedroom

Michael Rubin buys Ziel Feldman’s $50M Hamptons mansion

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 07:30 AM PST

E-commerce retailer Michael Rubin is the buyer of a $50 million Hamptons mansion sold last month by HFZ Capital Group’s Ziel Feldman. Rubin, a billionaire co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, has been on a luxury real estate shopping spree in recent years, Page Six reported. In 2018 he paid more than $40 million for a downtown Manhattan penthouse at 160 Leroy Street, a record price for below 14th Street. The property Feldman unloaded, at 187

@properties agent fired after “storming” US Capitol

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 07:18 AM PST

A Chicago agent who boasted of “storming the capital” was fired from @properties, the residential brokerage said Thursday. In a statement, the firm said it “unequivocally condemns these actions, and the company has severed ties with this agent effective immediately.” The agent, Libby Andrews, told Crain’s that she was not part of the violence not part of the violence. But on social media, she posted selfies and photos of the crowd. “History! It’s not done

Investors building single-family rentals to meet demand

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 06:15 AM PST

Instead of buying houses in foreclosure and converting them to rentals, as many investors did in the last recession, investors are building their own rental communities. They are seeking to profit from a trend: Many Americans are seeking more spacious homes, where they can more comfortably work from home and have more space for family, but many cannot afford to buy or are not ready to commit, the Wall Street Journal reported. High demand and

Fire Island beach house designed by Paul Rudolph hits market

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 05:30 AM PST

A quirky Fire Island beach house designed by architect Paul Rudolph recently hit the market for $4 million. The Water Island home on Atlantic Ocean Walk was built in the 1960s and has three bedrooms and four bathrooms, according to Dwell, which first reported on the listing. Those familiar with Rudolph’s Manhattan buildings — which include the Modulighter building on East 58th Street, Halston’s former Lenox Hill home and a modernist townhouse on Beekman Place

Senate flip: 5 real estate takeaways

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 05:21 AM PST

When Joe Biden won the 2020 election, there was a significant hurdle between the president-elect and some real estate reforms he wanted: a Republican Senate. That changed Wednesday when two Democrats won Senate seats in Georgia. Biden’s proposals have a better chance of making it to the floor with Democrats holding half of Senate seats, Kamala Harris poised to cast tie-breaking votes as vice president and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, as majority leader. To

Active home listings hit record low

Posted: 08 Jan 2021 04:00 AM PST

It began with toilet paper, but it’s been homes for a while. Pandemic buying has whittled the number of homes for sale in the U.S. down to an all-time low. Active listings dropped below 700,000 in December, according to a monthly report from the National Association of Realtors. That’s a decline of nearly 40 percent from last year, as demand was stoked by low borrowing costs and a Covid-influenced desire to relocate or get more