The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Cuomo adds housing to $51B Midtown West project

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 04:30 PM PST

The state’s massive development plans for the area surrounding Penn Station now includes affordable housing. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that the 20 million square feet of development planned for the neighborhood would not only include retail and commercial space, but also housing — a significant chunk of it affordable. Officials had previously drafted a proposal to develop 10 buildings with more than 1,000 hotel rooms and 14 million square feet of office space, according

Serena Williams sells Palm Beach Gardens home after buying Yadier Molina’s Jupiter mansion

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 03:15 PM PST

Serena Williams sold her Palm Beach Gardens home for $2.8 million, months after buying baseball player Yadier Molina’s Jupiter mansion. The tennis pro, who formerly ranked as the No. 1 women’s tennis player in the world, sold the home at 7703 Bold Lad Road, according to Realtor.com. A trust in Williams’ name paid $2.5 million for the 5,685-square-foot, five-bedroom house in 2015, property records show. It was built in 2015 and includes a pool. Michael

Former ad exec asks staggering $175M for Hamptons estate

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 01:36 PM PST

In February, billionaire Ken Griffin purchased Calvin Klein’s seven-acre Southampton home for $84 million — the year’s most expensive deal in the Hamptons. Now, the mansion next door has been put on the market for an eye-popping $175 million. The home at 700 Meadow Lane, which belongs to former advertising executive Marcia Riklis, sits on eight acres of land and features 500 feet of ocean frontage, according to a listing with Bespoke. It has 11

Feds indict NY real estate exec in $50M fraud scheme

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 12:30 PM PST

Federal prosecutors say the former CEO of a New York real estate firm defrauded hundreds of investors out of more than $50 million after luring them in with a strategy involving “debt-free” Manhattan properties. The Department of Justice charged Eric Malley, the founder and former chief executive of MG Capital Management, with securities fraud and wire fraud, alleging that he bilked investors out of millions of dollars through two real estate investment funds. Malley was

Santa Monica mega-portfolio officially hits market

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 11:45 AM PST

It’s official: The largest multifamily development opportunity in Santa Monica in a generation is now on the market. WSC Communities’ 23-parcel portfolio, entitled for the development of over 2,100 units and over 1 million square feet of residential space, is being billed by the brokers as a chance for a buyer to become the largest multifamily landlord in Santa Monica, controlling about 7 percent of the city’s market-rate inventory. WSC is controlled by the family

A-Rod’s ex-brother-in-law alleges racketeering, embezzlement in new lawsuit against retired Yankee

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 11:30 AM PST

Retired New York Yankees player and real estate investor Alex Rodriguez is facing new allegations of racketeering, embezzlement and fraud in a complaint filed by his ex-brother-in-law. Constantine Scurtis is suing Rodriguez, Monument Capital Management principal Stuart Zook, Newport Property Ventures and other companies affiliated with Rodriguez. Scurtis alleges that he was the victim of a “systematic and fraudulent effort” to cut him out of the venture and to “strip him of the future financial

Westchester home sales hit historic high in 2020

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 10:45 AM PST

Unlike its neighbor to the south, when it comes to home sales, Westchester County had a really good 2020. In fact, completed purchases in the New York suburbs in 2020 totaled 6,635, the highest tally in records going back to 1996, Bloomberg News reported, citing a report by brokerage Houlihan Lawrence. The year was an outlier for Westchester County: Prior years showed slacking demand and an oversupply of homes. But the pandemic pushed residents out

Former Sapir employee accuses company of retaliation

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 10:35 AM PST

A former employee of the Sapir Organization claims her old boss retaliated against her after she failed to find a “smoking gun” implicating one of Alex Sapir’s enemies. Patricia Lemanski, who worked as a paralegal at the real estate firm for nearly 10 years, alleges that the Sapir Organization directed her to dig up dirt on her former supervisor at the company: ex-general counsel Omer Rosen, whom Sapir had been feuding with. The firm gave

Manhattan asking retail rents continue downward spiral

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 09:30 AM PST

The holidays are typically a bright spot for retailers, but with little foot traffic returning to Manhattan, the fourth quarter of 2020 was instead filled with uncertainty and distress. The average retail asking rent in Manhattan’s 16 retail corridors dropped nearly 10 percent year over year to $652 per square foot, according to a new report by CBRE. That’s a slight drop from Q3’s $659 per square foot, marking the lowest rents have been since

Rent-stabilized tenants owe landlords more than $1B

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 08:15 AM PST

Pressure is mounting on New York City’s renters. According to a new survey from the Community Housing Improvement Program, tenants in rent-stabilized apartments are more than $1 billion behind on rent. The figure represents about 185,000 households that owe more than two months’ rent — an average of $6,000. The survey, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, focused on rent-regulated buildings — about half the total number of rental units in the

Knock hires ex-Lyft, Uber exec as first CFO

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 07:30 AM PST

Knock, a startup that helps people buy new homes before selling their old ones, has tapped a former Lyft and Uber executive as its new CFO. The company said Michelle DeBella will report directly to Knock’s co-founder and CEO Sean Black, who previously co-founded Trulia. Her focus will be on driving “profitable growth” for Knock’s Home Swap program, which pre-funds mortgages to give homeowners more flexibility when buying and selling a home. DeBella was most

Three Trump Org contracts de Blasio canceled were about to expire anyway

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 07:01 AM PST

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement that the city was terminating contracts with the Trump Organization may need an asterisk. Three of the four contracts identified by de Blasio were already set to expire in April, Politico reported. De Blasio framed the Wednesday announcement as a moralistic response to Trump’s inciting a mob that stormed the Capitol last week. “In light of this criminal act, the city of New York has determined that it is within

Howard Hughes’ Seaport project dealt major blow

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 06:15 AM PST

It’s back to the drawing board — or perhaps the garbage bin — for proposed towers at 250 Water Street. Over the years the Howard Hughes Corporation has faced extensive community pushback for its plans to build two mixed-use towers at the site. And this week, the Landmarks Preservation Commission — dismissing pleas from a slew of influential New Yorkers at a Jan. 5 hearing — said the project was simply too tall. According to

These are the companies dumping the Trump Organization

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 05:56 AM PST

The fallout for President Donald Trump and his family business after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has not abated. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for a second time, setting the stage for a possible Senate trial in the coming weeks. And a number of businesses and other organizations, from banks that lent to the president to the Girl Scouts, have cut ties with his family business, the Trump Organization. Even

What appraisal reductions mean for future losses on CMBS loans

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 05:00 AM PST

As delinquency rates for commercial mortgage-backed securities settle into a new normal after early pandemic chaos, other market metrics give an indication of more struggles to come. One such data point is appraisal reduction amounts, which come into play when a CMBS loan encounters a triggering event such as serious delinquency or insolvency. The calculation of a loan’s ARA is determined not only by the appraised value of a property, but also by factors such

The Closing: Ray McGuire

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 04:30 AM PST

Ray McGuire’s path from “the streets to the suites” is made-for-movie stuff. Growing up poor and fatherless in Dayton, Ohio, he worked his way into the elite boarding school Hotchkiss, then Harvard for undergraduate, law and business degrees. He went into banking, rising to become vice-chairman at Citigroup and one of the highest-ranking Black executives on Wall Street. In October, at 63, he quit to try his hand at politics. This time, he’s not starting

Manhattan, Brooklyn rental leasing hit 12-year high in December

Posted: 14 Jan 2021 04:00 AM PST

December isn’t typically a busy month for the rental market, but nothing about 2020 was typical — and New Yorkers signed leases in record numbers as the year came to a close. The number of new rental deals inked last month in Manhattan and Brooklyn hit levels not seen in 12 years, according to Douglas Elliman’s monthly report. It’s the third month in a row that leasing activity has set annual records. There were 5,459