The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Real estate stocks hold gains even as market doesn’t

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 02:50 PM PST

Real estate stocks ended the week in positive territory while the broader market gave up its gains after President-elect Joe Biden rolled out a $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal. Stocks tend to rise when Washington injects money into the economy, but negative reaction from some members of Congress — or fears that the measure would pass and spark inflation — might have triggered some selling. For real estate, though, the damage was muted. “Employment and economic

Tommy Hilfiger’s Greenwich estate sells for $45M

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 02:30 PM PST

When Greenwich real estate broker Janet Milligan stopped for an ice cream more than 40 years ago, she didn’t expect she would meet two of her most high-profile clients. At that time, Tommy and Susie Hilfiger were married and “just normal people,” who approached Milligan as she was reviewing listings at Friendly’s to ask if she would show them some homes in the area. Fast forward and the Sotheby’s International Realty agent has handled numerous

Texas Realtor faces criminal charges for role in Capitol attack

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 01:00 PM PST

A Texas real estate agent is facing criminal charges for her participation in last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol Building. Jenna Ryan, a Realtor based in Frisco, Texas, was charged with disorderly conduct and “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority,” according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court on Friday. She was part of a group who flew on a private plane from Denton, Texas, to

Council bill favoring nonprofits for affordable housing will hurt minority-led firms: developers

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 12:04 PM PST

For many minority developers, building the necessary capacity and experience to win a steady stream of work in New York City has been an uphill battle. Now, some feel that the city is trying to add an extra hurdle just as they are able to successfully compete. A group of developers has called on the City Council to withdraw or amend a bill that would limit the transfer of city-owned land intended for affordable housing

Suffolk County home sales up 33% from a year ago

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 11:30 AM PST

Home sales in Suffolk County surged in December, echoing the activity in New York’s sales and rental markets after a volatile year. In Suffolk County, 2,121 properties sold in December, a 33 percent increase from the same period last year, according to Patch, which cited data from OneKey MLS. Prices were also up. The publication reported that the average sales price in Suffolk County last month was $480,000, up 16.5 percent from last year. In

7 Manhattan hotels head to auction block

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 11:15 AM PST

Seven Manhattan hotels are hitting the auction block. The portfolio, owned by a joint venture between Hersha Hospitality Trust and Chinese investment firm Cindat Capital Management, is scheduled to be auctioned on Jan. 21 as a result of the owner’s default on an $85 million mezzanine loan, according to a public notice. Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies issued the loan in 2018, according to the mezzanine loan agreement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Brooklyn sales jumped 82% in the fourth quarter

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 10:32 AM PST

In the before times, New York’s residential sales market functioned on a natural rhythm of seasonality. Spring was good; fall was less good; and winter was the worst. But the pandemic has changed things. Take Brooklyn: Between 2003 and 2019, the number of sales in the fourth quarter traditionally fell by an average of 13 percent from the previous quarter. In 2020, however, fourth-quarter sales shot up 82 percent from the third quarter to a

Porch snaps up four startups for over $122M

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 09:45 AM PST

Porch isn’t wasting time on the acquisition front: Just three weeks after going public, the home-services startup scooped up four companies for $122 million. The Seattle-based company said it inked a deal to buy Homeowners of America, a Texas insurance company, for $100 million in cash and stock, Geekwire reported. It will also buy V12, a marketing platform, for $22 million in cash, plus two smaller startups — PalmTech and iRoofing — for an undisclosed

NBA owes Moinian $7.5M in rent for Fifth Ave store

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 09:15 AM PST

UPDATED, Jan. 15 2020, 4:15 p.m.: Talk about a foul: The NBA Store at 545 Fifth Avenue, which has remained closed throughout the pandemic, now owes $7 million to its landlord, the Moinian Group. The dispute is the basis of a lawsuit, first filed in New York State Supreme Court in June, by the landlord against NBA Media Ventures. At the time the suit was filed, the NBA owed the landlord nearly $1.9 million in

Silicon Valley exodus: Where’d everyone go?

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 08:32 AM PST

As the pandemic rages across the U.S., it’s unclear when employees will be able to return to their offices. That’s led to a huge shift in San Francisco real estate that may impact the city for years to come. While companies try to figure out what the future of work looks like, some of their employees have abandoned the Bay Area, the New York Times reported. Now, those firms are following suit. Some of the

Treasury quits bid to privatize Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 08:00 AM PST

The Trump administration, which has a lot going on in its final days, is dropping its effort to return Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to private hands, the Wall Street Journal reported. The mortgage giants were put under government control when the bursting of the housing bubble triggered the financial crisis of 2008. Now the Biden administration must decide their future. Advisers to Biden say he’s in no rush to privatize the companies and will

NYC loses $2.5B in property taxes, gets $1B from FEMA

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 07:18 AM PST

Property tax revenue did not plunge with the city’s economy last year because assessments preceded the pandemic. This year, New York won’t be so lucky. The travails of hotels, office buildings and other real estate will cause property tax revenue to fall by $2.5 billion next year, the largest drop in at least three decades, the New York Times reported. The market value of those commercial properties fell 15.8 percent. “This is just a total

Biden’s $1.9T package would extend eviction ban, boost rent relief

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 07:14 AM PST

President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday outlined a $1.9 trillion emergency relief plan that would have major consequences for real estate and the economy at large. The proposal would extend a national moratorium on evictions and foreclosures to Sept. 30. The moratorium is set to expire Jan. 31, according to MarketWatch. Biden is also calling on Congress to come up with $30 billion for emergency rental, energy and water assistance for hard-hit families, as well as

Nir Meir seeks to throw out Hamptons ejection suit

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 05:30 AM PST

Former HFZ Capital Group executive Nir Meir is asking a court to throw out a case seeking to eject him from his Hamptons home. Lawyers tied to Monroe Capital, an HFZ lender, filed a lawsuit in Suffolk County Supreme Court in late December alleging that Meir is illegally occupying the property at 40 Meadow Lane. The suit claims that neither Meir nor his family may lease or occupy the home. Monroe, which recently foreclosed on

Real estate trade groups reconsider donations after Capitol unrest

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 05:00 AM PST

Last week’s violence at the U.S. Capitol Building has led many banks and corporations to rethink their approach to political donations. Now, some real estate groups are following suit. Using data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, an analysis by The Real Deal found that 10 major real estate-related trade groups had contributed in the 2020 election cycle to members of the so-called “sedition caucus” — the 147 Republican lawmakers who objected to Electoral

Who’s buying and selling Manhattan homes? Last month’s notable deals

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 04:30 AM PST

The city’s for sale, but who’s laying down millions and buying in? Michael Nierenberg of New Residential Corp. and his wife Elin bought a three-level Greenwich Village penthouse for less than half the seller’s initial ask of nearly $34 million. At Extell Development’s One57 tower, a 58th-floor condo sold for half its prior purchase price — a record resale loss for the project. Other notable deals included Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen’s sale of their

The 10 biggest new project filings in NYC

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 04:00 AM PST

Opponents chased Amazon’s proposed second headquarters away from Long Island City, but that hasn’t stopped a wave of new projects from coming to the neighborhood. Of the 10 biggest new building applications filed in December, four were for parcels in the Queens neighborhood. Three of those were for projects linked to the Elghanayan family’s companies, TF Cornerstone and Rockrose. If approved, these three projects would together generate nearly 1,700 residential units. The remaining applications covered