The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Convicted fraudster illegally occupied posh West Village rental: lawsuit

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 02:35 PM PST

When David Koraca applied to lease an apartment at 666 Greenwich Street in the West Village last January, the landlord had little reason to think he couldn’t make his monthly rent. Koraca was reportedly raking in $500,000 a year, plus quarterly bonuses, as an investment banker and vice president at Goldman Sachs. He’d handed over an earnings statement and a note from his boss detailing his role at the venerable Wall Street firm. But just

LaGuardia Marriott and development site combo sell for $100M

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 01:45 PM PST

New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott and a massive development site have sold for a combined $103 million. The 443-key Marriott at 102-05 Ditmars Boulevard sold for $86.6 million, and the 1.5-acre development site — which could hold a 750,000-square-foot project — sold for $17 million, according to property records filed with the city on Friday. The sale closed last month. The buyer, California-based private equity firm ASAP Holdings, announced the deal on its website without

Trump Org has big retail vacancy looming

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 01:15 PM PST

The Trump Organization is looking at filling a large retail vacancy near its namesake Fifth Avenue tower at a time when empty storefronts are abundant across Manhattan. The space at 6 East 57th Street is currently controlled by Wharton Properties and SL Green Realty, which took over the lease in 2016 when the two investors struck a deal to relocate Nike from the location to a new flagship at 650 Fifth Avenue. The East 57th

The Closing: Dov Hertz

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 12:30 PM PST

Dov Hertz has left an indelible mark on New York’s skyline. Two marks, actually. Over the course of 14 years heading up acquisitions and assemblage for Extell Development, Hertz helped put together the sites for One57 and Central Park Tower — two supertalls that transformed not just the Big Apple’s physical appearance but also set the tone for how the real estate industry catered to the global superrich. Love ’em or hate ’em — and

Former Modell’s site in Downtown Brooklyn up for sale

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 12:00 PM PST

The bankruptcy of Modell’s Sporting Goods last year could pave the way for a new tower in Downtown Brooklyn. The Henry Modell Company and its neighbor on Fulton Street are marketing four properties for sale that combine for 170,000 buildable square feet, according to marketing materials reviewed by The Real Deal. An asking price for the portfolio was not mentioned in those materials. The portfolio at 360-370 Fulton Street is part of the Fulton Mall

Home sales, prices rose in January as inventory hit new low

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 11:56 AM PST

Sales of existing homes continued to surge in January. The pace of sales increased 0.7 percent from December to an annual rate of 6.69 million, according to the National Association of Realtors’ monthly report. January’s rate was up nearly 24 percent year-over-year. NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said the pace would have been even higher if not for the lack of housing available for purchase. “Sales easily could have been even 20 percent higher if

Yelp employees may work remotely forever

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 09:50 AM PST

It’s enough to make office landlords, well, yelp. Like other tech companies, Yelp is moving to a hybrid office model. In a blog post Friday, Yelp’s chief people officer, Carolyn Patterson, announced it will transition to allowing employees to work remotely either full-time or part-time. Though Yelp will maintain its presence in places where it has offices, including its San Francisco base, it will shed and sublease some space. “While we plan to maintain offices

Redfin to publicize flood risk data for all listings

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 09:08 AM PST

UPDATE, Feb. 19 2021, 3:30 p.m.: Redfin began publishing flood risk data for millions of homes listed on its platform this week, six months after suggesting that publicizing such information could devalue properties. Redfin has partnered with nonprofit First Street Foundation to provide flood risk data to accompany all of its listings. The “Flood Factor” service assigns a score between 1 and 10 for all properties, in addition to displaying the home’s estimated Federal Emergency

Steven Roth’s wife bets $500K on McGuire for mayor

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 08:45 AM PST

New York’s top real estate executives and their families are ramping up their spending on NYC’s crowded political races. A super PAC backing Ray McGuire, a former Wall Street executive who is running for mayor, has raised over $1 million since it was registered with the state. About half of that money came from Daryl Roth, a theater producer and the wife of Vornado Realty Trust’s Steven Roth. “I have known Ray McGuire a long

Columbia Property Trust’s rent collection stays steady in Q4

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 08:15 AM PST

Columbia Property Trust reported a 5.9 percent decline in its normalized funds from operation during the fourth quarter, a reversal from the third quarter when the real estate investment trust managed to increase its year-over-year earnings. Revenue from the REIT’s operation during the fourth quarter was $62.9 million, down 8.6 percent from a year ago, and down by 23 percent from the third quarter. Part of the revenue drop was attributed to a write-off of

WeWork slashes rents in some cities

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 07:15 AM PST

WeWork has slashed its rents across the country as workers continue to avoid going into offices. The New York-based flex-office provider dropped the price of its rental fees in November and in January by an average of about 10 percent, according to data provided to Bloomberg News. In some places, rents fell by as much as 25 percent. The company reduced rents by 15 to 20 percent in Austin, Texas, Boston, Denver and New York

Price cuts spur deals as glut of luxury homes lingers

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 06:35 AM PST

New York’s real estate market had a rough year in 2020 and price cuts portend a tumultuous 2021. January rents were down 15.5 percent in Manhattan and off 8.6 percent in Brooklyn from the same month last year, according to StreetEasy, Bloomberg News reported. Home prices also were lower by 6.2 percent in Manhattan and 5.4 percent in Brooklyn. The price cuts appear to have triggered more deals. Pending sales, or sales under contract, increased

Redfin to buy RentPath for $608M

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 06:13 AM PST

Making a major push into the rental market, Redfin has struck a deal to buy RentPath for $608 million, the brokerage said Friday. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, comes less than three months after RentPath called off its $588 million sale to commercial real estate giant CoStar. Federal regulators sued to block that deal on antitrust grounds. Seattle-based Redfin said RentPath’s growing web traffic would broaden its offerings and drive traffic to

The definitive real estate SPAC tracker

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 06:00 AM PST

Blink and you’ll miss a new SPAC. With billions of dollars flowing into blank-check firms, a growing number of real estate players are targeting proptech. As an alternative to the traditional IPO, special-purpose acquisition companies made a comeback last year with 248 blank-check firms going public, raising $83 billion, according to SPACInsider. This year is shaping up to be even bigger for SPACs. Along with names like Bill Ackman, Alec Gores and Chamath Palihapitiya, New

Marriott’s “most challenging year” ever ends with $267M loss

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 05:30 AM PST

It’s been a tough week for Marriott International. The company’s CEO, Arne Sorenson, died Monday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. And on Thursday, the company shared its latest financials with investors during its fourth quarter earnings call — and the news was not good. The hotel giant recorded an annual loss of $267 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, the largest loss since 2009, when that figure was $346 million. The quarterly figures

When NIMBYs attack: Why CoJo’s master plan won’t fly

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 05:00 AM PST

Corey Johnson’s comprehensive planning bill will never pass, for the same reason all such bills never pass: It dilutes the power of neighborhood cranks and naive ideologues to stop new housing. Predictably, a coalition of the city’s leading NIMBY groups blasted the City Council speaker’s proposal Thursday as a “top-down approach that would leave communities with even less democratic control over massive city rezonings” than they have now. Well, yes. That is exactly the point.

When Compass comes clawing: How the firm’s contracts lock agents in

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 04:30 AM PST

The nightmare began a year ago. After rebuffing Compass for several years, a New York agent finally gave into temptation. “They sold the dream,” said the agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity and said they were offered a lavish bonus and generous perks. But one year into a three-year contract, the agent, frustrated by what felt like a lack of support from the firm, wanted out. But it won’t be easy to leave.

Lawmakers call for $2B in rent relief in state budget

Posted: 19 Feb 2021 04:00 AM PST

Lawmakers want Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to fight for automatic rent debt forgiveness and more money for rent relief in the state’s 2021 budget. In a Feb. 11 letter, more than 30 Assembly members called on Heastie to push for the inclusion of $2.25 billion in rent relief in the 2021 state budget — a figure that includes already committed federal dollars and would require more funding from the state. At the moment, the state