The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Miami-Dade resumes pre-pandemic evictions after unannounced February break

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 03:45 PM PST

Miami-Dade County resumed executing writs of possessions for residential eviction cases filed before the pandemic, following an unannounced month-long break. The police execute writs of possession, evicting residents or businesses from their properties. The move follows a final judgment in a court case. Homeowners with federally backed mortgages are protected from eviction until at least March 31, per a federal moratorium from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. On Nov. 13, former Miami-Dade

Stringer’s housing plan doesn’t pencil out: developers

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 02:30 PM PST

Mayoral hopeful Scott Stringer wants to require all residential projects to include affordable housing — but some developers say his numbers don’t add up. The city comptroller released a 47-page housing plan Thursday including details on the “universal affordable housing” program he announced last year. Under it, developers would have to make at least 25 percent of apartments deeply affordable in projects with 10 or more units. The low-rent units would be affordable to households

Lawmakers propose canceling restaurant rent, providing relief for landlords

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 02:15 PM PST

New York lawmakers are on a quest to save restaurants and other small businesses. State Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and State Sen. Brad Hoylman have introduced twin bills in their respective legislative bodies that would, in effect, cancel rent for some restaurateurs. The legislation would mandate that restaurants and other businesses are on the hook for only 20 percent or one-third of their rent each month, whichever is less. It would apply only to businesses employing

RE/MAX revenue ticks up in Q4 but profit sinks

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 01:30 PM PST

RE/MAX reported a modest increase in revenue but a sharp drop in net income for the final three months of 2020. The company benefited from the surge in home sales that followed pandemic lockdown measures; it attributed the profit decline to rising broker and other personnel costs related to acquisition expenses. RE/MAX reported $72.4 million in revenue in Q4, roughly 6 percent over the $68.2 million in the same period the year before. The quarterly

Lawsuit challenges New York eviction ban’s constitutionality

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 01:15 PM PST

Five small landlords have sued New York attorney general Letitia James, arguing that the new blanket moratorium on evictions is unconstitutional. Attorneys for the plaintiffs allege that the hardship declaration form, which landlords are now required to send their tenants, is “unconstitutional compelled speech,” because it forces landlords to voice support for a policy that is “squarely adverse” to their interests. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in New York’s Eastern District, lays out

National eviction moratorium ruled unconstitutional, but remains in place

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 12:48 PM PST

A federal judge in Texas ruled the nationwide eviction moratorium unconstitutional Thursday but issued no injunction, saying he hopes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will withdraw the ban. The agency is not expected to do so. The result, for the moment, is no change for tenants — who, as of last month, were an estimated $57 billion behind on rent payments — or for landlords. “The federal government cannot say that it has

Hamptons agent Yorgos Tsibiridis jumps to Compass

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 12:20 PM PST

Yorgos Tsibiridis, Douglas Elliman’s top agent in East Hampton, has moved to Compass. Over his eight-year career, including the past six at Elliman, Tsibiridis has sold over $400 million in homes from the Hamptons to the Greek Islands. In the past 12 months he counts over $70 million in sales and contracts. “In the back of my mind, I was always thinking, ‘How can I do things better? How can I serve my customers better?

Electra America, AKA launch $500M hotel fund

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 11:15 AM PST

A multifamily investment firm and a luxury hotel residences company have partnered to launch a $500 million hotel investment fund, seeking to take advantage of opportunities created by the pandemic. Electra America Hospitality Group, a joint venture between Electra America and AKA, plans to focus on properties in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Toronto and London, said Russ Urban, CEO of the new partnership. The joint venture recently closed on $100 million

“Emily in Paris” star Lily Collins finds buyer for Beverly Hills home

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 10:45 AM PST

“Emily in Paris” star Lily Collins has sold her Beverly Hills home for $13.5 million, The Real Deal has learned. The actress bought the 5,066-square-foot home in late 2016 for $12.5 million. The four-bedroom house on North Hillcrest Road was built in 1954 and designed in the Hollywood Regency style by architect John Elgin Woolf. Dustin Nicholas with Nicholas Property Group represented Collins in the deal. Branden Williams with The Beverly Hills Estates represented the

Columbia University inks deals with 2 restaurants

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 10:00 AM PST

Two new restaurants are coming to Columbia University. Roberta’s and Sapp’s both signed leases with the University to open in Morningside Heights. Roberta’s, the popular pizza joint that helped put Bushwick’s restaurant scene on the map, will open its first standalone Manhattan location, spanning about 830 square feet, at 2913 Broadway. The eatery already has a stall within Urbanspace Vanderbilt’s food hall near Grand Central Terminal, along with a ghost kitchen that it recently opened

“We need more housing”: Q&A with BRP Companies’ Meredith Marshall

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 09:30 AM PST

As a managing partner of BRP Companies, Meredith Marshall is one of the largest builders of affordable and workforce housing in New York. The company placed third on The Real Deal’s list of most active developers of 2020, with 3 million square feet in the pipeline across 10 affordable, market-rate and mixed-income projects. It’s a complicated business. To assemble funding for a single affordable project, Marshall and partner Geoff Flournoy often turn to a dozen

State will use undercover testers to combat housing discrimination

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 08:45 AM PST

New York state is taking a cue from a Long Island newspaper and sending undercover testers to root out housing discrimination. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state is setting aside $250,000 for the testing initiative, which will be carried out by nonprofits and happen in New York City, Long Island, Westchester County, and in the Central and Western regions of the state. Newsday — whose “Long Island Divided” investigation shone a light on discriminatory

EB-5 fund alleges Schrager, Witkoff siphoned money from Public Hotel

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 08:15 AM PST

A fund managed by a controversial EB-5 regional center has filed a lawsuit against Ian Schrager and the Witkoff Group, alleging that the developers siphoned millions of dollars from the Public Hotel on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The lawsuit, filed last week in New York State Supreme Court, is claiming breach of contract. The plaintiff alleges that Schrager, Witkoff and their affiliates took in more than $100 million for themselves, but have not repaid the

Best Buy lays off 5,000 staffers, increases store closures

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 07:45 AM PST

Best Buy had a successful 2020 — but the electronics retailer is scaling back. The company laid off 5,000 full-time workers this month and will add 2,000 part-timers, according to the Wall Street Journal, part of a larger pattern of shrinking its staff throughout the year. Best Buy had about 123,000 workers at the start of its last fiscal year, a number that shrank to 102,000 at the end of the year. It has also

Zillow using Zestimate to streamline cash offers for some homes

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 07:15 AM PST

Zillow is using its “Zestimate” to streamline its process for making cash offers on some homes. The Seattle-based listings giant will now allow homeowners in certain markets to receive a cash offer sight-unseen, CNN reported. The rest of the process will stay largely as it was: The initial offer would still be subject to a subsequent inspection and potential adjustment — and Zillow’s not-insignificant fee. The move to streamline the cash offer process amounts to

Landlords take on short-term debt to spruce up struggling assets

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 06:36 AM PST

Landlords are increasingly taking on short-term debt to fix up their empty stores, hotels and apartment buildings. JPMorgan found that lenders this year had issued $4 billion of collateralized loan obligations — short-term financing popular with developers — through mid-February, a 46 percent increase from the same period last year, the New York Times reported. Commercial mortgage-backed securities, which typically have longer-term financing, declined 8 percent during that time. For investors, the financing provides a

Dubious gentrification study will backfire on New York City

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 06:00 AM PST

Imagine you wanted to stop denser housing. What would be your strategy? You would spread word that new housing would be unaffordable to locals and cause their own rents to rise. You would demonstrate, demonize developers and run candidates on a Real Estate is Evil platform. And you would back up your argument with a study — manipulated if necessary. No anti-development playbook is complete without a study. Nothing turns anecdotes into facts, and predictions

Critics say real estate got Cuomo to “circumvent” city’s climate law

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 05:45 AM PST

Some elected officials and environmental advocates are blaming the real estate industry’s cozy relationship with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for a change he proposed to New York City’s building emissions cap. State legislators, along with ALIGN NY and other groups, oppose a clause in the governor’s executive budget that would allow building owners to buy renewable energy credits outside the city to offset their properties’ greenhouse-gas emissions. The Real Estate Board of New York pushed for

Coffee Talk: Extell’s Gary Barnett and Ryan Serhant

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 05:00 AM PST

You can count on Extell Development’s Gary Barnett not to mince words: The hard stop that the coronavirus pandemic put on construction last spring has been a “pain” for the construction industry, and it may take time for the new development industry to recover. In an interview with The Real Deal founder and publisher Amir Korangy, Barnett predicted that the slowdown will go for another couple years. “There will be very little supply,” in the

Underwater hotel owners are walking away from their properties

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 04:30 AM PST

With its hotels business battered by the pandemic, Ashford Hospitality Trust took a cold, hard look at its portfolio and came to a sobering conclusion: The REIT was simply going to walk away from some of its struggling properties. “While we take no joy in handing back assets to our lenders, we do hope it demonstrates that we are willing to make hard decisions that are in the best interest of our shareholders,” Ashford CEO

Pending home sales fall for fifth consecutive month

Posted: 26 Feb 2021 04:00 AM PST

Pending home sales fell for the fifth month in a row — but not for lack of demand, experts say. The number of home contracts slipped 2.8 percent from December, according to the National Association of Realtors’ monthly index. Though it’s the fifth month of consecutive decline, it was the busiest January on record, with volume up 13 percent year over year. A drop in pending home sales is often thought to indicate a drop