The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Compass lost $270M in 2020, revenue up 56% : IPO filing

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 02:59 PM PST

On the verge of going public, Compass disclosed it earned $3.7 billion in revenue last year but lost $270 million, according to an investor prospectus it filed Monday. The IPO filing, known as a form S-1, provides the clearest look into the financials of the company, which is likely the fastest-growing U.S. residential brokerage in a generation. Compass’ revenue grew 56 percent in 2020 from $2.4 billion in 2019. It cut its losses from $388

U.S. mall values fall 60% after appraisals

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 02:42 PM PST

The suburban mall that you frequented as a teenager could now be worth substantially less than the dirt underneath it. U.S. mall values declined 60 percent due to appraisals in 2020, according to an analysis by Bloomberg News. Across 118 shopping centers with commercial mortgage-backed securities loans, about $4 billion was lost after reappraisals caused by delinquencies, defaults or foreclosures. The data suggests a grim outlook for many malls across the country as some of

Tenant activist nixed from City Planning Commission

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 01:35 PM PST

Real estate, take heart: Cea Weaver, longtime antagonist of the industry, will not be spouting socialism on a city salary. New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams quietly withdrew Weaver’s nomination to the City Planning Commission a little more than a month after making it. It is unclear where exactly the opposition to Weaver’s appointment came from, but there is no shortage of suspects. A spokesperson for Williams said Weaver requested her name be withdrawn.

CoStar ups its bid to acquire CoreLogic

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 01:07 PM PST

The fight for the future of CoreLogic continues. CoStar Group upped its offer to acquire the real estate data company to $97 per share, an increase over its most recent offer of $95.76 per share, Bloomberg News reported. The latest offer is also $17 per share higher than the recent agreement CoreLogic made with Stone Point Capital and Insight Partners, who agreed to buy the company for approximately $6 billion. CoStar also attempted to sweeten

Five reasons Andrew Cuomo is doomed

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 12:20 PM PST

The governor was at the peak of his powers — a rising star in the Democratic Party and the most feared figure in the state of New York. Within a week, it all came crashing down. The year was 2008 — so long ago that word of Eliot Spitzer’s resignation arrived in newsrooms by fax. The world has changed since then, but in ways that will only make it harder for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to

Michael Stern’s Walker Tower pad sells for 24% under ask

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 11:55 AM PST

Michael Stern sold his duplex at Walker Tower for less than he’d hoped. The 4,748-square-foot unit sold for $21 million, 24 percent less the $27.8 million it was initially listed for in June 2019, according to property records. The deal pencils out to $4,423 per square foot. But Stern is still making off with a tidy profit. He bought the unit at Walker Tower, which his firm JDS Development Group developed alongside Kevin Maloney’s Property

Construction spending hits new record in January

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 11:01 AM PST

U.S. construction spending reached the highest level on record last month as both local and federal governments began loosening the purse strings. Spending hit a seasonally adjusted annual estimated rate of $1.5 trillion across all sectors last month, the highest recorded since the Census Bureau began tracking this figure in 2002. January’s rate was up 1.7 percent from December’s revised estimate and up 5.8 percent from the year prior. Homebuilding was largely responsible for the

Equitable Life Insurance inks 130K sf lease for new office

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 09:35 AM PST

Equitable Life Insurance is moving its New York office by three blocks. The financial company will take 130,000 square feet at Fisher Brothers’ 1345 Avenue of the Americas, Commercial Observer reported. It will vacate its current location at 1290 Sixth Avenue, a 43-story office tower owned by Vornado Realty Trust and the Trump Organization, Commercial Observer reported. Equitable will move into its new office in 2023. The exact length of the new lease was not

Phony website falsely claims REBNY cancels rent

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 09:27 AM PST

UPDATED, Mar. 1 2021, 1:15 p.m.: April Fool’s Day came a month early for New York’s biggest real estate industry group and a City Council member, who were targeted by a “cancel rent” cyber prank. A bogus website mimicking that of the Real Estate Board of New York went live on Monday, claiming that the trade association had canceled rent at its members’ properties. The fake was immediately seized upon and disseminated by a tenant

Manhattan luxury market has best month in six years

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 09:00 AM PST

Manhattan’s luxury market is on a four-week streak the likes of which it has not seen since 2015. In February, 144 homes asking more than $4 million — or $1.18 billion altogether — went into contract in the borough, according to Olshan Realty. The last time the market had such a month was in early 2015 when 138 properties asking $1.2 billion went into contract. Last week alone saw 40 contracts inked, according to Olshan’s

These are real estate executives’ worst worries for 2021

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 08:21 AM PST

After an awful year for much of the real estate world, executives see full recovery not happening this year or even next, yet are optimistic about their own firms’ immediate future. A survey of real estate executives found 85 percent see 2021 as a year of opportunity for their companies, but 70 percent said that the commercial real estate sector will not return to pre-Covid levels until at least 2023. “You scratch your head,” said

To boost economy, NYC will invest in rapid Covid test

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 07:22 AM PST

New York’s road to economic recovery is going to be long, but city officials want to speed things up by making Covid-19 tests easier to access. The New York City Economic Development Corporation, which bolsters economic growth in the city, plans to work with researchers from Columbia University to produce a rapid Covid test that would be available to the city directly, the Wall Street Journal reported. The group plans to award $164,000 to Dr.

WeWork and SoftBank settle lawsuit

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 06:31 AM PST

The battle between WeWork and SoftBank is over. The beleaguered co-working giant and its co-founder and former CEO, Adam Neumann, have reached a legal settlement with SoftBank Group, Bloomberg News reported, heading off a trial that was set to begin on March 4. The agreement will firm up the Japanese conglomerate’s control over WeWork, while giving Neumann a financial windfall on his way out. SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure, who also serves as WeWork’s executive chairman,

Calling all founders: Howard Lorber’s Vector Group launches VC arm

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 06:00 AM PST

Developer, investor and brokerage head Howard Lorber is trying on a new role for size: venture capitalist. His company, Vector Group, is pivoting its real estate business — which includes brokerage Douglas Elliman and new development firm New Valley — into investing in early-stage proptech companies, the firm confirmed to The Real Deal. The announcement comes on the heels of Vector’s real estate businesses reporting a net loss of $75.9 million in 2020, the second

Airbnb’s first earnings, behind CBRE’s $200M bet on Industrious

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 05:30 AM PST

Earnings redux: Airbnb, CoStar, Redfin 🔥 It could have been worse. That was the takeaway from Airbnb’s first earnings as a public company. Despite the luster of its eye-popping IPO, Airbnb lost $4.6 billion in 2020 and revenue dropped 30 percent year over year to $3.4 billion. The net loss was driven by $2.8 billion in stock compensation related to the IPO, but the pandemic clearly whalloped the travel industry. CEO Brian Chesky used a

Here’s what tenants are paying at ELO’s Diamond District properties

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 05:00 AM PST

Like most retailers, merchants in Midtown Manhattan’s Diamond District have had to grapple with the impact of the pandemic over the past year. But gem deals are still getting done — to the tune of $400 million per day, according to a Bloomberg News estimate from last summer. It’s not just jewels that are trading hands in the neighborhood. In December, the ELO Organization closed on its $110 million acquisition of the Chetrit family’s 15

Address not applicable: What happens to the HQ in the remote-work age?

Posted: 01 Mar 2021 04:00 AM PST

When a company prepares to go public, it submits to the SEC a document known as the S1, which details its business, financials, risks and opportunities. On the first page is a field for the location of its headquarters. Some of these addresses have become legendary: 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway (Google); 1601 Willow Road (Facebook); 345 Park Avenue (Blackstone). Last week, Coinbase, the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, filed its S1. In that noteworthy field, the company

Morgan Properties, Olayan America buy $1.75B multifamily portfolio

Posted: 28 Feb 2021 11:00 AM PST

Morgan Properties and Olayan America have purchased a portfolio of 48 U.S. multifamily properties for $1.75 billion. The seller was STAR Real Estate Ventures, a joint venture of El-Ad National Properties LLC and Yellowstone Portfolio Trust, according to a press release from Morgan and Olayan. It is Morgan’s largest acquisition since the Pennsylvania-based firm bought 95 multifamily properties for $1.9 billion two years ago. The 48 properties have 14,414 units, including 2,566 outside Baltimore and

“Breaking” news: Bryan Cranston lists eco-friendly SoCal beach pad

Posted: 28 Feb 2021 09:00 AM PST

Actor Bryan Cranston has listed the eco-friendly Ventura County, California home he built during the final season of “Breaking Bad.” Cranston and his wife Robin Dearden bought the property the home sits on in 2007 for around $2.5 million, and completed the 2,450-square-foot house in 2013. It’s listed for just under $5 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. The actor — who told the publication that he’s an architecture “nerd” — helped design the

Global luxury home sale prices nudged up in 2020

Posted: 28 Feb 2021 06:00 AM PST

Global luxury home sale prices ticked up slightly in 2020, as pent-up demand created by coronavirus lockdowns led to buying binges. The average price for a luxury home that sold rose 1.9 percent in 2020, compared to its 1.8 percent increase in 2019, according to Knight Frank’s Prime International Residential Index 100, cited by Mansion Global. While 29 of the 100 markets in the index reported year-over-year price declines — compared to 21 in 2019