The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Mack Real Estate has gained control of a seven-hotel portfolio for what appears to be a major discount. The developer paid transfer taxes on $315.8 million — or less than 40 percent of the portfolio’s 2016 value of $816.3 million — for the seven properties, all of which are in Manhattan. Earlier this year, the firm initiated UCC foreclosure proceedings against the owners of the properties, a joint venture between Hersha Hospitality Trust and Chinese

The commercial mortgage-backed securities market continues to be a big source of refinancings for Manhattan office properties. CIM Group has secured a $400 million refinancing for the 740,000-square-foot office building at 1440 Broadway near Times Square, Commercial Observer reported. The $300 million A-note is being securitized by JPMorgan into a single-asset CMBS transaction, while a $100 million B-note is held by Oaktree Capital. CIM acquired the property for $520 million in 2017 as part of

Movie theaters in New York City and San Francisco have been dark for a year now, but that changes this weekend. Both big box-office markets are reopening, with some major restrictions. Theaters in both cities will be open at 25 percent capacity, adhering to pandemic guidelines for social distancing. That’s still better than Los Angeles; the cinema capital of the country remains dark. While many theaters around the country are already open, some operators are

As an emerging markets specialist, hedge funder Robert Citrone is used to eyeing distant shores for his next investment. His bet on Compass — and by extension the U.S. housing market — hits a lot closer to home. Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management is Compass’ second-largest shareholder, with a 9.2 percent stake, according to Compass’ S-1, filed this week ahead of its impending public offering. Discovery’s investment was not previously reported, and the size of its

Innovo Property Group’s massive warehouse development in Long Island City has secured a big chunk of construction financing. Innovo scored a $155 million construction loan for a new building at 23-30 Borden Avenue, which was previously home to a FreshDirect warehouse. The firm plans to build an 842,000-square-foot, five-story industrial structure on a 4.7-acre lot. The loan was provided by an affiliate of Starwood Property Trust, according to Innovo. The new building will serve as

Leisure and hospitality may finally be on the road to recovery. The industry added 355,000 jobs in February, as coronavirus restrictions began easing in some parts of the country amid the rollout of a national vaccine campaign. The vaccine news is a welcome shot in the arm for the economy: There were 379,000 jobs added last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, beating the predictions of labor experts. “The jobs picture is brighter

Lower Manhattan’s oldest social club is going under. The Down Town Association said in a bankruptcy filing on Thursday it had less than $75,000 to pay $6.9 million in debt, primarily held by its landlord, Great Empire Realty, Bloomberg News reported. The club, founded in 1859, had provided “an island of quiet civility” and a “locus for nourishment, entertainment, relaxation or quiet discourse” at 60 Pine Street since 1887. The club’s Chapter 11 filing indicates

The Georgetown Company will bring a life-sciences hub to Manhattan’s Far West Side, where Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has signed a long-term lease. The medical school took 165,000 square feet at 787 Eleventh Avenue, the former auto showroom building Georgetown purchased with Bill Ackman several years ago to convert to high-end offices. Georgetown announced news of the lease Thursday. The building sits in a life-sciences corridor on the West Side that is

The rise in supply is simply outpacing demand. Manhattan’s office availability set another unfortunate record at 15.5 percent in February, up 0.6 percentage points from January and 5.6 points from a year ago, according to Colliers International’s monthly market snapshot. Total space leased in February was 900,000 square feet, down by 51 percent from the volume in January and by 57 percent from a year ago. The total was also 43 percent lower than the

Home insurance startup Hippo has scored the ultimate umbrella policy. The six-year-old company is set to go public by merging with a blank-check company backed by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Zynga founder Mark Pincus, the Wall Street Journal reported. The SPAC, dubbed Reinvent Technology Partners Z, valued Hippo at $5 billion — nearly five times its valuation in July 2020. The deal includes a $550 million PIPE, or private investment in a public entity,

One discount retailer says it plans to open twice as many stores, due to industry disruption and a change in its strategy. Burlington Stores, which previously operated as Burlington Coat Factory, has a long-term plan of increasing its total store count to 2,000 locations, up from 1,000, Chain Store Age reported. The company currently operates 761 stores, and intends to open 100 new stores this fiscal year. The company is able to predict such an

To boost lending in low-income areas, the Biden administration will provide a $9 billion infusion to underserved financial institutions. The Treasury Department announced it would open applications for the Emergency Capital Investment Program, which will provide funding for Community Development Financial Institutions and Minority Depository Institutions, the New York Times reported. The program will invest in local lenders that support struggling communities with low-interest loans. Previous federal bailouts placed those institutions in the same category

A major mall owner is preparing for bankruptcy after it failed to make an interest payment on its debt. Washington Prime Group, a real estate investment trust which owns more than 100 malls, has been negotiating with its lender to reduce its debt — but the talks are not going well, Bloomberg News reported. The mall owner has said Covid-19 could impair its ability to repay debt going forward or threaten its ability to stay

A Brooklyn firm that excels at construction, not politics, is nonetheless cruising through the fraught rezoning process to erect a new headquarters in Gowanus. The key reason: The favor it’s seeking is to exclude the 270 parking spots that the current zoning would require. Monadnock Construction this week asked the City Planning Commission to let it build a 100,000-square-foot, mixed-use development at 300 Huntington Street, beside the neighborhood’s namesake canal. A decision is pending, after

When the real estate industry wanted an alternative route to comply with a New York City building emissions cap, it looked to Albany. This year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered one in his executive budget proposal. But that change, and other industry priorities, are now in jeopardy. Cuomo is facing calls from Democrats and Republicans to resign after three women accused him of sexual harassment. Even before those reports emerged, Assembly member Ron Kim had begun

When fast-fashion chain Mango agreed to sublease Ralph Lauren’s 28,000-square-foot Fifth Avenue store last November, the deal seemed like a win-win for both retailers. Mango would be able to explore the idea of having a store on one of the city’s most iconic shopping corridors, at a fraction of the cost. Ralph Lauren, meanwhile, was struggling due to the pandemic, and would have a chunk of its rent paid off. But the deal hasn’t worked