The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

More than a month after the legislature approved it, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed a measure that expands commercial eviction and foreclosure protections for some small businesses until May. The measure, which was passed by the Senate and Assembly in late January, allows businesses with 50 or fewer employees to avoid evictions through at least May 1 by filing a financial hardship declaration. Owners of 10 or fewer commercial units can also fill out a

The former home of Eleanor Roosevelt is back on the market with a new price and drastic makeover. The owners, Meera Gandhi and her ex-husband Vikram Gandhi, have been trying to sell the famed first lady’s Upper East Side townhouse since 2018, when the 8,500-square-foot home was initially listed for $19.95 million with Douglas Elliman’s Lisa Simonsen. After a year passed with no takers, the home, at 55 East 74th Street, was taken off the

A startup brokerage hit Zillow Group with an antitrust lawsuit on Tuesday, alleging the listing giant stifles competition and ultimately leaves consumers paying stuck with high commission fees. Rex — Real Estate Exchange, a VC-backed brokerage based in Austin — claims that Zillow recently made changes to its website that prevent buyers from seeing all available listings, including lower-fee listings from independent firms. In a statement, Rex CEO Jack Ryan, a former Goldman Sachs executive,

Maefield Development’s Times Square Edition is one step closer to foreclosure. A judge granted the hotel’s lenders, led by Natixix SA, the right to foreclose on the 42-story property, owned by Mark Siffin’s development firm, Bloomberg News reported. The property — designed by Marriott International and major hotelier Ian Schrager — has faced foreclosure since December 2019 when the providers of a $650 million loan on the property sued the owner, citing “numerous undischarged mechanics’

Yankees Hall of Famer Derek Jeter has relisted his lakefront mansion outside New York City with a $2 million price cut. The five-time World Series champion swung and missed on the first offering, and is now asking $12.75 million for the Greenwood Lake mansion, according to Mansion Global. Jeter and his wife Hannah, first listed the 12,000-square-foot home in 2018, then pulled it from the market a year later. The castle-style property was built in

The first week of March saw a surge in high-priced townhouses going into contract in Brooklyn. Deals for 19 properties asking $2 million or more were inked last week, on par with the previous week’s 18 contracts signed, according to Compass’ weekly report. However, the combined volume of last week’s deals soared to $60 million, an increase over the previous week’s total volume of $46.2 million. The median asking price was $2.7 million, up slightly

Sonic, founded in 1953 in Oklahoma as Sonic Drive-In, will try to make it in New York. The fast-food chain is opening its first location in Manhattan at 966 Sixth Avenue, between West 35th and West 36th streets. Sonic will take over 2,000 square feet of space, replacing a closed Pax Wholesome Foods at the Midtown location. Booth Advisors represented Sonic in the deal. Metropolitan Impex owns the property. Other details on the lease were

Nile Niami is done with “The One” but his financial troubles are mounting. Saddled with debt, the spec mansion developer is facing foreclosure on the recently-completed 100,000-square-foot Bel Air property, according to the Los Angeles Times. Niami borrowed $82.5 million from Hankey Capital in 2018 to build the sprawling mansion, and that debt has since grown to around $110 million, the paper reported. Hankey just served a notice of default on The One, giving Niami

The largest penthouse at Ian Schrager’s Public Hotel quietly sold at a $1 million loss last month, property records show. The 4,300-square-foot unit, dubbed Penthouse 1, is the largest of 11 luxury condos at the top of the building. The apartment was never officially listed before it went into contract in late January for $18 million. The off-market sale closed about a month later on Feb. 26. PincusCo first reported the transaction. The deal pencils

Donald Trump is in New York City this week to check in on his family’s real estate business, according to a new report. The former president has shown interest in working more with the Trump Organization, which is a major reason for his New York City trip, according to the New York Daily News, citing a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Trump kept his ownership position in his real estate firm throughout

Community preservation groups were unable to stop the razing of a historic bank building in Flatbush. Demolition has begun at the 94-year old Flatbush Savings Bank, at 1045 Flatbush Avenue next to the Kings Theatre, according to Bklyner. Community activists such as Respect Brooklyn tried to get the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to step in, but according to the commission, a historic designation would not have mattered anyway. (Contrary to popular belief, landmarks can be

One Thousand Museum, the luxury downtown Miami condo tower designed by the late Zaha Hadid, is facing a foreclosure lawsuit, The Real Deal has learned. Reuben Brothers, the London-based private equity and investment firm led by British billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben, sued to foreclose on the remaining 15 unsold units at the skyscraper at 1000 Biscayne Boulevard, according to a filing obtained by TRD. The lender sued 1000 Biscayne Tower, 1000 Biscayne Mezz

As companies consider how they can safely bring employees back to offices, mobile apps that can monitor worker movements — and thus ensure they’re abiding by Covid-19 safety protocols — are growing in popularity. One such app, Rise Buildings, is set to be acquired by New York startup VTS for around $100 million, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the transaction. Rise is a Chicago-based startup that has a mobile app used

What retail meltdown? While department and chain stores have been suffering since even before the pandemic, discount retailers — including Five Below, HomeGoods, TJ Maxx and Dollar General — are ramping up to open more stores in the next few months. TJX, the parent company of TJ Maxx and Marshalls, will open 81 stores across its brands in 2021, Business Insider reported. It has big plans in particular for HomeGoods, with plans to grow its

After intense pushback from development-averse community groups and a rejection by the height-averse Landmarks Preservation Commission, the Howard Hughes Corporation has revised its plans for a major South Street Seaport project. The proposed development at 250 Water Street will look a bit different from what the developer originally envisioned. A revised design by architect Skidmore, Owings & Merrill will shrink the project’s size by about 27 percent, from 757,000 square feet to 550,000 square feet.

The vultures will have to keep circling Manhattan’s office buildings. Ladder Capital saved a pair of Midtown office buildings from possible foreclosure last week, when it provided R&B Realty Group just under $51 million to pay off its loans, the landlord told The Real Deal. R&B’s buildings at 28 West 36th Street and 32 West 39th Street were the subject of a lawsuit in February, when the landlord filed a case to stop mortgage investor

The housing market is becoming even more competitive. The sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes sell to their asking price, was 99.6 percent during the four-week period ending Feb. 28. That’s 1.6 percentage points higher than the same period last year, Inman reported, citing data from Redfin. The ratio ended February on a high note, hitting 99.9 percent for the final week. The median home sale price in the four-week period ending Feb.