The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Vornado, Empire State Realty Trust pledge total carbon neutrality by 2035

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 03:54 PM PDT

Empire State Realty Trust and Vornado Realty Trust have committed to reaching carbon neutrality across their entire New York state real estate portfolios by 2035. The firms, which together account for more than 16 million square feet of real estate in New York, are two of 10 major landlords that entered a new public-private partnership with the state, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced Wednesday. Launched in September, the “Empire

Ziel Feldman, Nir Meir accused of fraud over $30M loan

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 03:25 PM PDT

The legal troubles continue for HFZ Capital Group’s Ziel Feldman and its former principal Nir Meir: Another lender has sued the developer and his one time colleague, accusing the pair of fraud and breach of contract. Israeli tech magnate Avishai Abrahami, who founded Wix.com, filed a complaint Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court, alleging that in September 2020, Feldman and Meir pledged HFZ’s equity interest in three buildings as collateral to secure a $30

Moinian deal with SL Green values Sky apartments at $850M

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 02:33 PM PDT

Joe Moinian and SL Green Realty have struck a deal at their massive Sky apartment tower that values the Far West Side building at more than $850 million. The Moinian Group has a contract to buy SL Green’s 20-percent stake in the 71-story tower at 605 West 42nd Street, sources told The Real Deal. SL Green announced Wednesday afternoon that it had come to terms on a deal to sell its stake for about $53

A&E buying SL Green apartments at $130M valuation

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 02:18 PM PDT

A&E Real Estate has reached an agreement to buy another of SL Green Realty’s apartment buildings in a deal that values the property at more than $130 million. The privately held multifamily investor has signed a contract to buy 400 East 57th Street, sources familiar with the transaction told The Real Deal. SL Green announced Wednesday afternoon that it was in contract to sell the 263-unit property at a gross valuation of $133.5 million, but

Appraiser cuts Meatpacking District store’s valuation to the bone

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 01:49 PM PDT

A Meatpacking District landlord got burned by its tenant — and now, the valuation of its storefront has been chopped. The clothing store AllSaints has not paid rent at its 11,862-square-foot space at 415 West 13th Street since March 2020, according to Trepp, which tracks mortgage data. But as a result, the property’s valuation fell by over 70 percent to $13 million from nearly $50 million in 2016. RREEF Real Estate, an affiliate of Deutsche

Goooooool: Lionel Messi’s family scores condo in South Florida

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 12:45 PM PDT

The family of Lionel Messi, one of the top soccer players in the world, picked up a luxury condo in Sunny Isles Beach, The Real Deal has learned. Messi’s family paid $7.3 million for the entire ninth floor at Regalia, a condo tower at 19575 Collins Avenue, sources told TRD. The purchase comes nearly two and a half years after the soccer superstar paid $5 million for a unit at Porsche Design Tower about 10

This is your home on tech

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 12:00 PM PDT

Listings With the M&A market for listings services heating up, eyeballs are worth a lot more than they used to be. CoStar bought national search portal Homesnap for $250 million in November, pitting the CRE data giant against Zillow, Realtor.com and others in the residential game. CoStar also tried to buy CoreLogic and RentPath these past few months but failed in part due to scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission. But CoStar’s loss was Redfin’s

Tech workers plan to head back to offices by Q3

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 11:15 AM PDT

By September, a slew of workers may be finally returning to their offices. That’s according to a new report by Savills, which surveyed more than 120 tech companies in March about their future office plans. More than 50 percent said they expect to be back in the office by the third quarter of this year. Twenty-four percent said they would be back by the fourth quarter, while just 11 percent said they wouldn’t return until

Asbury Park residents choose less stringent rent control

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 10:45 AM PDT

Residents of a Jersey Shore town had a choice on Tuesday: enact a previously approved rent control measure, or opt for a stricter version. They decided to stick with the former. Last month, the Asbury Park City Council voted unanimously to cap rent increases at 3.5 percent or the region’s Consumer Price Index as set by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whichever is higher. The decision was in response to a move by the Asbury

Chinese bank seeks foreclosure of RFR and Vanke’s Midtown condo project

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 10:27 AM PDT

Nearly a year after RFR Holding and Vanke US defaulted on the construction loan for their Midtown condo tower, the lender has run out of patience. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China seeks to put the 63-story project’s unsold units into receivership and, if necessary, foreclose. “Because the borrower is not selling condominium units and has ceased paying its real estate taxes, a receiver is necessary to

Buenas noticias: Hispanic homeownership soars

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 09:00 AM PDT

Hispanic homeownership had its biggest annual increase last year in two decades. As buyers — younger ones in particular — flooded the market in 2020, the number of Hispanic-homeowner households grew by more than 700,000 to nearly 9 million, according to Census data compiled by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. The Wall Street Journal first reported the analysis, which was released Wednesday. Hispanics account for more than half of U.S. homeownership growth

Park Slope townhouses top Brooklyn’s luxury contracts

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 08:15 AM PDT

Though Brooklyn’s luxury market saw fewer contracts signed last week, sales volume was higher thanks to two big sales in Park Slope. The two townhouses — both on 1st Street — topped last week’s list of homes asking $2 million or more in Brooklyn, according to Compass’ weekly report on the borough’s luxury market. The list saw contracts signed for 19 townhouses, nine condos and one co-op. The total volume inched up to $97.5 million

Bonkers season on tap for summer vacation rentals

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 07:30 AM PDT

After a year of putting travel plans on hold, Americans are eager to embark on their next trip. But finding a place to stay domestically may not be as easy as in years past. By the end of March, 90 percent of vacation homes listed on Vrbo in the Jersey Shore and Cape Cod were booked for July, the New York Times reported. Compare that to 2019, when more than 30 percent of the listings

Mortgage rates dip, triggering surge in loan requests

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 07:00 AM PDT

When mortgage rates dropped last week to their lowest levels in two months, buyers pounced. After three weeks of mortgage applications falling, a Mortgage Bankers Association index tracking them surged 8.6 percent. The group’s refinancing index jumped even more, rising 10 percent from the previous week, though it was still 23 percent lower than it was a year ago. “MBA expects the purchase market to remain strong, with the recovering job market and supportive demographics

Mayoral candidate runs away from ex-employer Phipps Houses

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 06:30 AM PDT

Dianne Morales’ past as an executive at nonprofit developer Phipps is making her longshot bid for mayor that much harder. Morales spent the past 10 years as CEO of Phipps Neighborhoods, the social-services arm of Phipps Houses, one of the city’s largest affordable housing builders. Phipps has been included on an annual “worst evictors” list and been criticized for its maintenance of its buildings and other matters involving tenants and union 32BJ SEIU, Politico reported.

WeWork vet hired to launch Two Sigma’s real estate fund

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 06:00 AM PDT

The former head of WeWork’s real estate investment arm has joined the quantitative hedge fund Two Sigma to help launch its new property investment platform. Rich Gomel joined the data-centric hedge fund as chief investment officer for its new Two Sigma Real Estate platform, the company announced Wednesday. “We’re focused on where we think the data and technology give us the most competitive advantage,” Gomel said. He added Two Sigma will use data sets like

Sprawling Bed-Stuy condo complex lands $105M in financing

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 05:30 AM PDT

A massive condo project at the site of the former Cascade Linen factory has sewed up $105 million in financing. G4 Capital Partners provided the debt, which consists of a $20 million construction financing, a $30 million land loan and a $55 million condo inventory loan secured by 167 residential units across four buildings, sources told The Real Deal. Galaxy Capital Solutions’ Henry Bodek brokered the deal. Cascade is being developed by Abraham Brach’s Signature

Delivery startup Jokr plans huge NYC expansion

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 05:00 AM PDT

A new delivery startup believes it can rival Amazon or Instacart when it comes to cheap, fast delivery — thanks, in part, to an ambitious plan to turn as many as 100 storefront locations in New York into micro-fulfillment centers. Jokr, founded by German entrepreneur Ralf Wenzel, has a bold promise: that it can deliver goods to consumers within 15 minutes. Customers use an app to order items, which are then ferried from those storefronts.

Titans of the towers: TRD’s annual ranking of NYC’s top investment sales firms

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 04:30 AM PDT

The biggest investment sales deal of the year didn’t even involve brokerages. In March, Amazon bought the landmarked Lord & Taylor building at 424 Fifth Avenue for $978 million. The e-commerce giant did a direct deal with the seller, a joint venture of Rhone Capital, Hudson’s Bay Company and WeWork, which originally planned to renovate the 660,000-square-foot building to use as its corporate headquarters. The deal, which worked out to about $1,480 per square foot,

Developers, city race to get approvals before regime change

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Within the next eight months, the de Blasio administration hopes to rezone two neighborhoods and upend hotel construction citywide. At the same time, more than four dozen private rezoning applications aim to win City Council support — or risk restarting negotiations with a new regime. Any election year would add urgency to the approval process for zoning changes, special permits and other types of applications, but this year the pressure is even greater because the