The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Slate Property Group has secured $90 million in construction financing for a mixed-use development in Forest Hills. Pacific Western Bank issued the senior loan, while Heitman provided the mezzanine loan for the loan, which will be used to facilitate construction at 69-65 Yellowstone Boulevard, Commercial Observer reported. At the time of the project’s groundbreaking in early April, David Schwartz, co-founder and principal of Slate Property Group, said in a statement to the Forest Hills Post

A tiny house on a little lot is causing a big to-do in Hauppauge. Neighbors of a 1,310-square-foot home going up on South Plaisted Avenue say a variance that allowed construction on the approximately 6,000-square-foot lot is upending their lives — literally, Newsday reported. Gail Castoro, a retired marketing underwriter who lives next door, said her fireplace mantle started to lean after construction started. “I’m praying my foundation holds,” she said. The property’s former landowner,

Singer-songwriter Marc Anthony sold his Bacardi-developed estate in Coral Gables for $22.4 million. The Grammy-winning Latin music artist, actor and record producer sold the 12-bedroom, 21,000-square-foot mansion at 300 Costanera Road in Cocoplum, according to the listing and social media posts. It was on the market for $27 million with Anamaria Velasquez of Nexxos Realty. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The buyer is unknown, and the deed has not yet

Real estate lawyers routinely hold millions of dollars in escrow for their clients, serving as trusted third parties to ensure funds are delivered and deals close properly. The attorneys safeguard the money for days, weeks and sometimes years. But how strong are the regulations preventing lawyers from looting that lockbox? Not very, it turns out. “It’s ripe for abuse,” attorney Si Aydiner said. “There is an avenue for people to take advantage of this type

Many companies are grappling with what office culture will look like in a post-pandemic world. For Saks, one thing is certain: The office will go back to being its primary workplace, with employees expected back at its Brookfield Place headquarters in September, the New York Times reported. The company’s CEO, Marc Metrick, aims to make a statement about the impact the office market has on other facets of New York City, including retail and tourism.

During the pre-coronavirus “retail apocalypse,” retail properties centered around transit hubs were seen as one of the few bright spots for the sector thanks to heavy foot traffic. For the past year, however, social distancing and remote work have decimated transit ridership, which has hit adjacent retail complexes particularly hard. Ashkenazy Acquisitions’ Union Station complex in Washington, D.C. is a prime example. A $330 million CMBS loan on the 420,000-square-foot mixed-use property is now considered

Volkswagen executive Johan Van de Nysschen wanted a record price for his Hoboken townhouse, and he got it. It took only a month. The 6,000-square-foot home at 113 Grand Street sold for $5.25 million, making it the most expensive single-family townhome sale in Hoboken history. Built in 1897, the building served as a milk-bottling plant before being converted to a residence. Van de Nysschen did his own gut-renovation and redesign. The open floor plan features

The Biden administration proposed dramatically expanding the inheritance tax on wealthy Americans. House Democrats are pumping the brakes. Democratic lawmakers are discussing a range of alternatives that would weaken Biden’s ambitious plans for taxing estates’ capital gains, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. In an effort to finance social programs as part of the president’s American Families Plan, the Biden administration has proposed ending “step-up in basis,” a provision which allows heirs to use the market value of

The state Senate is taking another shot at making it easier to convert distressed hotels and office buildings into affordable housing. Lawmakers have amended a bill that would enable the state’s housing regulator to transform distressed hotels and office buildings into permanently affordable housing, which would then be managed by nonprofits. Such conversions were initially contemplated as part of the state budget, but the Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal was panned by elected officials and housing

Clipper Equity’s David Bistricer has landed a $79 million construction loan for a 143-unit residential building project in Williamsburg. Bistricer told The Real Deal that construction for the seven-story rental apartment building at 118 Hope Street has recently begun. The de Blasio administration approved the plans in early March 2020, just days before the city went into lockdown. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 24 months, Bistricer said. The lender was Bank Leumi, and

Broadway might not be back yet, but the stars of Hamilton are ready for business. Lin-Manuel Miranda and other members behind the hit show are the new owners of a century-old Manhattan specialty store that will reopen June 10, the New York Times reported. Drama Book Shop will have a new look at its 266 West 39th Street location, just a block from its most recent location at 266 West 40th Street, the publication reported.

Alloy Development’s massive Downtown Brooklyn skyscraper is undergoing some changes. The developer is scrapping 100,000 square feet of office space at the first phase of 80 Flatbush Avenue and instead adding more apartments, Bklyner reported. The total number of units will rise from 257 to 441, about 45 of which will be affordable. The project was originally going to be developed in two phases, the first of which would include a 44-story, 480-foot tower at

HFZ Capital’s portfolio of high-end New York City apartments is slowly eroding. Ziel Feldman’s development firm has transferred 21 co-ops at the Chatsworth, its Upper West Side co-op conversion, to its lender, an affiliate of Starwood Capital. The deal was first reported by PincusCo and hit city records in early May. Starwood did not return a request for comment. The sale comes after a Starwood entity sued HFZ for $157 million in October. The lender

Commercial real estate investors have high hopes that major office markets will return to normal in the near future, but most aren’t betting on it just yet. Nearly three-quarters of real estate industry professionals believe that office leasing velocity in major cities will return to pre-pandemic levels within the next four years, according to a new survey by law firm Morrison & Foerster, which polled over 500 CRE stakeholders across the U.S. in April and

With global supply chains, an inherent need for on-site workers and a client base that depends on optimism, construction firms faced challenges on several fronts when the pandemic shook the world economy last spring. Suppliers scrambled to secure materials, rapidly shifting regulations shut down projects for months, and economic uncertainty led to a plunge in new starts as many developers opted to wait things out. But a year on from the initial shock, general contractors

A penthouse in Mercedes House, the 31-story luxury building that snakes across a block in Hell’s Kitchen, would set you back $8,000 per month — but the rent can’t go up much from there. A lawsuit filed by a limited liability company, MH 770-54th Street, alleges that the tenants of PHE, a two-bedroom apartment at the luxury building, stopped paying rent last April, and now owe nearly $100,000. According to the lawsuit, they have a