The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Over the past few months, New York elected officials and real estate groups have floated proposals to convert distressed hotel and office buildings into housing. Now one such plan, a government-funded program for nonprofits to take over properties and convert them into affordable housing, is poised to move forward. The state Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would allow the state’s Housing Trust Fund corporation — the agency that administers housing vouchers and other federally

Katara Hospitality has taken over the ground lease of the Dream Downtown hotel in a deal valued at $125 million, according to property records. The transaction resulted from an apparent default by Subrata Roy’s Sahara Group on an $80 million loan which Katara owned — and was secured by a leasehold on the hotel at 355 West 16th Street in Chelsea, records show. Katara, a subsidiary of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, granted Sahara forbearance on

One of the biggest single-asset commercial mortgage-backed security loans in history is set to close in a few weeks, according to a new rating report published Wednesday by DBRS Morningstar. A group of nine banks led by Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs is putting together a $3 billion refinancing for SL Green, the National Pension Service of Korea and Hines’ One Vanderbilt, with an estimated closing date of June 23, according to the report. The

Harris County is set to purchase a downtown Houston office building for close to $29 million. County commissioners gave the Harris County budget management’s office the go-ahead to complete the purchase of 1111 Fannin Street from Triten Real Estate Partners, during a June 8 meeting. The acquisition — which will conclude the county’s quest to centralize its operations — may not exceed $28.9 million, the commissioners said. The county will issue $29.6 million in bonds

Big money is pouring into single-family rentals. RET Ventures, a Utah-based venture capital firm, raised $165 million for a fund that plans to invest in technology for single-family rental and multifamily owners and operators across the U.S. The company surpassed its initial target of $130 million. Participants included affiliates of some of the largest apartment and single-family rental operators in America, among them Essex Property Trust, Invitation Homes, Mid-America Apartment Communities, Greystar Real Estate Group,

Hotel owners in the Big Apple have long kvetched that their property taxes are exorbitant. Now, in at least one case, a judge has agreed. The owner of the Marriott Courtyard near LaGuardia Airport won a years-long challenge when a court ordered its tax assessment cut by a whopping 85 percent. The hotel’s lawyer argued the city had overvalued the property. The challenge, which is for the fiscal years 2014-2015 through 2018-2019, reduced the hotel’s

Uniqlo’s deal with AB & Sons to buy its New York City flagship has been set in stone. Records filed Tuesday indicate that the Japanese clothing brand paid $160 million for the five-story, 95,500-square-foot property at 546 Broadway, which the retailer has occupied since 2006. The Real Deal first reported the transaction, with sources estimating that the price would be between $160 million and $200 million. The Soho property has been in the Chetrit family

If previous renovations of their properties are any indication, fashion icon Tommy Hilfiger and his handbag designer wife Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger will likely bring new life to their latest buy in Palm Beach. The couple paid $21 million for another home on the ritzy island, weeks after selling their Golden Beach mansion. The Hilfigers purchased the waterfront home at 313 Dunbar Road, property records show. Donald and Irene Dizney sold the three-bedroom, 5,047-square-foot house to

Real estate investment firm Madison Capital acquired two adjacent industrial lots in Red Hook for $45 million. The seller of the combined 160,000-square-foot sites at 688 and 702 Court Street was Pearl Realty’s Jack Guttman, according to property records. The parcels are zoned for industrial and manufacturing, with the ability to build nearly 320,000 square feet. PincusCo first reported the deal. With the acquisition, Madison Capital — which also owns Liberty Bklyn in Sunset Park

The only thing standing in the way of Hartz Mountain Industries’ plan to build a $98 million warehouse in Melville, with tax breaks from Suffolk County, is Hartz Mountain Industries. In a 5-1 vote last month, the county’s Industrial Development Agency board postponed approval of tax breaks for the project after backlash from three county legislators, a state assemblyman and construction unions about another Hartz project in Melville, Newsday reported. Hartz is seeking an incentive

 Investors are pouring money into real estate exchange-traded funds, in part as a bet on the storage and supply chain sectors. The $6.2 billion iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF saw $1.3 billion of inflows last week, its most ever, making it the second biggest gainer among ETFs. The $41.4 billion Vanguard Real Estate ETF brought in $338 million following its $1.2 billion of inflows in May, according to Bloomberg News. Though much of the activity

A developer’s decision to accept cryptocurrency as payment appears to have paid off, as a Miami-area penthouse just went for $22.5 million in digital tokens. The deal came weeks after Alex Sapir’s Arte by Antonio Citterio, in Surfside, began accepting cryptocurrency through a partnership with blockchain and securities trading platform SolidBlock. It is the largest known cryptocurrency real estate purchase ever. Forbes first reported the transaction, which was announced in an overlooked press release May

Following a week of fruitless negotiations with Senate Republicans to fund a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, President Joe Biden ended the talks without a deal. The failed bargaining efforts concluded with a Tuesday call with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, the lead Republican negotiator, the New York Times and other outlets reported. Republicans had long been unwilling to support the plan, given the spending required and tax hikes needed to fund the package.

Consolidation of the co-living market is accelerating. Common, among the fastest-growing co-living landlords, has reached an agreement with its former rival Starcity to take over management of the bulk of Starcity’s portfolio — about 7,500 units including both operating and pipeline units — around the globe, Common confirmed with The Real Deal. The acquisition came only several months after Starcity’s acquisition of Ollie, another co-living startup. New York-based Common currently manages about 6,400 units, including

Second-home startup Pacaso plans to offer its agents the company’s future stock on top of their commissions. The firm, founded by Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff and other former Zillow executives, is launching an equity program that will award 500 restricted stock units for buyer referrals. It will offer this program to its network of real estate agents, Pacaso owners or Pacaso employees. For agents, the units will be offered along with their standard commission of

A few years back, Greenwich developer Steven Schacter ventured a bet that within one of the country’s most expensive real estate markets lay a dormant demand for luxury rentals. Residents in the affluent Connecticut town skew older — nearly a quarter are seniors — and Schacter figured some empty nesters wanted more manageable digs. He and partner Eric Schwartz developed The Mill — two high-end apartment buildings equipped with concierge service at the town’s western