The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Sam Chang unloads Garment District hotel

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 04:35 PM PDT

Sam Chang has transferred majority ownership of a 320-key Garment District hotel he developed, marking the third New York hotel property he has unloaded in eight months. Radison opened the hotel at 525 Eighth Avenue in early 2020, but exited the location a short time later, following the city’s coronavirus lockdowns. Property records filed Friday show Chang — who leads McSam Hotel Group — and two other investors transferred 70 percent of the hotel’s leasehold

159 still missing: Surfside rescue mission frustrates condo victims’ loved ones

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 03:04 PM PDT

As heavy rains complicated the search and rescue operation for possible survivors of the Champlain Towers South collapse, family and friends of people believed to be trapped beneath the rubble stood by at a reunification site in Surfside on Thursday. Maurice Waxman, whose friend Harry Rosenberg is among the 159 people still missing, said he’s still hopeful more survivors will be found, including Rosenberg. “It’s very easy to go negative, but never lose sight of

Squid pro quo: Hamptonites offer cash, lavish gifts for dinner reservations

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 01:45 PM PDT

Waterfront homes aren’t the only types of property commanding premium prices in the Hamptons these days. So are spots at some of the East End’s most exclusive restaurants, according to the New York Post. For the privilege of dining at hotspots like Tutto Il giorno and Le Bilboquet, wealthy Hamptonites are offering up gifts to restaurant owners, servers and hosts. These arrangements include handing out cash, tickets to concerts, and rides on yachts and in

Photos: Devastation at Champlain Tower South

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 12:45 PM PDT

Alchemy-ABR nabs $250M loan for spec office tower project

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 12:00 PM PDT

After closing on its purchase of Calvary Baptist Church’s property on Billionaires’ Row, a joint venture landed $250 million in financing for its planned spec office tower development. Alchemy-ABR Investment Partners and equity partner Cain International secured the debt as part of a $330 million capitalization to redevelop the space, Commercial Observer reported. The loan will finance demolition of the site at 123-141 West 57th Street and construction of the 26-story tower. Cain supplied the

Another investment firm dips into single-family rentals

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 11:45 AM PDT

There’s a new single-family landlord on the block — and it’s another investor. KKR & Co. will invest real estate and private credit funds in the Miami-based platform My Community Homes, which will buy and manage rentals nationwide, Bloomberg reported. The platform’s debut follows a flood of investment into the single-family housing market by firms looking to buy and flip or rent properties to a growing number of millennials looking for larger spaces without the

WATCH: How to plan the New York City of 2050

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 11:15 AM PDT

A new administration is heading for New York City, but developer Jonathan Rose believes a plan for the next four years is not enough. “We need to have a collective vision,” Rose said in the latest episode of TRD’s Coffee Talk. That means planning for the New York of 2050, not 2024. “Say we want to be the best school system in the world,” Rose explained in an interview with TRD’s Hiten Samtani. “It’s a

First lawsuit filed in deadly Surfside condo collapse

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 10:34 AM PDT

The first known lawsuit has been filed in the aftermath of the Surfside condominium building collapse that left 159 missing and at least four dead. Unit owner and resident Manuel Drezner sued the Champlain Tower South Condominium Association, seeking class action status and more than $5 million in damages. Drezner, who owns unit 1009, alleges that the association could have prevented the calamity, but it did not properly oversee the tower, and it did not

Corcoran agent accused of racial, income discrimination by Section 8 renters

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 09:00 AM PDT

A New York couple is suing the Corcoran Group and one of its agents for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act. Gayle Leslie, 60, and Michael Jackson, 48, both Section 8 voucher recipients, accuse Corcoran agent Craig Hollander of leasing an apartment to someone else soon after learning of Jackson’s race. Leslie, who is white, met Hollander in January while touring Manhattan apartments, court documents show. During a showing at an Inwood apartment at 55

Last puff: Philip Morris exits 120 Park for Connecticut HQ

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 08:00 AM PDT

Tobacco behemoth Philip Morris International is leaving New York for its new headquarters in southwest Connecticut. The company is exiting its offices at Global Holdings Group’s 120 Park Avenue, according to the Wall Street Journal. About 200 employees from the 26-story Midtown East location — built in 1981 as its corporate headquarters — will move, said CEO Jacek Olczak. The company continues its shift away from tobacco products. A new location wasn’t specified, but Olczak

Selling out: South Florida condo developers report feverish market

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 07:00 AM PDT

A yet-to-be-built nightclub-branded condo tower in an underdeveloped area north of downtown Miami is nearly sold out just months after quietly launching sales. Blocks away, the developers of an as-yet-unbuilt condo tower at Miami Worldcenter bounced back after losing more than half their reservations as a result of the lockdown early on in the pandemic. It sold out by March. It’s a feverish market in South Florida. Developers throughout the region are reporting a rush

Fifty former Sears stores go to market

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 06:25 AM PDT

The owner of the defunct Sears franchise is looking to unload a chunk of properties. Andrea Olshan, chief executive officer of the real estate investment trust Seritage Growth Properties that bankrupt Sears formed five years ago, wants to sell 40 to 50 former stores to generate cash, Bloomberg News reported. The sales will also allow Seritage to concentrate on redeveloping remaining sites. The REIT owns over 200 stores. When Sears went belly-up in 2018, the

CBRE nabs REBNY’s top two “ingenious deal” awards

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Late last February, as the pandemic began to take hold of New York City, CBRE’s top investment sales broker team Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan closed on a $900 million sale of the 40-story office building at 330 Madison Avenue. The transaction was celebrated Wednesday with the Henry Hart Rice Achievement Award, the highest prize in the Real Estate Board of New York’s 77th annual Most Ingenious Deal of the Year competition. “In my decades

Brookfield suit aims to crack the code of 421a

Posted: 25 Jun 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Last week, Brookfield Properties sued the city over a denied application for 421a — the exemption that waives decades of property taxes for new apartment buildings that qualify. At first glance, the case looks like an attempt by New York’s most active developer to stop a monstrous property tax bill from landing on its doorstep. But a closer look reveals discrepancies between how the city and developers interpret the Affordable New York tax break. The