The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Hudson Companies lands $210M condo loan on BK Heights tower

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 02:54 PM PDT

Brooklyn Heights’ tallest condo tower just landed a $210 million condo inventory loan. Hudson Companies secured the financing for 1 Clinton Street from the newly launched lending arm of Michael Kirchmann and Alan Rudikoff’s GDSNY development company, according to brokers who negotiated the deal. The new debt refinances a $280 million construction loan provided by Starwood Property Trust (later sold to Silverstein Capital Partners) and Related Fund Management for the project in 2017, and is

Apple delays return to office by a month

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 02:30 PM PDT

Apple will delay its employees’ return to the office by a month, becoming the latest company to change its plans as the Delta variant spreads. Employees were expected to return to the office in early September. They are now expected to return by Oct. 1 at the earliest, according to the New York Times. The company is planning to give a month’s notice before any return to the office, giving them the option to push

Albany passes good cause eviction bill. Tenant advocates vow rest of NY is next

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 01:33 PM PDT

First Albany, next the entire state? That is the hope of tenant advocates encouraged by the passage of a “good cause eviction” measure by Albany’s Common Council Monday night. The bill caps annual rent increases at 5 percent and lays out other conditions that must be met for a landlord to evict a tenant. The bill’s passage is a major victory for tenant advocates, who have been pushing for a statewide version of good cause

Tom Barrack arrested, charged with lobbying Trump for UAE

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 12:21 PM PDT

UPDATED July 20, 2021, 6:08 p.m.: Real estate titan Tom Barrack was arrested on Tuesday morning on federal charges tied to illegally lobbying Donald Trump for the United Arab Emirates, according to the Department of Justice. A seven-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Barrack, Matthew Grimes and Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, also known as “Rashid Al Malik” and “Rashid Al‑Malik,” a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, with

Keller Williams launches national brokerage for agents pursuing new markets

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 12:16 PM PDT

Some agent teams grow so big and powerful that they decide to leave their brokerages behind to build businesses of their own. Rather than letting agents outgrow the nest, why not just make the nest bigger? A new nationwide brokerage launched by Keller Williams aims to do just that, the real estate franchise announced Tuesday. The KW Expansion Network will support top agent teams at Keller Williams that want to grow beyond their local markets

Employees revolt against return-to-office edicts

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 10:45 AM PDT

Momentum for a broad return to the workplace this summer is fizzling in the face of uprisings from employees reluctant to assume the risks of office life — or surrender the perks of working from home. More than seven in 10 office workers were still working remotely as of May, according to a Gallup study, and two-thirds of them want it to stay that way. In what some economists have already dubbed the “Great Resignation,”

Democrats look to curtail tax break for “pass-through” businesses

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 10:15 AM PDT

A tax break beneficial to “pass through” businesses — including real estate trusts — is in the crosshairs of congressional Democrats. On Tuesday, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, led by chairman Ron Wyden, will unveil a measure that targets the 20 percent deduction granted to such businesses, which also include law firms and family farms, according to the New York Times. The tax break was part of the Republican tax cut signed into law

Kite Realty to acquire Retail Properties of America for nearly $3B

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 09:45 AM PDT

Kite Realty Group has agreed to pay $2.79 billion to add rival Retail Properties of America to its open-air shopping center portfolio, making the real estate investment trust the nation’s fifth-largest and giving it cheaper access to capital for expansion. If shareholders approve the deal, Oak Brook, Illinois-based Retail Properties of America will become a subsidiary of Kite, based in Indianapolis, with 185 open-air centers and about 32 million square feet of leasable space. The

Film studio planned for East Fishkill in Hudson Valley

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 09:00 AM PDT

More lights, camera and action are headed to the Hudson Valley, as a film studio is coming to iPark 84, the former IBM campus in East Fishkill. More details on the Dutchess County film studio are to be announced July 31. National Resources, the developer at the site, will construct a new building, according to the Albany Times-Union. The film facility will use an existing portion of iPark in addition to a custom build. It

San Francisco rents rebounded in first half of 2021

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 08:00 AM PDT

San Francisco rents have rebounded dramatically this year, according to a new report from Apartment List. In June, median rents were up 17 percent year-to-date, according to data collected by the rental listing site. Rents were up almost 3 percent just from May to June. Even with the rise, the June 2021 median rent of around $2,300 is still 14 percent below what landlords were getting in March 2020, when one-bedroom apartments were renting for

NYC buys 14 more cluster sites for $122M

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 07:17 AM PDT

New York City is shelling out $122 million to purchase 14 cluster sites in the Bronx, with plans to convert them into permanent affordable housing. The purchase covers 777 affordable units, including 554 units for families experiencing homelessness. The deal for the buildings closed on June 23, according to the nonprofit news outlet City Limits. In total, the housing will be available for approximately 1,500 people. Some of the residents already live in the units,

Brooklyn sees 21 luxury contracts signed — again

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 06:48 AM PDT

Twenty-one contracts asking $2 million or more were signed in Brooklyn last week for the second week in a row, according to Compass’s weekly report. That total ends a five-week slide in the number of contracts signed in the borough, though it’s still well below sales activity in May, when weeks with 40 or more luxury deals were a regular occurrence. Taken together, the asking prices of these contracts were slightly higher this time around,

Joe Tsai revealed as buyer in $157M 220 Central Park South condo deal

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 06:15 AM PDT

Over a month after the reported $157.5 million purchase of two condo units in Vornado’s 220 Central Park South, the buyer has finally been revealed. Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai is the billionaire behind the massive transaction, believed to be the third-largest home purchase in American history, CNBC reported Monday. The sales — $82.5 million for the 60th floor and $75 million for the 61st — were previously reported in June, prior to the identification of

Werwaiss Properties plans 37-story mixed-use tower in LIC

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Not content with just one new tower in Long Island City, local developer Werwaiss Properties has filed plans for its second major mixed-use project in the neighborhood in a little over a year. The family-owned real estate firm is planning a 230,000 square-foot mixed-use building at 23-02 42nd Road in Long Island City with 240 residential units and about 10,000 square feet of commercial space, according to an application filed this week. Located just a

A condo building couldn’t collapse in NYC. Or could it?

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Basement leaks and cracks. Faulty mechanical and electrical systems. Porous roofs and crumbling facades. You name it, Howard Zimmerman has probably seen it. A specialist in diagnosing the ailments of New York City’s aging buildings, Zimmerman fields requests from condominiums and cooperatives for his take on what should be done. But often, his recommendations disappear into the void of boardroom bureaucracy. “I would say two of three reports are shelved,” the architect said. “They don’t

Contract killers: Construction disputes spell disaster for projects

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 04:30 AM PDT

Days before the opening of New York City’s second-tallest building, workers in Navillus T-shirts scurried around the construction site. Their presence at SL Green’s trophy project, One Vanderbilt, raised eyebrows: Two months earlier, the concrete contractor’s CEO had been arrested on fraud charges. And before that, SL Green had fired Navillus, fearing it was going bankrupt. But the insurer of Navillus’ work had rehired the firm. “We asked [Liberty Mutual] to step up and perform

Lev raises $30M Series A round

Posted: 20 Jul 2021 03:00 AM PDT

New York City–based Lev completed a $30 million Series A funding round to help expand its commercial real estate finance platform. The two-year-old startup, which uses data and automation to help building owners compare and secure financing, raised the funds from venture capital firm Greenspring Associates and First American Title. Previous investors including NFX, Canaan Partners, JLL Spark, Animo Ventures and Ludlow Ventures all participated in the new round as well. Lev co-founder Yaakov Zar