The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Real estate industry forced to take sides on Cuomo

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 04:20 PM PDT

To put it mildly, things are not looking good for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Most of the entire political establishment has deserted him in the wake of investigators confirming allegations that he sexually harassed 11 women and ruled by “fear and intimidation.” Previous holdouts including Speaker Carl E. Heastie and President Joe Biden called Tuesday for him to step down. But the response from the real estate industry, which had considered Cuomo largely an

Offering memorandum coming for Surfside collapse site

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 02:40 PM PDT

An offering memorandum for the Surfside condominium collapse site could be ready within a month, as Avison Young smooths out zoning and other details for the former Champlain Towers South property. In the meantime, an appraiser is determining the fair market value of each of the units, as a way to hammer out disbursements to survivors and victims’ families from the future sale. Avison Young’s planned offering memorandum for 8777 Collins Avenue is the latest

Colliers reports major rebound in revenue

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 02:17 PM PDT

Colliers International reported $946 million revenue in the second quarter, up 72 percent from a year ago and 27 percent from 2019. The strong performance was seen across the board except for office leasing. “Office leasing is anything but clear right now, and I think that applies virtually around the world,” said Jay Hennick, Colliers’ chairman and CEO, during an earnings call Wednesday. Hennick said office tenants are taking time to understand how to configure

$50M penthouse at 56 Leonard Street goes into contract

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 01:45 PM PDT

There is one fewer piece of Tribeca’s “Jenga Building” available after a penthouse asking $50 million went into contract. The penthouse spans the top two floors of 56 Leonard Street. Listing broker Clayton Orrigo of Compass told the New York Post that the pending deal marks the biggest Downtown penthouse sale so far this year. The anonymous buyer will be getting a 7,779-square-foot unit with five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, three terraces totaling

Upcoming issue: Surreal estate

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 01:00 PM PDT

A 14-foot-tall, bright red bunny rabbit in the lobby of an office building. A grifting developer skimming quarters from a laundromat. A landlord allegedly threatening tenants with a gun that didn’t exist. A politician fighting to strengthen foreclosure protections — while his own home is in foreclosure. In the words of a Nobel Prize laureate, something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is. But these are neither Dalí-painted scenes nor Bob Dylan

Wells, Morgan Stanley to provide Paramount’s $860M refi at 1301 Sixth Avenue

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 12:10 PM PDT

Paramount Group has reeled in its big refi. An $860 million package — one of the largest since the pandemic — at 1301 Sixth Avenue will be provided by Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley, the Commercial Observer reported. Tenants occupy just 71 percent of the office building’s 1.7 million square feet, although low interest rates have helped borrowers restructure debt rather than sell at distressed prices. Paramount’s $850 million of debt on the building was

Durst sues Landmark Theatres for $49M in damages, unpaid rent at UWS cinema

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 11:20 AM PDT

Landmark Theatres may have played its final film at its Upper West Side cinema, but now it’s starring in a horror movie of its own. The Durst Organization is suing the arthouse theater chain for $49 million in damages and unpaid rent at its Landmark 57 West location. Landmark signed a 20-year lease for the space in 2016, says Durst spokesman Jordan Barowitz. However, the tenant sought to renegotiate the terms after real estate mogul

Casino REIT Vici Properties acquires MGM Growth Properties in $17B deal

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 10:30 AM PDT

Real-estate investment trust Vici Properties is gambling big bucks on a leader in the resort and casino business, agreeing to buy fellow REIT MGM Growth Properties in a deal that values the latter company at $17.2 billion. Vici will assume about $5.7 billion in debt in the transaction. MGM Resorts, which spun off MGM Growth Properties back in 2016 but remains in its control, will receive about $4.4 billion in cash in the stock-for-stock deal,

Multifamily, industrial sales highlight strong week for mid-market deals

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 10:11 AM PDT

The multifamily market got a shot in the arm last week as affordable housing developers picked up distressed properties from All Year Management in Park Slope, while developer ZD Jasper bought land for a 90,000-square-foot residential building in Hunters Point. Israel Perlmutter sold a 20-unit mixed-use building in Williamsburg to Joel Rubin and Abraham Leifer of Aview Equities unloaded a parcel from a Downtown Brooklyn assemblage that never quite panned out. Meanwhile, industrial properties kept

Chatham Lodging Trust buys two Marriott-branded hotels in Austin for $71M

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 09:07 AM PDT

Chatham Lodging Trust is expanding its lodging portfolio in Texas, taking advantage of demand from tech companies. The West Palm Beach-based REIT acquired a 132-key Residence Inn and a 137-key TownePlace Suites for $71.2 million, the company announced on Wednesday. Both hotels are located at the Domain — a mixed-use complex where Amazon, Facebook and IBM have offices. Addison-based Texas Western Hospitality previously owned both hotels, property records show. It opened the TownePlace Suites hotel

Flex workspace tech firm essensys eyes US, APAC expansion

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 08:10 AM PDT

Armed with fresh funding, the flexible workspace software provider essensys is expanding its presence in the U.S. and Asia. The U.K.-based firm, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2019, raised $46 million in a primary share placement and plans to use the funds to double its U.S. workforce in the coming year, Jeremy Bernard, the firm’s North America CEO, told The Real Deal. The company also will expand in the Asia-Pacific region, having

Madison Realty Capital aims to foreclose on Hello Living’s 1580 Nostrand Ave

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 07:26 AM PDT

Hello Living will be saying goodbye to its residential project at 1580 Nostrand Avenue if Madison Realty Capital succeeds in its foreclosure attempt. The rights for a 100 percent ownership stake in the Brooklyn apartment development are slated for a Uniform Commercial Code foreclosure sale Sept. 2, Commercial Observer reported. Hello Living, helmed by Eli Karp, is developing the 210-unit luxury rental building in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Of the units, 95 are said to be near

Black realtor and client handcuffed for showing home

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 06:36 AM PDT

A Black real estate agent in Michigan is accusing local police of racial profiling after he, a client and the client’s son were handcuffed during the showing of a home. Eric Brown was inside the house in Wyoming, Michigan, with client Roy Thorne and Thorne’s 15-year-old son on Sunday when police were seen gathering outside the house. Thorne tried to introduce himself from the window, according to Newsweek. The police then reportedly ordered all three

Fidi landlord accused of permitting massage parlor prostitution

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 06:00 AM PDT

Ay, there’s the rub: New York City is suing the owner of 27 Whitehall Street to shut down Happy Life Massage Parlor, alleging the third-floor tenant was offering sex for money. On three occasions this spring, female employees at the Fidi parlor made that overture to undercover police officers, according to a lawsuit filed by the city Tuesday. The suit says members of the public complained about the business to the NYPD Crime Stoppers program.

His portfolio decimated, Isaac Kassirer gets creative with rents

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 05:00 AM PDT

In the Highbridge section of the Bronx, the tenants of 272 units are fighting to keep their buildings rent-stabilized so they might, in turn, keep their homes. Their adversary is building owner Isaac Kassirer, a multifamily investor known for deregulating units to pull in market-rate rents — a business model encouraged by the old rent-stabilization law. “Profit hungry,” is how Ezinwanyi Ukegbu, a supervising attorney at Bronx Legal Services, characterized such landlords. But when the

ClimateCheck data added to Redfin listings

Posted: 04 Aug 2021 04:00 AM PDT

The real estate industry has made another gesture to climate change, with Redfin adding metrics to assess risk on its home listings. Climate data company ClimateCheck will provide a risk ranking for Redfin listings in all locations, according to Inman. ClimateCheck data has already been added to websites RealScout and Ojo Labs, the publication reported. Redfin listings will include a rating for fire, heat, drought and storm risks over the course of 30 years, the