The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

The Weeknd’s $70M Bel Air buy vies for priciest of year

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 03:00 PM PDT

Ladies and gentlemen, The Weeknd…just paid $70 million for a Bel Air mansion, among the priciest residential deals in Los Angeles this year. The musician, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, bought the sprawling mansion on Barnaby Road in an off-market deal, according to the Wall Street Journal. The sellers were Dutch media figure Reinout Oerlemans and wife Danielle, who bought the home that overlooks the Bel Air Country Club in 2015 for $21.4 million.

Back in business: City marshals prep for wave of eviction orders

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 02:35 PM PDT

The pandemic had a detrimental impact on business across numerous occupations. City marshals were no exception, with state and federal eviction bans preventing the civil servants from enforcing actions against tenants. New York City Marshals are preparing to get back to work after a Supreme Court ruling last week struck down a key provision in New York’s eviction moratorium allowing tenants to self-attest economic hardship due to the pandemic. Thousands of eviction cases stayed by

Sun Equity pays $100M for San Antonio apartment portfolio

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 02:00 PM PDT

Investment and development firm Sun Equity Partners paid just under $109 million for a portfolio of four apartment complexes in San Antonio. The properties total 1,230 units and 975,000 square feet. They are: Park Vista Apartment Homes, Pearl Park Apartment Homes, Merida Apartment Homes and La Silva Apartment Homes. The complexes were all built between 1964 and 1986. Rosewood Realty Group announced the sale and brokered the deal. CEO Aaron Jungreis represented New York-based Sun

Neil Patrick Harris lists legendary brownstone for — wait for it — $7M

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 01:39 PM PDT

Buyers, suit up: Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka’s massive home just hit the market. Harris, the “How I Met Your Mother” and “A Series of Unfortunate Events” star, and Burtka, who appeared in both shows, listed their Harlem home at 2036 Fifth Avenue for $7.3 million, or $916 per square foot. Vickey Barron and Pacey Barron of Compass have the listing. The asking price is more than twice the $3.6 million they paid for

VTS CTO Niall Smart and COO Patrick Kehoe resign

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 01:03 PM PDT

Two members of VTS’ C-suite bid the company farewell this week. Niall Smart, chief technology officer at the New York–based proptech firm, and Patrick Kehoe, chief operating officer, announced their upcoming departures at an all-hands meeting Thursday, citing personal reasons, according to Smart and VTS chief executive Nick Romito. Smart’s final day will be in early September, while Kehoe will leave at the end of that month, Romito said. “These two people are leaving on

StreetEasy to hike rental listing fees back to $6 per day on Sept. 1

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 12:38 PM PDT

New York City’s rental market is back, says StreetEasy, and so are its $6-a-day listing fees. Effective Sept. 1, the Zillow-owned listing portal will end its pandemic-related discount and resume charging $6 per day for every rental listing on its site, according to a notice displayed to agents on its back-end, which reasoned that market conditions “have returned to 2019 levels.” StreetEasy halved its listing fee to $3 in March 2020 as the pandemic brought

Landlord group asks NJ Supreme Court to reverse security deposit ruling

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 12:06 PM PDT

Garden State landlords aren’t giving in after a New Jersey court ruled that residents can use their security deposits to pay rent. In July, an appeals court upheld an executive order from Gov. Phil Murphy that allowed struggling tenants to use their security deposits toward back rent during the pandemic. Now, the nonprofit group New Civil Liberties Alliance is petitioning the Supreme Court of New Jersey to reverse the appellate court’s decision. The executive order,

Grand Prospect Hall to be demolished

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 11:30 AM PDT

UPDATED Aug. 20, 2021, 3:25 p.m.: After decades of hosting galas in Park Slope, the Grand Prospect Hall has been booked for a wrecking ball. The iconic banquet hall was sold as part of an assemblage to Angelo Rigas through his company Gowanus Cubes in July. Now, demolition permits have been filed to knock it down, according to the Brooklyn Paper. The Department of Buildings has not approved the permits yet, which cover connected buildings

Contractor arrested for falsifying bids on public works projects

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 11:00 AM PDT

A Suffolk County contractor allegedly filed fraudulent documents and falsely posed as a woman-owned business when submitting bids for several municipal public works projects over the past year, authorities said. Nicholas Analitis, a contractor from Massapequa, was arrested Aug. 17 and charged with multiple counts of criminal possession of a forged document, filing false instruments and failure to pay prevailing wages, Newsday reported. His company, Gorilla Contracting Group, was also charged. Analitis allegedly offered fraudulent

Tenants can’t get enough of warehouses

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 10:30 AM PDT

The Northeast industrial real estate market is like the Sahara at high noon: hot and getting hotter. Leasing volume during the last quarter topped 30.1 million square feet, the highest quarterly level in the market’s history, according to a JLL report covering New York City’s outer boroughs, Long Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. To put that leasing volume into perspective, the 12-quarter average is 21.4 million square feet. The market is so competitive that

Bill to boost multifamily development targets gentrification

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 10:05 AM PDT

As they continue their push to add more housing across California, state lawmakers are adding a provision to bill aimed at boosting multifamily development, targeting gentrification. Senate Bill 9, called by some the “duplex bill,” would allow up to four housing units on some lots zoned for single-family homes, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Lawmakers amended SB 9 again this week, adding changes requested by the California Association of Realtors. Now,

Blackstone, Landmark Properties form $784M student housing joint venture

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 10:04 AM PDT

Is student housing the next big opportunity in real estate? Institutional investors seem to think so. On Friday, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust announced a $784 million joint venture with student housing developer Landmark Properties to acquire and recapitalize an eight-property, 5,400-bed student housing portfolio. The eight assets in this transaction are at “leading universities” where enrollments are on the rise, Blackstone Real Estate senior managing director Jacob Werner said in a statement. “Student housing

Hudson Valley dreaming: Californians invade New York state

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 08:53 AM PDT

Californians sick of high prices and extreme weather are buying up Hudson Valley homes en masse. Realtors in the counties north of New York City are reporting an influx of Californians competing with Manhattan and Brooklyn residents for new homes in the region. One agent estimated to the Times-Union that over half of her buyers are now from the West Coast and that the clientele from the area is up 50 percent since the pandemic

CRE for the people: New app aims to democratize property investment

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 08:05 AM PDT

A new real estate fractional investment and tokenization application will launch this month in the latest bid to bring the benefits of property ownership to the masses. “The commercial real estate market was really built to keep people out, not bring people in,” Calvin Cooper, co-founder and CEO of the real estate investment startup Rhove, told The Real Deal. “But there’s a fundamental shift in how we’re doing business in America and across the world.”

Sag Harbor home of Revolutionary War soldier hits market

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 07:30 AM PDT

Revolutionary War soldier Lt. Colonel John Hulbert built his Sag Harbor home a few years after the U.S. gained its independence from England. Now, that property at 241 Main Street and its connection to the past, has hit the market for $11.5 million, according to the New York Post. William Richmond-Watson, who leads the Watson & Company creative agency, is listed as the seller. He purchased the home in 2013 for $1.75 million. Richmond-Watson claimed the

Vaccines rerouted the pandemic migration: report

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 07:00 AM PDT

Tales of urban-to-suburban flight dominated the first few months of the pandemic as renters ditched cramped apartments for open space. But as cases receded and vaccination counts grew, some cities refilled, though, not all equally. A survey of rents paid this July compared to January — a gauge of before and after vaccinations became available — showed that prices stayed low in areas where work-from-home was prevalent and rebounded most drastically in cities where renters

NY’s Bagel Boss tries the water in New Jersey with new location

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 06:30 AM PDT

Bagel Boss is expanding its reach across the Hudson River with its first shop in New Jersey. The bakery, which has 15 locations in New York, announced plans to open its 16th in Teaneck, according to Newsday. Perhaps they will find out whether the secret to the perfect New York bagel really is the water. Founded in 1975 in Hicksville, Bagel Boss also recently opened two corporate-owned shops in Manhattan. CEO Andrew Hazen said that

Out of pocket: Judge strikes down challenge to NAR’s off-market listing ban

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 06:00 AM PDT

After more than a year of litigation, the battle over the National Association of Realtors’ ban on off-market listings is over for now. A federal judge permanently dismissed a lawsuit challenging the National Association of Realtors’ controversial policy, in effect since last year, that attempts to curtail so-called “pocket listings.” The trade association’s Clear Cooperation Policy requires brokers to submit listings to a multiple listing service within a day of marketing a property to the

Life sciences sector poised to shatter records again in 2021

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Unprecedented demand for life sciences real estate has prices soaring in markets across the country. Pricing for life science and R&D properties averaged $585 per square foot in the first half of this year, up 50 percent over last year’s average, according to a new report from Newmark. That increase was partially driven by a handful of major deals. In March, prices peaked at $750 per square foot after Blackstone paid $3.45 billion, or more

Michael Stern’s JDS sues crane company at 111 West 57th Street for $50M

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 05:00 AM PDT

The last time JDS Construction worked with US Crane & Rigging on its Billionaires’ Row tower, the sky rained glass. Now, JDS is hoping it rains cash. JDS is suing US Crane & Rigging and a subsidiary, NYC Crane Hoist & Rigging, for $50 million, alleging their negligence led to a crane spinning out of control at the developer’s Manhattan supertall. The lawsuit traces back to last October, as a diminished Hurricane Zeta brought flurries

Behind agent’s glamour, a litany of financial and legal troubles

Posted: 20 Aug 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Three years ago, in a promotional video for a $250 million spec mansion he was selling in Bel Air, agent Shawn Elliott noticed an unusual element as they toured the extravagant property. “What’s going on with these champagne bottles?” he asked the developer, Bruce Makowsky. “They look like fire extinguishers.” “They are,” replied the builder, who like Elliott was nattily attired in a dark sport jacket and sunglasses. “In case you have a fire in