The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Westchester office park owned by George Comfort & Sons slated for auction

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 03:44 PM PDT

A George Comfort & Sons office campus in Westchester County is on the auction block. The Manhattan-based office landlord’s four-building suburban office complex called the Centre at Purchase is scheduled to be sold in a UCC foreclosure auction at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20, according to a public notice. The company has owned the 42.6-acre property at 1, 2, 3, 4 Manhattanville Road in Harrison since buying it for $166 million in 2007, public records

Wells Fargo hit with $400M suit for breach of contract linked to robo-signing scandal

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 02:15 PM PDT

Taconic Capital Advisors filed a $400 million suit against Wells Fargo alleging the financial giant failed to protect its investment in residential mortgage-backed securities, despite knowing many of the loans could be worthless. In a complaint filed in New York Supreme Court, Taconic accused Wells Fargo of breach of contract for doing nothing to fix problematic documentation for a number of home loans that were bundled into trusts and resold to investors. The global investment

A&E pays just $510K in lead-paint settlement

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 01:46 PM PDT

What’s the penalty for potentially exposing kids to poisonous paint? In the case of Attorney General Letitia James against A&E Real Estate, a mere $510,000. After peering into A&E’s lead paint practices, the attorney general’s office found the city’s fourth-largest landlord, which owns 12,000 apartments, had shirked obligations required by the city’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act. An investigation launched in 2018 discovered A&E had flubbed on notice requirements and inspections. The landlord failed to

“Hedge fund vampire” bites into waterfront Coconut Grove mansion for $19M

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 01:45 PM PDT

“Hedge fund vampire” Heath Freeman is biting into Miami’s luxury home market. Freeman, managing director of New York-based Alden Global Capital, picked up a waterfront mansion in Camp Biscayne, a gated Coconut Grove community, for $19 million, records show. Freeman financed the purchase with a $12.4 million loan from Wells Fargo Bank. The sellers of the 9,700-square-foot, six-bedroom, six-bathroom house at 3503 Main Lodge Drive in Miami are David J. Ivler and his wife, Jessica.

KKR, Cornerstone in $1B JV to develop health care facilities

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 11:50 AM PDT

KKR and Cornerstone Companies are joining forces to develop health care facilities in the United States. Cornerstone already has experience in the market, as the company is a health care real estate investment, development and management firm. It is also seeding the joint venture with 25 properties that are being recapitalized, according to Real Estate Weekly. The joint venture is aiming to acquire more than $1 billion in real estate over the next few years.

Mag Mile’s long road to reinvention

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 11:05 AM PDT

Directly across the street from Neiman Marcus and close to a Saks Fifth Avenue and Tiffany, 717 N. Michigan Avenue occupies a prime corner on the Magnificent Mile. It now also stands completely unoccupied. All 62,000 square feet are empty after the last remaining tenant, the Disney Store, flew off, vacating its 7,000 square feet. Landlord Acadia Realty Trust paid $104 million for the four-story building in December 2016, investing in an iconic corridor that

5 historic brownstones and the Harlem Renaissance

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 10:57 AM PDT

In his poem “Harlem,” acclaimed writer of the Harlem Renaissance Langston Hughes asks, “What happens to a dream deferred?” It gets sold, for millions of dollars, by Neil Patrick Harris. The brownstone neighborhood that birthed a literary movement also has a tumultuous history and controversial present. Completely inarguable, however, is the regal beauty of its buildings. The star actor’s home is just one of the classic townhouses on the market in a neighborhood that still

Halloween Adventure to vacate East Village home as retail condo hits market

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 10:15 AM PDT

After a staving off closure for one more year, this season will be Halloween Adventure’s last at its longtime East Village location. The retail condo at 808 Broadway and 104-110 Fourth Avenue is for sale asking $15.95 million, sources tell The Real Deal. Halloween Adventure has been operating from the building since 1996, but the store will close up shop after the sale. An LLC tied to Queens-based manufacturer Rubie’s Costume Company purchased the retail

Size, security, transparency: Great Neck apartment project delayed following local pushback

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 09:55 AM PDT

An apartment development project in Great Neck is facing pushback from some local residents over its size, along with vague concerns over security that hints at something else. The 75-unit, five-story building would rise in the village of Thomaston, at 124 South Middle Neck Road, according to Newsday. The existing 95-year-old brick building houses a car dealership. The project has been paused, according to the report. In addition to opposing the project’s size and density,

Profit margins on fixer-uppers fall to 10-year low

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 09:00 AM PDT

The hot housing market made it a boon to flip homes. But with buyers beginning to ease up, and sellers of even dilapidated homes demanding top dollar, investors in fixer-uppers are seeing profit margins sink. Their return on investment the second quarter came in at less than 34 percent of the original home price, according to a study by Attom Data Solutions. It’s the lowest profit margin for home flips since 2011, Inman reported. The

Upstate homebuilder gets prison for failing to deliver

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 08:30 AM PDT

An upstate construction company owner failed to put a roof over the head of clients. Now he will be stuck staring at the ceiling of a prison cell. Shawn VanVeghten, 39, of Saratoga Springs was sentenced to 2 ⅓ to 7 years in prison on Wednesday for a $1 million scam to defraud homebuyers and lenders. He also signed judgments putting him on the hook for the $1 million and immediately paid $100,000 in partial

Modular construction works for luxury homes, too

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 07:13 AM PDT

Modular construction, long associated with mobile homes, has gone high-end. A market is developing for luxury modular homes as buyers look to take advantage of the quick turnarounds that factory manufacturing provides. Anecdotes abound of the growing luxury market for modular homes. According to the Wall Street Journal, a seven-bedroom home with a pool, a pool house and other amenities designed by Resolution 4 Architecture sold in Bridgehampton, New York, last year for $4.7 million,

NY-based multifamily REIT Bluerock explores sale

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 06:18 AM PDT

Another REIT is considering taking advantage of a hot market by exploring a sale and other strategic options. Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, based in New York, is considering an outright sale as well as a recapitalization, according to Bloomberg. Bluerock is a multifamily developer and landlord — an advantageous spot to be in as Americans increasingly look to rentals given soaring housing prices and uncertain work arrangements. The REIT had 60 rental properties as of

Homeowners declare final victory in fight over Amagansett “Truck Beach”

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 05:30 AM PDT

After decades of public use, the fight to keep Long Island’s “Truck Beach” open to visitors may have hit its final roadblock. The state’s highest court has put to rest the issue of Amagansett’s most contested stretch of sand, denying an attempt by East Hampton Town officials to maintain public access to the 4,000-foot beach. The Court of Appeals on Tuesday reaffirmed a February decision that the beach belongs to the homeowners who live at

Turnbridge, Dune land $381M loan for Hunts Point site

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 05:00 AM PDT

A massive last-mile distribution center may have reached the last mile of its financial needs. A joint venture controlled by Turnbridge Equities and Dune Real Estate Partners has secured $381 million in new financing from KKR, property records show. Most of the funds will be used to construct the distribution center in Hunts Point, Bronx. It will be about 1 million square feet. The two-story facility is slated for nearly 630,000 square feet of land

LA’s gentleman builder on developing for the ultra-wealthy

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 04:30 AM PDT

Forty-five minutes into a mostly restrained interview, Ardie Tavangarian reached into his right pocket, pulled out a sturdy black cellphone and placed it on the gorgeous mango wood table between us. The developer hit play on a saved audio message, and the baritone voice that entered the room — notably raspy and impossibly enthusiastic — was unmistakable. “Ardie, you’re just such a superstar — congratulations brother!” Tony Robbins began, the self-help guru’s monologue coming fast

Some like it hot: Influx of agents into Hudson Valley accelerates in September

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Buyers and renters may be headed back to New York City, but demand for housing in the surrounding suburbs remains at an all-time high. New agents are taking notice. About 1,700 newly licensed agents have joined brokerages in the Hudson Valley since January — well ahead of 2019’s pre-pandemic pace, which saw 1,763 for the full year — according to data from Corofy, a real estate intelligence platform. Though the spring and summer typically see