The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Dismissed: Alex Sapir’s $100M lawsuit against Rotem Rosen

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 03:15 PM PDT

A federal judge dismissed a $100 million lawsuit that Alex Sapir filed against his former real estate business partner Rotem Rosen, which alleged Rosen siphoned off tens of millions of dollars and stole trade secrets. The same judge allowed two of Rosen’s claims tied to his multimillion-dollar buyout agreement with Sapir — who leads Sapir Organization — to move forward. But the tangle of lawsuits the two men and former brothers-in-law have filed against each other

Multifamily firm got funds from disgraced Catholic order: Pandora Papers

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 03:00 PM PDT

A Miami-based multifamily investment firm received $14 million for its properties from a disgraced Catholic order still reeling from past revelations of pedophilia, the Pandora Papers revealed. Pensam Capital received the investments from two New Zealand trusts tied to the Legion of Christ for at least eight apartment complexes Pensam purchased in Florida, Texas, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. ICIJ coordinated the investigation based on a trove of

De Blasio commits $90M more to rebuild Chinatown community center

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 02:46 PM PDT

Last January, just days before the Lunar New Year, a fire broke out at 70 Mulberry Street in Chinatown. The publicly owned building was devastated, forcing out the five local nonprofits who were its tenants. That July, Mayor de Blasio committed $80 million to help rebuild the structure. Today, he tacked on another $90 million. The announcement comes after a yearlong public input process and preservation assessment, meant to engage residents in the project planning.

BRP Companies Gets $290M from Goldman Sachs for Queens Opportunity Zone project

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 02:45 PM PDT

Goldman Sachs Asset Management said it provided $290 million of financing for a mixed-use development in a Queens Opportunity Zone where BRP Companies broke ground this week. The financing includes equity from Opportunity Zone funds and is part of the investment firm’s One Million Black Women initiative, a $10 billion plan aimed at improving opportunities for Black women over the next decade, according to a Goldman Sachs news release. A spokesman for the firm declined

Aldi continues expansion with 9th Long Island store

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 02:00 PM PDT

Aldi’s push on Long Island and beyond is continuing as the grocer plans its next opening in Suffolk County for this month. The German discount retailer is set to open in Shirley’s Floyd Harbor Retail Center at 855 Montauk Highway on Oct. 21, according to Newsday. Aldi is leasing 23,000 square feet of space from the Damianos Realty Group, which owns the shopping center. Newsday reports it will be the first grocery store in the

Ministerial privilege: Would Tony Blair’s transfer tax loophole work in the US?

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 12:49 PM PDT

Last year, Americans bought $1 billion worth of whisky and $6.5 billion of vehicles from the UK. But this week’s Pandora Papers leak revealed another British export that might hook wealthy Americans: creative tax avoidance. On Sunday, the Guardian reported that former Prime Minister Tony Blair dodged more than £300,000 in property transfer taxes when he and his wife purchased a £6.45 million London townhouse. Nothing they did was illegal: the couple simply exploited a

Editor’s note: The Way We Live Now

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 12:00 PM PDT

There are two types of people in this world: those who have enough money, and those who never have enough (even if they’ve got billions). If you are reading The Real Deal, you almost certainly fall in the second category and are probably thinking about that big commission check, property sale or some other creative means of landing the next windfall. When I started as a business reporter, trying to understand the history and motivation

Abandoned Salem factory being repurposed

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 11:30 AM PDT

A Washington County couple has an ambitious idea: Repurpose an abandoned garment factory into a combination of industrial and residential space. Jon and Deana Ketchum are relocating their company, New Collar Goods, from Denver to the upstate New York area where they grew up. They plan to revive the old Manhattan Shirt Company building, spanning 14,000 square feet of bricks and marble, according to the Times-Union. Sandra Hickland, who has owned the property for close

Hotel companies increasingly turning to all-inclusive resorts

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 10:45 AM PDT

As the hotel industry grapples with the pandemic, many brands are heading toward warmer weather and all-inclusive reports. Multiple companies have dived into the all-inclusive slice of the market, including Wyndham, Marriott and Hyatt, according to the Wall Street Journal. Such resorts typically offer all lodging, food and drinks, as well as some leisure activities, for a flat fee. Wyndham is starting an alliance with Playa Hotels & Resorts to enter the market for the

The hotel recovery is far from complete

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 10:00 AM PDT

The recovery of the hotel industry in the United States is far from complete, as an optimistic peak vacation season gives way to what may be a disappointing fall and holiday season. About 1 billion hotel rooms will be booked in the country this year, according to a forecast from data and analytics firm STR reported by The Wall Street Journal. The figure marks a sizable jump from 829 million in 2020, but a wide

Warburg Realty is sold to Coldwell Banker

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 09:45 AM PDT

The self-proclaimed “last man standing” at the helm of an independent residential brokerage in New York City, Frederick Peters, has sold his firm of 30 years. Warburg Realty was sold to Coldwell Banker in a deal that closed Tuesday, the companies told The Real Deal. Financial terms were not disclosed but the firm will be rebranded as Coldwell Banker Warburg in January. It will be the first time Coldwell Banker has had a company-owned presence

KKR closes $4.3B commercial real estate fund

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 08:00 AM PDT

KKR is sealing the deal on a major commercial real estate fund after raising $4.3 billion. KKR Real Estate Partners Americas, otherwise known as REPA III, is the company’’s third opportunistic fund. It closed more than two years after the second fund closed with $2 billion, according to the Commercial Observer. As of last month, the company had committed $1 billion of capital from the fund for investments. Justin Pattner, the company’s head of real

Gucci pops up at Thor’s Meatpacking property

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 07:15 AM PDT

Gucci is celebrating a century in business with a pop-up at Thor Equities’ 446 West 14th Street. The Manhattan outpost — where the luxury brand has taken over the entirety of the 26,600-square-foot building — joins pop-ups launched in Beverly Hills, Miami, Chicago and San Francisco, the Commercial Observer reports. The ground floor is open to the public, while the upper levels and rooftop are accessible by appointment only. A source told the outlet the

Buyer scoops up Bronx ice cream site; Jeff Sutton sells in Brooklyn

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 06:00 AM PDT

After a hot summer in New York City, a company that supplied it with plenty of ice cream has cashed in on some property. E&M Ice Cream sold a warehouse in September in the Bronx for 32 percent more than it paid in 2019, thanks in part to a private equity investment. The ice-cream-filled warehouse was one of three investment properties to change hands last week for between $10 million and $30 million. A second

This is The End: Montauk mobile home lists for $1.6M

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 05:30 AM PDT

A 625-square-foot trailer home in Montauk is on the market for $1.62 million. That might seem high for a mobile home, but the property in Montauk Shores community has a good chance of selling near that price, according to Dirt. A 595-square-foot unit in the community sold this summer for $1.6 million. Proximity to the beach plays a big part. The complex sits at 100 Deforest Avenue, just feet from the shores of the Atlantic

TRD’s October issue is live for subscribers!

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Legend has it that if you stand in front of a darkened mirror and say “Sam Zell” three times, the grave-dancer himself will appear behind you with the fistful of cash he would have used to buy Monmouth Real Estate. Welcome to October and welcome to the new issue: The necromancer of distressed properties spent the summer in a bidding war over the New Jersey-based industrial REIT with fellow titan Barry Sternlicht. What Sternlicht lacked

Forfeited profits: Why the feds chronically undersell seized property

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 04:30 AM PDT

UPDATED Oct. 5, 2021, 12:00 pm: The image of a U.S. Marshal giving a tour of Bernie Madoff’s seized Montauk beach house, gun bulging beneath a black windbreaker, is one that’s stayed with appraiser Jonathan Miller. “He’s a big dude,” Miller said of the 2009 video. “His arm sweeps across the room: ‘Notice the understated elegance.’” Times have since changed for the Marshals Service, the agency tasked with the seizure and sale of properties obtained

Manhattan resi market has busiest quarter in 3 decades

Posted: 05 Oct 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Home sales surged in Manhattan last quarter with more than 4,500 residences changing hands as listings dwindled and prices held steady. The 4,523 deals were easily the most in three decades, according to Douglas Elliman’s quarterly report by Miller Samuel. This quarter surpassed by 15 percent the prior record of 3,939 in the second quarter of 2007, at the end of the housing bubble. “This is the first time cracking the 4,000 threshold,” said Jonathan