The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Tesla’s Musk evokes Silicon Valley’s biggest worry: Texas

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 03:00 PM PDT

On Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said arguably the most dreaded words in the automaker’s home state of California: “I’m excited to announce that we are moving our headquarters to Austin, Texas.” While the dread is real, as communities and companies grapple with the Bay Area’s out-of-control housing costs and red tape, the reality for the economies of Palo Alto, where Tesla has been headquartered since 2009, and Fremont, where the company keeps a vast

Hotel Association sues city over severance pay mandate

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 02:35 PM PDT

Just days after Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill forcing the city’s hotels to either reopen or pay severance to their out-of-work staff, the Hotel Association of New York City has sued the city in an attempt to strike down the legislation. The lawsuit, filed Friday, alleges that the measure violates state and federal laws and asks the court to void it while seeking an injunction to prevent its enforcement. The legislation requires hotels

City approves mass timber, basement apartment rules

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 02:13 PM PDT

The future of New York’s skyline is … timber? Building with cross-laminated timber, a type of engineered wood consisting of glued-together panels of lumber, will soon be permitted in the five boroughs. The City Council on Thursday approved extensive changes to the building code, which include allowing the special timber on projects up to 85 feet tall, or six to seven stories. While some buildings in the city have already used the material, they required

How technology can hold bad landlords and developers accountable

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 02:04 PM PDT

Venture capital is flowing into proptech, providing developers and property owners with a seemingly endless stream of new solutions to increase the efficiency of everything from collecting rent payments to coordinating projects. Residents are now developing their own tools to fight back, particularly against slumlords. Groups are popping up across the country with technology meant to hold bad landlords and developers more accountable, according to Bloomberg CityLab. Efforts include improving transparency about development sites left

Luxury agents are sealing deals with yacht tours, helicopter rides

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 12:00 PM PDT

Brown Harris Stevens agent Rob Johnson used to take clients for a ride in his Range Rover, hopping from one mansion to the next in Greenwich, where contracts are up 57 percent from 2019. It was hard to squeeze families in his car, Johnson said, and with such an influx of potential buyers in the area, now was the time to set himself apart from the other agents vying for their attention. What better

Sears says sayonara to Long Island; Bronx store also shutting

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 11:30 AM PDT

After 62 years, Sears has served its last customer on Long Island. Urban Edge Properties told Newsday that the store at the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, the final one on Long Island, closed Sunday. The Manhattan-based real estate investment trust, which purchased the mall with partners in December, plans to redevelop it and reposition Sears’ former anchor space. Sears stores have been systematically closing across the country since a complicated bankruptcy proceeding began in October

Pandemic paralysis: Delta continues to impede hotel, restaurant recovery

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 11:00 AM PDT

The Delta variant continues to stall recovery in the hospitality sector, as hotels, restaurants and bars added a mere 31,000 jobs to the U.S economy in September after a net gain of zero jobs in August. The primary driver of job losses during the pandemic, the broader leisure and hospitality sector added 74,000 jobs as arts and entertainment venues reopened, but a slow rebound in hotel hiring contributed just 2,100 of those jobs. Overall employment

These 5 listings show why Forest Hills is actually the place to be

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 10:00 AM PDT

Approximately 2.4 million people, or about one in four New Yorkers, call Queens home. For the rest of us, the borough always seems to sit somewhere on the periphery of our consciousness. Maybe your family lives there, or used to live there before uprooting to New Jersey or Long Island. There are vague visions of a derailed Amazon windfall, lazy afternoons at Citi Field (or rainy ones at the U.S. Open) or the many food

Trump’s DC hotel lost $70M during presidency, docs say

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 09:11 AM PDT

During his time in the White House, Donald Trump boasted that just blocks away, the Trump International Hotel was making tens of millions. Newly revealed federal documents show his claims over the Washington, D.C., hotel were far from the truth. Trump “provided misleading information about the financial situation of the hotel,” which incurred more than $70 million in losses at the hotel during his presidency, according to the House Oversight Committee. The committee found Trump

JLL names new InfoSec head

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 08:00 AM PDT

JLL hired Joe Silva as chief information security officer, a new role at the firm, to lead cybersecurity strategy. Silva’s first day was on Sept. 7, a company spokesperson said. Silva’s duties will include threat management as well as oversight of security policies, procedures and prevention efforts, the firm said. He will coordinate the firm’s global technology teams, including the JLL Technologies business division focused on commercial real estate technology. Previously, Silva led cybersecurity, insider

Tesla moving HQ from Silicon Valley to Austin

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 07:08 AM PDT

Tesla is relocating its headquarters to Austin, Texas, from Silicon Valley in the tech world’s latest major shift to the Lone Star State. CEO Elon Musk revealed the decision during a shareholders meeting at Tesla’s factory just outside the Texas capital, saying the company was contending with a “limit to how big you can scale in the Bay area.” Musk cited the lack of affordable housing and long commutes for those based in the Bay

VineBrook Homes expands to Southeast, buys $354M single-family portfolio

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 06:30 AM PDT

A possible IPO isn’t the only plan on NexPoint’s agenda. VineBrook Homes Trust, a massive single-family landlord managed by the company, just bought a single-family portfolio from the Prager Group and Ardent Companies for $354.2 million, public documents show. While the property owner is known for its Midwestern presence, the deal is concentrated in the Southeast. The bulk of the 3,000 homes in the portfolio are spread across seven states: Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Florida, North

AI con-tech startup Togal.ai launches product automating takeoffs

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 06:00 AM PDT

Togal.ai, an artificial intelligence construction-tech startup, launched its automated estimation product this week, saying it can shorten the estimating process from weeks to seconds. Estimators typically calculate square footage and materials needs manually, room by room, with rollers and rulers or rudimentary computer software in a process called a takeoff. Togal.ai automates the process, which on large projects can take weeks, saving contractors millions in labor costs and allowing them to focus more on pricing

NorthPoint to buy 92 acres of Suffolk County industrial space

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 05:30 AM PDT

NorthPoint Development is ramping up its ambitions in Yaphank with the purchase of 92 acres from affiliates of the Brookhaven Rail Terminal, according to Long Island Business News. The Kansas City-based developer wants to build 650,000 to 1.1 million square feet of industrial space served by rail freight there. The property is near a 115-acre development site where NorthPoint plans to build 2.5 million square feet of industrial space. NorthPoint President Chad Meyer told the

Grubb Properties tests affordable housing model in NYC

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Grubb Properties is making a $152 million bet on affordable housing in New York — and has nine months to dig foundations and qualify for 35 years and tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks. The Charlotte, North Carolina, developer, in its first foray in the city, plunked down $89 million for a site in the Financial District and $63 million for one in Long Island City. It aims to build 700 units of

Selling out post-Surfside collapse

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 04:30 AM PDT

Buyers seeking warm weather and the amenities of oceanfront living have often sought out more affordable units in older buildings along South Florida’s waterfront. But now the supply of those condos may be dwindling. Developers, facing little to no inventory of undeveloped waterfront land, are increasingly targeting bulk buyouts of these buildings. And unit owners are more likely to embrace those offers, especially in the wake of the Surfside collapse of Champlain Towers South that

Downtown pols call for limits on permanent outdoor dining

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 04:00 AM PDT

The Open Restaurants program, a lifeline for small business owners during the pandemic, has achieved a rare feat in New York City politics; uniting just about every demographic imaginable — including registered Democrats and Republicans — in popular support, according to polling. As it turns out, not everyone is on board. While the City Planning Commission heard testimony Wednesday about making the Open Restaurants program permanent, a coalition of Downtown Manhattan lawmakers and community leaders