The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Howard Hughes Corp. and the de Blasio administration have laid out a plan for providing the Seaport Museum with a $50 million endowment, funding that is critical for the developer’s project at 250 Water Street to secure final approval. The developer will pay $40 million for 234,630 square feet of air rights from nearby Pier 17 and the Tin Building, which the city will set aside for the museum. The city has committed $10 million

Depending on whom you ask, a new law requiring hotels to reopen by Nov. 1 or pay severance to out-of-work employees either achieved its intended results or claimed its first victims. The Omni Berkshire Place, a 399-room Midtown hotel that opened in 1926 but has been closed since June of last year, plans to welcome back guests before the November cut-off, according to Crain’s. “Our strategy was to lose less, so what do we do?”

Los Angeles-based billionaire Ron Burkle is buying into the fundamentals of New York’s Financial District — and it’s more than a stock play. Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies recently bought the former headquarters of the American Stock Exchange at 86 Trinity Place in New York City’s Financial District from Clarion Partners for $155 million, records show. Neither Yucaipa nor Clarion immediately responded to requests for comment. Yucaipa got $97.1 million in financing from Los Angeles-based commercial lender

It was a close call. George Comfort & Sons’ last-ditch refinancing effort has kept its Westchester office campus from being foreclosed by its mezzanine lender, an affiliate of Oaktree Capital Management. The $134 million refinancing deal that rescued the Manhattan-based landlord’s Centre at Purchase office campus consists of a $105 million mortgage loan from Bank of America and a $29 million mezzanine loan from real estate lender RCG Longview, according to George Comfort & Sons.

NBA star Ben Simmons isn’t playing for the Philadelphia 76ers these days. He might not be living near the team much longer, either. The player listed his mansion in Moorestown, New Jersey, for almost $5 million, according to Mansion Global. He reportedly purchased the 10,477-square-foot home for $2.3 million two years ago. The home sits on 1.78 acres and comes with five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. The basement features a gaming room

The Landmarks Preservation Committee approved a major renovation for a historic public housing complex in West Harlem. The Harlem River Houses, located between West 151st Street and West 153rd Street along Harlem River Drive and Macombs Place, received approval on a $130 million renovation, according to YIMBY. Work on the renovation could reportedly begin as soon as the winter. The renovations range from exterior improvements to security upgrades and sustainability changes. New trees and planters

Trinity Place Holdings has met its deadline to repay lenders at 77 Greenwich Street, securing financing so it can finish construction and sales at the trophy Financial District condominium. The developer entered into an agreement Friday with Macquarie Capital, the investment arm of Australian financial services firm Macquarie Group, for a $166.7 million inventory loan, filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show. Sources told The Real Deal last week that the deal would

Luxury Brooklyn properties are no strangers to sprawling space, but the priciest listing that went into contract last week puts the “great” in “great room.” Last week’s contracts were led by a four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom condominium at The Standish in Brooklyn Heights, according to Compass’ weekly report. The 2,419-square-foot home was last asking $5.45 million — $2,253 per square foot — and features both city and harbor views. The majority of the unit’s goes to

Manhattan’s luxury real estate market saw buyers ink 50 deals in seven days for properties asking a combined $484 million, the largest dollar volume in a single week since 2013. It’s the third time this year the number of contract signings for luxury Manhattan homes hit 50 or more, according to the Olshan Report, which tracks Manhattan contract activity for homes asking at least $4 million. The highest weekly volume, in terms of combined asking

The “taxi king” is no more. Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, an immigrant cabdriver’s son who amassed the largest collection of taxi medallions in New York City and parlayed some of his fortune into real estate before creditors and authorities caught up to him, died Sunday. He was 50, and the cause of death was a heart attack, sources close to the family told The Real Deal. “Gene will be remembered for his unique and colossal personality,

Investor Bill Ackman is reportedly seeking hundreds of millions for the Hell’s Kitchen office building his Pershing Square Capital Management co-owns with the Georgetown Company. The partners are looking to sell the building at 787 11th Avenue for approximately $630 million, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The 10-story building is fully leased with tenants including Pershing Square, which houses its headquarters across two floors. The company is reportedly not looking to move

Gary Barnett’s Extell Development is ushering in a new project on the Upper East Side. Extell is developing a 30-story, 400,000-square-foot building on a vacant lot between 79th and 80th streets on First Avenue, according to the New York Post. The developer is reportedly expected to break ground on the project later this year. About half of the building is already pre-leased, the Post reported. The Hospital for Special Surgery has nabbed 200,000 square feet

A majority of office-using businesses are yet to decide what their hybrid future should look like. Hybrid work is underway in 72 percent of office-based companies and 65 percent said they don’t anticipate having any one dominant work location in the future, according to a new survey from Ernst & Young. A majority of business leaders believe a hybrid work model is here to stay, but only 40 percent of the survey’s respondents said they

Are you a Marvel fan? Not the comics, of course, but the architect. You may be after this week’s episode of “Deconstruct,” TRD’s new podcast for all things real estate. Host Isabella Farr is joined by top architects Jonathan Marvel and Bernardo Fort-Brescia to talk about paradigm shifts in office space and where architecture firms fit in. With a portfolio showcasing cushy armchairs and indoor gardens, Marvel’s eponymous firm is looking to create spaces that

UPDATED Oct. 25, 2021, 10:54 a.m.: Gotham Organization got the green light Thursday from the City Council for a controversial plan to develop a 23-story mixed-use building in Fort Greene. The developer would raise the building at 130 St. Felix Street. The project, featuring more than 120 residential units, including 36 below-market condos, would also include an expanded Brooklyn Music School. Most mixed-income developments in recent years have been rentals, but the St. Felix Street

For a message that warned of potential catastrophe, the tone was unfailingly polite. “Dear Ms. Nguyen,” wrote Timothy McCrink and Janis Hernandez, both researchers at the California Geological Survey. “This letter conveys comments from CGS regarding geologic and seismic conditions affecting the site.” The site in question was the proposed Hollywood Center, a high-rise mixed use development that has triggered a bitter, protracted debate over its location along a possibly active earthquake fault line. The

The following is a preview of one of the hundreds of data sets that will be available on TRD Pro — the one-stop real estate terminal that provides all the data and market information you need. Larry Silverstein and a California pension fund landed a major refinancing at 1177 Sixth Avenue months after buying out former partner UBS’s stake in the Midtown office skyscraper. On Oct. 8, Silverstein Properties and the California State Teachers’ Retirement

Meredith Marshall is not a fan of the city’s approval process for big projects, like the one his BRP Companies plans for 270 Nostrand Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. But in this case, despite opposition from locals and a setback at the usually pro-development City Planning Commission, it appears to have worked out for him. The City Council last week approved BRP’s proposed rezoning. Assuming the planning commission signs off on late changes to the plan, BRP