The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Doormen strike could bring showings to a halt

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 01:00 PM PDT

New York’s doormen are poised to strike Thursday if they can’t reach a collective bargaining agreement with building owners when their current one ends Wednesday. For brokers, a work stoppage would be bad for business. Landlords have notified real estate agents that they will halt in-person showings and open houses if doormen stop showing up to the job. The reason is two-fold: to prevent prospective buyers and tenants from viewing properties that aren’t being serviced

First-quarter hotel sales hit 6-year high

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 12:30 PM PDT

Hotel sales are looking up across the country, despite evidence that some hotels are still struggling to recapture lost value. More than $12.5 billion in hotel deals were sealed in the first quarter of the year, according to CoStar data reported by the Wall Street Journal. The sales volume is the highest for the quarter since 2016. Investors snapping up hotel properties see a bright future, in contrast to its pandemic-plagued recent past and present.

“Prudent and necessary”: More layoffs at Better.com

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 10:30 AM PDT

Better.com tried to convince some of its employees to leave earlier this month. So it likely wasn’t a surprise when the company ended up pushing those who didn’t jump. The online mortgage startup sent around a memo on Tuesday announcing a “substantial cut” to the company’s workforce, the Wall Street Journal reported. The exact number of employees to get the ax couldn’t be confirmed, but employees affected by the layoffs include members of the sales

Schenectady projects reach city planning commission

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 08:45 AM PDT

The transformation of Schenectady may soon continue as three new projects head to the city planning commission this week. All three projects are located in the heart of the city. Mayor Gary McCarthy believes the development surge is a result of pandemic-induced delays easing up, according to the Times Union, as well as a more widespread revitalization of the area. “It’s just part of the renaissance going on here where we’re creating an atmosphere where

Blackstone expands student housing stake in $13B deal

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 08:00 AM PDT

Blackstone’s yearly report card will feature a larger stake in student housing after the firm’s biggest move in the sector yet. The company has agreed to buy American Campus Communities in a deal that values the student housing provider at $12.8 billion, including debt, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Austin-based company is the largest publicly traded student housing owner and developer in the United States. Blackstone is paying $65.47 per share to buy the

Condo in contract at 432 Park Avenue for $70M

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 06:30 AM PDT

Alleged construction defects and a lawsuit from the condo board at 432 Park Avenue don’t appear to have scared away what could be the biggest residential deal of the year so far. An unidentified buyer is in contract to buy an 8,000-square-foot unit on the 82nd floor for approximately $70 million, or roughly $8,750 per square foot, people familiar with the deal told the Wall Street Journal. The sale would also include two staff suites

City Planning head talks 421a, easing into rezonings

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 05:45 AM PDT

UPDATED April 19, 2022, 1:47 p.m.: City Planning is not exactly itching to tackle another neighborhood rezoning. Instead, the agency is focused on community-specific investments in infrastructure and public space, and overall, “waiting and sitting back to be guided by communities,” said its new leader, Dan Garodnick. In an interview with The Real Deal, Garodnick said the Department of City Planning does not plan to “lead” with neighborhood rezonings, but will work on at least

Four LI shopping centers sold for $130M

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 05:00 AM PDT

Serota Properties is saying goodbye to a handful of Long Island shopping centers. Florida-based Regency Centers picked up four retail hubs for a combined $130 million, Behind the Hedges reported. The shopping centers span a total of 400,000 square feet. Jack deVilliers, senior vice president and market officer for Regency Centers, called the shopping centers in a statement the types of opportunities the firm has been seeking out. One of the most prominent retail hubs

Venture capitalists piled record $4B into proptech in Q1

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 04:00 AM PDT

Rising interest rates and market volatility have whipped up headwinds for real estate technology in recent months, but venture capitalists didn’t get the memo. A record $4 billion of VC equity funding flooded into the proptech field in the first quarter as “investor confidence” in the sector hit an all-time high, the investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said in a report. That’s an increase of 41 percent compared to the fourth quarter, and a

Brookfield puts $1.4B FiDi tower on the market

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 05:31 PM PDT

Brookfield Asset Management and China Investment Corporation are selling One New York Plaza, their 50-story office building in the Financial District, The Real Deal has learned. The tower overlooking New York Harbor is 93 percent leased, according to an offering memo viewed by TRD. Its largest tenants are Morgan Stanley and the white-shoe law firm Fried Frank. Brookfield declined to comment. The investment giant gained control of the 50-year-old office tower in 2006 as part

Amazon Fresh to open in Paramus

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 03:04 PM PDT

Paramus shoppers could be streaming into Amazon’s latest supermarket by the end of the summer. An Amazon Fresh supermarket at 30 East Ridgewood Avenue in the New Jersey town is expected to open in a few months, NorthJersey.com reported. While Amazon hasn’t confirmed an opening date, a sign posted on the entrance says “coming Summer 2022.” Another sign the store will soon open? Job postings have been up for the supermarket since the beginning of

Townhouses top Brooklyn luxury market

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 01:30 PM PDT

The two most expensive homes to go into contract in Brooklyn last week were townhouses. A Park Slope townhouse at 608 5th Street built in 1892 topped the luxury market. The five-bedroom, four-bathroom home went under contract asking $11.9 million, according to Compass’ weekly report on signed contracts for homes asking $2 million or more. It has a private garage with a floor-to-ceiling glass rear wall and 14-inch-wide heart oak flooring. The home has outdoor

Landlords who got aid are illegally raising rents: AG

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 12:30 PM PDT

Tenants have reported getting lease renewals with rent increases after their landlords received money from the state’s emergency rental assistance program, the attorney general said Monday. Those hikes violate the program’s rules. ERAP provides money to owners to cover arrears, but landlords must keep rents steady for a year after receiving the first relief payment. “Landlords who accepted payments from the state yet are still raising rents are double-dipping and breaking the law,” James said,

New merch: Hustle in style with official TRD totes and socks

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 11:45 AM PDT

They’re everywhere. Exhausted; ragged. Hanging by a thread, really. Hauled out to the subway, slung over an office chair, shoved into a gym locker, dragged through the grocery store, back on the train, then hung over on a door knob until it’s time to go back out into the world again. They last only a short while before coming apart at the seams from the weight of all they contain. The New Yorker gets a

Investor lists rare undeveloped Hamptons lot for $22M

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 11:00 AM PDT

With available homes in the Hamptons a rarity, one investor has decided the time is right to cash in on a nearly 25-year-old land deal. An 18-acre lot of undeveloped farmland in Bridgehampton is hitting the market for $21.9 million, Mansion Global reported. Known as Millstone Hill Farm, the land has been cultivated by the same family for generations, according to the publication, and is for sale for the first time since it was approved

Take it or leave it: Negotiations in luxury market fall to 0%

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 10:00 AM PDT

In the market for a New York luxury unit and hoping to talk your way into a better price? You’re officially out of luck. Negotiability in Manhattan for units priced $4 million and up fell to 0 percent, a stat not seen since 2014, according to the latest market report from Olshan Realty. Year-to-date, the luxury market has averaged 4 percent negotiability from the original asking price to the last asking price before a property

Maverick targets Brooklyn landlord Yoel Goldman

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 09:40 AM PDT

Maverick Real Estate Partners smells new blood in the water. The New York-based lender, which has bought loans connected to the city’s most troubled landlords, is seeking to foreclose on two Bushwick properties tied to Brooklyn landlord Yoel Goldman. Maverick, led by David Aviram, filed to foreclose on a vacant warehouse at 120 Evergreen Avenue— across from the luxury Denizen apartment project— and an apartment and retail building at 1157 Myrtle Avenue. Maverick alleges that

Homeowner associations look to box out investors

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 09:00 AM PDT

Some homeowner associations are taking steps to keep investors out of their developments. The groups are eyeing measures to discourage investors from buying in their communities, the Wall Street Journal reported. Institutions’ share of American home purchases reached a two-decade peak last year, largely because they are buying single-family homes to rent them. That’s what some homeowners are looking to stop. Some homeowners associations have capped the number of rentals in their development or required

Buyers don’t need a No. 1 offer to close a deal, brokers say

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 08:15 AM PDT

Hopeful New York City buyers are landing in stiff competition as prices roar back from pandemic lows and bidding wars become harder to avoid. But just because an offer comes in first, or highest, doesn’t mean it will be the one to ultimately go to contract. Brokers say that sellers, despite often receiving a multitude of offers on a home, often end up turning to their second, third and even fifth choice buyers to get a