The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Airbnb says staff can work remotely forever — and maintain their pay

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 02:50 PM PDT

Add Airbnb to the list of employers that are no longer requiring workers to report to the office. Starting in June, the company’s 6,000 employees will be permitted to live and work from wherever they please with no impact on their compensation, CEO Brian Chesky wrote in a staff memo Thursday. “We want to hire and retain the best people in the world,” Chesky wrote in the memo. “If we limited our talent pool to

Tishman Speyer, Bellco raise $3B for life sciences fund

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 01:45 PM PDT

A joint venture between Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital closed on the largest real estate fund exclusively for life sciences. Breakthrough Properties raised $3 billion in direct capital and co-investments for its Breakthrough Life Science Property Fund, doubling its initial target. According to CBRE and JLL Research, it’s the largest life sciences real estate fund ever, excluding recapitalizations of existing portfolios. The fund raised money from institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds and wealthy individuals. The

Penthouse at 520 Park Avenue sells for $35M — $8M below ask

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 01:00 PM PDT

Penthouse 62 at Zeckendorf Development’s 520 Park Avenue closed for $34.5 million in an off-market deal, according to a source familiar with the matter. The amount was 19 percent below the $42.5 million asking price. The buyer, the unit’s first owner, was not identified. The penthouse is the highest full-floor residence in the 64-story, 781-foot-tall building on Billionaire’s Row southeast of Central Park. Many units in the condominium have sold for considerably less than the

Listings shortage could endure for years, experts say

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 12:00 PM PDT

The paucity of U.S. homes for sale, which has intensified to historic levels during the pandemic, is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, experts say. Housing inventory could take years to recover from its current record lows, experts told U.S. News & World Report, citing supply chain difficulties and lasting repercussions from the 2008 financial crisis, as well as an influx of millennial buyers in the market. Fewer than 1 million homes were available for

Lawmakers change strategy for legalizing NYC’s basement apartments

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 11:00 AM PDT

The word “shall” comes with a lot of baggage. When Gov. Kathy Hochul rolled out her executive budget bills, one said localities “shall” create rules to allow accessory dwelling units on single-family lots. An uproar among Long Island lawmakers and residents forced her to remove the proposal from her budget. But there may be another way. Lawmakers are pushing a measure exclusive to New York City, where granny flats are less controversial and enjoy more

Amazon binge ends in hangover, halt on warehouse deals amid $4B loss

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 10:54 AM PDT

Amazon officially has too much industrial space –– a hangover from spending billions from 2020 and 2022 to double its fulfillment and distribution space across the country. The company is “no longer chasing physical or staffing capacity,” CEO Andy Jassy said in an earnings release Thursday. Excess capacity cost the company about $2 billion in “incremental costs” during the first quarter, CFO Brian Olsavsky said on an earnings call. Amazon reported a $3.8 billion net

Redfin settles redlining lawsuit for $4M

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 10:24 AM PDT

Redfin will fork over $4 million to settle a discrimination suit that claimed the company failed to provide brokerage services for homes listed below a certain price, a practice that plaintiffs dubbed “digital redlining.” The suit, brought by the National Fair Housing Alliance in 2020, alleged that under the firm’s minimum home price policy, communities of color received fewer services and discounts than homebuyers or sellers in predominantly white areas. To address those claims, Redfin

Firm aims to tackle the problem with single-family rentals

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 09:30 AM PDT

For all its popularity, the single-family rental business is notoriously difficult to penetrate and operate at scale. Sourcing, buying and managing hundreds or thousands of dispersed homes requires massive financial and human resources. Private funds that lack them have two options to gain exposure to one of real estate’s hottest segments: build a position in publicly traded names or buy properties and get someone to do the dirty work. Second Avenue, a Tampa, Florida-based firm

Moody’s trims $137M on Westin St. Francis valuation

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 08:45 AM PDT

After years of trying to sell off its entire U.S. hotel portfolio, the successor to the now-defunct China-based insurance provider Anbang has scored a lifeline on the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco’s Union Square and four other high-profile establishments. Almost 20 percent of the new loan will go towards the Westin St. Francis, a 1,195-key hotel in Union Square built in 1931. Dajia has valued the property $436 million, or $364,850 per room,

Versace’s former townhouse listed for $70M

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 07:47 AM PDT

Gianni Versace was killed 25 years ago, but his legacy lives on at an Upper East Side townhouse asking $70 million. Hedge fund manager Thomas Sandell and his wife, Ximena, listed the late designer’s mansion at 5 East 64th Street, the Wall Street Journal reported. They purchased the home in 2005 for $30 million from the family of Versace, who had bought it for $7.5 million in 1995. The home, half a block from Central

Landlords accused of calling cops on legal tenant meetings

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 06:30 AM PDT

New York Attorney General Letitia James says landlords are violating tenants’ rights to meet and organize. James issued a memo to law enforcement agencies across the state on Monday, amNY reported. In the memo, James cited “concerning tactics” used by unnamed landlords to thwart tenant activities. “We have seen reports of landlords calling the police on tenants for gathering and organizing in their own buildings — actions that are well within the parameters of the

Gary Barnett’s Extell repeats as Manhattan’s top borrower

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 05:45 AM PDT

The 10 largest real estate loans recorded in Manhattan in March totaled $1.1 billion, about half the amount of last March’s top 10 and less than February’s total of $1.6 billion. Gary Barnett took top billing for a second straight month, this time with a $325 million refinance of Extell Development’s Times Square Hard Rock Hotel, which opened this week. [Editor’s note: A $75 million loan from city authorities to build a women’s shelter would

Behind Cove’s intricate deal for Hudson Yards high-rise

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 05:00 AM PDT

Just months after selling its Hudson Yards office complex for over $1 billion, Cove Property Group is planning its next project only one block away. Cove, led by Kevin Hoo, quietly revealed plans to build a 178,122-square-foot, 31-story office and retail building at 413-419 Ninth Avenue in a filing with New York City’s planning office. But getting to this point has not been easy. The effort has involved a lease, a sub-lease, a sub-sub-lease and

I-sales: Maligned landlord sells in Park Slope, Midtown apts trade for $42M

Posted: 29 Apr 2022 04:00 AM PDT

Multifamily assets continued to attract buyers despite a slow week for New York City’s investment sales market, including two buildings in Turtle Bay that traded for an apparent discount and a mixed-use property in Park Slope that was offloaded by a controversial corporate landlord. The nonprofit J.T. Tai & Co. Foundation sold the two Turtle Bay buildings for a combined $41.5 million. The larger of the pair, at 847 Second Avenue, boasts 82 units and