The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Concerned staff in the Mount Sinai Health System and have their eyes and ears on the future of an East Village medical building. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at 218 Second Avenue is in talks to be sold and demolished, the New York Post reported. Since merging with its former owner in 2013, Mount Sinai has increasingly moved surgery, clinical and ambulatory departments to other locations with its system. “Mount Sinai is going

RIPCO Real Estate is widening its interest in the restaurant business. RIPCO acquired restaurant brokerage Branded Concept Development, the Commercial Observer reported. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Under the terms of the acquisition, BCD and its four New York City-based brokers will remain an independent entity and expand into more markets, including New Jersey, Long Island, Connecticut and Florida. BCD CEO Andrew Moger will take on the title of RIPCO vice chairman. BCD

 There’s a story behind every real estate sale, development and transaction in New York City. Award-winning journalist and The Real Deal contributor Adam Piore shared several of the most consequential ones in his book “The New Kings of New York: Renegades, Moguls, Gamblers and the Remaking of the World’s Most Famous Skyline,” now available online and in stores. Last week, Piore joined radio host Leonard Lopate on New York’s WBAI 99.5 FM to dish

The 10 largest real estate loans recorded in New York City’s outer boroughs in May totaled $1.16 billion, much higher than April’s $675 million but well under the $1.84 billion from a year ago. Six of the 10 loans were issued in Brooklyn, three in the Bronx and one in Queens. New construction loans proved popular amid rising costs of housing and energy, and came just ahead of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates 75

Zumper, an online rental startup recognized last year as a top employer on multiple best-of lists, cut 15 percent of its approximate 300-person staff last Friday, The Real Deal has learned. The majority of the cuts hit the San Francisco-based company’s sales and customer service departments, according to an axed employee who spoke on condition of anonymity. Members of the art department also were let go, per a LinkedIn post from a graphic designer who

Fairstead is looking to turn a hefty profit on its Harlem affordable housing complex six years after purchasing the property. The developer has put Savoy Park in Central Harlem on the market, Bisnow reported. Fairstead, which co-owns the seven-building complex with Artemis Real Estate Partners and C-III Capital Partners, is expecting bids of at least $400 million for the complex formerly known as Delano Village. Green Street was first to report the marketing, which is

The proptech firm HomeLight has acquired the fintech Accept.inc and raised an additional $60 million in equity financing from Zeev Ventures. The fundraise, which the San Francisco-based startup billed as an extension of its Zeev-led $100 million Series D round last September, values the company at $1.7 billion — just above its $1.6 billion valuation last year. It also secured $50 million in debt capital. HomeLight, which early last year was reported to be nearing

A former WeWork space in Midtown that traded for $100 million last week could soon become Fifth Avenue’s latest condo project. Uri Mermelstein’s Top Rock Holdings was the buyer of the office portion of 609 Fifth Avenue, a person familiar with the matter told The Real Deal, adding that the developer plans to build residential condos there. SL Green announced last week that it had sold the property, but referred to the buyer only as

An expected slowdown in dealmaking amid steadily rising interest rates has yet to materialize in New York City, as June continues to be a busy month for mid-market investment sales. Seven transactions involving commercial assets for between $10 million and $40 million hit city records last week. Four of the deals were in Manhattan, three in Brooklyn and one in Queens. See below for more details on each: 1. Fortress Investment Group bought a 67-unit

The housing market pie is getting smaller, but investors are carving out a bigger slice than ever. Investors accounted for 20 percent of all first quarter home purchases in 40 of the country’s major markets, according to a report from Redfin. That is a record for the sector, which was 19.2 percent in the fourth quarter and 15.3 percent a year ago. (The data has been collected since 2000.) With prices high and inventory low,

Venture capitalists pumped over $1.5 billion into Compass, a startup that promised to use technology to alchemize the residential brokerage business. When the company went public last March, it raised another $450 million, bringing its total investor haul to $2 billion, a record-breaking number for a sector that Silicon Valley has long avoided. Compass’ market cap has now fallen below that mark. As of Wednesday, it hit $1.8 billion, with its share price hovering around

As the Federal Reserve pushes up interest rates faster than it has in decades, GFP Real Estate landed a $191 million loan for 40 Worth Street. Jeff Gural’s firm secured the seven-year loan from a collection of banks led by Wells Fargo and including TD Bank and BankUnited. It will use the money in part to build out the Legal Aid Society’s new 199,000-square-foot offices at the Tribeca building. The new loan replaces a $150

CBRE is back for another Amazon-leased warehouse. The commercial real estate firm’s investment arm is in late-stage talks to buy the multi-story Amazon logistics facility at 640 Columbia Street in Red Hook for $330 million, The Real Deal has learned. The sellers are Dov Hertz’s DH Property Holdings and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which bought the site four years ago and are nearly finished constructing the roughly 400,000-square-foot facility, where Amazon is signed to a

New York-based mall operator Pyramid Management Group is skating out of trouble in Albany, but remains in limbo in Syracuse. Pyramid landed a loan to refinance the debt on Crossgates Commons in Albany, according to Syracuse.com. The details of the financing for the 700,000-square-foot shopping plaza, including the amount of the loan, were not disclosed. New York City-based real estate lender Argentic provided the 10-year loan on the property. Argentic is the same company that

Greystone’s bid to dismiss a fraud claim was rejected last week in its latest troubles over a condo-conversion project at 164 West 74th Street. A group of real estate investors alleged in a January 2021 complaint filed with the New York County Supreme Court that Greystone duped them into contributing millions of dollars based on an artificially deflated budget and project timeline. In 2015, real estate development and investment firm Prime Rok picked up 164

The mad rush to qualify projects is over, and with the property tax break 421a expiring today, New York developers must confront the possibility that it will never come back. Gov. Kathy Hochul had floated a replacement program, dubbed 485w, but it sank like a lead balloon in Albany. State lawmakers showed little appetite to revive or replace the tax incentive for New York City multifamily construction, and the issue is not expected to be

The glass is almost half full for New York City’s office landlords. Office occupancy pushed past 40 percent last week for the first time since the start of the pandemic, The City reported. The Kastle Back to Work Barometer increased to 41.2 percent; Kastle Systems measures office occupancy by entry into office buildings. The attendance level represented a jump of nearly 5 percentage points from the previous week. Covid case numbers have been falling for

Suzy Welch is headed to the market with another luxury listing, this time in the Hudson Valley. Welch is listing her home at 124 Eden Knoll in Dutchess County’s Red Hook for $25 million, Bloomberg reported. It is the second-most expensive listing in the Hudson Valley right now and one of the priciest in its history. The estate, known as Steen Valetje, dates back to the mid-19th century, though Welch embarked on a restoration of

New Jersey judges have their hands full with eviction cases as filings ramp up following pandemic moratoriums. The predicted eviction tsunami,  however, still hasn’t materialized — and perhaps never will. In the first five months of the year, landlords have filed 40,600 eviction cases in the state, NorthJersey.com reported, citing data from the Administration Office of the Courts. Those numbers are not particularly close to pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, for instance, landlords filed 60,500 cases

The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor was supposed to redefine New Jersey’s Gold Coast. Developers envisioned a buzzing residential hub with retail, an accessible commute to Midtown and spectacular views of New York Harbor and the distant city skyline. They projected that 100 new buildings, including 7,000 apartments, would be completed within a decade. That was in 2009. Today, some completed developments dot the western edge of the peninsula, a two-mile pier on New York Harbor.

After reaching record-breaking lows during the pandemic, mortgage rates have been climbing at a similarly historic pace this year, worrying brokers and especially buyers. This week, rates reached another milestone. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate throughout the U.S. exceeded 6 percent Monday, just two months after breaching the 5 percent barrier. Also on Monday, the stock market plummeted into bear market territory on alarming inflation numbers and the Federal Reserve’s expected response. At 2

Mayor Eric Adams is promising to create more affordable homes. How many? He won’t say. Standing on the roof of 90 Sands Street, a former hotel in Dumbo that is being converted into supportive housing, the mayor on Tuesday unveiled a glossy copy of “Housing Our Neighbors Plan: A Blueprint for Housing and Homelessness.” Adams made clear that, unlike his predecessor, he would not set affordable housing goals in terms of unit count. Instead, he

What to do when two neighbors simultaneously decide to move out? Hope the two units are better as one. Units 14D and 14E in the Beresford at 211 Central Park West are being offered in a combined sale, asking $32.45 million. Together, the two apartments offer 18 rooms — five rooms facing east directly over Central Park and five rooms facing south over the Museum of Natural History — and six bedrooms. Corcoran’s Maria Pashby,

A Japanese investment firm with an appetite for American apartments has teamed up with a local partner on its first stateside multifamily deal. Tokyo Trust Capital and New York-based MC Real Estate Partners jointly acquired the View on Nob Hill Apartments, a 416-unit complex in Elmsford, from Ares Management for $143 million, the firms said last week. The off-market deal marks the first multifamily acquisition in the U.S. for TTC, which manages cross-border investments both

Layoffs hit the brokerage world Tuesday, with Compass and Redfin announcing they were cutting hundreds of employees amid a cooling housing market and stock market correction. Compass’ cuts amount to 10 percent of its staff, or about 450 employees, according to SEC filings. The firm is also winding down Modus Technologies, the title and escrow arm it acquired in 2020. The company will also pause mergers, acquisition activity and new market expansion for the rest of

Michael Shvo, the developer and marketing maven, has inked a bicoastal deal with Saks Fifth Avenue. Shvo’s firm is partnering with the luxury retailer at the Mandarin Oriental Residences in Manhattan and Mandarin Oriental Residences, Beverly Hills, to offer residents “VIP services and curated lifestyle programming.” Services will include a dedicated Saks concierge, stylist, private after-hours shopping, at-home styling appointments and same-day delivery. “Partnering with Saks Fifth Avenue furthers our mission to bring together several

As any savvy investor knows, it’s never too soon to start planning ahead. So mark your calendar for the return of South Florida’s real estate event of the year on November 10. The Real Deal’s South Florida Real Estate Showcase + Forum is returning to the Mana Wynwood for its flagship Miami event that attracts dozens of speakers, hundreds of sponsors and thousands of attendees every year. Whether you’re looking for a land grab, selling

A Maryland-based real estate fund is calling it quits on a Boerum Hill rental building, and taking a small hit in the process. The Dermot Company picked up The Addison at 225 Schermerhorn Street for $142.3 million, the Commercial Observer reported. The seller was Multi-Employer Property Trust, a fund managed by BentellGreenOak. The fund purchased the 271-unit multifamily property from Waterton Associates in 2016 for $154.3 million. Dermot made its Brooklyn purchase in partnership with

A Venezuela media mogul with ties to President Nicolas Maduro’s government is set to lose his New York City apartment in less than a month. The city plans to auction Raul Gorrin’s 4,500-square-foot residence at the Baccarat Hotel & Residences on July 6, according to Reuters. Gorrin, owner of the Globovision television channel in Venezuela, purchased the Plaza District pad in November 2017 for $18.8 million. Payment problems started for Gorrin after President Donald Trump’s

Despite traditional resi brokerage dealing with technology-based disruptors and struggling stock prices, it isn’t dead — and it doesn’t look like it will be any time soon. Home prices have soared and continue to rise, the high end of the market is getting even more competitive, and brokerages are still raiding each other for top performers. Those personnel fights have led to a whole host of new strategies as the houses try to keep their

Both an arbitrator and a judge have handed Yitzchak Tessler losses in a lawsuit brought by investors in one of his projects, but the developer isn’t giving up that easily. After first contesting an arbitrator’s decision that his firm owes $8.4 million to EB-5 investors who lent money to his pharmaceutical manufacturing center in the Bronx but say they were never paid back, Tessler is now appealing a New York Supreme Court judge’s ruling upholding

Jon Hoenig’s family and his business call New England home, but he feels a personal connection to Long Island’s North Fork, too.  Hoenig and his wife of six years, Jennifer, were wed at a winery in the hamlet of Cutchogue, and for more than a decade, he says, he’s made countless trips on the New London ferry to Orient Point to visit family and friends out east. It was around the time they got married,

Suit and sour An ex-Better.com executive is suing her former employer, alleging that the digital mortgage lender misled investors to retain their support for its still-pending SPAC merger. The suit, brought by Sarah Pierce, ex-executive vice president for sales and operations, alleges management wrongfully pushed her out for raising concerns about a profitability forecast executives gave to the board and investors. The company, which lost more than $300 million last year, would not likely be