Element developer ditches parent company

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate Coalco New York, the developer behind Midtown’s Element and Jersey City’s Canco Lofts condominiums, has spun off from its Russian parent firm into a stand-alone private equity and real estate firm called Corigin. The newly named firm with operate two divisions, Corigin Real Estate Group, which owns property in New York, New Jersey and Florida, and Corigin Private Equity Group, which holds stakes in various construction, transportation, beverage and other companies. “We decided that with a simplified U.S.-based structure we could be a more self sufficient company,” said Ryan Freedman. “We’ve become good developers and we plan to continue to develop.” [more]

Top NYC commercial property sales last week

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate The most expensive commercial transaction last week in New York City was the $56 million purchase by the Wolfson Group of a minority interest in a Midtown office building. The next four deals were much smaller, with none breaking $10 million. Bed maker Dux Interiors sold its Midtown office building and a company called NY8 Properties bought a Chelsea development site.

Where are the most desirable apartments?

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate Judging based on price discounts, time on the market and ratio of closed sales to available listings, Sofia Song, vice president of Streeteasy.com, compiled a list of the 10 most populous Manhattan precincts and “most sellable” type of apartment likely to find buyers. Topping off the list was the Upper East Side, where post-war two-bedroom co-ops are most popular, followed closely by pre-war two bedrooms, with a median closing pricing of $995,000, according to New York Magazine. [more]

Open house bandit freed of felony charges

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate Prosecutors agreed to dismiss felony charges today against Jessica Joyner, one-half of the open house bandits team that was accused of snatching $70,000 worth of belongings from posh real estate open houses in 2007, the Post reported. Together with Jennifer Jones, 39, Joyner had posed as a wealthy homebuyer at open houses on the Upper West Side, Upper East Side and in Upper Saddle River, NJ, to poach valuables from the properties while no one was looking. [more]

Landmark UWS Metro Theater on Broadway files for Chapter 11 … and more

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate 1. Landmark UWS Metro Theater on Broadway files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy [Crain’s] 
2. Abandoned house on 79th Street in Brooklyn inflicts mold and raccoons on neighbors [Brooklyn Paper]
3. One-night only French flea market coming to Ace Hotel this Friday [Hotel Chatter]   
4. Developers to bring more national retailers to NYC if communities will allow it [WSJ] 
5. New tattoo parlor opens on Gravesend Neck Road in Sheepshead Bay [Sheepshead Bites] 
6. 47 percent of home sellers slash listing prices [Inman] 
7. Property owners threatened from recession-era decisions [Realty Times] 
8. A Marc Jacobs café is coming Uptown [Racked]
9. Blue 9 Burger opens at Ninth Avenue between 52nd and 53rd streets [Midtown Lunch] 
10. Forrest Solutions signs lease at SL Green’s 18 West 44th Street [NYO] 
11. Viewing New York from 200 miles up, aboard the International Space Station [Post]
12. Fox News launching weekly series on WTC, to last until towers are built [Mediaite]
13. Developer Vornado Realty Trust is selling its Merchandise Mart Properties division [Crain’s] 
14. Are housing prices bottoming out in Bedford-Stuyvesant? [NYO] 
15. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to return to NYC, comment on mosque [Crain’s]
16. And Paterson wants moratorium on mosque debate during Jewish New Year and Muslim Ramadan [NBC]   

Bloomberg promises 9/11 memorial to open next September

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate Mayor Michael Bloomberg today outlined recent progress made in reconstructing the Ground Zero area, including One World Trade Center, Tower Number 4 and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. The last of those will be completed by Sept. 11 next year, Bloomberg pledged, in time for the 10-year anniversary of the terror attacks. Bloomberg acknowledged that the reconstruction process has taken longer than some anticipated, but said he's pleased with the progress that's being made now. [more]

Labor Day holiday sale extended for multi-family financing

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate

When the subject of the day is rates for commercial residential mortgages, I must once again quote the famous former pitchman for the bankrupt electronics retailer Crazy Eddie stores: “These prices are insane.” The rates of the day are those being offered by savings and commercial banks to owners of rental apartment buildings for fixed-rate, first mortgages in the New York metro area. Today, an owner of any apartment building can secure a fixed-rate 5-, 7- or 10-year term at rates below 4 percent. Yes, I said, below 4 percent for rental buildings in the New York City metro region. [more]

Cassa becomes home to Showtime characters

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate While the average writer likely wouldn't have a mirrored floor -- and ceiling -- in his study, and your typical cancer patient would never keep a bowl of onions in her bedroom, these touches could mean the ideal abode for some of TV's favorite characters. And if they existed outside of a TV program, they might feel at home at Cassa NY, which has teamed up with Showtime in the channel's third Showtime House exhibition. The Real Deal got a sneak peak at some of the newly designed rooms today (see the slide show above). The exhibition has brought in 14 different teams to design rooms inspired by seven of the channel's shows: "Californication," "The Big C," "Dexter," "Nurse Jackie," "United States of Tara," "Weeds" and "The Borgias." The installation, which was held at the Tribeca Summit condominium last year, will be open to the public on weekends between Sept. 11 and Oct. 23 at the hotel and condominium development at 70 West 45th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.

When TLC means a major renovation

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate The phrase “needs TLC” -- as in, tender loving care -- is increasingly being used by real estate brokers to describe a property that needs repairs or renovations. The New York Times visited several apartments described by brokers as needing TLC and discovered that this phrase can mean different things to different people. “It’s a question of how someone wants to live,” explained Madeline Williamson, a broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman. Williamson included the words “needs a good dose of TLC” in a $1.1 million listing for a townhouse in Brooklyn Heights. [more]

Get The Real Deal in one fell swoop

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate Looking to get your real estate news at one time on a daily basis? The Real Deal can do that for you. Click here, type in your e-mail address, and then all the day's news will arrive in your e-mail inbox at one time. TRD

Sales to launch at Apex condo in Harlem

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate Sales will kick off this month for 44 condominium residences at the Apex, located on the upper six floors of the Starwood Aloft Hotel at 2300 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, on the southeast corner of 124th Street. The studio to three-bedroom units will be priced from the mid-$300,000s to just over $1 million. Names are now being accepted for a priority list, entitling prospective buyers to be among the first purchasers of the condos. The 12-story, 124-room hotel in Harlem is owned and being developed by RCG Longview, with opening and occupancy slated for later this month. [more]

Federal home loan program targeting underwater borrowers enacted

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate A federal plan to try to halt the nationwide foreclosure crisis is going into effect today after months of planning, according to the Associated Press. The initiative, overseen by the Federal Housing Administration, specifically targets underwater borrowers, allowing lenders to grant loan refis to borrowers if they wipe out 10 percent of the original mortgage balance. Between 500,000 and 1.5 million homeowners could potentially be eligible for the program, which was first announced in March, the FHA said. [more]

Hotel occupancy rate still going strong

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate New York’s hotel industry is one of the country’s strongest, according to the Wall Street Journal. By the end of July, the occupancy rate for 2010 was 79.7 percent, up from 73.5 percent for the same period last year and close to the peak occupancy of 68.9 percent in 2008, according to Smith Travel Research. However, the higher occupancy rate was partly because owners have kept room rates down. [more]

Hearst’s Argonaut Building sells for $85M

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate An investment group based in Beirut purchased the landmarked Argonaut Building at 224 West 57th Street for $85 million from Hearst Communications. The sale of the 10-story building to M1 Group's affiliate, Argonaut 224 LLC, went into contract June 23 and closed Aug. 26, city property records published today show. An e-mail to M1 Group was not immediately returned. The New York Post reported in July that the Beirut group was in contract to buy the property, located between Seventh and Eighth avenues. [more]

SL Green to sell 19 W. 44th St. for $123M

September 7th, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate SL Green, the largest commercial office landlord in New York, said it agreed to sell 19 West 44th Street in Manhattan to Deka Immobilien for $123.2 million. SL Green will continue to manage and lease the building as part of the sale agreement with Deka. SL Green originally bought the 292,000-square-foot Class B property in 2004 for $67 million. Since the acquisition SL Green has renovated the lobby, windows and heating and cooling systems, raising occupancy to 99 percent, compared to 86 percent in 2004. [more] 

The Real Deal on hiatus

September 3rd, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate
The Real Deal will be off Monday in observance of Labor Day and will return Tuesday. Enjoy the holiday weekend and as always, if you have a tip, e-mail news@therealdeal.com. TRD

Top sales agents of the week

September 3rd, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate The Real Deal has ranked the top listing agents of the week based on the highest priced residential deals filed with the city.

Laureate exudes sense of serene competence

September 3rd, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate Incrementally, though not without a few false steps, the Upper West Side is getting better. Some of its more recent developments, like the Corner at 200 West 72nd Street, have done the area no favors, but the general trend is one of improvement. What with 15 Central Park West -- which is as much about Broadway as about Central Park West -- the reborn Lincoln Center and the new Apple store on Broadway and 68th Street, among others, the place is looking increasingly lustrous and expensive. For those of us who grew up here in the 1970s, before such a transformation was even dreamed of, the change is astounding. One of the more charming adornments of Upper Broadway is the nearly completed Laureate, at 2150 Broadway and 76th Street. For years, if not for more than a century, this corner space was occupied by two very different, very low-lying buildings, united by nothing more than the fact that they were so drably generic. [more]

NYC charter commission steers clear of land use hot spots

September 3rd, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate Six months after being formed, the city Charter Revision Commission issued its final report yesterday, declining to make any recommendations on the three thorniest land use issues before it. The 15-member panel appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg heard from deeply divided interest groups such as the Real Estate Board of New York and Pratt Center for Community Development, but said certain issues were too complex to tackle in the brief period allotted to them. The commission acknowledged the deep divide on those issues, such as a proposal from community advocates and elected officials to increase the influence of community boards and borough board presidents within the ULURP process. The commission declined to make any changes. [more]

Harlem residents protest charter school … and more

September 3rd, 2010    Posted in Brooklyn New York, Hamptons New York, LIC Real Estate, Manhattan Real Estate, New York Real Estate, commercial real estate 1. Bedbugs discovered at Google’s Chelsea headquarters [NYO]
2. “Law and Order” star Mariska Hargitay buys $7.34 million Hamptons property [Real Estalker] 
3. Billy Joel lowers price for Sagaponack home, now asking $19.9 million [Newsday] 
4. Downtown’s Flea Theater artist space to launch capital campaign for relocation [Crain’s] 
5. St. Nicholas House residents in Harlem petition against new charter school [NYDN] 
6. $5.2 million unit closes at the Devonshire pre-war condo conversion in Central Village [Curbed] 
7. Harlem Tavern bar to replace auto shop on 116th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard [Crain’s] 
8. Williamsburg’s 777 Driggs moving toward completion [Brownstoner]  
9. Why are there no skyscrapers in Manhattan loft buildings? [Real Town]