November 20, 2009 04:30PM
The Real Deal has ranked the top listing agents of the week based on the highest priced residential deals filed with the city.
Footnotes: Data is for closed deals filed with the city this week through Thursday. The chart only includes sellers' brokers, because buyers' brokers' names are not available in city data or listings. The data does not include deals in contract. To obtain broker information, listing information was compared with sales records filed with the city. Only deals where an individual broker and address can be identified are included. As a result, private sales, listings where an address has not been provided and new development sales by a sales center are not included. Sources: Streeteasy.com and The Real Deal research.
November 20, 2009 04:00PM
Many pop-up shops are finding that a pop-up status can be a good first step toward permanent residency in New York City. One-time pop-uppers, like Kai D. menswear store at 75 Orchard Street between Grand and Broome streets, are signing long-term leases after their short-term occupancies run out, Crain's reported. The strategy is also working for desperate landlords, who eagerly sign-on the temporary shops when tenants are hard to come by. After running its temporary shop for a month, Kai D. was able to negotiate a 13-month extension on its lease with its landlord, Dermott Co. Aaron Odle, a representative for Kai D., said that being able to move into the space temporarily helped it take the leap into permanent status. "You really need to be in a space to test it out, and we've decided that staying is the right thing to do," Odle said.
[Crain's]
Tags:
aaron odle
dermott co.
kai d. 75 orchard street
pop-up shops
retail real estate
November 20, 2009 03:30PM
101 Sixth Avenue (source: PropertyShark.com)
By Adam Pincus
Just weeks after its leasing assignment was ended at the 2.8-million-square-foot Empire State Building, full service commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis told The Real Deal it has clawed back some of that space by inking a deal to represent 101 Sixth Avenue on the border of Soho and Hudson Square. CBRE picked up the leasing assignment for the 430,000-square-foot building at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Watts Street Oct. 7, said Peter Turchin, executive vice president at CBRE. The 23-story office building is owned by a partnership between the Andalex Group and Edward J. Minskoff Equities, and was built in 1991. The entire building is leased by the influential Service Employees International Union local 32 BJ, whose 20-year lease expires Dec. 31, 2011.
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Tags:
101 sixth avenue
CBRE
andalex group
edward j. minskoff equities
empire state building
newmark knight
peter turchin
November 20, 2009 03:00PM
By David Jones
From left: Yair Levy, Michael Shvo, and Rector Square at 225 Rector Place
A group of 45 unit owners at Rector Square condominium in Battery Park filed a $100 million lawsuit against developer Yair Levy, superbroker
Michael Shvo and building manager Cooper Square Realty, alleging widespread fraud, negligence and misrepresentation. According to the suit filed yesterday in New York State Supreme Court, Levy, the owner of YL Real Estate Developers, defaulted on the mortgage loan with Anglo Irish Bank, failed to complete construction of the building, converted reserve funds for his own use and failed to make PILOT payments to the Battery Park City Authority. The plaintiffs claim the sponsor and broker misrepresented the quality of the building to potential purchasers. "Instead of a building of their dreams they bought into a building of nightmares," said Marc Held, attorney for the unit owners. Levy also allegedly sold a block of 15 apartments to an Italian university for use as dorm rooms for exchange students and
rented out apartments to Marriott for use as extended-stay hotels, violating local zoning laws.
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Tags:
Michael Shvo
anglo irish bank
battery park city authority
cooper square realty
marc held
rector square
yair levy
yl real estate developers
November 20, 2009 02:30PM
The showcase home
While more evidence highlighting the financial plight of the American home builder is hardly needed, the National Association of Home Builders has offered up an evocative image of the industry's woes. "The New American Home," a perennial showcase feature in the association's yearly convention, typically highlights the latest, most cutting edge innovations in the industry, with high end details like swimming pools and an aesthetically-pleasing landscape design. This year, however, "The New American Home" is an exercise in modesty. The 6,800-square-foot home, built just outside Las Vegas, is equipped with over 50 solar panels, but little else. Domanico Custom Homes, which had been tapped for the project, bailed partway through, when a private investor ditched the deal. Now the home, which was intended to showcase all the newest and finest the industry offers, sits without flooring, without a swimming pool and without any buyers. The situation for "The New American Home" is so bad that it's now on the market for $1.8 million -- a so-called "fire sale" price, according to Domanico.
[WSJ]
Tags:
nahb
national association of home builders
November 20, 2009 02:00PM
122 East 78th Street, 45 Overlook Terrace
The priciest home to come on the Manhattan market this week is a nearly-century-old house at
122 East 78th Street, according to Streeteasy.com. The six-story home is configured for single sale or for transformation into a multi-unit building. On the market for $18.9 million, the building -- known as the Goodridge Mansion -- includes an English basement, laundry room and porter's room. Joanna Cutler of Joanna Cutler Real Estate and Carrie Chiang of the Corcoran Group have the co-exclusive. The least expensive Manhattan home to hit the market is a $215,000 co-op unit at
45 Overlook Terrace. Simone Song of the eponymous firm is managing the 500-square-foot listing.
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November 20, 2009 01:30PM
What, if anything, should the city do to help stalled development projects in New York?
1. Do nothing, let prices fall [and] new developers will come in and buy the notes from the banks. Their new basis in the project will be low enough that affordable market-rate housing can be built. More supply is good for everyone.
2. The city should just intervene in cases of emergency and dangerous situation to the public. Vacant construction sites impact neighborhoods. Other than that, let banks deal with it.
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November 20, 2009 01:00PM
42-38 65th Street
A deadly blaze that killed three people in a two-family Queens house at 42-38 65th Street, and revealed the numerous unregulated apartments divided within, has drawn a keen eye toward the growing problem of illegal apartments in the five boroughs. Following the fire, officials found that the Woodside home had as many as five different living units in its basement alone, and six more crammed into the upstairs space. One family lived in its unit in the house for two years before the blaze revealed the scheme. Housing advocates say that many other illegal apartments exist throughout the city, but that they're difficult to track down and that they often hide in plain sight. Some experts say that as many as 100,000 illegal apartments currently exist in the city, the New York Times reported.
[NYT]
Tags:
woodside
42-38 65th street
fire
illegal housing
illegal apartments
November 20, 2009 12:30PM
Aéropostale on West 34th Street,Tasti-D-Lite on the corner of Court and Wycoff streets
In Soho, a
pop-up shop of jewelry designed by Alicia Keys will open Monday through Thursday next week at 26 Clinton Street. On the Lower East Side, a yoga/dance/karate establishment may move into
a 3,500-square-foot space in the basement of 92 Delancey Street. The
southern storefront of 168 Ludlow Street will become a
consignment shop and should open sometime next month. In Chelsea, a new location of café Grey Dog opened at 242 West 16th Street. A larger outpost of
Artichoke Basille Pizza gets the go-ahead to open in the Meatpacking District. In Midtown,
Red Mango has shuttered on Eighth Avenue between 45th and 46th streets.
Aéropostale's first street-front flagship store has opened on West 34th Street. On the Upper East Side, French perfumer
Frédéric Malle has opened a new flagship location on Madison Avenue between 72nd and 73rd streets. On the Upper West Side,
Five Napkin Burger will open a second location in the old Ollie's spot on Broadway and 84th Street.
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November 20, 2009 12:00PM
The Real Deal is looking for your feedback on market-related issues. Please comment below. If you have questions you'd like posted, please e-mail news@therealdeal.com.
November 20, 2009 11:30AM
P.S. 234
Residents in an affordable rental building at 89 Murray Street on the corner of Greenwich Street are up in arms over a proposed school district rezoning plan, unveiled Wednesday night, that would force children in their building to attend a far away elementary school. Parents say that while P.S. 234 at 292 Greenwich Street is just around the corner from them -- some even say that the school is visible from their windows -- the rezoning plan would force students in their building to attend the Spruce Street School across town. Even more vexing, they say, is that nearby luxury condo owners at 101 Warren Street would be able to continue attending the Greenwich Street school. Residents at the affordable housing unit say the plan unfairly favors higher income families, many of which, they contend, could afford nannies to accompany their kids to a farther away school. The city Department of Education said that it hopes to finalize the new zoning plan by the end of next month.
[Downtown Express]
Tags:
101 warren street
292 greenwich street
89 murray street
department of education
p.s. 234
A breakdown of where prices have dropped most in the rival boroughs
November 20, 2009 11:00AM
By C. J. Hughes
From the November issue: Brooklyn has long been a haven for renters looking for cheaper deals than they can get across the river in Manhattan. In the current downturn, however, rents have dropped faster in Manhattan than in Brooklyn. This month, The Real Deal stacks up the rival boroughs next to each other, comparing year-over-year rent drops to see where the biggest declines have been. According to the real estate Web site StreetEasy, average rental listing prices fell 21 percent in Manhattan between the third quarter of 2008 and the third quarter of 2009, while coming down only 15 percent in Brooklyn.
In addition, price declines have been far steeper in certain Manhattan neighborhoods, a phenomenon that has made headlines and prompted many Brooklyn renters to give Manhattan another look. Indeed, brokers say, budget-conscious renters arriving in New York for the first time -- who in the past may have gone straight over the Brooklyn Bridge to hunt for an apartment -- are now weighing Manhattan as a comparable alternative. more
Tags:
renters
streeteasy
During the boom years, Manhattan real estate seemed like an open book.
As prices climbed higher, news of record-breaking Manhattan deals --
like Harry Macklowe's $60 million Plaza buy or Jonathan Tisch's $48
million co-op purchase at 2 East 67th Street -- was reported not just
throughout the country, but all over the globe.
