last updated today at 01:43PM
McSam sells Times Square hotel site for $59M
Jul 25, 2008 01:43 PM
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Sam Chang Hotel developer Sam Chang sold a Times Square area parcel in the early stages of construction for $59 million, far above the $13.48 million the developer paid for the site in 2006. The Rhode Island hotel development company Magna Hospitality Group bought the 74,000-square-foot site from the McSam Hotel Group on July 2, according to city records published today. It was at least the fifth hotel site Chang has sold to Magna since February. more
By Adam Pincus

Smith Street building gets stop work order
Jul 25, 2008 01:19 PM
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360 Smith Street Developer Billy Stein's controversial Oliver House at 360 Smith Street in Brooklyn has been hit with a stop work order because the plans now don't conform with Carroll Gardens' new narrow street zoning rules. The building was planned to be 70 feet tall, but 55 feet is the new height limit. A Department of Building inspector found that only 20 percent of the foundation was complete, so the old zoning rules won't apply. The condo building was originally designed by Robert Scarano, who was later dropped from the project.

Clock Tower tries to upstage Plaza
Jul 25, 2008 12:39 PM
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Clock Tower There's a new battle brewing for New York City's supreme conversion between the Plaza Hotel and the Clock Tower, the former MetLife headquarters at 5 Madison Avenue. Africa Israel's US head, Rotem Rosen, says the Clock Tower will be more exclusive, because it will have only 55 units, compared to the Plaza's 181. And he says the celebrities are already lining up to buy. "The clientele will be top celebrities," he told the Observer. "I cannot tell you the names we have already gotten calls from to get a unit, but you can imagine how many celebrities will want to live in this building." Versace is designing the interiors.

Waterfront condos rise in Throgs Neck 
Jul 25, 2008 12:20 PM
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Throgs Neck Bridge The Throgs Neck neighborhood Whitestone Woods in the Bronx might offer the city's most affordable waterfront property. The development Bridgeview Estates includes 21 condominiums, some with direct waterfront access, with prices starting at $475,000. A golf course might also be coming to the area.

Glenwood plans to stick with rentals
Jul 25, 2008 11:57 AM
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Fairmont, a Glenwood tower Glenwood has been building luxury rentals since 1964 and the developer sees no reason to start selling condos now. Glenwood designs its buildings with amenities and finishes usually found in condos, and has 20 properties throughout the city, including 390 East 79th Street and 500 East 77th Street. Baseball stars Alex Rodriguez and Mike Piazza have lived in Glenwood apartments.

Blackstone plans to buy subprime loans
Jul 25, 2008 11:40 AM
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Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman The Blackstone Group announced it will enter the subprime market, buying up troubled loans to resell or securitize them for a profit. The private equity firm has already set aside $1.25 billion to do this through a partnership with Florida firm Bayview Financial. Hedge funds Fortress and Och-Ziff are also thinking of taking advantage of the down market.

Work continues at WTC site
Jul 25, 2008 11:22 AM
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World Trade Center Despite being over-budget and delayed, construction at the World Trade Center site continues. White arches are underground, marking a passage that will connect the Santiago Calatrava-designed WTC PATH station to the World Financial Center. The bathtub for Towers 3 and 4 are filled with developer Larry Silverstein's construction equipment. The site shows progress at Tower 3, but not much at Tower 4.

NYC foreclosures rise
Jul 25, 2008 11:10 AM
The number of foreclosures in the five boroughs jumped 28.6 percent in the second quarter compared to the same time last year, according to report from RealtyTrac. There were 6,380 households that received foreclosure-related notices last quarter, while 4,963 received notices in the second quarter of 2007. Queens residents had the highest share in the second quarter of 2008, with 2,692 foreclosures, followed by 1,981 in Brooklyn. A quarterly report from PropertyShark.com previously reported a steeper jump in foreclosures in the second quarter.

Finding places to shoot without brokers
Jul 25, 2008 09:58 AM
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Film location scout Dan Pollack From the July issue: A loft-style apartment in Manhattan was needed for a television pilot, and a very determined man named Dan Pollack set out to find one. After an apartment hunt lasting two weeks, Pollack found a great penthouse unit at 304 Spring Street. That was after scouting out 23 Manhattan places including the Setai New York at 40 Broad Street, 455 Central Park West, two Trump buildings, 505 Greenwich Street, 169 Hudson Street and 51 Warren Street. Although he knows a lot of great New York City locations, Pollack is not a real estate agent.
more By Lauren Elkies

Brady, Gisele re-list Manhattan pads
Jul 25, 2008 08:29 AM
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Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his supermodel girlfriend Gisele Bundchen have re-listed their Manhattan apartments. Brady now wants $18.29 million for his Time Warner Center condo, about 10 percent more than last year's listing. Bundchen, meanwhile, has had trouble selling her West Village penthouse triplex with Hudson River views. In September, she asked for $10.9 million and lowered the price down to $7.9 million before taking it off the market. She is now asking for $5.9 million for the apartment, which she paid nearly $3 million for in 2002. The couple has been seen regularly at Bundchen's West Village townhouse. 

Current Issue
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From The July Issue

The biggest problems in New York City real estate

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In the wake of the subprime and credit crises, problems are becoming apparent even in New York City's usually buoyant real estate market. For this supplement, The Real Deal has chosen to bring some plaster: First, we home in on macro difficulties, as well as some less-discussed problems. More

Developers falling into a Catch-22

It's a tough time to be a residential developer, as The Real Deal explores in a series of stories. Projects are taking longer to sell out, placing developers in a bind as lenders typically won't let them lower prices. And as units sit, developers find themselves with additional costs. Some developers are choosing to go with Plan B and switch from condos to rentals, but even that is far from a safe bet these days. More

In Hamptons, it's no vacation

Multimillion-dollar homes are still finding takers in the Hamptons, but the notoriously tony vacation destination is showing serious signs of softening. While the market there does not mirror the meltdown in the rest of the country, the Wall Street cash that has long flooded into the East End is clearly not flowing as freely this summer. This month, The Real Deal offers a series of stories on what's happening on the South Fork. More

Real estate sites rise in 'Bloglyn'

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Over the last few years, the number of local Brooklyn blogs has multiplied exponentially; May's Brooklyn Blogfest drew more than 100 bloggers, and some have even begun to call Brooklyn, 'Bloglyn.' For the bloggers, though, this is not just filling time it's about having a say in the development of the borough. More

Summer doldrums take hold of residential market

The pace of residential sales in Manhattan continues to slow, causing a backlog of inventory. The rest of the summer doesn't look any more promising. Sales activity is down by roughly one-third from the same point last year, Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, said last month. More

Staving off commercial foreclosure

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This time, the mortgage banking industry is not taking any chances. Stung by the subprime mortgage crisis, the tightening credit market, Wall Street layoffs and other bleak economic indicators, banks are nervous. And this time around -- in contrast to other periods in real estate history -- lenders are not waiting for the owners of commercial properties to go into foreclosure. More

Developers in a bind over prices

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Developers of flagging residential condo projects in the city may be faced with a new real estate Catch-22: the prospect of having to provide additional equity to lenders or take out more loans if they want to cut prices to attract buyers. More

Crisis or correction?

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Although the Federal Reserve has tried to stimulate the market by lowering rates and making it easier for banks to borrow money, brokers and economists have noted that developers, building buyers and consumers continue to struggle to get loans, particularly from large banks. More

Selling in pieces

As the credit market tightens, demand is slowing for multi-property portfolios the most expensive investment sale category. Of the property packages that do sell, more and more are being split into smaller pieces when they change hands. More

Architects drafting a better office space in Garment District

Once a thriving manufacturing area where an immigrant influx spurred the growth of the apparel industry, the Garment District, bounded roughly by Fifth and Ninth avenues and 34th and 42nd streets, by the 1990s had become one of the most depressed parts of Midtown Manhattan with the gradual loss of clothing factories, suppliers and wholesalers due to pressure from cheaper clothing imports. But it seems that at least one industry has quietly taken over the area over the past few years: architecture, along with its counterpart, engineering. More


Special Reports

Condos on the chopping block
Prices come down to help move new projects
Adding it all up
A tally of numbers that matter: construction costs, the high-end market, and foreign buyer migration
Manhattan's biggest firms
Our annual survey of the top Manhattan firms
New terrain forces brokers to adjust
How brokers are shifting strategy in a more challenging market
Heading back to school
The state of the real estate education industry
Luxe gets pinch of reality: A look at Manhattan's top sales
Analysis of the ultra-high-end residential of the market
Watching Wall Street
Implications of the financial sector's trouble on real estate
Luxury suburban market still sparkling
A look at the top 10 sales by area



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