last updated Yesterday at 04:17PM
In Hamptons, it's no vacation
Jul 03, 2008 04:17 PM
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Hamptons beach From the July issue: 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 By Jill Gardiner

Activists prank Union Square Partnership over pavilion restaurant 
Jul 03, 2008 04:09 PM
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Reverend Billy As part of a long-running campaign to stop the city from turning the Union Square Pavilion into a year-round restaurant, activists released a fake press release yesterday announcing that the Union Square Partnership had abandoned the plan. "We made a mistake," the fake release quoted Union Square Partnership Executive Director Jennifer Falk as saying. "[We didn't] consider its potential as a community space, its historical significance at the center of so many of America's social movements, or its present value as one of the last areas for free assembly in New York City."  more
By Jane C. Timm

Toll gets junked … and more
Jul 03, 2008 04:08 PM
 
  • 1. Moody's has downgraded Toll Brothers' credit rating to junk status [Bloomberg]
  • 2. The head of the Port Authority could be angling for more control of the World Trade Center's reconstruction [NYMag]
  • 3. A former city crane inspector pleads not guilty to lying about examining the crane that later collapsed in Turtle Bay and killed seven people [AP via Crain's]
  • 4. The St. Regis Hotel New York on East 55th Street and Fifth Avenue is spending $1 million on renovating its presidential suite [Crain's]
  • 5. A judge orders the removal of a fence along the Red Hook waterfront [NYT]
  • 6. 2 Renwick takes shape just north of Canal Street between Renwick and Hudson streets [Curbed]
  • 7. The Sheraton/Aloft is rising quickly in Downtown Brooklyn [Brownstoner]

15 CPW unit rents for $29,000 per month
Jul 03, 2008 02:50 PM
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15 Central Park West A three-bedroom apartment at 15 Central Park West has rented for $29,000 per month, according to Streeteasy.com, a real estate data site. The 2,500-square-foot apartment has three-plus bathrooms and windows up to 16 feet big. Charles Glatter, a broker at Halstead Property who listed the apartment, said it rented to a doctor who is renovating an apartment in the trophy tower. Three apartments are renting there for over $30,000, including a three-bedroom for $36,000. TRD

Swig sells UWS rental buildings
Jul 03, 2008 01:09 PM
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201 W. 92nd St. rendering Developer Kent Swig has sold a 134-unit rental complex on the Upper West Side for $61 million, more than a year after failing to build condos atop the two tenement buildings at 201 West 92nd Street. Eastern Consolidated was hired in November 2007 to find a buyer for the buildings, but they sold for less than their $72 million price tag, according to city records. Despite Swig's decision to abandon a conversion there, Eastern Consolidated marketed the building as a potential condominium, as the 125,000 square feet of unused air rights would allow seven additional stories of condo development. more
By David Jones

Harlem businesses settle suit against Kimco
Jul 03, 2008 01:05 PM
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Manna's Restaurant, a plaintiff Five small displaced Harlem business owners have settled their lawsuit against Kimco Realty, one of the country's largest shopping center developers, and its partner the Sigfeld Group, attorneys said. Although the businesses still must close by September 30, a settlement was reached last week in New York State Supreme Court for an undisclosed sum of money. Sources said the case was settled for more than $1 million. The developers bought the sprawling two-story property at 125th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard last summer for $30 million, with plans to demolish the building and erect a shopping center, said the plaintiffs' attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey. more
By Lauren Elkies

Former NYU dorm nearly half leased
Jul 03, 2008 12:48 PM
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15 Cliff Street A former New York University dorm-turned-rental building at 15 Cliff Street in the Financial District has leased nearly half of its 156 units, less than a month after they hit the market, developer Michael Lalezarian said. Rents at the 32-story building range from $2,300 for a studio and to $5,800 for a two-bedroom apartment. The building has a 24-hour concierge, a fitness center, on-site cafe and a rooftop garden. The dorm was a popular one for NYU students. The school's student newspaper, Washington Square News, once hailed Cliff Street as "the apartment that you might not ever afford in the real world," in a housing review. more
By Jane C. Timm

Will hurricane season scare off more buyers?
Jul 03, 2008 12:28 PM
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House damaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005 From the South Florida edition: With not-so-distant memories of back-to-back-to-back violent storms still lingering in the minds of homeowners, insurers and brokers, the beginning of hurricane season is about as welcome as the busted real estate bubble. Indeed, meteorologists are forecasting what could be a record year for hurricanes at worst; a worse-than-usual season at best. There's a 65 percent chance of a busier-than-average hurricane season this year, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA predicted 12 to 16 named storms between June 1 and November 30. Closer to home, the Atlantic Coast can expect up to nine hurricanes in 2008.
more By Jennifer LeClaire

More cantilevers hang over city
Jul 03, 2008 12:15 PM
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Georgica, 305 E. 85th St. Cantilevers, building structures supported by beams only on one side, are appearing with increasing frequency on new developments throughout the city. They can be seen at the Georgica condominium at 305 East 85th Street, and at the Brompton at Third Avenue and 86th Street, which cantilevers from its southern fa ade, hanging over low-rise buildings. A cantilever was designed for the JPMorgan Chase tower on the former site of the Deutsche Bank near the World Trade Center. The design, which calls for part of the building hanging over a new St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, may not go through.

More tax breaks for Yankee Stadium?
Jul 03, 2008 10:36 AM
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New Yankee Stadium The Bloomberg administration has defended the Yankees' request for more tax-exempt bonds for the new Yankee Stadium, saying the stadium will help bring jobs, revenue and parkland to the Bronx. The project has already received $942 million in tax-exempt financing, and the stadium is expected to be ready for opening day in 2009. The Yankees say the extra funds are needed for the scoreboard, concession stand and other stadium amenities.

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

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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

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
Soft landing in store for retail
Turbulence in other markets hasn't hit NYC yet
Boroughs battle it out
How NYC real estate breaks down post-crunch—and who's on top



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