MetaProp to Invest $5M in Affordable Housing Startups

“We are going to make technologies that make it easier to build housing that’s affordable, and the financing for purchasing a home less onerous,” said Zach Aarons, MetaProp’s co-founder.

—The Real Deal

REBNY to Honor Alex Bernstein

The thing to know about Alex Bernstein is that he has never shied away from doing some of the tougher jobs that helped him gain a firsthand understanding of what our industry does for New Yorkers. As a fourth-generation member of the incredible family that established Bernstein Real Estate back in 1926, Alex ran a freight elevator in high school and worked on construction crews during his summer breaks. That kind of mentality and work ethic helped him develop a deep commitment to building quality projects and supporting tenants. It also speaks to why he was able to rise through the ranks and find his path forward.

—Real Estate Weekly

Alison Bernstein: “Every business is about people, not the product”

Thank you so much for joining us! What is your “backstory”?
“I was finishing up Columbia Business School, expecting my first child and going through the thoughts of whether we wanted to raise our family in the city. As we continued with the process, I came across a huge market inefficiency. I found that the residential real estate marketplace, on the buyer side did not provide truly objective advice or guidance as it pertains to the lifestyle factors, options and inevitable changes associated with such an important life decision. I therefore seized the opportunity to create a unique piece to the real estate puzzle.”

—Medium

How to Choose a Real Estate Broker

And, said Allison Chiaramonte, a sales agent at Warburg Realty, they should be at least reasonably likable. “Sellers sometimes focus on brokers they perceive to be tough or forceful negotiators,” she said. “But it can turn off the buyers and their representatives if a particular broker has a reputation for being difficult or unreasonable. You’re better off with a team player who gets deals done.”

—The New York Times

What You Need to Know About Luxury Buildings with Playrooms

While a playroom isn’t a necessity for most people, it’s certainly on a few clients’ wish lists. “Those who have small kids recognize the value and utility,” Chiaramonte says, “but they realize that their use period is limited—usually to kids in the under-six range.”

—Brick Underground

2018 HW Vanguard: Anthony Cazazian

Anthony Cazazian is a problem solver. He saw a major issue challenging the single-family rental industry—a lack of streamlined, standardized processes—and he set out to fix it, creating the largest corporate-owned property management company focused on the asset class. Now, Renters Warehouse can provide owners with a single point of contact to efficiently manage their rental properties across more than 40 markets.

—HousingWire

Welltower Announces $1 Billion in Acquisitions, $300 Million Equity Investment from Qatar Wealth Fund

“We spent an awful lot of time with them, and I believe they also did their homework and looked more broadly across health care real estate,” DeRosa said during a presentation at the company’s annual investor day in New York City. “We were very pleased that led to a decision to invest into Welltower’s equity, and will likely lead to opportunities to partner in some of our major development initiatives.”

—Senior Housing News

Welltower Announced $725 Million in Seniors Housing Acquisitions, $300 Million Investment from Qatar

“QIA contacted us many months ago,” Welltower CEO Tom DeRosa told [Welltower] Investor Day attendees. “They, we believed, were looking at the healthcare real estate sector and trying to figure out a strategy to invest in the sector. So we spent an awful lot of time with them, and I believe they also did their homework, and they looked more broadly across healthcare real estate and looked for options, how they might best be able to invest in the sector.”

—McKnight's Senior Living

These Were the Top NYC Office Leases in November

Bloomberg LP, 120 Park Avenue, Grand Central—468,000 square feet. The media and financial-information company renewed its 11-year lease for 468,000 square feet of space at 120 Park Avenue. Howard Fiddle and Craig Reicher of CBRE represented the tenant while Paul Glickman and Diana Biasotti of JLL represented the landlord, Global Holdings Group. Bloomberg has been a tenant at 120 Park since 2011, though its headquarters is a few blocks away at Vornado Realty Trust’s 731 Lexington Avenue.

—The Real Deal

Google Unveils $1 Billion Manhattan Campus

“Google will also lease 180,000 square feet at 345 Hudson St., a 980,000-square-foot office property owned by Trinity Hudson Holdings. The joint venture comprises Hines, the ownership’s operating partner; Trinity Real Estate; and Norges Bank Real Estate Management. CBRE’s Howard Fiddle, Paul Amrich, Zac Price and Ben Joseph represented the ownership.

—Commercial Property Executive

Savanna Acquires 48 W. 25th St. for $100M

The Flapper family sold its 12-story office and retail building located at 48 25th St. to Savanna for $100 million, according to Real Capital Analytics….The Flapper family was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Doug Harmon, Adam Spies, Adam Doneger and Josh King. Savanna secured a loan from Mesa West and was represented by a Cushman & Wakefield financing team led by Gideon Gil.

—Globe Street

Savanna Buys, Repositions Manhattan Asset

Savanna has acquired 48 W. 25th St., a 126,256-square-foot office building in Midtown Manhattan. Cushman & Wakefield’s Adam Spies, Adam Doneger and Josh King represented the seller in the transaction, while a team fronted by Gideon Gil procured the buyer.

—Commercial Property Executive

Rockpoint Group lands $430M Loan for One Dag Hammarskjöld Purchase

SRockpoint Group tapped Wells Fargo and Brookfield Asset Management to finance its $600 million purchase of the One Dag Hammarskjöld office tower in Midtown East. Cushman & Wakefield’s Gideon Gil negotiated the financing for Rockpoint. The Cushman team of Douglas Harmon, Adam Spies and Kevin Donner negotiated the sale of the building for Ruben.

—The Real Deal

HFF Secures $32M Refinancing for Caesura Apartment Building in Brooklyn

HFF has secured a $32 million loan to refinance Caesura, a newly completed, 123-unit apartment building in Brooklyn’s cultural district. Located at 280 Ashland Place, the 12-story property comprises a mix of 74 market-rate and 49 affordable units. Amenities at Caesura include walk-in closets, in-unit washers and dryers, and a fitness center. Steven Klein and Geoff Goldstein of HFF secured the 10-year, fixed-rate financing on behalf of the borrower, Jonathan Rose Companies through lender Allegiant Real Estate Capital LP. Loan proceeds were used to replace the existing construction loan.

—RE Business Online

Partially Affordable Brooklyn Community Receives $32M Loan

Caesura is a recently completed, 132-unit residential building in the borough’s Cultural District. HFF Managing Director Steven Klein and Senior Director Geoff Goldstein worked on behalf of the borrower.

—Multi-Housing News

Huntington Townhome Project Moves Forward

Financing for the project was brokered by Andrew Scandalios, Rob Hinckley and Geoff Goldstein of HFF, which arranged $30 million in joint-venture equity between Triangle Equities and GTIS Partners and an additional $50 million in construction financing from Bank OZK.

—Long Island Business News

Snøhetta Reveals More Preservation-Friendly Redesign for Philip Johnson’s 550 Madison

Developers seek Landmarks' approval for 550 Madison Ave.

“550 Madison is a historic landmark, claiming its place in New York City’s architectural heritage,” Horvat said in a statement. “We aim to return the tower, which has sat vacant for years and was in danger of condo conversion, to its original prominence as one of the top Class A commercial buildings in New York City.”

—6sqft & Crain's New York Business

Taco Truckers Roll Into Tony Upper West Side

Olshan Properties announced that popular taqueria Tacombi has signed a 15-year lease at 173 West 78th Street in Manhattan’s tony upper West Side district. The restaurant, which opens for business early 2019, will become Tacombi’s sixth location in the city. “We are thrilled to welcome Tacombi to our building and to the Upper West Side,” said Andrea Olshan, CEO of Olshan Properties. “The restaurant is a welcome addition to the vibrant roster of destination restaurants that we currently host within our national portfolio.”

—Real Estate Weekly

Connect the Speakers: Clelia Peters on the Opportunities for Professional, Serious Agents

“I would begin by saying that I do think that it is real, that disruption has come to our market, and one of the lessons of 2018 is that there is no hiding from the fact that the industry is in the midst of really significant change, and that change is impacting every part of the market—every price point, every type of inventory. I don’t think it’s an option anymore to be an ostrich. You used to go to agents because they had information you couldn’t access anywhere else in the market. It’s been almost 10 years since that change took place, but 2018 is when the profundity of that change began to manifest.”

—Inman

NYC Real Estate and Architecture Experts Reflect on 2018’s Biggest Moments

“2018 was the year the luxury market came down to earth in New York—particularly in the highly saturated luxury ($5M+) condominium market segment. Prices have come down as much as 30 percent year over year, and days on the market have significantly increased. Most of the year has been what we at Warburg call a ‘brokers market,’ an environment in which both sellers and buyers feel uncertainty or are acting out of alignment with what the market is dictating.”

—Curbed NY

Surprise! The New York Urban Boom Isn’t Stopping (byline)

Most noticeably however, New York has been the posterchild for ‘Superstar Cities’: urban cores that have attracted superstar tech firms, which in turn brought top-flight tech talent and created a new wave of prosperity. One thing leading to another, the Big Apple became the recipient of a large influx of ‘Millennials’, or daughters and sons of the Baby Boomers. These young professionals represent the largest generation of Americans ever—and they are primarily urban dwellers.

—Medium

Compass Quickly Dominating the Luxury Turf

When Compass held its 2018 All Team Retreat in Los Angeles in late November 2000 Compass agents and employees filled the Orpheum Theatre where Compass Founder & CEO Robert Reffkin spread the Compass 2020 Vision. The plan—20% market share in the top 20 cities by 2020. Over 7,000 additional Compass agents streamed the event according to Reffkin. The enthusiasm, energy, and excitement ran non-stop from the time Reffkin walked on stage to a standing ovation. The words on the giant screen behind Reffkin, “The future of real estate is in the hands of the agent.”

—Forbes

Home Front: Compass Gets Citron

New York-based Compass real estate brokerage, which has made a small foray into California, bought Pacific Union and also wooed Alain Pinel's Judy Citron, a national top-selling agent, to their new Palo Alto office.

—Palo Alto Online

Re-envisioning Urban Real Estate (podcast)

Real-estate veteran Neville Rhone shares his journey from corporate executive to entrepreneur in search of development projects that benefit communities.

—Morgan Stanley Access & Opportunity Podcast

GFP and Northwind Have Big Plans and a Tenant to Match for FiDi Office Tower

“We’re taking [7 Hanover] and dividing it into two separate buildings,” said Brian Steinwurtzel, GFP Real Estate co-CEO. “The tower of this building has efficient floor plates and amazing views.”

—The Real Deal

GFP, Northwind Seek New Equity Partner for FiDi Office Overhaul

With a big tenant lined up to anchor their repositioning of the former Guardian Life headquarters in the Financial District, the Gural family and the Northwind Group are looking to bring a new equity partner on to the project....“We’re looking to bring an institutional LP into the deal,” GFP co-CEO Brian Steinwurtzel told The Real Deal.

—The Real Deal

Partnership Closes on Opportunity Zone Site in Overtown, with Plans for 18-Story Tower

One of the largest Opportunity Zone acquisitions in Miami closed, with the owners planning to build a large residential complex on the site. Former LeFrak executive Michael Tillman’s PTM Partners and Estate Investments Group paid $9.7 million for the vacant lot at 218 Northwest Eighth Street in a qualified Opportunity Zone near the MiamiCentral train station.

—The Real Deal South Florida

Where a Single-Family House and 100+ Luxury Apartments Cost the Same

A suburban-style house might not seem like much of a trophy property, but what if it were situated in New York City? According to an analysis by real-estate firm NeighborhoodX, a 2,000-square-foot home on a 0.21-acre lot in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood would cost around $61 million....”It's one thing to have a modest single-family house," says Mr. Valhouli. "But it's entirely another to have a single-family house on a site that could have been occupied by a skyscraper.”

—The Wall Street Journal

As New York’s Real Estate Market Cools, Brooklyn Neighborhoods Stay Hot for Buyers and Renters

Still, strong demand is keeping prices perched at lofty levels — and rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods are slowly transforming areas that were once dominated by working class residents. Constantine Valhouli, co-founder of the real estate analytics firm NeighborhoodX, told CNBC that Brooklyn’s status as a housing hot spot remains a safe bet, thanks to robust growth in certain neighborhoods.”

—CNBC

Long Island Cheat Sheet

Lincoln Equities Group got $28 million in financing to build a 195,610-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility in Hicksville. The New Jersey-based developer bought the nine-acre property from Winter Bros. Waste Systems for about $9 million. The facility will have ceilings up to 50 feet high and 30 loading docks. The financing was provided by the Heitman Capital Management. John Alascio, Noble Carpenter III and Sridhar Vankayala of Cushman & Wakefield’s equity, debt and structured finance team arranged for the loan.

—The Real Deal