Category : Featured

Condo board tells residents to “Butt out”
FeaturedResidential

Condo board tells residents to “Butt out”

REW
by REW1578
By Orlando Lee Rodriguez First S-Klien, then needle park and now cigarettes. In another testament to change in Union Square and how New York has changed, homeowners in Zeckendorf Towers, the 29-story, 647-unit building constructed on the site of the defunct S-Klien Department Store, voted overwhelmingly to become a entirely smoke-free residence last week, sending the Marlboro, the Newport the way of the old Union Square. That is a big change from the 1970's when the site of Zeckendorf was an abandoned hulk of a building, Union Square was full of drug addicts and you could smoke basically everywhere and anywhere you wanted to.
Everything getting bigger in Brooklyn, say upbeat builders
Deals & DealmakersFeatured

Everything getting bigger in Brooklyn, say upbeat builders

REW
by REW1198
By Orlando Lee Rodriguez You know you have some buzz in the sandbox when you can make an auditorium filled of subdued real estate professionals squeal like a bunch of 4th graders who just saw their teacher tumble down the stairs. But that kind of group gasp is exactly what it sounded like at the 2013 Brooklyn Real Estate Summit last week when David Von Spreckelsen, senior vice president Toll Brothers, reveled a key number for the company’s Pier 1 project.
FeaturedResidential

Graduates getting a taste of real life as city rental market is squeezed tight

REW
by REW867
By Orlando Lee Rodriguez An annual New York City ritual usually happens around this time, recent college graduates pour into town, degrees in hand, clutching their suitcases and money for their first big city apartment. At the same time, those who arrived last year or the year before, face their own dilemma — to look for a new place or stay put, as their leases expire en masse. For rental brokers, this is a time to clean up, or make up for a slow winter. But this year things are different. Rent rates have remained flat and existing tenants facing some of the lowest vacancy rates in years, are choosing to renew their leases rather than risk a very tight rental market.
AREA offloads Bronx property
Deals & DealmakersFeatured

AREA offloads Bronx property

REW
by REW1125
By Orlando Lee Rodriguez Harlem may be hot and Brooklyn may be sizzling, but The Bronx is where there is multi-family in abundance. In search of those large spaces, Riverdale based Chestnut Holdings of New York, Inc. has expanded its holdings in The Bronx, picking up five buildings for $10.3 million. Four of the multi-family buildings are in the proximity of the Grand Concourse, the 4.5-mile boulevard modeled after the Champs-Élysées in Paris, sans the Arc de Triomphe. The fifth, 1841 Mohegan Avenue, is just south of the Bronx Zoo and right off the busiest stretch of highway in the nation — The Cross Bronx Expressway portion of I95.
Hines inks $1B deal for two NYC towers
Deals & DealmakersFeatured

Hines inks $1B deal for two NYC towers

REW Staff
by REW Staff791
The New York office of Hines, the international real estate firm, announced today(Wednesday) that a subsidiary of the Hines U.S. Core Office Fund LP (Core Fund) has selected an institutional fund managed by American Realty Advisors as the buyer of 499 Park Avenue, and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management as the buyers of 425 Lexington Avenue. 499 Park Avenue Exact sale prices of each building were not disclosed; however, the combined sale price will total more than $1 billion, generating a sizeable return on investment for the Core Fund and its investors.
Diners, drive-ins and diving back into NYC
Debt & EquityFeatured

Diners, drive-ins and diving back into NYC

REW
by REW864
With private sector jobs continuing drive population growth in the City of New York, suburban brokers and developers may have some concerns that the “natural progression” of urbanities moving “onward and upward” to the suburbs may be a thing of the past. Indeed, the numbers don’t lie. For the first time since the 1920’s, U.S. cities have begun to grow at a faster rate than their surrounding suburbs, according to the Brookings Institute. From 2010-2011, the five boroughs of New York City outpaced the suburbs by almost double the growth rate.
Downtown Jamaica to welcome first department store in 35 years
Deals & DealmakersFeatured

Downtown Jamaica to welcome first department store in 35 years

REW Staff
by REW Staff769
Blumenfeld Development Group helped herald in a new era for Jamaica this week with the signing of a deal to bring the first department store to the area in 35 years. Once the home of three department stores — the first Macy’s outside Manhattan and a Mays and Gertz stores — downtown Jamaica was once the retail hub of post-war Queens, Nassau and Brooklyn.