Category : Headline

Mom and Pops smell coffee as chain stores eat into New York City
HeadlineRetail

Mom and Pops smell coffee as chain stores eat into New York City

REW
by REW807
All New York shoppers want this Christmas is a chain store. According to the State of the Chains report from the Center for an Urban Future, the number of chain store locations in New York City jumped 3.3 percent this year. In the biggest climb since a 2009 chain store boom, brands like Dunkin Donuts, Metro PCS and Chipotle bulldozed their way into the city in a blaze of real estate-eating franchises. “I think it’s just a natural evolution. I think what you’re really seeing is the demise of the small mom and pop that doesn’t have the efficiency of scale,” said Joanne Podell, vice chairman at Cushman & Wakefield.
Deals & DealmakersHeadline

Spinola: Real estate has earned its place at political table

REW
by REW958
With taxes from revenue-generating properties providing enough money to pay New York’s teachers, police officers, fire fighters, sanitation workers and corrections officers for a year, the city’s real estate industry is its most powerful sector. And it’s most influential group is braced to harness that power to build a better New York. Speaking before a group of real estate executives, REBNY chairman Steven Spionla said, “Before, state legislators would ask us - What right do you have to argue these issues? Well, 54 percent of the entire city’s budget comes from the real estate industry. Why are we involved? Because without income-producing properties, we would have fewer police officers, teachers and public servants. We, as an industry, want to grow those numbers, get involved in big projects and create more jobs.”
New York hotel developers checking all the boxes
Deals & DealmakersHeadline

New York hotel developers checking all the boxes

REW
by REW1015
The North America Hotel Investment Conference (NATHIC) heard optimistic predictions from some of the industry’s most influential leaders at their annual summit last week, but New York City developers have their eye on a plethora of issues that could upset the applecart, from rising land prices to the Airbnb economy....
Deals & DealmakersHeadline

Mystery billionaire buys NoMad site

REW
by REW
By Konrad Putzier 264 Fifth Avenue An unnamed Russian-Israeli billionaire has snapped up a NoMad development site at 264 Fifth Avenue for $25.5 million, or … Continued
Deals & DealmakersHeadline

Peebles planning to launch $350M investment fund

REW
by REW1391
Don Peebles, head of development behemoth The Peebles Corporation, plans to launch a $350 million real estate investment fund. Peebles told Real Estate Weekly he has recently begun raising capital for the fund, which will invest in Peebles’ own projects as well as developments by “emerging mid-sized developers” in several major U.S. cities, including New York. “The fund will be more along the lines of a venture capital model,” Peebles said. “We are not just deploying capital as an allocator, but as a development partner.” He added that the fund, which will solely provide equity and raise capital from institutional investors, is set to launch in the second or third quarter of 2015.
HeadlineProperty Managers

Property management can be a real high wire act

REW Staff
by REW Staff1225
Were you holding your breath when Nik Wallenda walked the high wire over the Chicago river last weekend? So was Bill O’Leary, CPM, property manager of the Marina Towers Condominium Association. “I was holding my breath for him, and for everything else,” said O'Leary, manager of the iconic Marina City, two 60-story towers the stuntman walked between with no safety gear or net. The “everything else” began long before the record-breaking event appeared on television.The City of Chicago contacted O'Leary last winter to let him know that Wallenda was considering a high wire walk in Chicago, and that Marina City was one of the locations
HeadlineResidential

Apartment market having ‘buyers moment’

REW
by REW1040
By Dan Orlando With prices skyrocketing, condo buyers haven’t had much to be happy about over the past year. But star broker and Urban Compass president Leonard Steinberg reckons better times are ahead. “While right now, I don’t think I’d classify this as a buyer’s market, I would consider this...
Lam Group eyes REIT to fund global growth
Deals & DealmakersHeadline

Lam Group eyes REIT to fund global growth

REW
by REW1169
The Lam Group, a family-owned hotel developer long known for relying on its own equity, is contemplating a major shift in strategy. Vice president Joseph Yi told Real Estate Weekly that the firm is considering the launch of a publicly traded REIT in an attempt to raise more money and compete in an increasingly global investment market. “Ultimately we know we need to tap alternative sources of capital,” said Yi. “If public companies can tap public money to fund their growth, it’s only natural for us to look at that as well.”