Category : Headline

Builders crunching numbers to land best deals

REW Staff April 4, 2014 April 4, 2014

by REW StaffApril 4, 2014April 4, 20141296

James Nelson of Massey Knakal sat down with David Von Spreckelsen of Toll Brothers, Ken Horn of Alchemy Properties and Michael Stern of JDS Development to discuss their current projects and the real estate landscape in New York City. All three said today's skyrocketing land prices have given them pause - but agree apartment prices are blowing their minds!

Deals & Dealmakers Headline

Silverstein: Build it and they will come

REW Staff April 2, 2014 April 2, 2014

by REW StaffApril 2, 2014April 2, 2014

By Konrad Putzier Rendering of 3 World Trade Center Amid controversy over a planned public loan guarantee, developer Larry Silverstein gave an impassioned speech in … Continued

Deals & Dealmakers Debt & Equity Headline

Tough love as crowdfunding grows up

REW Staff March 26, 2014 March 26, 2014

by REW StaffMarch 26, 2014March 26, 20142871

On a recent Thursday night, the crowdfunding startup iFunding hosted a party in a Fidi basement apartment that offered a glimpse of what the future of New York real estate could look like. Stepping through the door felt like entering some parallel universe in which the industry is young, multi-ethnic, laid back and virtually jacket- and tie-less. “It’s going to be absolutely huge,” said one guest. “In a few years, everyone will be doing it,” added another. But go to any more traditional real estate event and you will find little enthusiasm for crowdfunding. Its numerous critics see it as a passing trend, a dangerous method that will defraud clueless investors, or both

Construction & Design Headline

NYC facing $47-billion repair bill

REW Staff March 11, 2014 March 11, 2014

by REW StaffMarch 11, 2014March 11, 2014874

A new report by think tank Center for Urban Future argues that the city’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair, requiring investments of $47 billion over the next four to five years. “Simply put, too much of the city’s essential infrastructure remains stuck in the 20th Century — a problem for a city positioning itself to compete with other global cities in today’s 21st Century economy,” the report states. Some 162 bridges in the city — 11 percent of the total — are described as “structurally deficient”. According to the report, 1,000 miles of water mains are over 100 years old, which led to 403 water main breaks last year. Ageing gas mains are deemed responsible for 5,835 gas leaks in 2012 alone.

Construction & Design Headline

NYU group calls for bigger, bolder expansion

REW Staff March 4, 2014 March 4, 2014

by REW StaffMarch 4, 2014March 4, 20141278

A faculty-led NYU working group has called on the university to be bolder in its immediate expansion plans, citing a need for more classrooms, arts space and faculty housing. The NYU Space Priorities Group’s final report proposes to create between 817,000 and 899,000 s/f of academic space and housing on the site of the current Coles Sports Center at 181 Mercer Street. So far, the university’s capital spending and financing plan has budgeted with a 670,000 s/f building at a cost of $727 million on the site. Zoning allows for construction of up to 980,000 s/f. The working group estimates that additional space will lead to added construction costs between $128 million and $201 million — keeping the development’s total cost just below $1 billion.

Deals & Dealmakers Headline

Ladies reach milestone in 170,000 s/f deal

Sarah Trefethen February 26, 2014 February 26, 2014

by Sarah TrefethenFebruary 26, 2014February 26, 20142041

It took a while for the leasing team charged with finding a new home for Teach For America’s national and New York offices to notice, but they had more in common than strong professional credentials. “I don’t think we realized it till we sat down at the lease negotiation table, and it was actually the other side that acknowledged we were all women,” said Anne Greenberger, TFA’s managing director for real estate. “Afterwards, we took pride in that.” The education non-profit, which places recent college graduates as teachers in under-funded schools across the country, has leased approsimately 170,000 s/f on floors 11, 12, 13 and 14 of 25 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, with options to expand into all or at least half of the 15th floor. TFA’s CBRE leasing team was Mary Ann Tighe, Joan Meixner and Ariel Ball. They were joined by Greenberger and an also-happened-to-be-female legal team from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Headline Property Managers

Vornado big winner at BOMA awards

REW Staff February 21, 2014 February 21, 2014

by REW StaffFebruary 21, 2014February 21, 20141213

Vornado Realty Trust lift three Pinnacle awards at the annual BOMA gala last night. Monday Properties took home two and Paramount Group, Inc., took home the Pinnacle in the Operating Office Building 500,000-1 million sf category for the third year in a row. Also for three years running, women dominated the Manager of the Year competition in the Over 10 Years of Experience category

Construction & Design Debt & Equity Headline

Skyscraper boom tied to market crash

REW February 19, 2014 February 19, 2014

by REWFebruary 19, 2014February 19, 20143562

Curious if the U.S. stock market is heading for a crash in 2014? One way of finding out may be to count the skyscrapers planned or under construction in New York City. Gunter Loffler, a professor of finance at Ulm University in Germany, has studied the correlation between skyscraper construction and stock market returns from 1871 to 2009. He found that a skyscraper boom tends to be followed by a stock-market crash, or at least a readjustment.

Debt & Equity Headline

Eager investors jolt CMBS back to life

REW Staff February 5, 2014 February 5, 2014

by REW StaffFebruary 5, 2014February 5, 20141063

Five years after commercial mortgage-backed securities were all but declared dead, they are back with a vengeance. CMBS issuance in 2013 approached $90 billion, according to research company Trepp. Commercial real estate finance firm, CCRE, estimates that CMBS issuance will exceed $125 billion in 2014 “The real estate market seems to have stabilized from a few years ago, and this gives institutional bond investors a lot more confidence,” said CCRE’s CEO Anthony Orso.

Headline Retail

Union Square retail landlords kissing a few frogs until they find their prince

Sarah Trefethen January 29, 2014 January 29, 2014

by Sarah TrefethenJanuary 29, 2014January 29, 20141014

The Union Square neighborhood ended 2013 with a vacancy rate of just 1.2 percent, according to the Union Square Partnership, but the BID wants you to know that there are several opportunities available for retailers to join Whole Foods Market, Paragon Sports, the Blue Fin restaurant, Strand Books, Babies ’R Us and that statue of George Washington on one of the city’s most popular public squares. “At a moment when retailers may think there are no marquee sites available in Union Square, a few spaces have come online, presenting a chance for retailers to create something unique and iconic in one of the busiest neighborhoods in New York City,” Jennifer Falk, executive director of the partnership, said in a statement.