last updated 11/21 at 06:15PM
Williamsburg condo offers "free" gift card to buyers
Nov 21, 2008 06:15 PM
A condo at 444 Humboldt Street in Williamsburg is offering a $25,000 gift card to whoever buys the unit, but its price has also been increased. According to Streeteasy.com, the price of the two-bedroom, two-bath unit increased $26,000 12 weeks ago. The unit was originally on the market for $739,000 last November, then cut to $649,000 in August, and then went back up to $675,000 later that month.

Trump residents can fly in style
Nov 21, 2008 06:00 PM
The Trump Organization has partnered with Sentient Flight Group, a private aviation company, which gives residents of Trump's properties access to Sentient's travel services, including flights on a private jet. "Our goal is to provide extraordinary travel experiences at each of our exclusive luxury properties," Donald Trump said in a statement. Trump clients will be allowed to become a Sentient member for a reduced deposit, which, according to Sentient's Web site, ranges from $100,000 to $250,000.  TRD

This Week in Comments 
Nov 21, 2008 05:37 PM
  • From comments posted this week on The Real Deal's daily blog:
  • How about a little wine with that condo?
  • Tuesday, November 18: You've got to be kidding, right? Forget about the case of wine and drop the price by $500 a square foot!
more

Lifetime leases, Google offers sublet at 111 Eighth Avenue
Nov 21, 2008 05:05 PM
111_eighth_ave_frontbox 111 Eighth Avenue Lifetime Networks is moving its executive offices to 111 Eighth Avenue, between 15th and 16th streets, where it already maintains some broadcast facilities. The television network signed a 12-year lease for 71,000 square feet on the 11th floor. And, Google is headquartered in the building, and now the company has 50,000 square feet of its space up for sublease for about $80 per square foot.

Forest City Ratner stocks plunge, Gowanus hotel hit with stop-work order ... and more
Nov 21, 2008 04:44 PM
  • 1. Forest City Ratner Enterprises lost 93 percent of its stock value this year [Village Voice]
  • 2. Gowanus hotel project hit with stop-work order [Brownstoner]
  • 3. More than 25 percent of the 200 off-off-Broadway theaters have closed in the last five years [Crain's]
  • 4. Larry Silverstein and Port Authority go to arbitration over World Trade Center site [Crain's]
  • 5. Citigroup considering selling parts or all of company [GlobeSt]
  • 6. Living in BoCoCa [AM NY]
  • 7. Family struggles with mortgage, medical bills [Newsweek]
  • 8. Barnes & Noble cuts growth plan for 2009 [GlobeSt]
  • 9. New look, prices at 11 Spring Street [Curbed]

Investment firm head buys $10 million Park Avenue duplex
Nov 21, 2008 04:30 PM
Talarico_frontbox Gary Talarico Gary M. Talarico, a managing director at private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, and his wife Linda Filardi spent $10 million on a duplex in a prewar cooperative on the Upper East Side, according to city records published today. The unit, #8/9D at 875 Park Avenue, between 77th and 78th streets, went into contract in May, Streeteasy.com indicates. The apartment has six bedrooms, four bathrooms and a fireplace, according to the listing on Sotheby's International's Web site. Talarico is the head of Sun Capital Partners' New York office. Sun Capital Partners made headlines last year when one of its affiliates purchased Friendly Ice Cream for $337 million. Much of the company's portfolio consists of retailers and restaurants. It owns 10 restaurant chains with some 2,200 locations, including Boston Market and Bruegger's Bagels. Filardi is an attorney.
By Candace Taylor

Advocates question Hunter's Point South financing
Nov 21, 2008 03:48 PM
Hunters_point_frontbox Hunter's Point South rendering Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to build moderate-income housing in Hunter's Point South on the East River in western Queens sailed through the City Council last week without opposition.The multi-billion-dollar project is expected to be financed through a nonprofit system untested at such a scale in New York City, advocates said. The plan calls for building as many as 5,000 units of housing, including 3,000 units that would be affordable to middle-income residents. Housing experts, including a former commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development, are questioning whether the project can obtain sufficient funding and whether the structure will receive the necessary federal approval. more
By Adam Pincus

Queens borough president dismisses Johnson's Pavilion
Nov 21, 2008 03:22 PM
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall said this week that the New York State Pavilion in Queens' Corona Park, designed by Philip Johnson for the 1964 World's Fair, did not need to be preserved. "It should be demolished," she said. "[Johnson]'s not the only artist in the world." The World Monuments Fund named the pavilion one of the world's most endangered cultural landmarks.

When units don't sell, Bed-Stuy developer looks to unload building
Nov 21, 2008 02:52 PM
A developer of a six-unit building in Bedford-Stuyvesant is now offering a 25 percent discount to anyone willing to buy all six units. The building, at 354 Franklin Avenue, at Lexington Avenue, is 8,500 square feet, including 7,000 square feet of residential space, and can be bought, with the discount, for $2.3 million. The building, designed by Scarano Architects, went on the market earlier this month with individual units priced from $445,000 to $545,000.

Sales launched at landmarked Fairchild
Nov 21, 2008 02:00 PM
Fairchidl_frontbox Fairchild Sales have begun at developer Atlantic Walk Vestry's Fairchild, a 21-unit project at 55 Vestry Street, between Washington and Greenwich streets. Prices for the two- to four-bedroom Tribeca lofts range from $2 million to $9 million, and range in size from 1,350 square feet to 2,835 square feet. Three of the homes have private street-level entrances. The nine-story condominium is on a landmarked site that was once home to Fairchild Brothers & Foster, a pharmaceutical company. The Landmarks Preservation Commission is supervising construction to make sure historic aspects of the space are preserved. The building, being sold and marketed exclusively by the Marketing Directors, offers personal storage space and a refrigerated storage area. TRD

Current Issue
Cover

From The November Issue

The downward plunge

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This month, in a series of stories, The Real Deal examines the next chapter in New York City real estate. Wall Street's wild volatility last month froze the city's residential market. Brokers said the economic seesawing is paralyzing buyers and sellers. Mortgage lenders have also clamped down further on buyers, though more buyers are heading to all-cash deals. Many are wondering: Could the dark days of the late 1980s and early 1990s return? More

Ominous signs for new condos

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Despite buyers' desire to purchase, banks are increasingly unwilling to write mortgages for some new buildings, especially those that have sold only a small percentage of their units. More

High-end U.S. markets show cracks in the foundation

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This month, The Real Deal looks at the nation's most exclusive zip codes to see how high-end markets besides Manhattan are faring. While these areas are more insulated than their less affluent counterparts, many markets are beginning to see big cracks in their foundations with prices and sales volume declining. More

Will Tishman Speyer buckle?

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Few companies have looked down from as lofty a perch as Tishman Speyer, the venerable blue-chip firm that holds stakes in several New York landmarks such as Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building. Tishman expanded its empire even wider during the boom, but now it appears that even this company is paying a price for success. More

Fourth Avenue on slippery Slope

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Park Slope's Fourth Avenue has been billed as the next frontier of gentrification in Brooklyn. However, because of the credit crunch, a number of buildings that were initially planned as condos will now come to market as rentals. The frenzied pace of construction of new projects should also slow. More

Holding up funds for construction

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A growing number of developers with projects under way in Manhattan are being confronted by lenders who are either unwilling or unable to continue funding. The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, which was filed in mid-September, has -- not surprisingly -- put several construction projects in the city on hold. But other lenders are also putting pressure on developers to provide more equity in projects as a way to improve the financial profile of their struggling banks, real estate attorneys said. More

Residential market halts in its tracks

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Wall Street's recent wild volatility has caused the New York City real estate market to freeze in its tracks, with sales volume screeching to a halt and deals falling apart as potential buyers have watched their net worth evaporate. More

Chelsea Enclave makes a deal with soul

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The Chelsea Enclave, a luxury apartment building under construction on the edge of property owned by the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in West Chelsea negotiated long and hard to make sure the new construction on their land would be something it could live with. More

City coffers shrink as deals slow

The slump in commercial building sales is threatening to take a sizable bite out of New York City tax revenues this year, which could force Mayor Michael Bloomberg to make even more drastic choices than he already has to keep the city budget balanced. More

Crisis may spawn building sales rise

Real estate analysts believe developer Harry Macklowe won't be the last to lose a Manhattan trophy tower purchased in the heady days of 2006 and 2007. More

Brokers advise tenants to sit tight as rents drop

Lease valuations were unpredictable and deals were few last month while brokers cautioned tenants to hold off on signing any unnecessary rental contracts as prices continued to drop, real estate experts said.
More


Special Reports

Who got crunched -- and who didn't
A look at where players landed one year after the credit market debacle
Hailing other holiday spots
While Hamptons hurting, other locales draw interest
The biggest problems in New York City real estate
Experts weigh in on how to fix industry crises
Developers falling into a Catch-22
Residential developers in bind with slow sales
In Hamptons, it's no vacation
Building permits drop, spec homes sit and restaurateurs grow wary amid slowdown
Condos on the chopping block
Prices come down to help move new projects
Adding it all up
A tally of numbers that matter: construction costs, the high-end market, and foreign buyer migration
Manhattan's biggest firms
Our annual survey of the top Manhattan firms



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