Bally’s faces federal, local scrutiny over how it secured Chicago casino license – Robert Khodadadian

The process through which Bally’s secured the coveted Chicago casino license has come under federal and local scrutiny.

One investigation is reportedly led by the U.S. attorney’s office, initiated in response to complaints lodged by unsuccessful bidders in the casino licensing process, Crain’s Chicago reported.

Alderman Brian Hopkins, a consistent critic of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s management of the casino proceedings, confirmed the existence of the federal inquiry, the outlet reported.

Simultaneously, a parallel investigation is said to be underway, conducted by Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg. 

Witzburg, adhering to office policy, declined to comment on the matter, and the U.S. attorney’s office did not respond to requests for comment. 

Lightfoot’s spokeswoman, Joanna Klonsky, and her casino bidding process head, then-Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar, claimed ignorance of any inquiry, attributing talk of an investigation to disgruntled losing bidders spreading false rumors.

Bally’s, the Rhode Island-based gambling company, said it is not aware of any investigation. 

The city’s Law Department has clarified that neither they nor the mayor’s office have been subpoenaed or requested to provide information.

But the inquiries, according to Crain’s, started months ago. 

Bally’s faced controversy earlier when it was allowed to alter the terms of its financial deal with minority investors after inserting a clause that could buy out minority shares at a non-negotiated price post-casino opening. Reports also revealed discrepancies in the fees charged to different bidders and conflicts of interest with city consultants evaluating financial prospects.

Despite these controversies, the casino won City Council approval with a 39-5 vote. 

The project, anticipated to cost $1.7 billion, is set to help alleviate the city’s unfunded public employee pension liabilities. Bally’s opened a temporary casino in September at the former Medinah Temple, with construction on the permanent site expected to commence soon and an opening scheduled for late 2026. 

Chicago officials have kicked around the idea of a casino for decades, with some city leaders viewing such a development as a potential financial savior. The proposition didn’t gain serious traction until 2020.

“This is a big deal. This is something three administrations have been trying to do,” 27th Ward Ald. Walter Burnett, who represents the area the casino will occupy in a nod to Lightfoot, said at the time. “This mayor got it done.”

The gaming company’s path to building Chicago’s first casino hasn’t been smooth, with some aldermen alleging the process lacked transparency and doubting Bally’s ability to pull off the project.

— Ted Glanzer

The post Bally’s faces federal, local scrutiny over how it secured Chicago casino license appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Casinos, Chicago Development The process through which Bally’s secured the coveted Chicago casino license has come under federal and local scrutiny. One investigation is reportedly led by the U.S. attorney’s office, initiated in response to complaints lodged by unsuccessful bidders in the casino licensing process, Crain’s Chicago reported. Alderman Brian Hopkins, a consistent critic of former Mayor Lori
The post Bally’s faces federal, local scrutiny over how it secured Chicago casino license appeared first on The Real Deal. The Real DealRead More

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on $85M real estate splurge – Robert Khodadadian

Before he was out and back in again, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on a real estate spending spree.

Between early 2020 and mid-2021, Altman spent $85 million on residences in San Francisco, Napa, and an estate in Hawaii, Business Insider reported.

Altman’s $43 million Hawaii property, acquired in July 2021, spans 12 bedrooms in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island, adjacent to a national landmark — a reconstruction of the royal temple of King Kamehameha I.

Videos of the property showcase amenities like cliff jumping, motorboating, and scuba diving. Altman’s purchase of the property was uncovered by examining business and real estate filings linked to an LLC managed by Jennifer Serralta, Altman’s cousin and COO of his family office.

In addition to his Hawaii estate, Altman’s real estate portfolio includes a $27 million San Francisco home purchased in March 2020, serving as the base for various investment vehicles. 

His weekend retreat is a $15.7 million working ranch in Napa, acquired in late 2020, covering 950 acres with five homes and vineyards. Altman frequently flies friends and colleagues to the Napa property.

Altman’s salary is just $58,333, according to IRS filings, and he professes that his equity stake in OpenAI is “immaterial.” But his acquisitions reflect the lifestyle of Silicon Valley titans, joining the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos, and Peter Thiel, who also own substantial properties in Hawaii. 

— Ted Glanzer

The post OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on $85M real estate splurge appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Hawaii, Luxury Real Estate, Mansions, Napa, San Francisco Before he was out and back in again, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on a real estate spending spree. Between early 2020 and mid-2021, Altman spent $85 million on residences in San Francisco, Napa, and an estate in Hawaii, Business Insider reported. Altman’s $43 million Hawaii property, acquired in July 2021, spans 12 bedrooms in
The post OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on $85M real estate splurge appeared first on The Real Deal. The Real DealRead More

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

The process through which Bally’s secured the coveted Chicago casino license has come under federal and local scrutiny.

One investigation is reportedly led by the U.S. attorney’s office, initiated in response to complaints lodged by unsuccessful bidders in the casino licensing process, Crain’s Chicago reported.

Alderman Brian Hopkins, a consistent critic of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s management of the casino proceedings, confirmed the existence of the federal inquiry, the outlet reported.

Simultaneously, a parallel investigation is said to be underway, conducted by Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg. 

Witzburg, adhering to office policy, declined to comment on the matter, and the U.S. attorney’s office did not respond to requests for comment. 

Lightfoot’s spokeswoman, Joanna Klonsky, and her casino bidding process head, then-Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar, claimed ignorance of any inquiry, attributing talk of an investigation to disgruntled losing bidders spreading false rumors.

Bally’s, the Rhode Island-based gambling company, said it is not aware of any investigation. 

The city’s Law Department has clarified that neither they nor the mayor’s office have been subpoenaed or requested to provide information.

But the inquiries, according to Crain’s, started months ago. 

Bally’s faced controversy earlier when it was allowed to alter the terms of its financial deal with minority investors after inserting a clause that could buy out minority shares at a non-negotiated price post-casino opening. Reports also revealed discrepancies in the fees charged to different bidders and conflicts of interest with city consultants evaluating financial prospects.

Despite these controversies, the casino won City Council approval with a 39-5 vote. 

The project, anticipated to cost $1.7 billion, is set to help alleviate the city’s unfunded public employee pension liabilities. Bally’s opened a temporary casino in September at the former Medinah Temple, with construction on the permanent site expected to commence soon and an opening scheduled for late 2026. 

Chicago officials have kicked around the idea of a casino for decades, with some city leaders viewing such a development as a potential financial savior. The proposition didn’t gain serious traction until 2020.

“This is a big deal. This is something three administrations have been trying to do,” 27th Ward Ald. Walter Burnett, who represents the area the casino will occupy in a nod to Lightfoot, said at the time. “This mayor got it done.”

The gaming company’s path to building Chicago’s first casino hasn’t been smooth, with some aldermen alleging the process lacked transparency and doubting Bally’s ability to pull off the project.

— Ted Glanzer

The post Bally’s faces federal, local scrutiny over how it secured Chicago casino license appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Casinos, Chicago Development The Real DealRead MoreThe process through which Bally’s secured the coveted Chicago casino license has come under federal and local scrutiny. One investigation is reportedly led by the U.S. attorney’s office, initiated in response to complaints lodged by unsuccessful bidders in the casino licensing process, Crain’s Chicago reported. Alderman Brian Hopkins, a consistent critic of former Mayor Lori
The post Bally’s faces federal, local scrutiny over how it secured Chicago casino license appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

Before he was out and back in again, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on a real estate spending spree.

Between early 2020 and mid-2021, Altman spent $85 million on residences in San Francisco, Napa, and an estate in Hawaii, Business Insider reported.

Altman’s $43 million Hawaii property, acquired in July 2021, spans 12 bedrooms in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island, adjacent to a national landmark — a reconstruction of the royal temple of King Kamehameha I.

Videos of the property showcase amenities like cliff jumping, motorboating, and scuba diving. Altman’s purchase of the property was uncovered by examining business and real estate filings linked to an LLC managed by Jennifer Serralta, Altman’s cousin and COO of his family office.

In addition to his Hawaii estate, Altman’s real estate portfolio includes a $27 million San Francisco home purchased in March 2020, serving as the base for various investment vehicles. 

His weekend retreat is a $15.7 million working ranch in Napa, acquired in late 2020, covering 950 acres with five homes and vineyards. Altman frequently flies friends and colleagues to the Napa property.

Altman’s salary is just $58,333, according to IRS filings, and he professes that his equity stake in OpenAI is “immaterial.” But his acquisitions reflect the lifestyle of Silicon Valley titans, joining the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos, and Peter Thiel, who also own substantial properties in Hawaii. 

— Ted Glanzer

The post OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on $85M real estate splurge appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Hawaii, Luxury Real Estate, Mansions, Napa, San Francisco The Real DealRead MoreBefore he was out and back in again, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on a real estate spending spree. Between early 2020 and mid-2021, Altman spent $85 million on residences in San Francisco, Napa, and an estate in Hawaii, Business Insider reported. Altman’s $43 million Hawaii property, acquired in July 2021, spans 12 bedrooms in
The post OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on $85M real estate splurge appeared first on The Real Deal. 

The Distress Record: Greenland USA’s Pacific Park troubles, FMB files for Chapter 11 – Robert Khodadadian

Ten years after breaking ground, Greenland USA is set to lose control of its $5 billion Pacific Park megaproject in Brooklyn. 

The firm defaulted on $350 million in loans that cover the six incomplete sites at Pacific Park (out of 15 project sites in all) that are slated for more than 3,200 units — if they are ever built. 

The auction is scheduled for Jan. 11.

Greenland — a subsidiary of China’s state-owned Greenland Group —  bought a 70-percent stake in 2014 in what was then Atlantic Yards from Forest City Ratner, which proposed the project in 2003.

A 2025 deadline looms for Greenland to build the affordable housing component of the project. 

In Los Angeles, FMB Development’s ambitious apartment project in Van Nuys has gone from defaulting on a loan to filing for bankruptcy. The Chapter 11 protection aims to address mounting debts and financial challenges, with liabilities ranging from $10 million to $50 million.

FMB has owned the land since 2018, when it paid $9.5 million for the roughly 1-acre site, according to property records. It planned a six-story apartment building with ground-floor retail. 

In Houston, a lender has taken steps to foreclose on  264-unit Retreat at Stafford apartment complex, after the owner, Austin-based GVA Real Estate Group, defaulted on a $288 million loan, Bisnow reported. 

The loan, issued by LoanCore Capital in February 2022, has five borrowers, all LLCs connected to apartment complexes owned by GVA. In addition to the Stafford apartments, the mortgage is tied to two properties in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, along with two more in Tennessee and South Carolina. 

Meanwhile, in Chicago, an affiliate of Tom Scott’s  CA Ventures has fallen behind on payments for debt tied to a recently built Arlington Heights apartment complex.

The owner of the 263-unit rental asset at 3401 West Payton Place in the northwest suburb of Chicago is between 30 and 59 days delinquent on the $75 million loan the property secured in 2021, according to credit ratings agency DBRS Morningstar.

The loan was originated by an affiliate of San Francisco-based publicly traded TPG Real Estate Finance Trust with an adjustable interest rate, meaning its debt service payments have likely risen in step with this year’s rate increases by the U.S. Federal Reserve. It isn’t scheduled to mature until late 2024.

CA Ventures claims to own assets totaling $10 billion in value worldwide. The loan delinquency came to light with the firm on the defense in multiple thorny lawsuits in jurisdictions across the nation. 

CA Ventures is among an array of multifamily players to encounter upset investors and legal risks stemming in part from difficulty refinancing loans at higher rates. 

More on distressed properties and businesses:

Isaac Hager bought a distressed Crown Heights office building

Even with $120M in state grants, Shangri-La Industries in LA can’t repay loans

Prado Group takes over 20 multifamily properties in San Francisco from Veritas

Multifamily goes from darling to distress in Texas

The post The Distress Record: Greenland USA’s Pacific Park troubles, FMB files for Chapter 11 appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Distress Ten years after breaking ground, Greenland USA is set to lose control of its $5 billion Pacific Park megaproject in Brooklyn.  The firm defaulted on $350 million in loans that cover the six incomplete sites at Pacific Park (out of 15 project sites in all) that are slated for more than 3,200 units — if
The post The Distress Record: Greenland USA’s Pacific Park troubles, FMB files for Chapter 11 appeared first on The Real Deal. The Real DealRead More

Rene Benko’s Signa files for insolvency – Robert Khodadadian

Signa Holding’s billion-dollar tumble into insolvency is complete.

Rene Benko’s main holding company filed for the bankruptcy-like procedure in Austria, the Wall Street Journal reported. Benko’s property portfolio, once valued as high as $30 billion, is faced with an uncertain future as Signa restructures and Benko cedes control to a restructuring manager.

Among Signa’s major holdings are stakes in large European department stores, luxury British retailer Selfridges and the Chrysler Building in Manhattan, which Benko purchased in partnership with Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding in 2019. A spokesperson for RFR said the company would happily increase its stake should Signa need to lighten the load.

Benko’s investments didn’t cease when the property market slumped and interest rates rose, one possible explanation for why Signa became insolvent. Benko teamed with Thailand’s Central Group to buy Swiss luxury department-store chain Globus after the pandemic’s onset, followed in 2021 by the purchase of most of Selfridges.

JPMorgan Chase analysts estimated that Signa’s two largest subsidiaries carried more than $14 billion in debt and liabilities. More than $4.5 billion of that is floating rate debt. More than $1 billion of the debt was slated to come due this year, another 37 percent set to mature in the next four years, according to JPMorgan.

Swiss bank Julius Baer has roughly $690 million lent to Signa, while Austrian bank Raiffeisen Bank International is exposed to the tune of $830 million.

Read more

Signa’s collapse is significant enough that the European Central Bank is monitoring the insolvency procedure for broader ripple effects.

The 46-year-old Benko’s rise was nearly as quick as his fall. He started his real estate business by renovating apartments before acquiring a majority of the Karstadt department-store chain in 2012, expanding rapidly from there. 

He’s also had some legal troubles, including a tax fraud conviction that year after allegedly trying to bribe Italian officials. This year, Benko was acquitted on bribery charges in Austria.

— Holden Walter-Warner

The post Rene Benko’s Signa files for insolvency appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Bankruptcy, Distress, Europe, Retail Signa Holding’s billion-dollar tumble into insolvency is complete. Rene Benko’s main holding company filed for the bankruptcy-like procedure in Austria, the Wall Street Journal reported. Benko’s property portfolio, once valued as high as $30 billion, is faced with an uncertain future as Signa restructures and Benko cedes control to a restructuring manager. Among Signa’s major
The post Rene Benko’s Signa files for insolvency appeared first on The Real Deal. The Real DealRead More

Palm Island neighbors combine homes for $150M listing – Robert Khodadadian

One Palm Island resident had the gall to tell the homeowner next door, “Lend me your real estate. I am your neighbor!” And they agreed!

Two adjacent homeowners are marketing their three luxury Miami Beach homes for a combined $150 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The homeowners are trying to make out like bandits as wealthy buyers continue showing interest in Miami.

The idea originated as all good ideas do: over a bottle of wine. Jorge Luis Garcia, former owner of Orlando Family Physicians, pitched the idea of marketing his two waterfront properties alongside the adjacent property owned by Juan Miguel Almeida and Adria Adrian Almeida.

Addressed at 190 Palm Avenue, the listing includes three waterfront homes with a combined 300 feet of water frontage across two acres of land. The listing includes 20 bedrooms, 28 bathrooms and more than 35,000 square feet of living space, breaking down to $4,239 per square foot.

Coldwell Banker’s Cesar Powell (Coldwell Banker)

Each house has a pool, dock and four-car garage. They were built between 2008 and 2016 as part of a family compound by developer Pedro Adrian — Adria Adrian’s father — before his son, Alvaro Adrian, sold his property to Garcia in 2019 for $13.9 million. Two years later, Pedro Adrian sold his own property to Garcia for $17 million, who proceeded to rent it out for $120,000 per month.

The price is astronomical, but buyers can take heart in knowing the properties will be fully furnished when they move in. Prospective buyers should know that the Palm Beach sales record recently fell at $32 million and the median price for a luxury single-family home in the third quarter was $19.8 million, according to Miller Samuel.

Coldwell Banker Realty’s Cesar Powell has the listing.

Buyers who tour one of the three properties and want to stop there shouldn’t bother going out to Palm Island — the listing is an all or nothing proposition.

“If we don’t get that number, we’re not selling,” Juan Miguel Almeida told the Journal.

— Holden Walter-Warner

Read more

The post Palm Island neighbors combine homes for $150M listing appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Luxury Real Estate, Miami Beach, Palm Island One Palm Island resident had the gall to tell the homeowner next door, “Lend me your real estate. I am your neighbor!” And they agreed! Two adjacent homeowners are marketing their three luxury Miami Beach homes for a combined $150 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The homeowners are trying to make out like bandits
The post Palm Island neighbors combine homes for $150M listing appeared first on The Real Deal. The Real DealRead More

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

Some real estate powerhouses keep a regimented schedule. While others, like Shlomo Chopp, managing partner at the New York-based real estate investment firm Terra Strategies, don’t keep set days.

“It depends on how crazy the day and the night were the night before,” he says. “I’m generally nocturnal.”

Still, Chopp, 43, finds plenty of time during the day to run Terra, which he launched earlier this year and now has five employees and a couple of partners. The firm focuses on advising borrowers in distress in negotiating with lenders, as well as investing in distressed debt.

Unlike a lot of real estate professionals, Chopp does his best to keep his deals out of the headlines.

“In one business I do trades, and I don’t want to let my trades out of the bag,” he said. “The other business I do workouts and my clients prefer I don’t publicize their deals.”

Speaking in broad terms about a recent month-long workout involving a 1,000-unit multifamily portfolio that involved challenges with interest rates, value of rentals and just generally economic headwinds. 

“It’s been interesting digging into all of the assets, finding time to dissect where there’s opportunity, where there isn’t on a creative basis,” he said.

More broadly, he described his job as a whirlwind of activity in front of computers, on the phone and in video conferences with borrowers, lenders and other financial string pullers. 

“It’s a lot of work,” he said. “I tend to have a loud mouth. … I do tend to piss people off.” 

And though his day is never the same, he did tell The Real Deal what one of his days can be like. 

6 a.m. to 10 a.m. I work crazy hours. I’ll get up anywhere from 6:00 to honestly, some days, I’ll just say screw it and stay in until 10:00 because I woke up late. It depends on how crazy it is. Today I woke up at 7 a.m.

7:30ish a.m. The first thing I do after I shower and get dressed is I find a place to pray near me, around the Hudson Valley.

8 a.m. I talk to the wife for a couple of minutes, eat a small breakfast, coffee and maybe some scrambled eggs. 

I’m down from almost 300 pounds to about 200 pounds and still headed down, so I try not to eat too much. During Covid, I had a lot of time to be introspective and I realized I could do anything I wanted to do. Anything I want to do, I could accomplish. So I put my mind to it and tried to lose weight. I’d never tried to lose weight before. 

I started a diet, started going to the gym every day except Saturdays and some Sundays. Even if it’s five minutes, even if it’s 10 minutes, or an hour, just make sure to do that. It’s a commitment. I operate at a million miles an hour. I accomplish a lot in a short period of time. When I eat, I don’t even pay attention. … I had to find the path to not just stuff my face.

8:30 a.m. I drive into the office, which takes an hour to 90 minutes. I’ll work in the car along the way.

10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. My day looks like I am surrounded by huge screens showing me 15 different things at once, the phone is ringing off the hook, and I have a bunch of meetings and I try to fit in some time for my employees between meetings, always juggling stuff, always high octane, always building.

I usually don’t do lunch. I down a bunch of coffees and waters all day and I find it hard to lift myself out of my seat once I am at my desk at the office. I try not to do business lunches because just getting there and back kills so much prime time day time. Let’s just think 8-ounce cups of coffee … I probably have about five a day. I’m sitting here and I’m like, holy crap, I have to make some changes over here. But it’s the closest thing to eating without actually eating. 

I absolutely enjoy what I do and I don’t want to stop. Ever. I love every second of it. I find no need to take a break. The biggest challenge I have today is too many people have my phone number and what I’m trying to do is get people to talk to people that work for me more and more. Having people pick my brain is too much.

6:30 p.m. I go to the gym. I did it slow. It’s about 45 minutes at the end, showering and slowing down. Some days it can be a half hour. I do curls, I use the kettle bells, I use weighted balls, leg presses. Nothing extraordinary or crazy. … Being fit is table stakes. That’s something that has to be done and it’s something I never focused on because I’m driven to be focused on other stuff, but it’s all part of the custom, so to speak.

9 p.m. I’m home. I got some food. I’ll eat a salad with some protein in it. I take some calls in my car. My days look something like that every single day.

11p.m. to 2 a.m. Go to bed. Depends on the evening. I briefly open Netflix then fall asleep. I’ve started more TV shows than I know what to do. I’m a sports fan, but my sports teams aren’t fans of me. My Jets are not the best.

The post “I do tend to piss people off”: Shlomo Chopp discusses life in the workout game appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, A Day in the Life, Day in the Life The Real DealRead MoreSome real estate powerhouses keep a regimented schedule. While others, like Shlomo Chopp, managing partner at the New York-based real estate investment firm Terra Strategies, don’t keep set days. “It depends on how crazy the day and the night were the night before,” he says. “I’m generally nocturnal.” Still, Chopp, 43, finds plenty of time
The post “I do tend to piss people off”: Shlomo Chopp discusses life in the workout game appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

A pioneer of Billionaires’ Row has found itself in a resale slump in recent years. And the cool market for luxury sales is likely not the only cause.

In November, One57’s PH88 closed for $31.5 million, a considerable markdown from its initial listing of $45 million. 

The price tag was enough to raise some questions about aspirational pricing. But the number was below the 2015 sponsor sale by Extell Development, which pulled in almost $48 million.

PH88’s resale woes are not isolated; they reflect a larger trend within One57. Other units within the tower have similarly failed to yield positive returns for their owners.

A few weeks ago, PH83 went into contract for $34 million, well below the 2016 sponsor sale price of $45 million. And it’s not just a recent problem at 157 West 57th Street. In 2021, Robert Herjavec, of Shark Tank fame, paid just over $34 million for a unit that had sold for $47 million six years earlier. 

So, what gives? Easy. One57 is the oldest Billionaires’ Row tower. The building represented the absolute peak of luxury when it went on the market in 2014. But now, buyers have plenty of newer, arguably nicer options up and down the street.

“One57 had first mover advantage,” said Corcoran agent Ryan Kaplan. “Within one market cycle, it went from being the first option to the fifth option.”

Consider the location, too. One57 sits on West 57th Street, two blocks from the park. Two blocks might not seem like much, but those with enough money to splash on a Billionaires’ Row penthouse can live wherever they want. That may be across the street from the park.

The initial allure of buildings like 15 Central Park West (which is not quite on the Row) and One57 has waned as taller trophy properties, such as 432 Park Avenue, Central Park Tower and 220 Central Park South, have emerged nearby.

Of course, things aren’t exactly peachy at those buildings, either. Almost a quarter of all Billionaires’ Row sponsor units are still unsold, Curbed reported last month. Throw in resales, and availability could be closer to half.

 —

What we’re thinking about: Are recent sale prices on Billionaires’ Row mostly a result of a slow market? Or could it be that the super-luxury market, once believed to be expansive, is more finite than developers anticipated? Send a note to david.westenhaver@therealdeal.com.

—

Closing Time

Residential: The priciest residential closing recorded Friday was $10.7 million for a condo at 70 Vestry Street in Tribeca.

Commercial: The most expensive commercial closing of the day was $32.8 million for an apartment building at 1009 Park Avenue on the Upper East Side.

New to the Market 

The priciest residence to hit the market was a condo at 845 United Nations Plaza PH88B in Turtle Bay at $16.5 million. Corcoran Group has the listing.

—

A thing we’ve learned: New York is home to the smallest plot of privately owned land in the world. Known as Hess Triangle, the tiny parcel is set into the sidewalk in West Village. The oddity was the result of a property dispute more than a century ago.

Elsewhere in New York

— The House of Representatives officially expelled George Santos today, making him the sixth person in history to be kicked out of the legislative body, Gothamist reported. A special election will be held to fill the seat for his district, which covers parts of Queens and Long Island.

— Bronx Community Board 11 voted to form a committee to consider demoting two leaders, Albert D’Angelo and Bernadette Ferrara, amid controversy over D’Angelo’s disparaging remarks about Black people, according to The City.

The post The Daily Dirt: What’s causing One57’s resale slump? appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Daily Dirt The Real DealRead MoreA pioneer of Billionaires’ Row has found itself in a resale slump in recent years. And the cool market for luxury sales is likely not the only cause. In November, One57’s PH88 closed for $31.5 million, a considerable markdown from its initial listing of $45 million.  The price tag was enough to raise some questions
The post The Daily Dirt: What’s causing One57’s resale slump? appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

Ten years after breaking ground, Greenland USA is set to lose control of its $5 billion Pacific Park megaproject in Brooklyn. 

The firm defaulted on $350 million in loans that cover the six incomplete sites at Pacific Park (out of 15 project sites in all) that are slated for more than 3,200 units — if they are ever built. 

The auction is scheduled for Jan. 11.

Greenland — a subsidiary of China’s state-owned Greenland Group —  bought a 70-percent stake in 2014 in what was then Atlantic Yards from Forest City Ratner, which proposed the project in 2003.

A 2025 deadline looms for Greenland to build the affordable housing component of the project. 

In Los Angeles, FMB Development’s ambitious apartment project in Van Nuys has gone from defaulting on a loan to filing for bankruptcy. The Chapter 11 protection aims to address mounting debts and financial challenges, with liabilities ranging from $10 million to $50 million.

FMB has owned the land since 2018, when it paid $9.5 million for the roughly 1-acre site, according to property records. It planned a six-story apartment building with ground-floor retail. 

In Houston, a lender has taken steps to foreclose on  264-unit Retreat at Stafford apartment complex, after the owner, Austin-based GVA Real Estate Group, defaulted on a $288 million loan, Bisnow reported. 

The loan, issued by LoanCore Capital in February 2022, has five borrowers, all LLCs connected to apartment complexes owned by GVA. In addition to the Stafford apartments, the mortgage is tied to two properties in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, along with two more in Tennessee and South Carolina. 

Meanwhile, in Chicago, an affiliate of Tom Scott’s  CA Ventures has fallen behind on payments for debt tied to a recently built Arlington Heights apartment complex.

The owner of the 263-unit rental asset at 3401 West Payton Place in the northwest suburb of Chicago is between 30 and 59 days delinquent on the $75 million loan the property secured in 2021, according to credit ratings agency DBRS Morningstar.

The loan was originated by an affiliate of San Francisco-based publicly traded TPG Real Estate Finance Trust with an adjustable interest rate, meaning its debt service payments have likely risen in step with this year’s rate increases by the U.S. Federal Reserve. It isn’t scheduled to mature until late 2024.

CA Ventures claims to own assets totaling $10 billion in value worldwide. The loan delinquency came to light with the firm on the defense in multiple thorny lawsuits in jurisdictions across the nation. 

CA Ventures is among an array of multifamily players to encounter upset investors and legal risks stemming in part from difficulty refinancing loans at higher rates. 

More on distressed properties and businesses:

Isaac Hager bought a distressed Crown Heights office building

Even with $120M in state grants, Shangri-La Industries in LA can’t repay loans

Prado Group takes over 20 multifamily properties in San Francisco from Veritas

Multifamily goes from darling to distress in Texas

The post The Distress Record: Greenland USA’s Pacific Park troubles, FMB files for Chapter 11 appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Distress The Real DealRead MoreTen years after breaking ground, Greenland USA is set to lose control of its $5 billion Pacific Park megaproject in Brooklyn.  The firm defaulted on $350 million in loans that cover the six incomplete sites at Pacific Park (out of 15 project sites in all) that are slated for more than 3,200 units — if
The post The Distress Record: Greenland USA’s Pacific Park troubles, FMB files for Chapter 11 appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

Signa Holding’s billion-dollar tumble into insolvency is complete.

Rene Benko’s main holding company filed for the bankruptcy-like procedure in Austria, the Wall Street Journal reported. Benko’s property portfolio, once valued as high as $30 billion, is faced with an uncertain future as Signa restructures and Benko cedes control to a restructuring manager.

Among Signa’s major holdings are stakes in large European department stores, luxury British retailer Selfridges and the Chrysler Building in Manhattan, which Benko purchased in partnership with Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding in 2019. A spokesperson for RFR said the company would happily increase its stake should Signa need to lighten the load.

Benko’s investments didn’t cease when the property market slumped and interest rates rose, one possible explanation for why Signa became insolvent. Benko teamed with Thailand’s Central Group to buy Swiss luxury department-store chain Globus after the pandemic’s onset, followed in 2021 by the purchase of most of Selfridges.

JPMorgan Chase analysts estimated that Signa’s two largest subsidiaries carried more than $14 billion in debt and liabilities. More than $4.5 billion of that is floating rate debt. More than $1 billion of the debt was slated to come due this year, another 37 percent set to mature in the next four years, according to JPMorgan.

Swiss bank Julius Baer has roughly $690 million lent to Signa, while Austrian bank Raiffeisen Bank International is exposed to the tune of $830 million.

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Signa’s collapse is significant enough that the European Central Bank is monitoring the insolvency procedure for broader ripple effects.

The 46-year-old Benko’s rise was nearly as quick as his fall. He started his real estate business by renovating apartments before acquiring a majority of the Karstadt department-store chain in 2012, expanding rapidly from there. 

He’s also had some legal troubles, including a tax fraud conviction that year after allegedly trying to bribe Italian officials. This year, Benko was acquitted on bribery charges in Austria.

— Holden Walter-Warner

The post Rene Benko’s Signa files for insolvency appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Bankruptcy, Distress, Europe, Retail The Real DealRead MoreSigna Holding’s billion-dollar tumble into insolvency is complete. Rene Benko’s main holding company filed for the bankruptcy-like procedure in Austria, the Wall Street Journal reported. Benko’s property portfolio, once valued as high as $30 billion, is faced with an uncertain future as Signa restructures and Benko cedes control to a restructuring manager. Among Signa’s major
The post Rene Benko’s Signa files for insolvency appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

One Palm Island resident had the gall to tell the homeowner next door, “Lend me your real estate. I am your neighbor!” And they agreed!

Two adjacent homeowners are marketing their three luxury Miami Beach homes for a combined $150 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The homeowners are trying to make out like bandits as wealthy buyers continue showing interest in Miami.

The idea originated as all good ideas do: over a bottle of wine. Jorge Luis Garcia, former owner of Orlando Family Physicians, pitched the idea of marketing his two waterfront properties alongside the adjacent property owned by Juan Miguel Almeida and Adria Adrian Almeida.

Addressed at 190 Palm Avenue, the listing includes three waterfront homes with a combined 300 feet of water frontage across two acres of land. The listing includes 20 bedrooms, 28 bathrooms and more than 35,000 square feet of living space, breaking down to $4,239 per square foot.

Coldwell Banker’s Cesar Powell (Coldwell Banker)

Each house has a pool, dock and four-car garage. They were built between 2008 and 2016 as part of a family compound by developer Pedro Adrian — Adria Adrian’s father — before his son, Alvaro Adrian, sold his property to Garcia in 2019 for $13.9 million. Two years later, Pedro Adrian sold his own property to Garcia for $17 million, who proceeded to rent it out for $120,000 per month.

The price is astronomical, but buyers can take heart in knowing the properties will be fully furnished when they move in. Prospective buyers should know that the Palm Beach sales record recently fell at $32 million and the median price for a luxury single-family home in the third quarter was $19.8 million, according to Miller Samuel.

Coldwell Banker Realty’s Cesar Powell has the listing.

Buyers who tour one of the three properties and want to stop there shouldn’t bother going out to Palm Island — the listing is an all or nothing proposition.

“If we don’t get that number, we’re not selling,” Juan Miguel Almeida told the Journal.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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The post Palm Island neighbors combine homes for $150M listing appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Luxury Real Estate, Miami Beach, Palm Island The Real DealRead MoreOne Palm Island resident had the gall to tell the homeowner next door, “Lend me your real estate. I am your neighbor!” And they agreed! Two adjacent homeowners are marketing their three luxury Miami Beach homes for a combined $150 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The homeowners are trying to make out like bandits
The post Palm Island neighbors combine homes for $150M listing appeared first on The Real Deal. 

East Bay home that cost $135M to build lists for fraction of that price – Robert Khodadadian

An Alamo estate built by a tech billionaire at a cost of more than $135 million is on the market for a fraction of that amount, though if it comes anywhere close to its $35 million asking price it will rank as the most expensive sale ever in Contra Costa County.

PeopleSoft founder David Duffield bought the 21-acre property in 2005 and worked until 2010 to permit, design and build his family estate — dubbed Fieldhaven. It has a main French Country-style home with 10 bedrooms, 13 full bathrooms and nine half-baths in more than 20,000 square feet. 

There’s also a two-bedroom guest home, a custom-designed treehouse entered via a 75-foot-long rope bridge, a 20-slot car barn with guest suite above, an aviary created by a curator at the San Francisco Zoo and a dog spa, according to a press release on the listing. The construction alone took more than three years and involved builders, designers and craftspeople from around the world. 

The tech billionaire sold the estate in August 2020 for $19 million to J. Taylor Crandall, a former senior advisor at Crosspoint Capital, a private equity fund focused on cybersecurity. The Duffields donated the proceeds to their family foundation, Maddie’s Fund, named in memory of a family dog, which provides grants to animal causes. 

The sale set the record for Contra Costa County, which includes Lamorinda, Walnut Creek, Danville and Brentwood, and no other home has been able to top it since, according to Redfin data. The closest is 10 Serenity Lane, which is next door to Fieldhaven, and sold for $16.7 million in June 2021. 

Marilee Headen of Compass and Taso Tsakos of Engel & Volkers are co-listing the property on behalf of the Crandalls. Headen said the agents looked at comps from across the Bay Area, not just the East Bay, to determine the price for the property, which she said would cost $250 million to build today.

That includes about $6 million of improvements the Crandalls put in. Upgrades include a solar field that creates enough energy to power the estate.

Crandall will miss the “incredible amenities of the Alamo property, especially his car barn,” according to Headen. She represented the Crandalls when they bought the home in 2020 and Tsakos represented the Duffields. 

“We worked well together in that transaction and bring different skill sets to the table,” Headen said of why they were chosen to list the property as a team.

The Crandalls are moving to a home they own nearby to be closer to their children’s schools, Headen said. Crosspoint Capital is based in Menlo Park but Crandall moved his family from Atherton to Alamo to begin with because of the schools, according to the press release.

In the search for buyers, the agents will target “wealthy individuals from all the main hubs” locally and nationally, Tzakos said, including Silicon Valley, San Francisco, L.A., New York and Florida. They will also be doing a heavy international marketing push.

“You never know where the buyer will come [from],” he said.

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The post East Bay home that cost $135M to build lists for fraction of that price appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Alamo, Contra Costa, East Bay, Luxury, top price An Alamo estate built by a tech billionaire at a cost of more than $135 million is on the market for a fraction of that amount, though if it comes anywhere close to its $35 million asking price it will rank as the most expensive sale ever in Contra Costa County. PeopleSoft founder David Duffield
The post East Bay home that cost $135M to build lists for fraction of that price appeared first on The Real Deal. The Real DealRead More

Jury in Ed Burke trial hears from 601W’s Harry Skydell on secret recordings – Robert Khodadadian

Harry Skydell of major office landlord 601W Cos., a tight-lipped developer behind the $600 million renovation of the Old Post Office, entered unfamiliar territory as his private discussions with indicted former Chicago alderman Ed Burke spilled into a public courtroom this week.

Jurors in Burke’s federal corruption trial heard secret recordings of talks between Skydell and Burke, whose case is now in the thick of witness testimony.

It revealed that Burke tried to sway Skydell — who rarely speaks to media  — into hiring the then-alderman’s law business, Klafter & Burke, to handle property tax work for the massive transformation of the Old Post Office into a nearly fully leased workspace, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“I can’t pull the rug out from under them, it’s, it’s like immoral,” Skydell said on one recording, referring to other law firms he had already hired to do tax work on the Old Post Office.

Jurors also heard Burke’s infamous quote about landing “the tuna” in reference to the Old Post Office renovation’s tax work.

The project represented a huge financial opportunity for Burke, and he allegedly pursued 601W’s property tax work relentlessly, according to the recordings that were secretly made by Daniel Solis, another ex-alderman who acted as a government mole and played a crucial role in the indictment of Burke. Skydell’s conversations with Burke were also recorded and played for the jury, the newspaper reported.

Burke, who served as alderman for 54 years until this spring, faces 14 charges of racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion. Prosecutors allege that Burke used his influential position as an alderman and chair of the Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee to benefit Klafter & Burke, which specializes in property tax appeals.

“He will handle the tax work. … You can assure him of that,” Skydell said to Solis, referring to hiring Burke to work on the Sullivan Center skyscraper’s taxes. “It will come from the horse’s mouth.”

By spring 2017, Burke believed he had demonstrated his value to Skydell by intervening on behalf of 601W with train network Amtrak and the city’s Department of Water to address issues slowing the Old Post Office renovation. Despite these efforts, Skydell ultimately chose not to hire Klafter for the Old Post Office renovation but said he would offer Burke work on other properties.

Throughout 2018, Burke continued pressing Solis to inquire about property tax work from Skydell. The recordings revealed Skydell assuring Solis that they would have work for Burke, but commitments were not materializing. Burke expressed frustration, especially when Skydell sought $20 million in tax-increment financing for the Old Post Office project.

“And as far as I’m concerned, they can go f**k themselves,” Burke said in the recordings.

Solis conveyed Burke’s feelings to Skydell, and while aiming to secure TIF funding for Skydell’s project, the developer seemed to promise tax work on the Sullivan Center on East Madison Street to Burke. The prosecution claims Burke offered a consulting fee to Solis in exchange for helping secure business from 601W.

The trial also touched on Burke’s involvement in subsidies for 601W, with jurors learning about his resistance to the $20 million TIF request.

The trial, now in its third week, presented nearly two dozen recorded meetings and wiretapped calls detailing Burke’s pursuit of legal business from 601W. The recordings captured Burke’s increasing frustration over the developer’s lack of commitment to his law firm.

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The proceedings took an unexpected turn when U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall ended the day early after noticing a juror had fallen asleep, Crain’s reported.

The defense’s request for a mistrial was also rejected by Judge Kendall, who expressed trust in the jury’s ability to follow instructions to disregard a witness who said that Burke’s law firm’s involvement with a property seemed “corrupt.” The trial will continue with more witnesses and weeks ahead.

— Quinn Donoghue 

The post Jury in Ed Burke trial hears from 601W’s Harry Skydell on secret recordings appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Crime, Office Market, Property Taxes, trial Harry Skydell of major office landlord 601W Cos., a tight-lipped developer behind the $600 million renovation of the Old Post Office, entered unfamiliar territory as his private discussions with indicted former Chicago alderman Ed Burke spilled into a public courtroom this week. Jurors in Burke’s federal corruption trial heard secret recordings of talks between Skydell
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AMS Acquisitions getting tax break for 906-unit Yonkers project  – Robert Khodadadian

AMS Acquisitions is getting some help from Yonkers to build one of the biggest apartment projects in recent Yonkers memory.

AMS received preliminary approval from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency for tax incentives to aid its $458 million Teutonia Hall luxury rental project, according to the IDA. The developer is awaiting final approval on its requests, which include $12.9 million in sales tax exemptions and $4.4 million in mortgage recording tax exemptions.

The developer’s long-term plan for 4 Buena Vista Avenue is a mixed-use project with 906 apartments over two 41-story towers. The massive development will also have 907 parking spaces and 2,900 square feet of retail. Roughly 10 percent of the rentals will be designated affordable.

Construction will unfold in two phases. The first, anticipated to begin next September, will include a building with 510 units and two-thirds of the parking podium. It would wrap in December 2027.

The second phase would kick off in December 2028 and finish three years later.

New York City-based AMS, led by Michael Mitnick, acquired the downtown Yonkers site for $18.3 million in 2018, then expanded its plans for the site. The site was formerly home to the Teutonia Music Hall.

This summer, AMS received a green light for its 18-story Silk Loft East and six-story Silk Loft West in Bayonne, New Jersey. The two projects will deliver a combined 286 housing units, all market-rate.

In other news, Westchester County’s Local Development Corporation granted final approval for $52 million in tax-exempt bond financing for New York Blood Center to redevelop Avon’s former headquarters in Rye.

The nonprofit is set to occupy the entire 187,000-square-foot property at 601 Midland Avenue, using it for office space, laboratories, processing storage and distribution of blood and other supplies. The Blood Center is also building a tower on Manhattan’s East Side.

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The post AMS Acquisitions getting tax break for 906-unit Yonkers project  appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Multifamily Real Estate, Westchester County, Yonkers AMS Acquisitions is getting some help from Yonkers to build one of the biggest apartment projects in recent Yonkers memory. AMS received preliminary approval from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency for tax incentives to aid its $458 million Teutonia Hall luxury rental project, according to the IDA. The developer is awaiting final approval on its
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Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

In 2020, the State of California gave Shangri-La Industries, a developer based in Downtown L.A., about $7 million to convert a Good Nite Inn motel into 100 units of housing for those struggling with homelessness. The grant was one of the first handed out under the state’s conversion effort, named Project Homekey. 

It wasn’t the only cash Shangri-La Industries scored for the project in Redlands. It spent $12 million to buy the motel, using a $5.8 million loan from TerraCotta Credit REIT, records show. 

The debt continued to pile up. In 2021, Shangri-La also scored a $20 million credit line from BMO Harris Bank tied to the Good Nite Inn and another project in Salinas. The firm also scored loans from Lone Oak Fund, Forbix Capital and Sunday Capital in 2022, all tied to the Good Nite Inn at 1675 Industrial Park Avenue. 

By the end of August this year, Shangri-La had defaulted on the loan from BMO Harris Bank, owing almost $19 million. The firm had scored two different forbearance agreements in an effort to hedge against rising rates, but could not avoid default. 

Shangri-La scored at least $121 million from the State of California from 2020 through 2022, all dedicated to converting motels into housing for the homeless under Project Homekey, according to a TRD analysis of state data. 

But the funds have not proved enough to keep Shangri-La afloat on these projects. 

The company has defaulted on loans tied to seven hotels slated for Project Homekey conversions over the last six months, according to property records and county notices of default. That’s all of the firm’s hotel projects that received state grants. 

Shangri-La owes about $41.3 million under the delinquent loans — an amount that is set to keep accruing until the debt becomes current.

In addition to the Redlands site, the properties are located in Salinas, San Bernardino, King City and Thousand Oaks. 

The firm’s CEO Andy Meyers did not respond to a request for comment. California’s Department of Housing & Community Development also did not respond to a request for comment. 

With the defaults, Shangri-La could lose all seven hotels. The fact the hotels are tied to Project Homekey makes it more complicated — lenders on the debt could foreclose and sell the properties to a party that may not want to keep the properties as affordable. 

For each Project Homekey property, cities essentially hire a developer to acquire, renovate and operate the sites. The developers are paid with city tax dollars over a number of years. 

Rich beginnings

Shangri-La may have its toe in affordable housing now, but it has roots in a family fortune. 

The firm was born out of the wealth of Leo Bing, the founder of New York City-based development firm Bing & Bing, which was known for building apartments for the rich. 

“Bing & Bing buildings still pack a wallop in the world of Manhattan real estate, oozing cachet,” The New York Times wrote in 2006. 

Bing passed on his real estate fortune to Steve Bing, who became a Hollywood producer and film financier. He founded Shangri-La Entertainment, and eventually, Shangri-La Construction and Shangri-La Industries. Bing, best known for producing the holiday movie “The Polar Express,” died by suicide in 2020. 

Meyers was tapped in 2000 as Shangri-La’s CEO, two years after graduating from UCLA, according to his LinkedIn profile. One of Shangri-La’s first projects was an airplane hangar at Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport. 

Another was the redevelopment of the Commercial Exchange Building at 8th and Olive Street in Downtown L.A. — the firm converted the building into the 226-key Freehand Hotel. 

Shangri-La’s construction arm has worked on a number of high-end real estate projects, including the Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel and condo project, which sold in 2021 for $80 million.

But by 2020, the firm had its sights set on Project Homekey to take advantage of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s initiative to convert motels into homeless housing. 

Homekey costs

Last year, Shangri-La scored $26.8 million from the state to convert the Quality Inn & Suites in Thousand Oaks into 77 units of permanent housing, the first of its kind in the Ventura County city. 

About 83 percent of the funds were designated as “capital” — costs associated with acquisition or rehabilitation. The rest was slated for operations. 

HCD rules do not dictate exactly what the funds can be used for, but states “eligible costs must be project related and the project must directly support the target population.” 

Shangri-La bought the motel at 12 Conejo Boulevard for $18.9 million, using a $10 million loan from Calabasas-based bridge lender Private Mortgage Fund and another $1.83 million junior loan from RTI Properties, loan documents show. 

Assuming it used some of the state funds for the purchase, Shangri-La still had roughly $16 million for the conversion. 

In June, Shangri-La defaulted on the loan from RTI Properties, owing $115,000. It managed to cure the default for a few months, but was in default again by the end of September, according to notices of default filed with L.A. County. 

A month later, Shangri-La was in default on the loan from Private Mortgage Fund, owing $10.3 million, and facing a number of mechanic’s liens. 

Under state rules, a foreclosure for the property could be scheduled for Jan. 3.

Construction of the project is slated to be finished by the end of this year, Meyers told the Thousand Oaks Acorn in August. It was originally set to be finished by the end of 2022. 

To buy the former Good Nite Inn in Redlands, Shangri-La had scored a $12 million loan from Arixa Capital, a private lender based in Westwood, in June 2022. It also had a $30 million grant from the state’s Project Homekey, its largest grant to date. 

By May, the firm was in default on the loan. As with the Thousand Oaks property, it managed to cure the default temporarily. 

As of Sept. 11, Shangri-La owed $332,000 under the loan. 

“We understand that Shangri-La has been working with the lender to refinance the loan and address all outstanding issues,” a spokesperson for the City of Redlands told the Redlands Daily Facts in October. 

The project is not yet finished, according to the website for Step Up America, the nonprofit operating partner of Shangri-La on a number of Project Homekey properties. 

“Stay tuned for details,” the website reads.

The post Even with $120M in state grants, Shangri-La Industries can’t repay loans appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Breaking, Breaking News, Default, Development, Distress, Homelessness, Monterey County, Project Homekey The Real DealRead MoreIn 2020, the State of California gave Shangri-La Industries, a developer based in Downtown L.A., about $7 million to convert a Good Nite Inn motel into 100 units of housing for those struggling with homelessness. The grant was one of the first handed out under the state’s conversion effort, named Project Homekey.  It wasn’t the
The post Even with $120M in state grants, Shangri-La Industries can’t repay loans appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

Carmine Sabatella, star of the HGTV show “Inside Out,” has brought his real estate business The Sabatella-Delair Group to The Agency.

Despite co-hosting a reality television show for about five seasons, Sabatella told The Real Deal that home-selling business provides most of his income. In addition to his TV career and real estate firm, he helms an interior design business, Carmine Sabatella Design.

The Agency is headed by Mauricio Umansky, famous for starring on popular shows such as “Buying Beverly Hills,” “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and a recently concluded stint on “Dancing With the Stars.”

Sabatella most recently affiliated with Compass before the switch to the Agency. He said the presence of other people who have appeared on unscripted TV shows is important. About 11 people at The Agency are cast members of “Buying Beverly Hills.” The Agency’s David Parnes and James Harris also were cast members for “Million Dollar Listing.”

However, it was The Agency’s office culture which really attracted Sabatella.

“Compass is growing rapidly. I don’t want to be one of a few hundred agents in the Pasadena area, for example. I want to have a platform where I’m maybe one of 100 agents in an office,” he  said. “I love the cachet The Agency carries. It feels more boutique. They are a very successful company, but it feels grassroots.”

Umansky said appearing on TV is an advantage for his business. Shows such as “Buying Beverly Hills” place its agents on people’s radars. 

“It’s important to note that our primary focus remains on finding like-minded agents who share our commitment to excellence and elevated service. The Agency has always been dedicated to fostering a culture of collaboration and maintaining our boutique approach to the business,” he said in a prepared statement.

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Sabatella focuses on Los Angeles homes ranging from the Westside to the San Gabriel Valley. His listings average in the $2.5 million range. Sabatella forecast that his team’s revenue will increase 25 percent in 2024, in part due with upgrading his customer relationship management operations which will make his business more efficient, he said..

He also recently signed onto a new show. Sabatella will appear on a reboot of HGTV’s “House Hunters,” where he’ll consult on remodeling homes. It is scheduled to air starting in spring 2024.

“Inside Out” documents home remodels with Sabatella handing everything inside the house and co-host Mike Pyle the outside matters. 

The post Reality TV star Carmine Sabatella moves to The Agency appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, broker-shakeups, los-angeles, residential-real-estate The Real DealRead MoreCarmine Sabatella, star of the HGTV show “Inside Out,” has brought his real estate business The Sabatella-Delair Group to The Agency. Despite co-hosting a reality television show for about five seasons, Sabatella told The Real Deal that home-selling business provides most of his income. In addition to his TV career and real estate firm, he
The post Reality TV star Carmine Sabatella moves to The Agency appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

An Alamo estate built by a tech billionaire at a cost of more than $135 million is on the market for a fraction of that amount, though if it comes anywhere close to its $35 million asking price it will rank as the most expensive sale ever in Contra Costa County.

PeopleSoft founder David Duffield bought the 21-acre property in 2005 and worked until 2010 to permit, design and build his family estate — dubbed Fieldhaven. It has a main French Country-style home with 10 bedrooms, 13 full bathrooms and nine half-baths in more than 20,000 square feet. 

There’s also a two-bedroom guest home, a custom-designed treehouse entered via a 75-foot-long rope bridge, a 20-slot car barn with guest suite above, an aviary created by a curator at the San Francisco Zoo and a dog spa, according to a press release on the listing. The construction alone took more than three years and involved builders, designers and craftspeople from around the world. 

The tech billionaire sold the estate in August 2020 for $19 million to J. Taylor Crandall, a former senior advisor at Crosspoint Capital, a private equity fund focused on cybersecurity. The Duffields donated the proceeds to their family foundation, Maddie’s Fund, named in memory of a family dog, which provides grants to animal causes. 

The sale set the record for Contra Costa County, which includes Lamorinda, Walnut Creek, Danville and Brentwood, and no other home has been able to top it since, according to Redfin data. The closest is 10 Serenity Lane, which is next door to Fieldhaven, and sold for $16.7 million in June 2021. 

Marilee Headen of Compass and Taso Tsakos of Engel & Volkers are co-listing the property on behalf of the Crandalls. Headen said the agents looked at comps from across the Bay Area, not just the East Bay, to determine the price for the property, which she said would cost $250 million to build today.

That includes about $6 million of improvements the Crandalls put in. Upgrades include a solar field that creates enough energy to power the estate.

Crandall will miss the “incredible amenities of the Alamo property, especially his car barn,” according to Headen. She represented the Crandalls when they bought the home in 2020 and Tsakos represented the Duffields. 

“We worked well together in that transaction and bring different skill sets to the table,” Headen said of why they were chosen to list the property as a team.

The Crandalls are moving to a home they own nearby to be closer to their children’s schools, Headen said. Crosspoint Capital is based in Menlo Park but Crandall moved his family from Atherton to Alamo to begin with because of the schools, according to the press release.

In the search for buyers, the agents will target “wealthy individuals from all the main hubs” locally and nationally, Tzakos said, including Silicon Valley, San Francisco, L.A., New York and Florida. They will also be doing a heavy international marketing push.

“You never know where the buyer will come [from],” he said.

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The post East Bay home that cost $135M to build lists for fraction of that price appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Alamo, Contra Costa, East Bay, Luxury, top price The Real DealRead MoreAn Alamo estate built by a tech billionaire at a cost of more than $135 million is on the market for a fraction of that amount, though if it comes anywhere close to its $35 million asking price it will rank as the most expensive sale ever in Contra Costa County. PeopleSoft founder David Duffield
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Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

Harry Skydell of major office landlord 601W Cos., a tight-lipped developer behind the $600 million renovation of the Old Post Office, entered unfamiliar territory as his private discussions with indicted former Chicago alderman Ed Burke spilled into a public courtroom this week.

Jurors in Burke’s federal corruption trial heard secret recordings of talks between Skydell and Burke, whose case is now in the thick of witness testimony.

It revealed that Burke tried to sway Skydell — who rarely speaks to media  — into hiring the then-alderman’s law business, Klafter & Burke, to handle property tax work for the massive transformation of the Old Post Office into a nearly fully leased workspace, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“I can’t pull the rug out from under them, it’s, it’s like immoral,” Skydell said on one recording, referring to other law firms he had already hired to do tax work on the Old Post Office.

Jurors also heard Burke’s infamous quote about landing “the tuna” in reference to the Old Post Office renovation’s tax work.

The project represented a huge financial opportunity for Burke, and he allegedly pursued 601W’s property tax work relentlessly, according to the recordings that were secretly made by Daniel Solis, another ex-alderman who acted as a government mole and played a crucial role in the indictment of Burke. Skydell’s conversations with Burke were also recorded and played for the jury, the newspaper reported.

Burke, who served as alderman for 54 years until this spring, faces 14 charges of racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion. Prosecutors allege that Burke used his influential position as an alderman and chair of the Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee to benefit Klafter & Burke, which specializes in property tax appeals.

“He will handle the tax work. … You can assure him of that,” Skydell said to Solis, referring to hiring Burke to work on the Sullivan Center skyscraper’s taxes. “It will come from the horse’s mouth.”

By spring 2017, Burke believed he had demonstrated his value to Skydell by intervening on behalf of 601W with train network Amtrak and the city’s Department of Water to address issues slowing the Old Post Office renovation. Despite these efforts, Skydell ultimately chose not to hire Klafter for the Old Post Office renovation but said he would offer Burke work on other properties.

Throughout 2018, Burke continued pressing Solis to inquire about property tax work from Skydell. The recordings revealed Skydell assuring Solis that they would have work for Burke, but commitments were not materializing. Burke expressed frustration, especially when Skydell sought $20 million in tax-increment financing for the Old Post Office project.

“And as far as I’m concerned, they can go f**k themselves,” Burke said in the recordings.

Solis conveyed Burke’s feelings to Skydell, and while aiming to secure TIF funding for Skydell’s project, the developer seemed to promise tax work on the Sullivan Center on East Madison Street to Burke. The prosecution claims Burke offered a consulting fee to Solis in exchange for helping secure business from 601W.

The trial also touched on Burke’s involvement in subsidies for 601W, with jurors learning about his resistance to the $20 million TIF request.

The trial, now in its third week, presented nearly two dozen recorded meetings and wiretapped calls detailing Burke’s pursuit of legal business from 601W. The recordings captured Burke’s increasing frustration over the developer’s lack of commitment to his law firm.

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The proceedings took an unexpected turn when U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall ended the day early after noticing a juror had fallen asleep, Crain’s reported.

The defense’s request for a mistrial was also rejected by Judge Kendall, who expressed trust in the jury’s ability to follow instructions to disregard a witness who said that Burke’s law firm’s involvement with a property seemed “corrupt.” The trial will continue with more witnesses and weeks ahead.

— Quinn Donoghue 

The post Jury in Ed Burke trial hears from 601W’s Harry Skydell on secret recordings appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Crime, Office Market, Property Taxes, trial The Real DealRead MoreHarry Skydell of major office landlord 601W Cos., a tight-lipped developer behind the $600 million renovation of the Old Post Office, entered unfamiliar territory as his private discussions with indicted former Chicago alderman Ed Burke spilled into a public courtroom this week. Jurors in Burke’s federal corruption trial heard secret recordings of talks between Skydell
The post Jury in Ed Burke trial hears from 601W’s Harry Skydell on secret recordings appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

AMS Acquisitions is getting some help from Yonkers to build one of the biggest apartment projects in recent Yonkers memory.

AMS received preliminary approval from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency for tax incentives to aid its $458 million Teutonia Hall luxury rental project, according to the IDA. The developer is awaiting final approval on its requests, which include $12.9 million in sales tax exemptions and $4.4 million in mortgage recording tax exemptions.

The developer’s long-term plan for 4 Buena Vista Avenue is a mixed-use project with 906 apartments over two 41-story towers. The massive development will also have 907 parking spaces and 2,900 square feet of retail. Roughly 10 percent of the rentals will be designated affordable.

Construction will unfold in two phases. The first, anticipated to begin next September, will include a building with 510 units and two-thirds of the parking podium. It would wrap in December 2027.

The second phase would kick off in December 2028 and finish three years later.

New York City-based AMS, led by Michael Mitnick, acquired the downtown Yonkers site for $18.3 million in 2018, then expanded its plans for the site. The site was formerly home to the Teutonia Music Hall.

This summer, AMS received a green light for its 18-story Silk Loft East and six-story Silk Loft West in Bayonne, New Jersey. The two projects will deliver a combined 286 housing units, all market-rate.

In other news, Westchester County’s Local Development Corporation granted final approval for $52 million in tax-exempt bond financing for New York Blood Center to redevelop Avon’s former headquarters in Rye.

The nonprofit is set to occupy the entire 187,000-square-foot property at 601 Midland Avenue, using it for office space, laboratories, processing storage and distribution of blood and other supplies. The Blood Center is also building a tower on Manhattan’s East Side.

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The post AMS Acquisitions getting tax break for 906-unit Yonkers project  appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Multifamily Real Estate, Westchester County, Yonkers The Real DealRead MoreAMS Acquisitions is getting some help from Yonkers to build one of the biggest apartment projects in recent Yonkers memory. AMS received preliminary approval from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency for tax incentives to aid its $458 million Teutonia Hall luxury rental project, according to the IDA. The developer is awaiting final approval on its
The post AMS Acquisitions getting tax break for 906-unit Yonkers project  appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Real estate jobs grow 2.1% across Southern California in October – Robert Khodadadian

Southern California added more than 10,000 real estate jobs last month, mostly in construction.

Property-linked employment in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties hit a post-Great Recession high of 805,200 in October, up 10,200 for the month, the Orange County Register reported.

Real estate work grew locally by 16,300 jobs over 12 months, a gain of 2.1 percent. 

The upswing represents a turnaround from last spring, when sluggish home sales across Southern California led to the loss of 4,600 real estate jobs in March, with hiring picking up in May.

The growth came despite higher interest rates. Higher financing costs have slowed residential sales and made some development projects unaffordable.

Local construction work grows because of giant infrastructure projects, according to the Register.

Other property-related work has been relatively stable, as many real estate workers are self-employed and not counted in state employment figures.

Across Southern California, work in all other industries hit a post-crash high with 7.3 million people on the payroll — up 88,200 jobs in a month. Over 12 months, non-real estate jobs were up 118,100, a gain of 1.6 percent.

The real estate job market was 9.9 percent of total employment last month. The industry’s hiring equaled 10 percent of all new local jobs for the month and 12.1 percent of Southern California hires for the year.

Since 2010, real estate-related jobs have equaled 9.7 percent of all Southland jobs and 12.7 percent of local hiring.

Work in the building, civil and construction trades grew 2.1 percent year-over-year in October, to 125,500 jobs. Work in specialty trades hired by contractors grew 3.2 percent year-over-year to 267,000 jobs. 

Work in building services for commercial property operations grew 4.9 percent to 115,900 jobs.

At the same time, work in real estate lending grew 1 percent to 103,100 jobs, while jobs in real estate services fell 0.2 percent to 141,500 jobs. 

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— Dana Bartholomew

The post Real estate jobs grow 2.1% across Southern California in October appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Real estate jobs Southern California added more than 10,000 real estate jobs last month, mostly in construction. Property-linked employment in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties hit a post-Great Recession high of 805,200 in October, up 10,200 for the month, the Orange County Register reported. Real estate work grew locally by 16,300 jobs over 12 months,
The post Real estate jobs grow 2.1% across Southern California in October appeared first on The Real Deal. The Real DealRead More

Harbor and Evergen snag warehouse campus in Gardena for $55M – Robert Khodadadian

Harbor Associates and Evergen Equity have picked up four industrial buildings in Gardena for $55 million.

The Long Beach- and Austin-based investors bought the 126,000 square feet of warehouses at 690-760 West 190th Street, the Commercial Observer reported. The seller was not disclosed.

The property was owned last year by Campbell, Campbell and Campbell, based in Rolling Hills Estates, according to property records. It was last traded in 1977 for an unknown price.

The South Bay industrial buildings next to the 405 and 110 freeways interchange run from 17,000 square feet to 45,000 square feet on 7.5 acres.

The purchase by Harbor and Evergen works out to $436 per square foot, $7.3 million per acre.

L.A.’s industrial sales averaged $314 per square foot through the first 10 months of this year, according to a report by CommercialEdge, making it the most expensive market in the nation. 

The deal adds to $3.55 billion in industrial properties sold this year in Los Angeles County, second to the Inland Empire in transaction volume

Evergen CEO Troy Marcus said the asset “will be one of the crown jewels in our logistics portfolio.”

Executives at Harbor Associates said the owners are looking at several options, including building a Class A industrial outdoor storage facility for trucks and containers.

“This submarket is incredibly dense and is one of the few in the area that allows for trucking and shipping container uses,” Paul Miszkowicz, a principal at Harbor, said in a statement. “This has ‘super-charged’ the demand as (third-party logistics) and logistics companies compete for a diminished supply of truck yards.”

The warehouse campus is Harbor’s third industrial buy this year, in which it surpassed $120 million in acquisitions, and adds to a 640,000-square-foot industrial portfolio in Southern California.

Brokers Eric Cox, Barbara Perrier and Darla Longo of CBRE advised the unidentified seller on the deal.

— Dana Bartholomew

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The post Harbor and Evergen snag warehouse campus in Gardena for $55M appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, trucking and container storage, Warehouses Harbor Associates and Evergen Equity have picked up four industrial buildings in Gardena for $55 million. The Long Beach- and Austin-based investors bought the 126,000 square feet of warehouses at 690-760 West 190th Street, the Commercial Observer reported. The seller was not disclosed. The property was owned last year by Campbell, Campbell and Campbell, based
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REBNY vows to fight antitrust lawsuit  – Robert Khodadadian

New York City’s governing real estate authority vowed to get tough on the Big Apple’s edition of a series of antitrust lawsuits targeting residential commission rules. 

The Real Estate Board of New York told members in a Thursday morning email it would dispute an antitrust lawsuit filed by a New York home seller against it and 26 area real estate firms. The lawsuit filed earlier this month alleges REBNY’s Universal Co-Brokerage Agreement violated antitrust laws with its rules requiring sellers to pay buyers’ agents. 

“REBNY will vigorously defend the litigation and respond to the complaint, which is laden with numerous inaccuracies regarding the RLS, the UCBA, and the business of real estate,” the board said in its notice to agents. 

The group declined to comment. 

The organization updated the UCBA in October, including a change to prohibit listing brokers from paying buyers’ agents, instead requiring sellers to pay them directly. The new rules take effect January 1. 

The lawsuit in New York City was filed less than two weeks after a verdict in Sitzer/Burnett, an antitrust case filed in Missouri agains the National Association of Realtors and two residential brokerages, HomeServices of America and Keller Williams. 

The trial centered on the trade group’s commissions requiring brokers to offer compensation to buyer’s agents in exchange for access to Realtor-controlled MLSs. T jury found the firms liable of colluding to inflate commissions andawarded $1.8 billion in damages, which the judge can treble to more than $5 billion. NAR vowed to appeal the verdict, which is awaiting final approval by a judge. 

REBNY said in its message to members the huge sum won by the plaintiffs in Missouri likely inspired the lawsuit filed in New York, which is in good company with copycat complaints by sellers and buyers targeting firms in a slew of markets, including in Illinois, New England and Texas. 

REBNY’s fellow defendants in the New York complaint have also been named in antitrust suits across the country. The pressure is mounting for national brokerages named in multiple suits, which pose enormous costs because of the massive amount of discovery they entail and potential settlement or damages, which can total in the tens of millions or billions of dollars.

Anywhere Real Estate and RE/Max proposed settlement deals before the Sitzer case headed to trial, agreeing to pay $84 million and $55 million, respectively. The deals, which are expected to be approved by a judge in mid-2024, also sought to exclude the firms from Moerhl v. NAR, a similar suit in Illinois set to go trial next year. 

Executives at the parent company of Corcoran, Coldwell Banker, Century21 and Sotheby’s International Realty were quick to brag about during the company’s recent third quarter earnings call, months after saying litigation costs had “meaningfully” impacted the company’s bottom line. 

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The post REBNY vows to fight antitrust lawsuit  appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Lawsuit, Residential Real Estate New York City’s governing real estate authority vowed to get tough on the Big Apple’s edition of a series of antitrust lawsuits targeting residential commission rules.  The Real Estate Board of New York told members in a Thursday morning email it would dispute an antitrust lawsuit filed by a New York home seller against it
The post REBNY vows to fight antitrust lawsuit  appeared first on The Real Deal. The Real DealRead More

Left at the closing table: $101M deal dissolves into lawsuits – Robert Khodadadian

A closing is a bit like a wedding — after a long courtship and months of planning, the two parties finally make things official. Both are also vulnerable to a runaway bride. 

In October, Austin developer Wilson Capital planned to sell two apartment complexes north of Austin to a New York-based investor for $101 million. But when Wilson’s representatives went to the closing on Oct. 16, the supposed buyer, River Rock Capital, never showed. Wilson terminated the contract the next day, but the battle had only just begun. 

The two firms are suing each other through multiple LLCs in New York and Texas, alleging a slew of defaults tanked their deal.

River Rock’s lawsuits tell a different story.

The firm claims Wilson failed to provide leasing and construction updates at the two developments: Brio, at 705 East Olympic Drive in Pflugerville, and the Sommery, at 5540 Sofia Place in Round Rock. Monthly rent rolls and status updates on certificates of occupancy at Brio, a new development, are among the information River Rock says it was denied. Those alleged breaches relieved River Rock of its own obligations under the contract, its lawsuits claim, and entitle it to a refund of its $2.5 million escrow deposit. 

River Rock also claims Wilson set the closing date unilaterally. The purchase agreement stipulated that the deal would close “on or about 45 days after” Wilson received certificates of occupancy for the residential buildings at Brio. The date of the attempted closing was exactly 45 days after Wilson allegedly sent the certificates to River Rock, but they were not sent to River Rock’s lawyer, according to River Rock’s lawsuit. 

Wilson has moved to dismiss River Rock’s suits, which were filed in New York, for lack of jurisdiction, as Wilson is based in Texas. A judge has asked River Rock to respond to that motion by Friday. 

Taylor Wilson, the founder and president of Wilson Capital, said his firm denies River Rock’s claims and believes the New York suits were filed “for the sole purpose of obfuscation and delay.”

River Rock and its attorney did not respond to a request for comment. 

Wilson alleges in its suits that it never breached the agreement and remains ready to meet its obligations. It is asking the court for its own $2.5 million escrow deposit back, plus damages. 

Elsewhere in Austin, Wilson is building Wilson Tower. The downtown apartment building was initially slated to climb 80 stories, which would have made it 30 feet taller than Houston’s JP Morgan Chase Tower, currently the tallest in the state. The building took a haircut in the planning process though, and is now projected to be 45 stories tall. 

River Rock invests in apartments in Texas and New Jersey, with a management and ownership portfolio of around 5,500 units, according to its website. 

Pflugerville and Round Rock are two of the busiest areas for population growth and new development in the country, as technology giants such as Tesla and Samsung have invested heavily in the region.

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The post Left at the closing table: $101M deal dissolves into lawsuits appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Commercial Real Estate, Lawsuits, Multifamily, river rock capital, wilson capital A closing is a bit like a wedding — after a long courtship and months of planning, the two parties finally make things official. Both are also vulnerable to a runaway bride.  In October, Austin developer Wilson Capital planned to sell two apartment complexes north of Austin to a New York-based investor for $101 million.
The post Left at the closing table: $101M deal dissolves into lawsuits appeared first on The Real Deal. The Real DealRead More

What REBNY’s office visitation report actually measures – Robert Khodadadian

The specter of half-empty buildings, a reality supported by card-swipe data from Kastle Systems, hasn’t done office owners any favors. But the Real Estate Board of New York has another dataset with a more robust number: 66 percent.

That is not, however, the percentage of New York City office workers at their desks every day. Rather, it’s the amount of cell phone activity in office buildings today versus 2019, before the pandemic.

REBNY calls the 66 percent number an office visitation rate, Crain’s reported. But it really just means that cell phone activity in the buildings in September was two-thirds what it was throughout 2019.

The data is broader than Kastle’s, which misses all the buildings that don’t use its card-swipe services, including many that claim to have higher office attendance than the Kastle average. The omissions skew the results.

Kastle, which recorded a 50 percent occupancy rate for the week of Nov. 15, measures card swipes at 200 buildings in Manhattan, a majority of which are the Class A variety.

Some industry figures such as the Durst Organization’s David Neil have downplayed Kastle’s data because of the weight it puts on days of the week destined not to recover to pre-pandemic levels, specifically Fridays.

But REBNY’s report, which covers 350 buildings, has its own limitations. Office workers and executives who carry multiple phones into the office would inflate the numbers, as would tourists visiting stores and restaurants at the bottom of office buildings. A spokesperson for the city’s Economic Development Corporation shrugged that off, telling Crain’s it illustrates “vibrancy.”

Regardless of the framework, it’s clear that office visitation won’t return to pre-Covid levels, nor will occupancy rates — at least until the amount of office space is reduced by conversions and demolitions.

The shift to remote work has huge implications for cities’ tax revenue and everyone who relies on office workers, particularly office owners, lenders and investors, as well as restaurants and stores in office districts.

In May, a revised study from researchers at New York University and Columbia University estimated that the city’s offices would lose 44 percent of their pre-pandemic value by 2029, an increase of 16 percentage points from the previous year’s original study.

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REBNY’s visitation report has historically shown higher-end office buildings recovering from the pandemic faster than others, but the difference is marginal. In September, the average visitation rate in A+ properties was 67 percent of the 2019 figure, versus 65 percent for A, A-, B and C buildings.

However, the report doesn’t include office buildings that opened after 2019, such as SL Green’s massive office tower One Vanderbilt. Newer buildings figure to have higher visitation than older ones.

Midtown South led Manhattan office districts at 70 percent. Midtown came in at 67 percent and Downtown at just 60 percent.

— Holden Walter-Warner

The post What REBNY’s office visitation report actually measures appeared first on The Real Deal.

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Uncategorized, Manhattan Office Market, office occupancy, Remote Work The specter of half-empty buildings, a reality supported by card-swipe data from Kastle Systems, hasn’t done office owners any favors. But the Real Estate Board of New York has another dataset with a more robust number: 66 percent. That is not, however, the percentage of New York City office workers at their desks every day.
The post What REBNY’s office visitation report actually measures appeared first on The Real Deal. The Real DealRead More

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

Brookfield Properties is looking to sell the waterfront Ritz-Carlton resort in Key Biscayne, sources told The Real Deal. 

Brookfield is working with JLL to market the 302-room, 275,000-square-foot property at 455 Grand Bay Drive, sources said. Brookfield acquired Watermark’s two-thirds stake in the property when it purchased Watermark Lodging Trust last year for $3.8 million. Karim Alibhai’s Gencom, a Miami-based hotel investment firm, owns about one-third of the property. 

Brookfield closed on a $210 million refinancing backed by the oceanfront resort at the end of July, records show. Citibank, as the administrative agent representing a group of lenders, increased the loan from $190 million. MetLife provided the latter mortgage in 2016.

Brookfield and Watermark did not immediately respond to requests for comment. JLL and Gencom declined to comment. 

The 13-story Ritz-Carlton was built in 2001 on a 12-acre property with 1,200 feet of beachfront, pools, a tennis center and meeting space. The property also includes luxury condos that are branded Ritz-Carlton. 

Brookfield owns about 30 properties in South Florida, including the Mayfair Hotel & Spa in Coconut Grove, the Shops at Merrick Park and a stake in the Miami Design District. 

In 2015, Gencom sold its majority interest in the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne for $325 million to Carey Watermark Investors. Two years later, Gencom sold the Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove for $36 million, or about $313,000 per room, to Hersha Hospitality Trust. 

Major hotel investment sales have been few and far between, driven by the high cost of financing and insurance, brokers say. 

Earlier this year, Trinity Investments and Credit Suisse paid $835 million for the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, one of the largest hotels in South Florida. 

Last year, Hyatt Hotels Corporation sold the Confidante Miami Beach for $232 million, or $684,000 per room, to California-based Sunstone Hotel Investors. 

In 2019, Host Hotels paid $610 million for 1 Hotel South Beach, marking a new per-room record for Miami-Dade hotel sales at $1.42 million a key. Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group and LeFrak sold the luxury oceanfront hotel more than three years ago. 

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The post Brookfield’s oceanfront Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne marketed for sale appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Hotel Market, Hotels, Investment Sales, Key Biscayne, Miami-Dade County, Ritz-Carlton The Real DealRead MoreBrookfield Properties is looking to sell the waterfront Ritz-Carlton resort in Key Biscayne, sources told The Real Deal.  Brookfield is working with JLL to market the 302-room, 275,000-square-foot property at 455 Grand Bay Drive, sources said. Brookfield acquired Watermark’s two-thirds stake in the property when it purchased Watermark Lodging Trust last year for $3.8 million.
The post Brookfield’s oceanfront Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne marketed for sale appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

Things have gotten worse for Jason Ding and Jeffrey Laytin, the would-be developers of a 60-story River North proposal that never got off the ground and became tied up in litigation.

The pair have more recently run afoul of a federal court and now need a judge’s permission to access their funds, according to legal filings.

Federal Judge Young B. Kim for the Northern District of Illinois earlier this month found Laytin and Ding — whose New York-based Symmetry Property Development owns the troubled development site on the northeast corner of Wabash Avenue and Superior Street — violated an order that required them to tell the court how much money they had coming in from a property in Gary, Indiana.

Laytin and Ding were supposed to disclose their financial dealings as part of a $28 million settlement agreement with Chinese investors who raised around $50 million for the doomed development project through the federal EB-5 program that offers foreigners U.S. visas in exchange for their investments.

The money was supposed to go toward building Symmetry’s proposed 60-story residential-and-hotel project dubbed the Carillon Tower. The investors filed a class-action lawsuit several years ago after it became clear the project was encountering hurdles with getting building permits from local leaders. The suit led to the settlement agreement between the developers and investors last year.

The investors said Laytin and Ding have yet to pay them significant portions of the settlement, alleging the two were funneling cash to themselves and family members instead of funding the settlement.

“As always, we are fully intent to fulfill our agreement on [the] Carillon matter,” Ding told The Real Deal in an email. “Preserve the asset, and allow new financing to come through is [the] only path to resolve these matters. We are looking forward to that.”

Judge Kim, however, put up guardrails on how the developers are using and receiving money, including from a business tied to the Indiana property that was subject to a court order meant to monitor their finances. The move came after Chinese investors apparently discovered payments totaling more than $1 million flowed between accounts controlled by Ding and Laytin, while the investors weren’t getting paid their settlement.

The judge didn’t buy an argument the developers made in court this month that the payments they received weren’t income or salaries and rather meant to cover business expenses. Kim ruled that Laytin misrepresented his assets on an income and property statement submitted to the court, and instructed both he and Ding to provide the Chinese investors information on all the open bank accounts the developers can access. They were also ordered to notify the court when they receive any assets or money, including loan proceeds to any of their companies, and to seek court approval before withdrawing or transferring any funds, according to the Nov. 6 court filing.

Meanwhile in bankruptcy court, the federal trustee overseeing Symmetry’s Chapter 11 petition for protection from creditors wants the developer’s case to be dismissed, he said in court filings last week.

The bankruptcy petition was submitted by Symmetry earlier this year on the eve of a scheduled foreclosure auction of the Chicago property. The bankruptcy scuttled the foreclosure sale, which was driven by a complaint from an entity tied to New York-based firms Arena Investors and Madison Realty Capital, which loaned more than $9 million to a Symmetry affiliate in 2017.

When that debt went unrepaid, the lenders sued to foreclose on the property and obtained a judgment allowing them to take title to it via auction. Now, Ding and Laytin’s Symmetry has until Thursday to come up with $1.3 million to start paying back the lenders and keep a pause of the foreclosure auction intact; otherwise the property will be sold off through a foreclosure auction on or after December 15, bankruptcy filings show.

“Based on the debtor’s history, it is unlikely that the Debtor will be able to secure this funding to prevent the foreclosure proceedings,” U.S. Trustee Patrick S. Layng said in court filings.

The developers previously told the bankruptcy court they were pursuing a $45 million loan from an entity called Corban Capital that would have allowed them to pay off older loans tied to their Chicago property as well as a Hawaii development site also tangled up in litigation with investors and a lender.

But creditors raised doubts about whether the Corban entity had $45 million to lend toward the properties, leading the trustee to request the bankruptcy petition’s dismissal or its conversion to a Chapter 7 case.

Ding, however, said Wednesday afternoon that Symmetry is on pace to come up with money to stave off the Chicago foreclosure once again.

“Only thing that I can say as of now, we are on track,” Ding said just after 4 p.m.

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Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, Real Estate Lawsuits The Real DealRead MoreThings have gotten worse for Jason Ding and Jeffrey Laytin, the would-be developers of a 60-story River North proposal that never got off the ground and became tied up in litigation. The pair have more recently run afoul of a federal court and now need a judge’s permission to access their funds, according to legal
The post Judge freezes developers’ assets amid River North bankruptcy scrutiny appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

The bankers Donald Trump is accused of burning with false financial statements lent his defense a hand.

Deutsche Bank workers testified in the former president’s civil fraud trial in New York this week they didn’t rely on Trump’s exaggerated claims of his net work when making loans, the New York Times reported. 

One of Trump’s core defenses is that allegedly manipulated statements had no bearing on Deutsche Bank because its bankers were expected to conduct their own due diligence.

“We are expected to conduct some due diligence and verify the information provided, to the extent that is possible,” wealth management banker David Williams testified. Williams also claimed the bank once adjusted his net worth down by $2.3 billion, but said it wasn’t unusual “for any client’s provided financial statements to be adjusted to this level.”

Rosemary Vrablic, a former member of Deutsche Bank’s wealth management unit who worked as the Trump family’s personal banker, also testified for the defense. But she clarified that the bank only issued loans when Trump personally guaranteed them, ostensibly making Trump’s net worth important once more.

Trump’s legal team claimed any alleged fraud is irrelevant because there was no victim if Deutsche Bank did their own due diligence. Though Trump was found liable for fraud before the trial even began — and the trial is centered on penalties — his lawyer followed the Deutsche Bank workers’ testimony with a motion for the judge to immediately rule in the former president’s favor. That sudden verdict appears unlikely.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has said the due diligence issue is not a defense. Judge Arthur Engoron seemed to agree when Trump’s lawyer filed the motion for a verdict, saying that “the mere fact that the lenders were happy, doesn’t mean that the statute wasn’t violated.”

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James’ team spent six weeks laying down the prosecution argument, portraying Deutsche Bank as a victim of the Trump Organization’s fraudulent financial statements. Among the Trumps to testify in the case were Ivanka, Eric, Donald Jr. and the former president himself.

James accused the Trumps of fraudulently manipulating statements obtained by bankers and insurers working with the clan. Penalties from the trial could include a fine up to $250 million and a ban preventing some of the Trump family from doing business in New York, which would put the very future of the Trump Organization at risk.

— Holden Walter-Warner

The post Deutsche bankers deny Trump’s net worth claims boosted loans appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Fraud, Real Estate Lawsuits The Real DealRead MoreThe bankers Donald Trump is accused of burning with false financial statements lent his defense a hand. Deutsche Bank workers testified in the former president’s civil fraud trial in New York this week they didn’t rely on Trump’s exaggerated claims of his net work when making loans, the New York Times reported.  One of Trump’s
The post Deutsche bankers deny Trump’s net worth claims boosted loans appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

One Sotheby’s International Realty named Compass alum Lena Johnson as its chief marketing officer, marking the firm’s second C-level appointment this year.

The Coconut Grove-based brokerage, led by mother-son duo Mayi and Daniel de la Vega, offered Johnson the role after she started consulting for them earlier this year, Johnson said. In her new role, Johnson will lead the brokerage’s marketing program with a digital-first approach to campaigns and data-driven strategies, according to a press release. 

Johnson, a Utah native, lived a Carrie Bradshaw fantasy in New York City before ever considering real estate. She moved to New York after college, landing a job at the fledgling media outlet, The Daily Beast. After three years, Condé Nast offered her a job with Vogue.

“When Vogue calls, you kind of go running,” she said.

She worked there for eight years as senior director of sales and marketing for the U.S., U.K. and France. 

“That’s where I learned how to sell, how to sell marketing concepts and build strategy,” Johnson said. “Vogue was really like my PhD in all things communication, marketing, management and really, leadership.”

Johnson also watched the legacy media behemoth of Vogue struggle to navigate the rough waters of a new, digital age dominated by Facebook (now Meta). She found herself competing for the marketing budgets of prestigious luxury brands, and wanted to get on the right side of the technological revolution, she said. Early Compass convert Leonard Steinberg encouraged her to consider a pivot to real estate. She joined the startup brokerage as head of marketing and founded its luxury division in 2018.

Johnson left Compass in June of this year, and started consulting for other luxury real estate brokerages, including One Sotheby’s, she said. Her departure had little to do with Compass’ profitability challenges, she said. 

“I launched and founded their luxury division. For me that was really the endgame,” she said, emphasizing how she wanted to focus on the luxury side of the business. Now, she splits her time between her home in New York and the One Sotheby’s office in Miami. 

“It’s so refreshing, given what we’re seeing –– CEOs who are really dogged about getting everyone back in the office,” she said about One Sotheby’s geographical flexibility. 

Johnson noted one of her first priorities is transparency for agents.

“A lot of people feel that there’s not enough transparency,” she said, adding that she hopes to show agents, “how under the hood, we’re building things.” 

“[It’s about] putting our agents’ needs and what they’re telling us at the forefront,” she said. 

Johnson is One Sotheby’s second C-suite appointment this year, and the second one to focus on agents. In June, the brokerage promoted Taylor Travaglione to chief growth officer, a role dedicated to the recruitment and retention of agents. 

The post One Sotheby’s taps Compass alum Lena Johnson as CMO appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Brokerages, Daniel De La Vega, Luxury Real Estate, One Sotheby’s, One Sotheby’s International Realty The Real DealRead MoreOne Sotheby’s International Realty named Compass alum Lena Johnson as its chief marketing officer, marking the firm’s second C-level appointment this year. The Coconut Grove-based brokerage, led by mother-son duo Mayi and Daniel de la Vega, offered Johnson the role after she started consulting for them earlier this year, Johnson said. In her new role,
The post One Sotheby’s taps Compass alum Lena Johnson as CMO appeared first on The Real Deal. 

Robert Khodadadian – The Real Deal

San Francisco has dropped another notch and now ranks as the fourth-most-expensive rental market for one-bedroom apartments in the country, according to listing site Zumper. 

The city has never dropped this low in the rankings before, said Zumper’s Crystal Chen, though rents have been fairly stable all year, with median one-bedrooms “hovering” around $3,000 a month. 

“It’s more so that other cities have seen growing rents versus SF rents dropping a ton,” she said via email.

The change in position is notable as part of the city’s continued decline from its long-held spot as the most expensive rental market in the country. It actually took over a year of pandemic-era departures and subsequent rent reductions for the city to drop behind current first-place New York City in August 2021. It fell to third for the first time in May this year. 

New York hit a new high of $4,300 a month for one-bedrooms in November, a 13.5 percent year-over-year increase. Second-place Jersey City was far lower at $3,090 and third-place Boston is only $20 above San Francisco, with a median of $2,990. Miami maintained the fifth-place position at a distant $2,600 median and its rents are on the decline, so it is unlikely to catch up to San Francisco any time soon. 

With Boston’s rent so close to San Francisco’s, they may switch places a few times in the next few months, Chen said, but otherwise the top five markets are not likely to change through the winter since it is typically the spring and summer months that experience the most movement. 

Pandemic-era hotspots are also starting to drop into more sustainable long-term rental trends, according to Zumper data, with “Zoomtowns” in Texas and Arizona reporting some of the biggest year-over-year declines. 

“We’re seeing most major markets settle into their new resting heart rates,” Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiade said in a statement. “Miami, for example, is more expensive than pre-pandemic; but it’s no longer seeing steep hikes month after month.”

Locally, San Jose’s year-over-year rent price changes are relatively flat, and it retained its sixth-place spot just below Miami with a monthly median of $2,480. Oakland also held its 11th place spot, though rents are down 6 percent year-over-year to just under $2,100 a month. 

The seasonal slowdown could impactOakland first or it could have more apartment buildings offering concessions to attract tenants than in San Francisco and San Jose, Chen said.

San Francisco two-bedroom rents ranked second to only New York at nearly $4,000 per month, but Zumper puts more weight on one-bedroom rents for judging the health of a market because that is the unit type most in demand by renters, Chen said.

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The post For first time, San Francisco falls to fourth-priciest rental market appeared first on The Real Deal.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Uncategorized, Apartments, Boston, Miami, new york, Rents, San Francisco The Real DealRead MoreSan Francisco has dropped another notch and now ranks as the fourth-most-expensive rental market for one-bedroom apartments in the country, according to listing site Zumper.  The city has never dropped this low in the rankings before, said Zumper’s Crystal Chen, though rents have been fairly stable all year, with median one-bedrooms “hovering” around $3,000 a
The post For first time, San Francisco falls to fourth-priciest rental market appeared first on The Real Deal.