Breaking up a billionaire’s property empire

Billionaire hedge funder John Paulson may have given away $100 million to put his name on New York University’s newest building, but that’s peanuts compared to what he could soon part with. Paulson and his wife, Jenica, are locked in a bitter divorce that will divvy up, among other things, a real estate portfolio worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Paulson, who made his fortune betting against subprime mortgage bonds before the Great Recession, is

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Bruce wasn’t bluffing: Truck depot opening at scuttled housing site

A Harlem City Council member trucked with the wrong developer. Seven months after Council member Kristin Richardson Jordan killed a 50-percent affordable apartment project planned for West 145th Street and Lenox Avenue, Bruce Teitelbaum’s big-rig truck depot will open at the site Monday. Site preparations were underway Thursday, when Teitelbaum planned to put up a sign reading “Park your fleet” — an allowed use of the commercially zoned parcel. This spring he had sought a

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Scamsters paradise: The most audacious real estate cons of the past decade

An enterprising scammer looking for an industry in which to make a mark — or find one — could do a lot worse than real estate. In the past year alone, authorities have revealed high-profile cases of money laundering in a never-ending game of Whac-a-Mole.  Real estate moguls make their bones with chutzpah, confidence and persuasion. Perhaps that’s why a business that has minted more than its fair share of legitimate millionaires tends to attract

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The bargain hunters: Buyers target cheaper new development units

UPDATED Dec. 8 1:55 PM: After months of whiplash in residential markets, November brought some welcome stability to new development sales in New York. Developers reported 186 contract signings last month, an 11 percent increase from an abysmal October, according to a new report from Marketproof. That’s still down 21 percent from November 2019, but roughly on par with other months since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates. The contracts were for apartments asking

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Council approves Silverstein, BedRock’s $2B Innovation QNS

Innovation QNS, the $2 billion megadevelopment in Astoria proposed by Silverstein Properties, BedRock Real Estate Partners and Kaufman Astoria Studios, was approved by the full City Council on Tuesday. Last week, Council member Julie Won and the developers ended months of negotiations with a deal to include affordability far beyond the city’s legal minimums for apartments on rezoned land. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams was said to play a major role. The 3,200-unit project will

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Silverstein, Council strike deal on Queens megaproject

Silverstein Properties, BedRock Real Estate Partners and Kaufman Astoria Studios have come to terms with the City Council for approval of a controversial megadevelopment in Queens. The $2 billion Innovation QNS will bring about 2,800 apartments to Astoria, 51 percent of them affordable. The deal was struck just before a Council subcommittee vote on the project Thursday morning and comes after months of negotiations, which often spilled out into the public. The agreement calls for

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New development sales dove off a cliff in October

Icarus has finally crashed down to earth. After a run in which New York’s new developments routinely posted more than 350 deals a month, activity fell solidly below pre-pandemic levels across the city in October, according to a new report from Marketproof. Developers reported 171 deals last month, down 20 percent from September and 36 percent from October 2019. A small number of high-end deals somewhat buoyed prices, as contract activity in Marketproof’s “luxury” bracket

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Eliot Spitzer plans high-end condo on Fifth Ave

Eliot Spitzer wants to build New York’s next ultra-luxury condo on the Upper East Side. The former governor’s development firm, Spitzer Enterprises, filed plans for a 26-unit condominium building at 985 Fifth Avenue, between East 79th and East 80th streets. The 19-story, SLCE-designed project will replace a 46-unit rental built by Spitzer’s late father, Bernard Spitzer, in 1969. The 106,000-square-foot building will feature two setbacks and a limestone-colored façade, according to a rendering shared with

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Judge halts Elizabeth Street Garden development — for now

Defenders of the Elizabeth Street Garden scored a victory in their long-running bid to block an affordable housing development in Little Italy. State Supreme Court Judge Debra James has nullified the environmental impact statement for the Haven Green project, the latest blow for the city and a development group led by Philadelphia-based Pennrose in their now-five-year quest to get the project approved. The city’s so-called Negative Declaration had asserted that the proposed 123-unit apartment building

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NYC condos, co-ops face costly emissions bill

Mary Anne Rothman is concerned about Local Law 97 because it seems like nobody else is. The ambitious law, passed in 2019, sets greenhouse gas emission caps for buildings across New York City. The biggest carbon producers — around 5,400 buildings — have until 2024 to get under their emissions caps. The rest of the top 75 percent of emitters have until 2030. Buildings are responsible for 70 percent of New York’s globe-warming emissions, and

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