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Web hits: The month in review (Read full stories online)
Wall Street bonuses jump in 2013
Sen. Chuck Schumer
Senate gets ILSA amendment bill By Hiten Samtani A bill that exempts condos from filing and registration requirements mandated by the controversial Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act made its way to the U.S. Senate. Sen. Charles Schumer introduced it March 10. Under the bill, developers of new condos or timeshares with at least 99 units would no longer have to register their buildings with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The bill unanimously passed the House in September, a move hailed as a victory for condominium developers. The ILSA law was passed in 1968, and was seldom used in New York City until the 2008 crash, when it became a pet exit strategy for condo buyers looking to get out of their deposits, spawning a cottage industry of federal litigation. Buyers were able to overturn contracts, even when developers made seemingly trivial ILSA filing errors.
Top deals of the month Leslie Wilson
By Hiten Samtanii Brokers better gear up for a rush of new clients. Bonuses paid to employees in the securities industry jumped by 15 percent, to $164,530 in 2013, according to an estimate released last month by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. That’s the largest average bonus paid out since the 2008 financial crisis. Given the strong connection between Wall Street bonuses and real estate sales, it’s likely to lead to some trophy buys. Employment in the securities industry stabilized in 2013, DiNapoli said, though at 165,200 jobs as of December 2013, it’s still 12.6 percent lower than pre-crisis levels. The industry is a major contributor to the city’s tax coffers — about 8.5 percent of the city’s tax revenues in 2013, or about $3.8 billion, were from activities directly attributable to the securities industry, according to DiNapoli. That’s a year-over-year increase of nearly 27 percent.
Frank Ring
Ring picks up Park Slope properties By Julie Strickland Frank Ring, who sold his stake in a 13-building Manhattan South real estate portfolio to Gary Barnett’s Extell Development for $308 million in January, has started to build a new portfolio with his sons, The Real Deal reported. Ring paid $5 million for a pair of side-by-side townhouses at 468 and 466 9th Street in Park Slope, and $2.85 million for a semi-detached four-story, four-family rental property at 385 9th Street, listed by broker Joanne Gay of Joanne Gay Realty. In addition, Ring purchased a three-unit rental at 844 Union Street for $3.1 million, listed by Jill Braver and Brian Lehner of Brown Harris Stevens, and another threeunit rental, at 336 10th Street, listed by the Corcoran Group’s Frank Castelluccio, Nicholas Hovsepian and Mara Ingram, for $2.24 million. The brokers and Ring all declined to comment.
Most popular stories
23 East 22nd Street
• Real estate’s rising stars • Heiberger files restraining order against Sitt • Long Island developer Gary Melius shot at Oheka Castle • Warren Buffett reveals his No.1 rule for property investing • Leo DiCaprio buys out neighbors, expands at 2 River Terrace • Details emerge in shooting of Gary Melius at Oheka Castle • Investment sales ranking: some firms surging, others stumble
Interior of 23 East 22nd Street
• Bob Knakal’s new game plan • Town brawl: Heiberger gets restraining order against Sitt Address
• In wake of Town settlement, two top-grossing brokers depart
Gary Melius
Reader Comments Agent
Firm
Price
Address
Leslie Wilson
Related Sales
$43.01 million
23 East 22nd Street
Serena Boardman
Sotheby’s International Realty
$19 million
810 Fifth Avenue
Dennis Di Lorenzo
Stribling & Associates
$15.78 million
176 East 64th Street
John Burger
Brown Harris Stevens
$13 million
1 Sutton Place South
Nikki Field
Sotheby’s International Realty
$10.5 million
1 Fifth Avenue
Source: StreetEasy and The Real Deal. Data is for closed deals filed with the city between Feb. 24, 2014, and March 26, 2014, where both a broker and an address can be identified. Chart includes only listing brokers.
124 April 2014 www.TheRealDeal.com
Response to report that a free Rolls Royce is being offered with the sale of billionaire Alexander Rovt’s $25 million Upper East Side townhouse: “Every broker knows when you usually add something like an expensive car, then that means the worry button is on.” Response to story about feng shui master Carole Shashona blessing one broker’s exclusive listings: “This is why I’m a commercial agent. My deals are about dollars and cents, not this garbage. None of my clients buy because it ‘feels’ right.” Response to news that a portfolio in McCarren Park that cost a combined $11 million in 2010 and 2012 hit the market for $25.5 million: “What justifies the nearly $14.5 million in mark up? Did they find gold under the land?”
A Rolls Royce
Carole Shashona