14
TRD nabs five national awards
30
Thinking like a real estate CEO
31
Vantage digs out of distress
32
‘Pinball’ units trick buyers
105
Art bubble fueling real estate sales?
THEREALDEAL
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Mortgage giant grows in NYC
Wells Fargo ups market share as rivals pull back
BY LEIGH KAMPING-CARDER As many banks have shied away from residential mortgage lending, Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest lender, has SPECIAL REPORT taken the opposite tack. That’s especially true in NYC where Wells is dominating, partly by lending in buildings that rivals are avoiding. But is too much market share a bad thing? See story on page 56
Cashing in on Canal Street
Big names snap up retail, hoping for a Soho spillover
BY ADAM PINCUS Retail players are beginning to bet that gritty Canal Street is on the cusp of transformation, fueled by a spillover from thriving Soho. Vornado recently purchased a property there and others are sniffing around. But the street has some unique real estate challenges. See story on page 44
Faux pas with foreign buyers A guide to cultural pitfalls BY KATHERINE CLARKE Call it Foreign Buyers 101. Experts weigh in on what agents need to know when dealing with global buyers — from Chinese tax law to the Russian commodities market. See story on page 62
N EW YO RK R E AL E S TAT E N E W S
NYC’s new condo wave
See page 106.
Extell’s Gary Barnett
AT A GLANCE Russian roulette for apartment sales
BY KATHERINE CLARKE
New development condos have been in the spotlight lately. That’s thanks in part to Extell Development’s One57, the city’s new tallest residential tower, which has already hit $1 billion in sales and topped off last month. Extell President Gary Barnett said the lack of new construction in the last few years has FEATURE STORY boosted demand for his project. “For the next couple of years, we’re probably the only game in town — especially for that kind of quality,” Barnett claimed. But there are lots of other projects on the drawing board now. We mapped out Manhattan and Brooklyn condo buildings on the market, and looked at the new projects in the pipeline. See story on page 49
More listings with $20 millionand-higher price tags are coming on the market. But some say high-end sellers are testing their luck and being unrealistic, chasing a few record sales earlier this year. See page 16.
Finding fortunes in foreclosures A TRD analysis found a cottage industry of firms buying distressed outer borough homes and flipping them, sometimes doubling their money in the process. See page 28.
Crunching numbers on Barclays Center As Brooklyn’s $1 billion, underconstruction Barclays Center prepares to open in September, a breakdown of the economics of the project on everything from naming rights to retail space. See page 20.
A new start for Naftali
Burger takes first place in TRD’s annual ranking of top 75 Manhattan listing agents, sets new record
Ex-Elad CEO Miki Naftali is racking up new projects
BY LEIGH KAMPING-CARDER Brown Harris Stevens broker John Burger earned the No. 1 spot on TRD’s annual ranking of Manhattan’s top listing agents for the first time. He more than doubled his volume of listings Top Manhattan brokers from a year ago to an impressive (by listing volume) $411.7 million — setting a new bar John Burger (BHS): $411.7M for the ranking. In addition, several Carrie Chiang (Corcoran): $316.2M brokers are appearing in the top 10 Paula Del Nunzio (BHS): $293.8M for the first time, partly due to some Dolly Lenz (Elliman): $255.1M extremely high-priced trophy prop(Sotheby’s): $198.9M Serena Boardman erties on the market.
BY CANDACE TAYLOR Miki Naftali is in good spirits. A year after launching his own firm, the former Elad Properties CEO — and face of the controversial Plaza Hotel renovation — has already purchased eight NYC properties, including four development sites. And he says he’s relieved to be done running a mega firm.
See story on page 34
FACT Multifamily buildings in the Bronx sold for an average of $90 a square foot in the first part of the year, one-fifth the price seen in Manhattan. See page 65.
A close-up on the new construction projects on the market and in the pipeline
All-star agents
Seth Pinsky on life after Bloomberg
Vol. 10 No. 7 July 2012 $3.00
See story on page 40
Barclays Center
Biggest U.S. firms A new report ranks the largest residential real estate brokerages in the nation. TRD looks at how some New York-area firms fared. See page 52.
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BARNETT ILLUSTRATION BY KATHRYN RATHKE; PINSKY PHOTOGRAPH BY MARC SCRIVO