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An analysis of New York's top real estate news by TRD's Joe Lovinger

Joseph Chetrit and 260 East 72nd Street (Getty Images, Google Maps)

October was one of the worst months for new development sales in years, but that’s not stopping these builders. 

 

Late this week, elusive developer Joseph Chetrit filed plans for a 20-story condominium project at 260 East 72nd Street on the Upper East Side. The development will span 190,000 square feet and include 53 apartments and 3,400 square feet of commercial space. 

 

Chetrit has spent years piecing together the assemblage, made up of four lots on Second Avenue and East 71st and East 72nd streets. The parcels have appreciated handsomely as a result of the Second Avenue subway extension and sit in a transit land use district, so they could qualify for special zoning bonuses. 

 

Earlier in the week, Eliot Spitzer moved to build his own ultra-luxury condo project on the Upper East Side. The former governor’s development firm, Spitzer Enterprises, filed for permits to replace its rental at 985 Fifth Avenue, which was built by Spitzer’s father, with a 26-unit condominium project. The 19-story, SLCE-designed project would cover 106,000 square feet and feature two setbacks with a limestone facade.

 

To build it, Spitzer would have to tear down an income-generating rental building. The 1,900-square-foot penthouse pulls in $30,000 per month, and a 20th-floor unit with Central Park views is asking $17,000 per month. 

 

Both projects are betting on the city’s condo market turning around. New development sales nosedived in October, with contract volume down 20 percent from September and 36 percent from October 2019. Still, the ultra-wealthy have continued to buy, as they are less sensitive to rate hikes than the typical buyer.

 

What we’re thinking about: Has the Northeast’s industrial market finally hit its peak? Send your thoughts to joseph.lovinger@therealdeal.com.

 

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TRD's new podcast "Deconstruct" is essential listening for understanding the great, big world of real estate. Be sure to check out this week's episode!

 

A thing we’ve learned: 

Rapper and businessman Sean “P. Diddy” Combs is getting into the cannabis business, purchasing operations in three states for $185 million.

 

Elsewhere in New York

  • Residents of the Ivy Hill neighborhood in Newark say their homes have been flooded repeatedly ever since Seton Hall University began expanding in the 1990s. Now they’re opposing a plan to expand the school out of concern it would make the problem worse, Gothamist reports. “We're not near bodies of water,” one homeowner, whose basement filled with four to five feet of water after Hurricane Ida, told the outlet. “It's literally manmade, urban flooding.” The university’s new expansion plan is before the local planning board. 

     

  • President Joe Biden will travel to Yonkers on Sunday to rally support for Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is locked in a closer-than-expected race with Rep. Lee Zeldin, the New York Times reports. The governor will join former President Bill Clinton for another rally in Brooklyn on Saturday.

     

  • Homebuilders and the city’s construction agency are locked in a dispute over payment for restoration jobs after Superstorm Sandy, The City reports. In 2012, the city launched a $2.7 billion campaign to restore damaged homes and construct new ones. Some contractors say they have been shorted millions by the Department of Design and Construction. “They drag every contractor through this process,” Brian Lawrie, a principal at Navesink Prestige, told the publication. “They’re costing me hundreds of thousands in legal fees. Every single contractor who works with the city is tortured.”

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