Victor Jung

CEO, V Global Holdings

Bronx Getting Hotter With Recent Related Cos Transaction – Victor Jung

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Stephen Ross

Related Cos., in partnership with New York City pension funds, is ramping up its multifamily moves, with the $112.5 million purchase of a 20-building Bronx portfolio – the largest package to change hands in the borough this year, sources told The Real Deal.

The portfolio contains 737 apartments spread throughout the North, West and South Bronx. In a statement, a spokesperson for Related confirmed the portfolio buy and said the firm’s Related Fund Management arm and the pension funds plan to preserve the units in a long-term hold as workforce housing.

The buildings are largely low-rise walkups with rent-stabilized units. They are in a mix of working-class and middle-class neighborhoods such as Soundview, Wakefield, High Bridge and Fordham.

A group of private Brooklyn Heights-based investors known as Eastern Capital Partners acquired the properties in several transactions over the past five years, records show.

Jungreis Doshi

Addresses include 4002-4004 Carpenter Avenue, 1085-1095 Colgate Avenue, 2608 Creston Avenue and 1065 Jerome Avenue, among others.

Rosewood Realty Group’s Aaron Jungreis and Besen & Associates’ Amit Doshi and Ron Cohen each brokered portions of the deal. Jungreis, Doshi and Cohen declined to comment.

Last year, Related and the city pension funds to acquire 35 rental buildings from Stanley Wasserman’s SW Management for $270 million. Over the summer, the development giant behind the Hudson Yards megaproject scooped up a 10-building, Brooklyn-and-Queens package from Silvershore Properties and three formerly distressed buildings in Marine Park.

The Bronx is undergoing something of a residential renaissance, with more than 11.5 million square feet of residential real estate under development borough-wide, according to a TRD analysis in September.

Two of the other large Bronx portfolios of the year include A&E Real Estate’s purchase of a 441-unit complex in Riverdale for $89 million and an Asden Properties-led group’s acquisition of 612 apartments for $90 million.

– See more at: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2015/12/24/related-makes-biggest-bronx-portfolio-deal-of-the-year/#sthash.conMXSoD.dpuf

Greenwich, Conn. sees influx of Chinese buyers

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Greenwich Conn

549 North Street in Greenwich, Conn. listed for $9.5 million. The home is an example of a home that brokers hope will appeal to Asian buyers.

It’s not just Manhattan and waterfront Brooklyn that are attracting China’s real estate-crazed nouveau riche. Greenwich, Conn. is currently seeing an influx of Chinese buyers, spurring local brokerages to expand their global outreach efforts.

Late last month, Sotheby’s International Realty announced that it has opened a new office in Beijing — its second office in the Chinese capital.

Sotheby’s spokeswoman Kristina Helb told Greenwichtime.com that the move was “a continued effort to appeal to foreign buyers,” and a push to “market Connecticut listings to wealthy Chinese buyers looking to purchase or invest overseas.”

And with the Chinese economy showing continuing growth — and as the U.S. dollar depreciates against the yuan – brokers said they don’t expect the flow of foreign investment to slow. However, dangers remain for those moving millions overseas.

“In Manhattan a couple years ago, there was a big marketplace, where people were buying homes there sight unseen to bring their money into the U.S.,” Sotheby’s Shelly Tretter said. “But it’s become so expensive in Manhattan that I think people are realizing the value of Greenwich, the proximity to Manhattan, and I think we’re starting to get not only more primary residences for people buying from Asia, but also investment properties and secondary residences in town.” [GreenwichTime] – Christopher Cameron

– See more at: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/11/02/greenwich-conn-sees-influx-of-chinese-buyers/#sthash.ktaH2fbF.dpuf

Tax Refunds May Fuel Windfall for Retailers

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Accountants weren’t the only ones cheering this year’s record number of tax returns.

This past Tuesday’s dreaded tax deadline actually marked a pleasant occasion for most filers. Of the 100 million or so returns processed through April 4, nearly 80% resulted in a refund averaging $2,792. The total sum paid out was about $5 billion, or 2.5%, higher than a year earlier.

That bodes well for the nation’s retailers in the months ahead since many households treat returns as a windfall to be spent, not saved. Even better, Uncle Sam has been a lot quicker to whip out his checkbook than in 2013. Had that not been the case, retail-sales figures for the past two months might have looked different.

 

Sales for March recorded their biggest month-over-month gain in a year and a half, according to a report Monday from the Commerce Department. That came despite the fact that Easter, which fell earlier last year, in March, isn’t until this Sunday.

“I do believe that [tax refunds] were fuel for the consumer in the month of March,” said Jack Kleinheinz, the National Retail Federation’s chief economist.

And, although the dollar amounts were smaller, the impact of accelerated returns probably did much to offset the impact of frigid weather in February. An initial estimate of retail sales was revised higher for that month. For the week ended Feb. 7, for example, cumulative tax returns were $12.5 billion, or a whopping 24%, higher than at the same point a year earlier. By the end of February, that gain had fallen to 8.8%, and by the end of March, the difference was just 2.6%.

Last year was an entirely different story. At the end of February 2013, refunds were 14.3% lower than at the same point in 2012. That was mainly the result of administrative delays caused by the “fiscal cliff” standoff in Washington. The effect on spending was exacerbated by the expiration of the payroll-tax holiday.

The drag on spending early last year was particularly strong at retailers dependent on lower-middle-class customers, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Dollar General Corp. , or service providers such as no-contract cellphone carriers.

It seems a fair bet that they had a far less taxing start to this year.

Rochelle’s Soft Opened Last Night with Haute Snacks and Whiskey Classics

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Excerpt from Village Voice:

By Hannah Palmer Egan Fri., Nov. 15 2013

In recent memory, the NYC bar scene has witnessed few belly-flops as full-on and frontal as Matt Levine’s idiotic Cocktail Bodega (an alcoholic smoothie bar), which shuttered in April after just seven months in business.

 

Afterward, Levine filed a $20 million lawsuit against his former partner Michael Shah, whose company The Line Group was already busy building out Rochelle’s (205 Chrystie Street) (Formally: Leave Rochelle Out of It), a pretty, dark-wood whiskey lounge, which quietly soft-opened last night.

“[Cocktail Bodega] was, and still is, a great concept for an airport…Not so much for here.” The Line Group’s operation manager Victor Jung said as we sat casually at the bar tasting an Old Forrester barrel-aged Breukelen cocktail. It tasted almost identical to the glorious bastard Manhattan I usually order (Bourbon, rocks, two cherries, no bitters) — serendipitous.

Jung seemed relaxed and pleased and happy to sit and absorb the space and the people filtering into it, a mix of friends and family and randoms wandering in off the street, a casual crowd mostly in their late twenties and early thirties. Soothing rock and roll classics hummed over the soundsystem at a tolerable volume.

Creative directors Brett David and Stephen Yorsz, both NYC nightlife veterans, were gracious hosts; David worked the floor with the nervy excitement of a kid at his dream birthday party — it was clear he really, really, REALLY wanted to make sure everyone was enjoying themselves as much as he was — while Yorsz stuck to the bar, mixing cocktails in a cut-off t-shirt, asking every bar guest their name and then amazingly, actually, remembering them when they returned for a second drink. Hospitality, man.

The bar is named for a mutual ex-girlfriend of David and Yorsz (Rochelle must have a thing for tall, tatted-up, dark-haired dudes with beards), who have been tight friends for years.

Yorsz’s cocktail list seems bent on introducing classic whiskey tipples to a younger generation. A rusty nail ($15) bit sharp and deep, while a brown derby ($13) was sweet and sour, just like you want it. If you want your whiskey straight, the options are plentiful. And if you feel like a beer, there are $5 craft brews on draft. Rochelle’s is also offering barrel service, playing on the bottle service concept by allowing patrons to order their own one-liter barrels of whiskey for a table.

We stuck to the cocktail list, but we glanced at the menu, and the food, which runs in the dressy pub fare vein, is reasonably priced. Offerings like confit duck sliders ($6) and a bowl of fries ($7) were more tempting on a cold late-fall evening than the extensive cured meats selection, but those’ll be nice come spring.

Rochelle’s makes its official debut on November 21.

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