ALBANY—The New York State Assembly and Senate passed the top legislative item on the Realtor agenda this legislative session—the First-Time Homebuyer Savings Account. The Assembly passed the measure on June 19th by a 142-1 vote with the only negative vote by Westchester County State Assembly Member Sandy Galef. The measure passed the Senate the same…
Read MoreNEW YORK—A civil jury has awarded Douglas Elliman approximately $5 million in damages in its court battle with rival brokerage firm William Raveis over allegations Raveis poached Elliman agents to its Armonk office, according to a report in the Real Deal. The trade publication reported that the jury awarded the monetary damages on Tuesday in…
Read MoreWHITE PLAINS—While developers have stepped up and broken ground on huge projects downtown and have ambitious mixed-use plans in all corners of the city, the City of White Plains has begun seeking investor interest in what will likely be the most attractive and strategically located transit-oriented parcels anywhere in the city. The development to be…
Read MoreBERKELEY, CA—Despite steadily improving local job markets and historically low mortgage rates, the U.S. homeownership rate is stuck near a 50-year low because of a perverse mix of affordability challenges, student loan debt, tight credit conditions and housing supply shortages. That’s according to findings of a new white paper titled, “Hurdles to Homeownership: Understanding the…
Read MorePEEKSKILL—Ginsburg Development Companies, joined with City of Peekskill and Westchester County officials on June 13 in breaking ground on a $64.5-million mixed-use project that will transform the former St. Mary’s convent property into a resort-style tourist destination. The new development will include luxury rentals apartments as well as a spa, hotel and restaurant. Called “Fort…
Read MoreNEW ROCHELLE— Political, civic and business officials from the City of New Rochelle were on hand for Monday’s groundbreaking for a new residential project whose name all but gives away its target market—the “Millennia.” New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson, along with officials from the New Rochelle Industrial Development Agency, the Community Preservation Corporation, and Tompkins…
Read MoreMOUNT VERNON– Trion Holdings, a Yonkers and New York City-based investment firm, announced earlier this month it had sold 55 Sheridan Ave. in Mount Vernon to 55 Sheridan Gardens LLC for $9.7 million. The closing on the property was on April 21, 2017. Trion Holdings sold the property after 13 years of ownership. The sale…
Read MoreLights, Camera Action! NEW YORK CITY—Construction began earlier this month on York Studios’ heralded $100-million “Michaelangelo Campus” film and television production complex in the Soundview section of the Bronx. A host of city and state officials were on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony for the project on May 6th including New York State Lt. Gov.…
Read MoreMOUNT VERNON—Multifamily investors, who have bypassed this storied Southern Westchester locale for decades for such Westchester cities as Yonkers, New Rochelle and White Plains, are finally taking notice of the City of Mount Vernon for both its opportunities and challenges. Mayor Richard Thomas, who took office in January 2016 on a platform of reform, an…
Read MoreWHITE PLAINS—Reports of the demise of bricks and mortar retail are premature, so says a panel of retail executives that appeared at the June 1st meeting of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors’ Commercial Investment Division. The panel participants also agreed that while bricks and mortar retail faces many challenges today and in the future,…
Read MoreHAVERSTRAW—The Letchworth Village site here, once coveted by Legoland developer Merlin Entertainments for a major theme park, is back on the market for sale. The Town of Haverstraw has hired Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets Group to market and eventually sell the 173-acre Letchworth Village development parcel. Developer Merlin Entertainments had considered the Letchworth Village…
Read MoreWASHINGTON—Declining for-sale home inventory may finally be catching up with the nation’s residential sales market. The National Association of Realtors reports that pending home sales in April fell for the second consecutive month. NAR in a report released on May 31st, stated that its Pending Home Sales Index fell 1.3% to 109.8 in April from…
Read MoreBig changes are needed at the local government level in order to make home ownership attractive to the millennial generation. Big changes are needed at the state level to our transportation system in order to get people from Point A to Point B. To begin to foster change on the local level, Realtors should attend…
Read MoreWHITE PLAINS—Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., which had been in the market for some time looking for approximately 100,000 square feet of available space in White Plains, has finally picked its new office location—the Gateway Building in Downtown White Plains. CBRE reports it has brokered a 101,000-square-foot lease with Tokyo-based Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. at the…
Read MoreWASHINGTON—U.S. real estate markets are increasingly becoming international, and changing demographics brought forth by immigration and growing interest from foreigners are positioned to bolster home sales activity and prices. That was the collective forecast from speakers at an international real estate forum organized by the REALTOR® University Richard J. Rosenthal Center for Real Estate Studies…
Read MoreRAMAPO—At a press conference staged near a controversial housing development at Patrick Farm here, Rockland County Executive Ed Day signed an Executive Order prohibiting county departments from issuing permits that do not comply with the General Municipal Law. “When it comes to development, for far too long we see laws disregarded or broken—with no consequences,”…
Read MoreYONKERS—A decade’s old historic building turned eyesore has been transformed into a modern mixed-use center of commerce in Yonkers. On May 24th, Simone Development officials were joined by county and city officials to cut the ribbon on the new Boyce Thompson Center, formerly the Boyce Thompson Institute plant research center that sat vacant with graffiti-strewn…
Read MoreNEW YORK—The multifamily development floodgates opened last year when developers put their money on the State Legislature enacting a replacement for the 421-a tax incentive legislation. New York Building Congress president and CEO Carlo A. Scissura believes that developers bet on New York State passing a new 421-a tax incentive program this past legislative session…
Read MoreYONKERS—Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano and other state and city officials joined Ginsburg Development Corp. in cutting the ribbon on its $100-million River Tides at Greystone luxury rental apartment project. The 330-unit building is GDC’s third major luxury rental development to open in Westchester since the veteran development firm shifted its…
Read MoreWASHINGTON—Potential homebuyers have a lot to contend with from tight credit and low inventory to rising prices. However, for buyers who are able to muscle past these hurdles, Realtors know that tough-to-make deals can still fall apart when needlessly high regulatory burdens get in the way. That point was made clear by and received loud…
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