The Pavilion on Fire Island in 1980

1. These units will give you apartment envy [Dwell]
2. Gay mecca on Fire Island goes for $10.1 million [NYT]
3. New B2 modules at Barclays site won’t be hoisted till spring [Atlantic Yards Report]
4. Cheap rent versus broken elevators: is it worth it? [BrickUnderground]
5. More arrests could follow in Sheldon Silver case [Crain's]
6. The Times is on it: Park Slope is a neighborhood to grow into [NYT]
7. Factory building in Clinton Hill is being marketed as a development site [Brownstoner]

– Claire Moses

From left: North Cove Marina and Andrew Farkas

Brookfield Property Partners and Andrew Farkas’ Island Global Yachting won a 10-year license to run the North Cove Marina in Downtown Manhattan.

Farkas is Governor Andrew Cuomo’s former boss, according to Capital New York, and donated $124,000 to the governor’s campaign. Brookfield has donated a total of $813,000 to the governor and the state Democratic party, according to the website.

The Battery Park City Authority awarded the companies the license, much to the dismay of the neighborhood’s local residents. Brookfield and Farkas Islandhave plan to invest $450,000 to upgrade the marina. [Capital NY] – Claire Moses

Left: After a failed plan to put a hotel on top of Chelsea Market, the developer now intends to create a 330,000-square-foot addition consisting of office space. Right: The structure atop 345 Meatpacking at 345 West 14th Street was part of the original design.

From the January issue: From the very beginning of urban coexistence (or at least from the moment when mankind came up with the bright idea of living somewhere other than the ground floor of a one-story structure) there has been the temptation to build up, to maximize the profits from one’s real estate, or, in the words of C. Gilbert, an early theoretician of the skyscraper, writing in 1900, “to make the land pay.” [more]

Interior renderings of 37 East 12th Street

A swath of Greenwich Village between Union Square and Washington Square, once famous as a bohemian haven, has several new luxury projects coming to market.

In particular, the area between 12th and 13th Street off University Place is seeing a boom in luxury development. Edward J. Minskoff’s six-unit 37 East 12th Street will be completed this summer and will have units starting at $9.35 million. Sales start in a week at 12 East 13th Street, a former parking garage converted by DHA Capital and Continental Properties to eight condo units with a 5,700-square-foot triplex penthouse.

Nearby, Rigby Asset Management’s 17 East 12th Street offers seven floor-through units and two penthouse apartments, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“I think the area was quite spectacular and bohemian to begin with, but it’s becoming a bit more adult,” said Douglas Elliman broker Madeline Hult Elghanayan. “You now see a new, luxury-oriented clientele that’s looking for places to live in this immediate area.”

The University Place area is distinct in Greenwich Village because the zoning allows tall developments, in contrast to many of the Village’s historic districts. The boom in development has spurred residents to seek a rezoning plan for  several streets on and around University Place and Broadway. [WSJ] – Tess Hofmann

A rendering of Quality Meats in Miami Beach and the restaurant in New York

From the South Florida website: Midtown Manhattan restaurant Quality Meats is launching its first eatery in Miami Beach in the former Bancroft Hotel, now under renovation.

The restaurant, which will open in late February, will represent the second location for Quality Meats, and the first foray outside of New York City for Fourth Wall Restaurants, its parent company.

Next may come the firm’s other concept, Quality Italian, Michael Stillman, founder and president of Fourth Wall Restaurants told The Real Deal.

Stillman said he is investing $5 million to build out Quality Meats’ two-story space and outside patio at 1501 Collins Avenue. It will have a total of 9,000 square feet indoors and about 3,000 square-feet of wrap-around patio outdoors.

AvroKO, the firm designing the space, is aiming to retain the property’s Art Deco features while giving it the feeling of family-owned butcher shops that are the trademark of the Quality Meats brand.

Launched in partnership with chef/partner Craig Koketsu, the restaurant will occupy about a quarter of the rehabbed building. Development plans are still in the works by other investment groups for the remaining space, which may include a Cabaret-style nightclub and a boutique hotel, Stillman said.

The Galbut family of Crescent Heights owns the historic, former hotel. Miami-Dade property records show they bought the building, built in 1939, for $9 million in August 2013.

While Quality Meats is Fourth Wall Restaurants’ first entry into Miami Beach, Stillman and his father, legendary restauranteur Alan Stillman, have their own history in South Beach. They were the original owners of Smith & Wollensky at South Pointe Park when it opened in 1997. They sold the restaurant to private equity investors in 2007 and retain a licensing agreement for the branded restaurants, Stillman said.

Launching a new restaurant in Miami Beach had been the younger Stillman’s dream for years, he said, as he scoured the city for a location.

“We wanted to find something that had the real estate soul of Miami, and this has the Art Deco features and history to it,” he said. “I love that it is on this corner, where Ocean Drive meets Collins — a significant corner tied to the history of the street.”

Next, he said he hopes to bring his other concept, Quality Italian, to South Florida.

“We love Miami as a market, and it’s a market we think has the potential for more restaurants,” Stillman said. “Quality Meats was a concept we wanted to bring first to Miami. Miami was the first place we brought Smith & Wollensky. We love Miami for the long haul.”

Queensboro Plaza subway station

New York Lions Group’s Albert Shirian is planning an 18-story residential tower in Long Island City, according to a new permit application filed with the city today.

Shirian’s plans for the site at 42-06 27th Street, right by the Queensboro Plaza subway stop, call for a roughly 90,000-square-foot tower that will house 110 units. The building will include a 8,645-square-foot commercial component, as well as a 55-car parking lot.

The developer bought the property in 2005, together with an adjacent lot a year later, for a total of $8 million.

NY Lions Group could not immediately be reached on Friday morning.

Shirian is also developing a 14-story residential tower on Lexington Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets.

Queens-based Raymond Chan is the architect of record. Chan, among other projects in the borough, is also designing a massive development in Sunset Park.

From left: Marion Jones, Ackman-Ziff’s David Robinov and Simon Ziff

UPDATED, 3:15 p.m., Jan. 23: Marion Jones, a top investment sales broker, has decamped to the Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group from Eastern Consolidated to serve as as the firm’s senior director.

Jones was a director of investment sales at commercial brokerage Eastern Consolidated, which she joined in 2010. She was mostly recently the lead broker representing Urban American Management in the $236 million deal to sell a large “Kings and Queens” apartment portfolio to Peter Rebenwurzel, as The Real Deal reported. (The deal, which entered contract in November, is slated to close next month, she said.)

Last week, Jones started work at under-the-radar financial brokerage Ackman-Ziff, led by Simon Ziff.

“Marion has a great reputation, a proven track record and she possesses the rare combination of talents we covet — the capacity to analyze complex situations and excellent brokerage skills,” Ziff said.

The roughly 35-employee company — which arranges debt and equity financing, such as construction loans, mezzanine debt, and joint-venture equity – has been working to expand nationally.

“Increasingly I see a demand from the investment community for recapitalization and other creative structures,” Jones said.

During her tenure at Eastern Consolidated, Jones closed or placed under hard contract more than $890 million in sales deals, according to her LinkedIn profile. Her specialties were deals involving large-scale multi-family buildings and redevelopment projects.

Before Eastern Consolidated, she worked at CBRE and New Doric Advisory Services.

From left: Renderings of Nordstrom Tower, 432 Park, One57 and Kingdom Tower

Driven by new technologies — along with an ever-increasing amount of capital flowing into luxury real estate — the time at the top of the list of the world’s tallest residential building is getting shorter and shorter

In Manhattan, One57 (1,005 feet) briefly held the title of tallest residential building in the city before being eclipsed by 432 Park (1,396 feet). Both buildings are set to be bested by the nearby Nordstrom Tower, which is expected to reach 1,775 feet. Developer China Overseas America also recently said it will erect a 950-foot residential tower in Jersey City, Bloomberg News reported.

But the reach for the sky is even more pronounced elsewhere in the world. The mixed-use Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia will dwarf Manhattan’s towers, at 167 stories and 3,281, when completed in 2017. In fact, of the 445 residential towers in the world over 650 feet that are built or under construction, only 12 are located in Manhattan.

The top three cities for tall residential buildings — Dubai, Mumbai, and Shenzen — account for eight times that. A full one quarter of tall residential developments worldwide are located in China.

Last week, a penthouse in One57 broke the record for the most expensive apartment ever sold in the country at $100.5 million. [Bloomberg News] – Tess Hofmann

Brooklyn Lyceum in Park Slope (credit: Jeffrey Simpson)

Greystone plans to convert the landmarked event space Brooklyn Lyceum, a former public bathhouse in Park Slope, into apartments.

The investment firm led by Jeffrey Simpson would convert the Lyceum into two or three luxury condominiums at 227 Fourth Avenue and build a 12-story rental property on an adjacent vacant lot. Simpson’s firm acquired the Lyceum for $7.6 million and is in contract to buy the lot at 225 Fourth Avenue for $13.5 million.

Roughly 20,000 square feet of development rights can be transferred to the lot from the Lyceum site, Crain’s reported.

Greystone intends to wrap construction on the rentals by early 2017. The Landmarks Preservation Commission would need to approve plans for the Lyceum before construction on the condos can start. [Crain's] — Mark Maurer

From left: Ron Lo Russo, Paul Massey and the territories for a portion of Manhattan

In perhaps the most significant development of its $100 million Massey Knakal Realty Services acquisition, Cushman & Wakefield will adopt Massey Knakal’s signature territory system in New York, The Real Deal has learned.

Paul Massey, CEO of Massey Knakal and now president of New York investment sales at Cushman, said that the firm’s territory system, which divides New York City into about 50 territories each headed by a broker, will soon become Cushman’s new model in the city. Ron Lo Russo, Cushman’s president of brokerage for the New York region, confirmed the news.

Massey said, however, the implementation of the system, which assigns every broker and junior agents to a different geographic area, “could take some time.”

The Massey Knakal system is unique in New York City, and indeed, according to several brokers, the only one of its kind in the country. Under the system, the local broker is paid a piece of the commission if another Massey Knakal broker originates a deal there. The system also results in junior brokers becoming experts in their territory, allowing the firm to create powerful connections to every neighborhood in the city. It allowed the firm, founded in 1988, to become the city’s most prolific building sales brokerage, by individual properties sold, for more than 10 years running.

But the system has limitations that companies like Rosewood Realty Group and other firms that have a more traditional system — one based on strong relationships between senior brokers and major landlords — can exploit.

Yesterday, TRD reported that the Massey Knakal name will soon be retired and that the firm will adopt Cushman’s branding.

(For more details on these changes and other behind-the-scenes action, check out TRD’s full story on the Cushman-Massey Knakal deal in the February issue.)

Unit 51B at the Trump International at 1 Central Park West

A 51st floor penthouse at the Trump International traded hands for $33 million, according to property records filed with the city today. The four-bedroom unit at 1 Central Park West was originally listed for $43 million and most recently dropped to $37.5 million.

The roughly 5,000-square-foot unit has four-and-a-half bathrooms and overlooks Central Park and the Hudson River.

The transaction closed on January 9. Corcoran Group’s Cathy Franklin and Alexis Bodenheimer, who were previously at Brown Harris Stevens, had the listing. The unit was completely renovated and “received a lot of offers,” Franklin said.

Every single room boasts a spectacular view, Franklin added, including the shower.

The seller of the unit in the Philip Johnson and Costas Kondylis-designed building, is listed on the deed as an LLC called DLNH and Bean. Socialite Elizabeth Ross Johnson, New York Jets owner Robert Wood Johnson’s sister and heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, used to live in the unit but sold it in 2007 for $18.5 million. That buyer immediately flipped the place for $21.1 million.

From left: Joseph Beninati and 428 East 58th Street

Real Estate development firm Bauhouse Group, which is developing condominiums along the High Line, bought a rental portfolio for $32 million.

The firm bought a Manhattan assemblage, comprised of three contiguous walkups, at 428-432 East 58th Street between First Avenue and Sutton Place. The buildings house a combined 22 units, including a handful that are rent regulated. The Bauhouse Group recently started pre-sales for its new developmnet at 515 West 29th Street.

Eastern Consolidated’s Adelaide Polsinelli and Andrei Danshes represented the building’s seller.

“Sutton Place is one of the most quiet and historic neighborhoods in Manhattan, and we’re looking forward to being a property owner in the neighborhood,” said Joseph Beninati, managing member of the Bauhouse Group, in a statement. — Claire Moses

Roman Abramovich and 11-15 East 75th Street

Reports yesterday that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was adding a fourth townhouse to his planned Upper East Side mega-mansion were false, according to the New York Daily News.

Abramovich, who is estimated to be worth $9.3 billion, has already picked up 11, 13, and 15 East 75th Street. He plans to raze the buildings and construct a mansion three townhouses deep. Yesterday, it was reported that Abramovich, who is the owner of the English soccer club Chelsea F.C., was considering purchasing the adjacent 9 East 75th Street. But property records reveal that the buyer was someone else, the Daily News reported.

An insider who spoke to the newspaper said that Abramovich had never been interested in the extra property because it houses rent-stabilized tenants who would be difficult to evict.

“Those rumors were completely false,” the source said. “Buying that building would have been much too complicated.” [NYDN] – Tess Hofmann

The World-Wide Group’s Long Island City rental tower QLIC and the Lam Group’s Virgin Hotel are among the latest projects to receive a new batch of renderings in the past week. — Mark Maurer

Rendering of 187 Seventh Avenue in Park Slope

Sugar Hill Capital Partners revealed details on its restoration of a Park Slope building that was once a dilapidated eyesore but is being converted to four three-bedroom condos.

The condos, at 187 Seventh Avenue, will be completed in the fall and start at $3.2 million. A penthouse with a private roof deck will be listed for $3.5 million.

Rather than raze the 1920s building, Sugar Hill opted to give it a $6 million facelift, including cleaning and replacing the light-colored brick and metal parapet, as well as installing floor-to-ceiling glass windows in the turret and bay windows. The developer purchased the building in 2013 for $4 million, the New York Times reported.

Each condo will have three bedrooms and a flexible layout, meaning that bedrooms can easily be added or removed. The building will have an elevator, lobbies, and one retail tenant on the ground floor.

Amenities for all residents include a roof deck with Manhattan views, a summer kitchen and cabanas and a virtual doorman. [NYT] – Tess Hofmann

Barbie Penthouse in Los Angeles (credit: Trendsetter Interiors)

1. New owner of doll creators’ L.A. condo remakes it into Barbie Penthouse [WSJ]
2. 15-story-plus building to be one of Staten Island’s tallest [SI Advance]
3. Artie Lange’s New Jersey mansion hits the market [NJ Advance Media]
4. A look at developers David Zoares and Yaron Shemesh’s Bed-Stuy resi project [NY YIMBY]
5. Weissman Equities upgrading Council member Inez Dickens’ ex-Harlem townhouse [NYDN]
6. Gowanus triplex with a swing asking $4 million [Curbed]

– Mark Maurer

From left: Adam Modlin and 150 Columbus Avenue in Lincoln Square

Price: $13,000,000
Listing broker: Adam Modlin of Modlin Group
Address: 144 Columbus Avenue

From left: Anna Kahn and 91 Central Park West in Lincoln Square

Price: $5,375,000
Listing broker: Anna Kahn of Halstead Property
Address: 91 Central Park West

From left: Nancy Smith and 641 Fifth Avenue in Midtown

Price: $4,950,000
Listing broker: Nancy Smith of Douglas Elliman
Address: 641 Fifth Avenue

From left: Noble Black and 57 Bond Street in Noho

Price: $4,142,500
Listing broker: Noble Black of the Corcoran Group
Address: 57 Bond Street

From left: Valerie Lettan and 641 Fifth Avenue in Midtown

Price: $3,425,000
Listing broker: Valerie Lettan of Douglas Elliman
Address: 641 Fifth Avenue – Tess Hofmann

Sources: StreetEasy and The Real Deal. Footnotes: Data is for closed deals filed with the city this week through Friday. The chart only includes sellers’ brokers, because buyers’ brokers’ names are not available in city data or listings. The data does not include deals in contract. To obtain broker information, listing information was compared with sales records filed with the city. Only deals where an individual broker and address can be identified are included. As a result, private sales, listings where an address has not been provided and new development sales by a sales center are not included.

From Luxury Listings NYC: Legendary NBA announcer Marv Albert has sold his condo at 150 Columbus Avenue for an even $13 million. Albert bought the three-bedroom, four-bathroom apartment at 150 Columbus Avenue in 1996 for $2.39 million. [more]

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee is bullish on housing in 2015. To play the housing recovery, Lee recommended that investors buy homebuilder stocks.

“From 1992 to 2005, homebuilders tracked housing starts pretty closely,” Lee wrote in a recent note to clients. “Even the dips and surges were fairly closely tracked. From the 2009 depths, this has continued to hold as well.”

Improved household credit will further fuel housing starts in 2015, Lee wrote.

He identified the largest homebuilding stocks based on market cap, and

NVR Inc.

Ticker: NVR

Market Cap (in millions): $2,837

Implied Upside: -12%

P/E (’15 E): 15.1x

Comment: In the third quarter, net income increased 9% year over year, to $90,152,000.

Source: Fundstrat

Brookfield Residential Properties

Ticker: BRP

Market Cap (in millions): $2,837

Implied Upside: 3%

P/E (’15 E): 13.4x

Comment: Brookfield saw a 58.8% decrease in short interest, or bets the stock price will fall, between November and December.

Source: Fundstrat

M.D.C. Holdings

Ticker: MDC

Market Cap (in millions): $1,216

Implied Upside: 6%

P/E (’15 E): 13.0x

Comment: “While the downward pressure on our margin is disappointing in the short term, the longer-term trend has been positive, with more than 300 basis points of improvement since the low of 2011,” CEO Larry Mizel said during the Q3 2014 earnings call. “We believe that the long-term trend will continue to be positive as the volatility we have seen in our industry gives way to a more sustained level of healthy demand.”

Source: Fundstrat

Toll Brothers

Ticker: TOL

Market Cap (in millions): $5,918

Implied Upside: 7%

P/E (’15 E): 16.3x

Comment: In FY2014, net income rose 99% from the previous year to $340 million.

Source: Fundstrat

PulteGroup

Ticker: PHM

Market Cap (in millions): $7,760

Implied Upside: 8%

P/E (’15 E): 14.9x

Comment: “Del Webb, a national brand of Atlanta-based PulteGroup, has acquired 200 acres next to The Woodlands to build a new community for active adults,” the Houston Business Journal reported January 13.

Source: Fundstrat

Lennar

Ticker: LEN

Market Cap (in millions): $8,715

Implied Upside: 8%

P/E (’15 E): 13.8x

Comment: Homebuilding revenues climbed 32.4% year over year to $2.33 billion in Q4 2014, while home sales rose 31.8% to $2.28 billion.

Source: Fundstrat

D.R. Horton

Ticker: DHI

Market Cap (in millions): $8,654

Implied Upside: 10%

P/E (’15 E): 12.5x

Comment: “Current land ownership level is sufficient to support double-digit revenue growth,” the company wrote in its Q4 FY2014 investor presentation.

Source: Fundstrat

Ryland Group

Ticker: RYL

Market Cap (in millions): $1,658

Implied Upside: 13%

P/E (’15 E): 10.5x

Comment: “We’re optimistic about the future of the home building in the cities in which we build,” said CEO Larry Nicholson during the Q3 2014 earnings call. “Thanks to a strengthening employment picture, a favorable affordability dynamic and a low level of housing inventory.”

Source: Fundstrat

WCI Communities

Ticker: WCIC

Market Cap (in millions): $489

Implied Upside: 17%

P/E (’15 E): 15.0x

Comment: “Net income attributable to common shareholders was $3.1 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $17.0 million, or $0.71 per diluted share in the prior year period,” according to the company’s third quarter earnings.

Source: Fundstrat

M/I Homes

Ticker: MHO

Market Cap (in millions): $493

Implied Upside: 19%

P/E (’15 E): 11.1x

Comment: “We continue to believe that the fundamentals have been in place and remain in place to support further improvement in housing conditions throughout our 13 markets,” said CEO Robert Schottenstein during the Q3 2014 earnings call.

Source: Fundstrat

Tri Pointe Homes

Ticker: TPH

Market Cap (in millions): $2,215

Implied Upside: 20%

P/E (’15 E): 10.8x

Comment: Early January, TPI acquired 115 lots in Aurora, Colorado, to build a new community that will include 115 single-family detached homes, expanding its presence in the Denver area.

Source: Fundstrat

Meritage Homes

Ticker: MTH

Market Cap (in millions): $1,292

Implied Upside: 23%

P/E (’15 E): 8.9x

Comment: “Today we are the ninth largest U.S. home builder operating in nine states in 14 of the top 20 home building markets, and we believe we can continue to grow and gain market share,” CEO Steven Hilton said on October 29 during the Q3 2014 earnings call. “While dividends or share buybacks may be appropriate for some builders who are already in many more markets, we believe we can still provide the best returns for our shareholders by continuing to invest in the best long-term markets for home building.”

Source: Fundstrat

KB Home

Ticker: KBH

Market Cap (in millions): $1,091

Implied Upside: 26%

P/E (’15 E): 12.2x

Comment: KB Home reported $796 million in revenues for Q4 2014, up 29% from the prior year, on 2,229 deliveries.

Source: Fundstrat

Taylor Morrison

Ticker: TMHC

Market Cap (in millions): $1,992

Implied Upside: 32%

P/E (’15 E): 8.4x

Comment: “I believe many thought we would see normal housing growth in 2014,” said CEO Sheryl Palmer during the Q3 2014 earnings call. “We believe 2014 might be an indication of a new normal. We believe this new normal will continue to evolve and will likely include a positive market trajectory that comes along the way as the industry infrastructure rebuild, lending normalizes, and consumer demand increases.”

Source: Fundstrat

Standard Pacific

Ticker: SPF

Market Cap (in millions): $1,898

Implied Upside: 33%

P/E (’15 E): 10.9x

Comment: In November, the company announced a public offering of $300 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes due in 2024. “The company intends to use the net proceeds of the notes offering for general corporate purposes, which may include land acquisition and development, home construction, repurchases of the company’s common stock and other related purposes,” it said in a statement.

Source: Fundstrat

Beazer Homes USA

Ticker: BZH

Market Cap (in millions): $462

Implied Upside: 34%

P/E (’15 E): 11.3x

Comment: “We were extremely happy to report positive net income for fiscal 2014,” CEO Allan Merrill said during the Q4 2014 earnings call. “This is the first time we’ve reported a profitable year since 2006 and is obviously a very important milestone for the company, our employees and our shareholders.”

Source: Fundstrat

Cavco Industries

Ticker: CVCO

Market Cap (in millions): $634

Implied Upside: 43%

P/E (’15 E): 25.2x

Comment: “We have experienced some improvements in certain markets that have previously been particular difficult including Florida, California and several other states,” CEO Joseph Stegmayer said during the company’s Q2 2015 earnings call. “These are modest increases though nevertheless very welcome from geographic areas that were particularly hard hit by the recession and the overall decline in the housing market.”

Source: Fundstrat

William Lyon Homes

Ticker: WLH

Market Cap (in millions): $557

Implied Upside: 49%

P/E (’15 E): 6.8x

Comment: “We are excited to announce the launch of William Lyon Mortgage, LLC, and believe that this new venture will benefit our homebuyers and complement our homebuilding operations, while providing an additional source of earnings for the Company,” said CEO Matthew R. Zaist in a January 15 announcement.

Source: Fundstrat

LGI Homes

Ticker: LGIH

Market Cap (in millions): $276

Implied Upside: 62%

P/E (’15 E): 6.4x

Comment: Home closings jumped 46% to a record 2,356 in 2014.

Source: Fundstrat