Rich Bockmann

New York

Commercial Bureau Chief and Reporter at The Real Deal

Reporter on a sempiternal search for a place to spend $10 words. Send tips to [email protected] | RTs = endorsements, not

Articles

Price revealed: Amazon paid $350M for RFR’s 522 Fifth Ave, records show

5 days ago | therealdeal.com | Rich Bockmann

Amazon paid $350 million to buy 522 Fifth Avenue from Aby Rosen’s RFR earlier this month, according to records filed with the city Friday. The e-commerce giant acquired the retail condo and the office floors above in two separate transactions. RFR had purchased the office portion from Morgan Stanley in 2020 for $350 million. Earlier this month, the firm closed on the purchase of the retail condo from Deka Immobilien for $85 million.
“It is a nasty business in Washington”: Steve Witkoff talks politics, real estate

1 week ago | therealdeal.com | Rich Bockmann

Steve Witkoff started his Wednesday at breakfast with three recently-released hostages and their families and then — with a heavy security detail — headed to The Real Deal’s NYC Forum. That’s the kind of hectic schedule he has had ever since taking the job as Special Envoy to the Middle East. But Witkoff said his family business has been running smoothly since handing it over to his son Alex. “There’s really been no hiccups.
Vanbarton goes west: Firm expands beyond NYC for next office conversion

1 week ago | therealdeal.com | Rich Bockmann

Vanbarton Group is venturing outside New York for its next office conversion project, scooping up a distressed Shorenstein asset. The developer took over the distressed office building at 2601 Elliott Avenue in Seattle from Shorenstein Properties, a source familiar with the transaction told The Real Deal.
Meadow Partners is Buying 200 Lafayette Street from Brookfield

1 week ago | therealdeal.com | Rich Bockmann

Meadow Partners has struck a deal to buy a Soho retail and office property for $40 million. The company is in contract to buy 200 Lafayette Street from Brookfield, The Real Deal has learned. The space, at the corner of Lafayette and Broome Street, is home to the neighborhood’s Eataly on the ground and basement retail floors. The outerwear brand Moncler leases about 12,000 square feet of office space on the second floor.
Charney gets $135M construction loan for Fort Greene condo tower

1 week ago | therealdeal.com | Rich Bockmann

It’s music to every developer’s ears: the sound of a construction loan being cut. Sam Charney’s Charney Companies landed $135 million in financing for its 45-story condo tower at 95 Rockwell Place in Fort Greene, the developer told The Real Deal. BH3 Management and Madison Realty Capital provided the loan.
Aby Rosen sells troubled Midtown office building to Amazon

1 week ago | therealdeal.com | Rich Bockmann

Aby Rosen’s firm pulled off another deal for one of his troubled office buildings. Rosen’s RFR has sold 522 Fifth Avenue to Amazon for an undisclosed price, sources told The Real Deal. The firm did not identify the price or the buyer in the deal, only saying it was an owner-occupier. Sources told TRD the buyer is the e-commerce giant, which has its New York headquarters nearby at the former Lord & Taylor building at 424 Fifth Avenue.
Blackstone Group Favorite to Buy 590 Madison Avenue

2 weeks ago | therealdeal.com | Rich Bockmann

Blackstone Group has emerged as the odds-on favorite to win the bidding contest for 590 Madison Avenue, the Plaza District office tower that went up for sale earlier this year asking north of $1 billion. The private equity giant is among a handful of investors who submitted a second round of bids for the former IBM Building and are awaiting its owner, the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, to award the sale, sources told The Real Deal.
Fired Meridian brokers blast “fire sale” of scandal-plagued mortgage business

2 weeks ago | therealdeal.com | Rich Bockmann

A pair of fallen-angel Meridian brokers who invested in the company’s lending business are questioning the supposed “fire sale” of the once-heralded unit — and putting the firm’s “unregulated culture” on blast. Ari Adlerstein and Josh Tzvi Simpson, who were fired from Meridian last year, filed a lawsuit in Delaware court Friday alleging the company stonewalled their requests for info on the $425 million sale of NewPoint Capital to the asset manager Benefit Street Partners earlier this year.
Blackstone Walks Back Rialto’s Jeff Sutton Allegation

2 weeks ago | therealdeal.com | Rich Bockmann

Jon Gray’s Blackstone Group has entered the fray that is Rialto’s foreclosure case against Jeff Sutton. On Wednesday, Rialto filed a lawsuit against Sutton and his Wharton Properties alleging the landlord defaulted on an $8 million loan backing a retail property in the Flatiron District at 144 Fifth Avenue.
Rialto comes at the King: Servicer moves to foreclose on Jeff Sutton

2 weeks ago | therealdeal.com | Rich Bockmann

In the HBO series “The Wire,” Omar Little gives a piece of prophetic advice: “You come at the king, you best not miss.”Jeff Krasnoff’s Rialto Capital, after going scorched earth on CRE’s troubled borrowers, is now going after the King of Retail, Jeff Sutton. Rialto on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court seeking to foreclose on Wharton Properties’ leasehold on the retail building at 144 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District.