Month: February 2018

From left: Jonathan Gray, Kenneth Caplan and Kathleen McCarthy The Blackstone Group named Kathleen McCarthy and Kenneth Caplan co-heads of its real estate division, the company announced Tuesday. The two are replacing Jonathan Gray, who was named president and chief operating officer of Blackstone. Under Gray’s direction, Blackstone’s real estate business became the firm’s largest…

Paul Benson and Dougan Jones (Credit: Engel&Volkers) A two-man broker franchise team is moving from the slopes to Southern California. Paul Benson and Dougan Jones of Engel & Volkers’ Park City, Utah, office will be leading the firm’s Beverly Hills outpost at 340 N. Camden Drive. The pair owns the Gestalt Group, which operates 18…

Dmitry Rybolovlev and the 6.3-acre Maison de L’Amitie (Credit: Wikimedia Commons) This investigation involves Donald Trump and Russia but has nothing to do with the 2016 presidential election. A Russian billionaire who purchased an oceanside Palm Beach estate from Donald Trump is now denying there was anything fishy about the sale. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden…

(Illustration by Lexi Pilgrim for The Real Deal) UPDATED, Feb. 13, 9:38 a.m.: Residential brokerages in New York woke up on Dec. 7 with 450 million new reasons to fear Compass. Softbank’s cash infusion in that amount accelerated the firm’s nationwide growth timeline, and by the end of that month, it had recruited 50 agents…

Map of potential alignments (Metro via Urbanize) In recent months, city developers have been turning to public transportation to help guide future projects under the new transit-oriented communities plan. Now, a Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority committee will consider the exact route for the proposed West Santa Ana Branch light rail line, a decision that…

Unilev at 9250 Wilshire Boulevard An ugly family feud over control of a Beverly Hills-based real estate investment and management empire has pitted the co-founder’s widow against his own brother. The widow of Danny Levy, co-founder of Unilev Capital Corporation and related businesses, alleges her brother-in-law, Raymond Levy, is trying to cut her out of…

Property at 5415 E Olympic Boulevard with Barry Hoeven Magellan Group is unloading in Commerce. The real estate investment and development company sold its 144,000-square-foot building there to U.S. Storage Center for $36 million. The move completes Magellan’s three-year, $375 million investment strategy that focuses on infill locations in Southern California. The deal for 5415…

Google has gobbled up New York real estate at a tremendous pace, as both a tenant and an owner “Betting on $2 Billion Sale: Will the Market Blanch?” read the New York Times headline. It was September 2010, and Taconic Investment Partners, Jamestown and New York state’s pension fund had just put 111 Eighth Avenue…

President Donald Trump and Ben Carson The White House Office of Management and Budget released its 2019 federal budget proposal on Monday, calling for an 18.3 percent reduction in funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The $8.8 billion proposed cut to HUD is even deeper than the roughly $7 billion the White…

Beijing and Xi Jinping (Credit: Foreign and Commonwealth Office via Flickr) Chinese property stocks took a hit last week, not just because of the global sell-off, but amid concerns that the 13-year-long housing rally may begin to decline this year. The country’s property stocks have outperformed most of the year, but they took a hard…