The Real Deal Weekly Insider

Edward Minskoff explains why rental development in New York City can work for developers – and when Unlike many residential developers in New York, Edward J. Minskoff is into rental development – but he recognizes the risks that keep most builders away. His rental-condo-retail hybrid bordered by Greenwich, Warren, and Murray streets in Lower Manhattan is funded, in part, by government Liberty Bonds. Minskoff, president of Edward J. Minskoff Equities, told The Real Deal in a recent pod...more

Robert Futterman talks New York retail, from the mom-and-pops to Wal-Mart to the upper-end retail going into the revamped Plaza Hotel New York retail is about making a statement, according to Robert Futterman, founder and CEO of retail brokerage Robert K. Futterman & Associates. And that statement is increasingly more expensive. Retail rents in the city's choicest corridors have risen to several hundred dollars a square foot annually, and recently arrived national chains have eased out l...more

Daniel Goldstein lives in the middle of what would be one of the biggest developments in New York history – the Atlantic Yards project. He won't make way, and here's why. Daniel Goldstein lives literally at the center of the debate over the Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn. His condo sits inside a 31-unit building that would be demolished to make room for a New Jersey Nets arena. That arena's a relatively small part of the current $3 billion, 16-tower mixed-use project plann...more

From Dubai to Downtown Manhattan, a scion of the Donald himself talks in-depth about new development. Having his gold-plated footprint all over the rest of Manhattan was apparently not enough. Now, Donald Trump wants to leave his imprint in Soho as well, with a 45-story hotel-condo, which would be the tallest structure in the neighborhood. The Soho plan is already facing vociferous opposition from local residents who say it's way out of proportion to the surrounding area. He...more

Jon Brownstoner has been blogging about Brooklyn real estate since before blogging became big in Brooklyn real estate. Here's what he thinks. In late 2004, a Wall Street worker bought a five-story building with nine fireplaces as his family's home in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Shortly thereafter, he started a blog called Brownstoner.com. Since then, the blog, authored by the pseudonymous Jon Brownstoner, has become a popular point for debate on Brooklyn real estate, especially when it c...more

Prices are at record highs, but sales keep dropping – what's going on in the Manhattan housing market? Jonathan Miller explains the second-quarter numbers. How do you explain a housing market where prices keep going up even as sales keep going down? Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, gives it a try in a special podcast for The Real Deal. Miller's firm recently released a report with brokerage Prudential Douglas Elliman on the Manhattan h...more

From hotels to office towers to condo conversions, New York City's investment sales market is at its strongest in years. Peter Hauspurg explains why. Peter Hauspurg is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Eastern Consolidated, one of the nation's leading full-service real estate investment services firms. From that perch, Hauspurg, a veteran of 25 years in New York real estate, has a wide view of the city's buildings sales market. And that market, he says, remains firmly in the midst of w...more

The city is undertaking a massive public-private effort to build affordable housing. It's also thinking of changing its most popular development incentive. Shaun Donovan tells how one may affect the other. Shaun Donovan, as commissioner of the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, heads the nation's largest municipal developer of affordable housing, a charge that includes his boss' ambitious plans. Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to develop or preserve ...more

Brokers aren't as necessary to real estate as you might think and forces beyond their control may soon spark changes in brokering. Stephen Dubner explains. In the bestselling book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt pick apart much of what could be called the conventional wisdom on a variety of modern realities, including real estate. Levitt, a University of Chicago economist, and Dubner, a former editor and now regu...more

Is the Manhattan housing market cooling or is it still hot? Jonathan Miller breaks down the market's first quarter numbers. A recent first quarter report from appraisal firm Miller Samuel shows that the Manhattan housing market may be bucking the national trend: Rather than cooling, the borough's housing market has actually heated up a bit from the end of 2005. For one thing, the median sales price for a Manhattan apartment and the price per square foot both set records in the first quarte...more