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The median rent in Manhattan broke a record in November, hitting $4,750. In December, that figure dropped only $30.Decem...
15/01/2026

The median rent in Manhattan broke a record in November, hitting $4,750. In December, that figure dropped only $30.

December's figure, at $4,720, now claims the spot for the borough's second-highest median rent on record, up 8.9% year over year, according to the latest report from brokerage Douglas Elliman and appraisal firm Miller Samuel. It also marked the 15th month in a row that the number increased year over year.

Renters signed 4,228 new leases in Manhattan last month, down from December 2024. The listing inventory also dropped year over year, to 8,161 apartments. The listing discount was -1.4%, meaning a typical apartment went for more than its initial listing price, with roughly one in five rentals seeing a bidding war.

Read more here: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/manhattan-median-rent-december-was-second-highest-record?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

When it comes to the city’s business community, Gov. Kathy Hochul seemed to channel her inner Goldilocks Tuesday in her ...
14/01/2026

When it comes to the city’s business community, Gov. Kathy Hochul seemed to channel her inner Goldilocks Tuesday in her State of the State address.

Her wish list of policies promises not to be too tough on real estate investors and high earners. Her positions also won’t likely alienate working families burdened by high health care and child care costs.

Leaning into historical imagery as the country prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, the 45-minute speech also didn’t shy away from punches: Hochul slammed President Donald Trump directly or obliquely about a half-dozen times.

Later this month Hochul will unveil her executive budget, which will lay out the specific costs of her plans and become a blueprint for the final budget to be enacted by April 1.

But in the meantime Hochul appears focused on making life more affordable for New Yorkers of all stripes, including those in both top and bottom income brackets.

Read more about the address here: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/politics/3-takeaways-business-community-gov-kathy-hochuls-state-state-address?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

Thousands of nurses walked off the job at three major hospital systems in Manhattan and the Bronx this week, escalating ...
13/01/2026

Thousands of nurses walked off the job at three major hospital systems in Manhattan and the Bronx this week, escalating a long-running fight for better staffing, pay and working conditions at a time when hospitals say they are experiencing financial strains.

Nearly 15,000 members of the New York State Nurses Association are on strike at Montefiore, Mount Sinai and New York-Presbyterian, in what the union says is the largest job action of its kind in city history. Nurses say that better pay, benefits and working conditions will help hospitals recruit more workers and deliver higher quality care, but hospitals say they cannot afford to meet the union’s demands amid the rollout of Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Hospitals have spent weeks preparing for a potential strike and city officials are monitoring disruptions to patient care.

Find out what else you need to know here: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/health-pulse/what-know-about-new-york-citys-nurse-strike?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

Summit Properties USA won a daylong auction Thursday to acquire more than 5,100 rent-stabilized apartments across some 9...
12/01/2026

Summit Properties USA won a daylong auction Thursday to acquire more than 5,100 rent-stabilized apartments across some 90 buildings for $451.3 million, positioning the otherwise little-known firm to become the new landlord for thousands of tenants who say they've endured dangerous living conditions.

The firm, run by Zohar Levy, was the winning bidder following a deal it struck late last year to acquire the buildings after Joel Wiener's Pinnacle Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May.

Levy said in a statement following the auction that Summit is committed to the "preservation of affordable housing" and working with Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration.

The auction proceeded as planned despite city authorities' last-ditch attempt to delay the sale — an effort kickstarted by a newly sworn in Mamdani, who had made taking on bad landlords and protecting tenants' rights a central point of his campaign.

Mere hours after his midnight swearing-in ceremony, Mamdani vowed to intervene in the case and even visited one of the impacted apartment buildings in Brooklyn, whose tenants have reported dangerous conditions such as mold, rat infestations and prolonged elevator and heat outages.

Then on Jan. 5, the city's top lawyers requested a 30-day adjournment on the sale, citing concerns that Summit would be unable to maintain the properties and that there was not enough information on the firm to assess its experience. A judge denied adjournment of the sale.

Read more here: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/summit-properties-usa-takes-over-5100-troubled-apartments-after-bankruptcy-auction?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

New York is known for its vast and eclectic variety of foods, from dollar slices to Neapolitan pies, and omakase to rame...
09/01/2026

New York is known for its vast and eclectic variety of foods, from dollar slices to Neapolitan pies, and omakase to ramen. It seemingly has everything, but more bars and restaurants continue to open and expand the city’s culinary landscape.

2026 will see plenty of new bars and restaurants joining the scene, several of which are highly anticipated.

Here is a look at six eateries to have on your radar for 2026: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/restaurants/rye-martin-auer-among-hot-new-nyc-restaurants?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

Hundreds of residents at a Midtown co-op could lose their homes after a New York state judge gave the green light to a m...
08/01/2026

Hundreds of residents at a Midtown co-op could lose their homes after a New York state judge gave the green light to a massive increase in their ground rent.

The co-op, called Carnegie House, is a 21-story building located at the corner of West 57th Street and Sixth Avenue that sits on land acquired in 2014 by real estate investors. Two years ago the ground owners proposed raising the annual rent from $4 million to about $25 million, based on soaring property values along Billionaires Row, and in a ruling Monday Judge Nicholas Moyne upheld an arbitration panel’s decision allowing the rent hike.

The decision is a “devastating blow to over 300 Carnegie House families battling to keep our homes,” co-op president Richard Hirsch said. He added that the co-op will appeal and pleaded with state lawmakers to help his building and about 100 other vulnerable co-ops around the city whose land has a different owner than the building above.

If Carnegie House residents default on the increased rent payments they must now make to the landowners, they risk losing all the equity they’ve built up in their apartments over the years, and the real estate investors could convert them from homeowners to renters — assuming they can afford the new rents.

Barbara and Lou Grumet, a retired couple, moved to Carnegie House 15 years ago so they could live in an accessible building near excellent medical care. If the proposed ground-lease increase goes through, their monthly maintenance bill would more than double to $9,000, which is more than they can afford. They plan to keep fighting to stay in their home.

“Before I leave a building that serves my wife’s medical needs and mine, I’ll fight,” Lou said. “None of us are going to go quietly.”

Read more here: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/judge-approves-massive-rent-hike-could-displace-hundreds-midtown-co-op-carnegie-house?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is shaking up the city’s approach to economic development, one of the most consequential moves of h...
08/01/2026

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is shaking up the city’s approach to economic development, one of the most consequential moves of his early tenure and one that has stoked anxiety among New York’s business establishment.

Most notably so far, Mamdani has begun making his mark on the Economic Development Corp., a powerful but poorly understood entity that could have wide latitude to advance his agenda. Mamdani has shifted responsibility for EDC to a new deputy mayor and said he wants it to focus on spreading the city’s gains more equitably — changes that suggest the democratic socialist’s vision for building the city’s economy differs from those of his predecessors.

Mamdani has not yet named a president and CEO to lead EDC, a quasi-public nonprofit that receives a $1.6 billion master contract from the city while managing much of its land holdings, administering tax breaks, spearheading big development projects and running the NYC Ferry system.

But Lina Khan, the Mamdani adviser and former Federal Trade Commission chair, has been involved in interviewing potential EDC leaders. Any influence from Khan, known for championing tight regulations on business, could signal a major shift from EDC’s longtime focus on encouraging business development through incentives and public-private partnerships.

Read more here: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-policy/mamdani-shakes-new-yorks-economic-development-playbook?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

A Downtown Brooklyn parking lot that offers a significant residential redevelopment opportunity is poised to be sold to ...
07/01/2026

A Downtown Brooklyn parking lot that offers a significant residential redevelopment opportunity is poised to be sold to a new owner.

An entity named after the parking lot's address that appears affiliated with Williamsburg-based real estate firm CW Realty Group is in contract to acquire the site at 55 Smith St., according to documents filed in the city register the last week of December.

Cheskie Weisz, founder and CEO of CW Realty, signed the Dec. 10 contract on behalf of the pending buyer, according to records. Jon Dario, executive vice president of New Jersey-based Edison Properties, signed on behalf of the seller. The two parties have until Jan. 15 to close on the deal, though Weisz has the option to extend until Feb. 15.

There is no sale price listed for the 13,000 square foot site. The existing lot, which has an alternate address listed as 160 Livingston St., is already zoned to accommodate a range of uses, allowing for up to 137,000 square feet of building space or up to 164,000 square feet for an affordable development.

Read more here: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/cheskie-weisz-founder-and-ceo-cw-realty-contract-buy-downtown-brooklyn-parking-lot?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

The New York State Nurses Association warned a dozen private hospitals in the city on Friday that roughly 20,000 nurses ...
05/01/2026

The New York State Nurses Association warned a dozen private hospitals in the city on Friday that roughly 20,000 nurses intend to go on strike starting Jan. 12 if they do not agree to a new labor contract.

The strike warnings come after the union’s existing contracts with 12 private hospitals — including Mount Sinai, Montefiore and New York-Presbyterian — expired on Dec. 31.

The union has been bargaining for months with hospitals to strengthen nurse staffing requirements and increase wages and benefits, but negotiations have stalled as hospitals have deemed the union’s demands financially unfeasible, particularly as they prepare for federal funding cuts in President Donald Trump’s signature policy legislation, H.R. 1.

The looming strike would force hospitals to rely on temporary nurses and could disrupt care at some of the city’s largest medical facilities.

The union is required by federal law to issue 10-day strike notices to hospitals to give them time to prepare for a potential walkout. Though bargaining will continue, the notices enable nurses to go on strike in the coming days if the parties do not reach a deal.

Read more here: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/health-pulse/nysna-delivers-strike-notices-dozen-city-hospitals?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

A sprawling mixed-use development that would bring nearly 1,000 affordable housing units to East New York finally got th...
27/12/2025

A sprawling mixed-use development that would bring nearly 1,000 affordable housing units to East New York finally got the green light to break ground, five years after it was first proposed.

The City Council this week approved plans from Brooklyn-based real estate firm Totem to rezone a 2-acre site surrounding transportation hub Broadway Junction to develop a four-building complex called Herkimer-Williams.

Totem—led by principals and co-founders Vivian Liao and Tucker Reed—put forward its preliminary proposal for the project in 2021. That kicked off a years-long application process that included nearly 100 meetings with the community and elected officials and a lengthy environmental review, all culminating in its final approval.

The project will contain roughly 1,000 affordable apartments—up from the initial proposal of 600—25,000 square feet of new publicly accessible open space and 85,000 square feet of community facility space, which an educational institution will anchor.

Read more here: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/city-council-approved-totems-plans-herkimer-williams-project-east-new-york?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

A controversial Crown Heights development site that recently traded hands for more than $50 million is now slated for a ...
23/12/2025

A controversial Crown Heights development site that recently traded hands for more than $50 million is now slated for a mixed-use building.

Yitzchok Schwartz, using the Williamsburg-based entity YS Developers, filed permits with the Department of Buildings Thursday to erect a new 10-story project with 259 residential units at 964 Franklin Ave., records show.

The site, which spans two separate tax lots between Montgomery Street and Sullivan Place, had been at the center of a rezoning battle for years before its seller, Continuum Co., ultimately decided to part ways with the property in September for $54.3 million.

The buyer was developer Isaac Schwartz, which is the anglicized version of the traditional Hebrew name Yitzchok.

The new project, which would rise one block from Prospect Park and across the street from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, would span roughly 210,300 square feet, split between about 205,500 square feet of residential space and 4,700 square feet of commercial space. Records indicate that a total of 376 units are planned for the entire site, meaning Schwartz may have a second building in store for it as well. Hamish Whitefield Architects is listed as the design firm on the project, which was first reported on by PincusCo.

Read more here: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/yitzchok-schwartz-plans-mixed-use-project-crown-heights-brooklyn?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

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