Clockwise from top left: Fed raises interest rates by 0.25 percent, Tishman Speyer is launching a co-working brand that will expand to several cities, Five MLSs from five states will pool their resources via a new data application, and Lawyer tries to use Zillow to prove Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s innocence.

Fed raises interest rates for the third time this year
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday hiked interest rates by a quarter percent — the third increase this year. The hike brought interest rates to between 2 and 2.5 percent, and lending rates for commercial and residential loans are expected to increase as a result. The Fed, which is expected to raise interest rates once more by the end of the year, said the increases are “consistent with sustained expansion of economic activity [and] strong labor market conditions,” in addition to inflation. The latest increase, however, is unlikely to please President Donald Trump, who last month told attendees at a fundraiser that he wasn’t happy about the rising rates. [TRD]

Tishman Speyer is launching a co-working brand that will expand to several cities
Tishman Speyer is throwing its hat into the co-working ring. The developer is launching its own co-working brand that will compete with companies like WeWork, the New York Post first reported. Studio, as Tishman’s brand will be known, is slated to launch in New York at the beginning of November, and will eventually expand to cities including Chicago, Beverly Hills, Boston and Washington D.C., as well as to Germany. “Having our own brand and running it ourselves enables us to serve our tenants in a more bespoke way,” a Tishman spokesperson said. Tishman follows in the footsteps of landlords like Silverstein Properties that have launched their own co-working brands. [TRD]

Lawyer tries to use Zillow to prove Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s innocence
A former law clerk for late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia tried to use Zillow to prove that the professor accusing embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teens could have actually been attacked by a classmate of Kavanaugh’s, Inman first reported. On Twitter Ed Whelan posted Zillow floor plans of a home he identified as the house where assault is alleged to have taken place and maintained they proved Kavanaugh’s innocence. But after his tweets came under fire, he apologized. “I made an appalling and inexcusable mistake of judgment in posting the tweet thread in a way that identified Kavanaugh’s Georgetown Prep classmate,” he wrote in a follow-up tweet. [TRD]

Multiple Listing Services in 5 states will pool their resources via a new data application
Multiple listing services from California, Arizona, Wisconsin, Oregon and Utah are pooling their resources via a new data application called MLS Aligned LLC. The application will offer new tools for MLS users, including an application programming interface that will let vendors get real-time listing data from members, according to Inman. Chris Carrillo, the CEO of Metro MLS in Wisconsin, told the outlet that the new application will “fundamentally change how data is moving from Point A to Point B to Point C in some ways.” It wasn’t immediately clear how much it will cost to use the service, but Carrillo said the application is “intended to be inclusive,” adding that it “is not intended to separate the have and the have-nots.” [TRD]

MAJOR MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

Kushner Companies isn’t the only New York City developer that didn’t disclose rent-stabilized tenants on filings
While Kushner Companies has made headlines for falsifying construction filings, the firm isn’t the only developer that’s filed permits lacking disclosure of rent-stabilized tenants. An investigation carried out by TRD found that the practice is a fairly common one among landlords hoping to avoid scrutiny after they’ve filed permit applications with the New York City Department of Buildings. Brooklyn-based Malek Management, Solil Management, Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village owners Blackstone Group and Ivanhoé Cambridge were among the developers that didn’t file accurate permits, TRD learned. New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson called it a “citywide problem,” noting that the council is “working on legislation to address this issue.” [TRD]

Head of Palm Beach real estate brokerage sells mansion for nearly $27M
The head of a Palm Beach real estate brokerage has parted ways with his multimillion dollar lakefront estate. Lawrence Moens, who owns Lawrence A. Moens Associates Inc., sold the mansion to Ron and Cindy McMackin, the respective chairman/CEO and president of engineering subcontracting firm Pan-Pacific Mechanical, for $26.65 million. The 10,539-square-foot mansion has five bedrooms and the 1.5-acre property features a pool, an outdoor fireplace and a dock with 252 feet of water frontage. Moens has represented clients ranging from billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin to Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who once bought an estate from President Donald Trump. [TRD]

Developers in Los Angeles are shelling out hundreds of thousands to millions to bypass zoning codes
Developers in Los Angeles are spending anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on development agreements that allow them to bypass zoning codes. Most packages proposed by developers are around $100,000 or $200,000 but others reach eight figures. The developers a Fashion District mega-complex even agreed to $10 million benefits package — although Los Angeles City Planning Commissioner Renee Dake Wilson noted that that package is among the largest the City Council has overseen. Some developers say the city is asking for more and more as time goes on. “They suspect that you can handle a lot more than you really can because the market is strong,” Claridge Properties CEO Ricardo Pagan said. [TRD]

Department that runs Illinois’ real estate licensing system will no longer accept paper applications
Real estate professionals applying for licenses and certifications with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation will have to submit their applications online, starting Monday. The real estate licensing system is going paperless at the beginning of next week in an effort to expedite the process, the department said. More than 73,000 professionals will now have to submit their applications via the department’s online portal, including brokers, leasing agents and other workers in the industry. [TRD]

Racetrack operator sues Wynn Resorts over Boston casino competition
A Massachusetts racetrack operator has hit Wynn Resorts and its former chief executive with a lawsuit claiming Wynn won a competition to run Encore Boston Harbor, the only Boston area casino, by rigging a referendum. Sterling Suffolk Racecourse claims Wynn suppressed voter turnout for a casino referendum in the county where it had hoped to construct the casino, among other allegations. Though Wynn won the vote to operate Encore Boston Harbor, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission still hasn’t decided whether it will actually be able to. In a statement, Wynn Resorts maintained the racetrack operator’s claims were “frivolous and clearly without foundation.” [TRD]

Former DC Cushman & Wakefield exec’s lawsuit claims race and gender-based discrimination
A former Cushman & Wakefield executive who worked out of the firm’s Washington D.C. office says the firm discriminated against her and ultimately fired her because of her race and gender. Nicole Urquhart-Bradley, who is black, filed a discrimination lawsuit in D.C. federal court on Tuesday saying the company used her to prove that it was diverse while discriminating against her, including by failing to give her the global title that her white male predecessor had. “In the age of MeToo, Cushman & Wakefield is facing a new world, where the old boys’ network behaviors will no longer be tolerated,” her attorney David Sanford said. Urquhart-Bradley’s lawsuit is seeking $30 million in damages. [TRD]

Andrew Raitt and Verono Investments hopes to build a 34-unit apartment building in Boyle Heights (Credit: Google Maps)

A company filed plans this week with Los Angeles to build its second multi-family project in Boyle Heights.

Pleasant View 1 LLC plans to build a 34-unit apartment building at 1550 E. Pleasant Ave., with four of the units set aside for tenants with extremely low income. The company is registered to Andrew Raitt, the CEO of Los Angeles-based Verono Investments.

The plans include demolishing two single-family homes on the property that Raitt purchased for $450,000 in 2016. Since the location is a block from a Metro Gold Line stop, the developer is seeking to use incentives from the Transit-Oriented Communities program, which include increasing the height by 22 feet. The location is also just off the 101 and the 10 freeways.

Nearby, Verona Investments is working to complete the 30-unit Percy Apartments, at 3638 Percy St. They will include apartments with three bedrooms each, which will be available soon, according to the company’s website. Projected rents for the homes are about $2,600 for bottom units, and $2,850 for top units.

Boyle Heights has seen other projects with affordable housing this year. Azure Development filed plans in January to build a 44-unit affordable housing apartment at 110 S. Boyle Avenue.

Sunset Tower, 8358 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood (Credit: Edi Maps, Wikimedia Commons)

The dream that Angelenos will one day commute by light rail to West Hollywood — bypassing some of the city’s worst traffic — chugged closer to reality this week.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors voted to spend $400,000 to further study extending the line into West Hollywood, WEHOville reported.

Given the history of past Metro line extensions, a light rail to West Hollywood would likely have a positive impact on residential and commercial real estate values in the enclave. The area is already among the city’s most popular spots for entertainment-industry people to live.

Previous plans to extend rail lines have coincided with city initiatives to rezone areas around rail stations to allow for taller buildings on major streets.
The light rail plan would involve building an extension of Metro’s Crenshaw/LAX line, which is already under construction. Metro is considering five routes for the project, all of which would link that line to the Red and Purple lines.

Finishing the study is crucial to making the project shovel ready by 2020, which would allow Metro to complete it by 2047. That’s a long way off. But the plan has growing support on the Los Angeles City Council and among members of the West Hollywood City Council, who have pushed to speed up the rail line’s timeline, Curbed reported.

Metro has allocated $2.24 billion for the Crenshaw extension, which will be funded by a sales-tax increase authorized by the passage of Measure M in 2016. Speeding up the timetable will require completing an environmental assessment of the project and finding more money.

Metro has received proposals for public-private partnerships for other planned transit lines. John Duran, the mayor of West Hollywood, has proposed taxing the city’s booming cannabis industry as a possible source of funding, he told KPCC radio in July. [WEHOville] — Alexei Barrionuevo

Kevin Garnett and his half-finished Malibu mansion, Beverly House, with “The Godfather” movie poster (Credit: Getty Images, Hilton & Hyland)

This week in celeb real estate featured big buys from notorious home-flippers, a perennially for-sale estate, and abandoned dreams of mansions-to-be.

In Malibu, retired NBA superstar Kevin Garnett is looking to dish his half-finished mansion for $19.9 million. Garnett bought the then-six-bedroom home for $6.4 million in 2003, the same year he won the NBA Most Valuable Player award. Still under construction and about a year away from completion, the 11,000-square-foot mansion boasts a large motor court, pool, spa and ocean views just across Pacific Coast Highway. There is room for a buyer to customize portions of the property.

Closer inland in Beverly Hills, an estate with an Old Hollywood background that has been for sale for more than a decade is back on the market, this time for the discounted price of $135 million. The Beverly House was once owned by William Randolph Hearst and featured (the exteriors) in “The Godfather.” The Spanish Colonial-style residence first came on the market in 2007 for $165 million, and was later re-listed for $195 million. It has a main house spanning 50,000 square feet, with more than 20 bedrooms, a tennis court, two screening rooms and sprawling outdoor terraces. Leonard Ross, an attorney and real estate investor, bought the property for less than $2 million over four decades ago.

In the same neighborhood, noted house-flippers Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi picked up a Beverly Hills manse for $15 million. The 5,100-square-foot home was the estate of the late actress Marjorie Lord. Built in 1962, the Hollywood Regency-style home has five bedrooms — all with private courtyards — as well as a covered patio, pool, spa and built-in barbecue. The home went up for sale in 2015 after Lord’s death, selling a year later for $8.3 million. DeGeneres and de Rossi hired Marmol Radziner to renovate the home.

A long drive away in the Coachella Valley, another home-flipping family, the Jenner-Kardashians, picked up yet another multi-million-dollar mansion. Kris Jenner, the matriarch of the reality TV and Instagramming family, scooped up an 11,000-square-foot home in a country club development for $12 million. Jenner’s one-story mansion has seven bedrooms, a spa and a 100-foot-long infinity edge pool. Developers Gala Asher and Coldwell Banker broker Ginger Glass, who was also the listing agent, were the sellers. They acquired the property in 2015 for $2.15 million. They listed it in June for $15 million.

Back in the heart of L.A., web-slinging actor Tobey Maguire put an undeveloped parcel of land on the market for $14 million. Maguire, who played “Spider-Man” several versions ago, bought the nearly one-acre hunk of land with his former wife, Jennifer Meyer, back in 2008 for $10 million, in an off-market deal. They didn’t end up building anything before the couple split up in 2016. The next owner could build a mansion 36 feet high with up to 15,670 square feet of living space. Before it was vacant land, the property was once the site of a home designed by John Byers where actress Greta Garbo and filmmaker H.C. Potter were residents.

(Credit: Len Edgerly, CT Realty)

Amazon is hungry for so-called fulfillment centers, and it just found another super enormous one in Stockton.

The e-commerce behemoth inked a lease for CT Realty’s 1.1-million-square-foot facility in NorCal Logistics Center.

That’s even big for Amazon, and will likely rank as one of its largest fulfillment centers in the country.

The largest appears to be a 1.2-million-square-foot giant in Phoenix, although Newport Beach-based CT Realty marketing brochures say the Stockton warehouse is expandable up to 2 million square feet.

The building measures 2,147 feet by 520 feet and sits on 62 acres. Ceilings are over 36 feet high and there are 250 loading dock doors. There’s also parking for 467 vehicles and 269 trailer parking spaces.

The huge warehouse is located at 4532 Newcastle Road, part of CT Realty’s first phase of development of the NorCal Logistics Center. The project is 342 acres and will include 4.4-million square feet of distribution, manufacturing, and other warehouse space. CT sold the two other buildings as part of Phase I — totaling 575,100 square feet — to Prologis.

It’s the second time Amazon has leased with CT Realty. Earlier this year, Amazon signed for a nearly 400,000-square-foot warehouse in Dallas, partially owned by CT Realty.

Developers and municipal officials around the country have their eyes fixed on Amazon as it searches for a place to build a $5 billion second headquarters dubbed HQ2. Amazon started its search a year ago and narrowed finalist cities from several dozen to 20 in January.

Meanwhile, Amazon is making moves in Los Angeles. Amazon will lease all of Hackman Capital Partners’ 75,000-square-foot Culver Steps project in Culver City.

(Credit: Mike Gonzalez, Pixabay)

The multi-billion-dollar home-sharing industry, which is transforming short-term rental markets around the globe, could soon be redefined by new competitors.

One of Airbnb’s biggest rivals, Xiaozhu, is in talks with investors for more than $200 million to take on the pioneering American home-sharing giant, Bloomberg reported. The company’s website lets users rent and host homes and apartments across China, just like Airbnb. Xiaozhu is reportedly targeting a valuation greater than the $1-billion mark it hit last year.

The news comes shortly after a $1-billion infusion into India’s Oyo Hotels, which plans to expand in China. Xiaozhu and another Chinese firm, Tujia.com, represent major competition for Oyo and Airbnb.

Chinese listings on Airbnb have grown more than 125 percent in the past year, and the number of Chinese guests doubled in 2017, Airbnb said in July. Xiaozhu also said that month that it had 35 million users with over 420,000 listings in 652 cities.

The home-sharing platforms have been controversial throughout America, where lawmakers struggle to monitor the exploding industry. In New York City, Airbnb complaints reached record highs in May, and critics say the service has caused rents to rise.

On the West Coast, listings are tumbling in places like Santa Monica and West Hollywood, which has enacted restrictions on the industry. In response, Airbnb has sued Santa Monica. The company has netted $31 million since the ordinance took effect, but it is nearing the end of it options to keep that lawsuit alive. [Bloomberg]–Gregory Cornfield

(Credit: Seth Werkheiser, Casey Allen via Pexels)

If you’re looking to purchase property overseas, the options are becoming increasingly limited.

New Zealand is the latest country to clamp down on foreign real estate investment, citing concerns over dirty money and an affordable housing crisis, as the Wall Street Journal reports.

But several countries across Asia, Europe and even North America have adopted similar measures to cool off their booming housing markets in the past decade. Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and New Zealand are just a handful of the nations to use instruments, such as tax hikes, reduced access to credit, and zoning, to curb the influx of overseas buyers and prioritize locals.

There are a few notable exceptions, however. The Maldives, which is heavily reliant on tourism, has cautiously welcomed foreign capital as a means of bringing more foreign direct investment into the country. [WSJ]–Patrick Mulholland

(Credit: Pixabay, Adoramassey via Wikimedia Commons)

Millennials are increasingly moving west.

CNBC ranked what areas saw the biggest influx of millennials between 2011 and 2016 by using a combination of data from Zillow and RENTCafé. The report found that, though New York is among millennials’ top places to live, three Los Angeles neighborhoods in the top 10 made LA the most attractive city for the generation.

But are the incoming millennials able to afford their adopted cities? It’s an open question as more than 60 percent of the generation have less than $1,000 in savings as CNBC noted, though economist Issi Romem found that most newcomers to cities like LA and NYC earn significantly more than locals who are increasingly priced out of the market.

Organized by zip code, here’s a closer look at the top 10 places 20- and 30-somethings are moving to in droves. [CNBC]—Erin Hudson

(Credit: Pixabay)

1. Los Angeles, California
Neighborhood: Downtown, 90014
Millennial increase: 91.4 percent
Number of new millennials: 3,000
Median home value: $533,500

2. Los Angeles, California
Neighborhood: Downtown, 90013
Millennial increase: 60 percent
Number of new millennials: 4,700
Median home value: $567,200

(Credit: Pexels)

3. New York, New York
Neighborhood: Battery Park City, 10282
Millennial increase: 54.5 percent
Number of new millennials: 2,300
Median home value: No Zillow data. Real-estate website Redfin lists the average home sale price over the last month at $825,000.

Portland. (Credit: Tusharkoley/Shutterstock)

4. Portland, Oregon
Neighborhood: Kerns / Laurelhurst, 97232
Millennial increase: 51.8 percent
Number of new millennials: 5,700
Median home value: $600,700

5. New York, New York
Neighborhood: Lincoln Square, 10069
Millennial increase: 47.7 percent
Number of new millennials: 2,200
Median home value: $1.9 million

6. Jacksonville, Florida
Neighborhood: Riverside, 32204
Millennial increase: 45.3 percent
Number of new millennials: 3,000
Median home value: $194,600

7. Los Angeles, California
Neighborhood: Mid-Wilshire, 90048
Millennial increase: 38.9 percent
Number of new millennials: 10,300
Median home value: $1.7 million

(Credit: Lee Cannon)

8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Neighborhood: Kensington, 19125
Millennial increase: 37.4 percent
Number of new millennials: 11,200
Median home value: $265,000

(Credit: heyengel/Shutterstock)

9. San Francisco, California
Neighborhood: Castro, 94114
Millennial increase: 37.4 percent
Number of new millennials: 12,500
Median home value: $1.9 million

(Credit: Pixabay)

10. Washington, D.C.
Neighborhood: Southwest Waterfront, 20024
Millennial increase: 37.2 percent
Number of new millennials: 5,100
Median home value: $403,300

(Credit: Pixabay)

The internet may be changing the real estate industry, but the amount of people who find an agent online has been stagnant for a decade.

Just 9 percent of buyers find an agent online, which was the same amount that did so 10 years ago, according to Inman, citing data from the National Association of Realtors. Buyers and sellers were both more likely to find an agent through friends and family, with more than 40 percent saying they found their agent this way.

The data shows that online advertising may not be as important as assumed for agents, while older forms of social networks can still be very valuable resources.

Notably, the amount of sellers who find agents online ticked up slightly to 5 percent in 2017, up from 3 percent in 2008, according to NAR.

Paul Bishop, vice president of research at NAR, told Inman this indicates that “even though there is more information than ever available to consumers through listing portals and other sources, would-be buyers and sellers rely on the positive experiences of others as the basis for choosing an agent.” [Inman]–Eddie Small

City Ventures is nearly complete with the second phase of a townhome development in the heart of downtown Long Beach. (Courtesy City Ventures)

In an era increasingly defined by dense development in big cities, Long Beach decided to go in the other direction.

The city partnered with Irvine-based developer City Ventures to build 40 townhomes in the heart of its downtown–a project that is different in almost every way from all the development around it. Known as the Huxton, it is the city’s first solar neighborhood, where residents will enjoy never receiving a gas bill. The Long Beach Business Journal reported that by the end of the year, the second of three phases will be complete.

Since 2014, the number of multifamily properties in Long Beach have doubled, fueling the current construction boom, which is valued at more than $3.5 billion. The Huxton is the closest development to a single-family detached home to be built in downtown Long Beach for almost a decade.

Each home will have solar panels and electric vehicle charging, and each unit is equipped with all-electric appliances, LED lighting, windows with ultraviolet coating, water-efficient plumbing, and a “smart” thermostat.

At 227 Elm Ave. – between 3rd Street and Broadway – the townhomes start in the high $600,000s (though they were originally priced in the $400,000 range) and range in size from 1,254-2,025 square feet. The first phase of the project included 13 homes, 12 of which have been sold, according to CEO Philip Kerr. Presales for the second wave of homes starts September 29. The third phase is anticipated to be completed during the first quarter of 2019.

The project came as a surprise after Long Beach heard its mayor announce massive multi-family projects last month, including a tower with 700 residential units that will become the tallest structure in the city, less than a mile from where the Huxton is located. The development will also be dwarfed by “The Broadway Block” – a $215-million complex with more than 400 units – around the corner.

City Ventures paid $1.65 million for the property. The Huxton is the firm’s first project in Long Beach, which seems particularly attractive now after California became the first state to require solar power on almost all new homes.

The company also acquired two other properties in North Long Beach at 4800 and 5100 Long Beach Blvd. for $3.75 million, where they plan to build 69 more townhomes. [LBbizJournal]–Gregory Cornfield

(Credit from left: Public Domain Pictures.net, Max Pixel)

Your property is a little bit safer today than it was last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said this week.

A countrywide review of property crime, defined as “burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson,” found that the number of incidents fell by 3 percent between 2016 and 2017, according to the FBI, as reported by Inman.

However, damages from property crime in the same time-frame amounted to a staggering $15.3 billion. The FBI also noted that homeowners were more likely to experience break-ins than violent crimes.

Over the past decade, the nationwide property crime rate has dropped about 26 percent, according to the FBI.

Globally though, real estate investment fraud is happening with increasing frequency, buoyed by e-commerce, social media and law enforcement’s inability to pursue bad actors across borders, as The Real Deal has reported. [Inman]–Erin Hudson

(Illustration by Isabel Espanol)

The EB-5 program, which was set to expire at the end of this month, has been extended until the beginning of December.

The controversial visa program, which was due to reach the end of its six-month extension period on Sunday, Sept. 30,  has been reauthorized through Dec. 7.

President Trump signed the extension Friday at noon, as part of a spending package to avoid a federal government shutdown. The U.S. Immigration Fund, a regional center that has raised money for EB-5 projects, first announced news of the extension.

A favorite of New York developers as a means of raising cheap capital from overseas investors, the EB-5 program was salvaged in March when it was included in a federal omnibus bill. The program gives green cards to foreign investors in exchange for a $500,000 investment and has seen a series of short-term extensions.

“This time around, there are zero chances for a longer-term legislative solution,” said Daniel Lundy, an EB-5 lawyer at Klasko Immigration Law Partners. “Nobody’s working on it as far as we know. The stakeholders are still interested, but the usual suspects in Congress are not talking about it.”

The EB-5 program has also been controversial, with Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa one of the most outspoken critics. Developers and industry players have said the senator’s failed EB-5 Reform Act would have damaged the industry. It would have upped the minimum investment amount and set aside more than 1,000 visas for projects in rural areas.

“I suspect that sometime next year we might have regulations from USCIS that address the investment amounts, eligibility requirements,” Lundy said, “and some of the compliance and integrity measures that have been in previous drafts of the bill.”

Keith Larsen contributed to this report.

14801 W. Plummer Street (Credit: Pixabay)

The year was 2004. Martha Stewart went to prison for insider trading, Athens hosted the Summer Olympics and a 36-unit condominium project in North Hills was proposed.

Fourteen years later, Stewart has long since rebounded from that setback, the Olympics went off without a hitch, but Land Developer & Associates’ planned construction never materialized.

Now, the Woodland Hills-based firm is moving ahead with the planned development at 14801 W. Plummer Street, after the Los Angeles City Planning Department recommended it be allowed to go forward, according to Urbanize. The agency released paperwork outlining mitigation measures the developer will take to reduce the environmental impact.

The condo project would replace a pair of existing single-family buildings on 2.7 acres. It would include 90 parking spaces. The site borders the Pacoima Wash, a small creek that feeds the L.A. River. There are 28 small-lot houses planned next door and two larger projects planned in the immediate area, Urbanize reported.

Land Developer shares an office with Hospman LLC, a hospitality management company. The entity’s president is Hospman’s leader, too, Daniel Singh, records show.

Farther West along Plummer Street, a controversial condo and apartment complex is moving forward after years in the approval process. That project includes 21 townhouses and 54 apartment units on three acres of land. Locals fought the project over traffic concerns.

Developer Art Simonian is also planning a 364-unit residential complex nearby. The four-building project would reach 85 feet at its highest point. The L.A. City Council approved the work in August 2017.  [Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch 

For The Real Deal’s latest subscriber conference call, editor-at-large Hiten Samtani and reporter Keith Larsen gave readers an inside look at our fall issue’s blockbuster cover story, “See no evil: How a culture of secrecy boosts South Florida’s condo market.”

Check out the SoundCloud player to listen to the full conversation, and be sure to keep an eye out for more information about our next conference call for subscribers.

Trump and Trudeau or individual headshots and some STEEL I favor this steel (Credit: polandeze via Flickr)

Tariffs on imported steel have hit the construction industry nationwide but the newly-minted trade deal between the U.S. and Canada may not provide the needed relief, at least not immediately.

With the final piece hammered out Sunday night, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994. President Trump has long denounced NAFTA, so despite the fact the same countries are involved, the name, too, has changed.

The new agreement does not resolve the 25 percent tariff on Canadian steel imports that Trump imposed earlier this year. Steel prices climbed nationwide before those tariffs even took effect and had jumped by 40 percent as of early July.

Canada wanted the U.S. to drop the tariff — along with a 10 percent import tax on another construction-relate material, aluminum — as part of the new deal. But that was never made it into the pact. A White House official said the negotiations over the steel and aluminum tariffs are being handled on a “completely separate track,” according to the Washington Post.

More expensive steel will likely tighten the profit margins on large commercial and residential development projects, especially on the projects that aren’t already in the pipeline. The Trump administration enacted tariffs on all steel imports in an attempt to boost the domestic steel industry, which has supported his actions. The president had made that a major campaign promise during the 2016 campaign.

The U.S. and Mexico hammered out their portions of the trade agreement in late August before the U.S. turned to Canada. Trump threatened to go ahead with a bilateral deal with Mexico, but Mexican officials strongly advocated for Canada’s inclusion.

The deal largely keeps the framework of NAFTA intact, with some changes. It gives U.S. farmers easier access to the Canadian dairy market. It also requires 40 to 45 percent of vehicles by made by workers who receive wages of at least $16 an hour, according to the Associated Press.

Canada was successful in keeping a special dispute-resolution process for trade issues. That keeps disputes out of U.S. courts, where Canadian officials felt Canadian firms would be at a disadvantage.

Plans filed with the city call for 220 units in a 22-story apartment building next to the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. (Credit: Google Maps)

A new 220-unit tower is set to replace a parking lot next to the Fonda Theatre and join the wave of redevelopment projects shaping the new Hollywood skyline.

The 22-story structure headed for Hollywood Boulevard was designed by HKS Architects. It will be made up of a four-story podium topped off by 18 stories of residential space, CurbedLA reported. The ground floor is expected to include a restaurant with outdoor dining space, which would adjoin a landscaped courtyard.

The project is slated for four parcels at 6100-6116 W. Hollywood Blvd. and 1633-1649 N. Gower St.

Eleven of the units will be designated as affordable housing. Parking spaces will be included in two underground levels, below 3,270 square feet of commercial space.

The developer is an LLC connected to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. It expects construction to begin in 2020 and last for about two years.

The project is one of several new developments planned for the heart of Hollywood, including hotels and other major redevelopments. [CurbedLA] – Gregory Cornfield

Ray Catlin and 2445 McCabe Way in Irvine, California (Credit: Schimenti and CREXi)

Schimenti Construction, which specializes in retail build-outs, is opening its first office on the West Coast.

The company is opening a new office in Irvine, Calif., at 2445 McCabe Way, company representatives announced on Tuesday. One of the construction manager’s first projects in California is the Dover Street Market in Los Angeles, which is expected to open in the fall.

Executive Vice President Ray Catlin, who joined the firm in May after working for 16 years at EMJ Corporation, will lead the new office. Ryan Mourhess, Schimenti’s project executive, will also be joining the California management team.

When asked about Schimenti’s strategy in pursuing work, Catlin dismissed the idea that the challenges faced by many retailers would negatively impact the firm’s business.

“The demise of retail, I think, is overstated,” he said. “Retail is always going to be around.”

He noted that big-name retailers will likely always want to have a presence in large cities like Los Angeles and New York. The company’s work in New York City includes flagship shops in Times Square for Fossil, Gap and Old Navy and for Samsung in the Meatpacking District.

The 200-plus-person firm was founded in 1994 by Matthew Schimenti, whose father and grandfather had also worked in construction.

The Hillsboro Beach mansion at 935 Hillsboro Mile (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

In search of a new king and queen, a palace in Hillsboro Beach is heading to the auction block after years on and off the market.

Once one of the priciest residential listings in the U.S., the Hillsboro Beach mansion at 935 Hillsboro Mile will sell to the highest bidder next month – foregoing its previous asking price of $159 million and without a reserve price. Mayi de la Vega, owner of One Sotheby’s International Realty, is the listing agent. Concierge Auctions will handle the auction, which begins Nov. 12 and ends Nov. 15, according to the Wall Street Journal.

© Kim Sargent

© Kim Sargent

The 60,000-square-foot estate, known as “Le Palais Royal” and “Playa Vista” features 11 bedrooms, 22 bathrooms, an IMAX home theater, six waterfalls and two deep water docks. As it is in Paris, 22-karat gold leaf is sprinkled throughout, in addition to a number of chandeliers, ornate balconies and marble columns.

Robert Pereira, president of The Middlesex Corp., a contracting firm based in Massachusetts, owns the Hillsboro Beach property. He told the Wall Street Journal that construction cost him more than $100 million. It hit the market in 2014 for $139 million, going up in price the following year. It was taken off the market in 2016.

© Kim Sargent

© Kim Sargent

2017 © Nickolas Sargent Photography

A handful of other Versailles-inspired homes also have popped up, including one in Windermere, Florida, where “Queen of Versailles” was filmed.

The Hillsboro property is the latest uber high-end home to head to auction. Earlier this year, Marco Iacovelli took his Star Island mansion to auction without a reserve after listing the home for $65 million.  [WSJ] – Katherine Kallergis

Councilmember Curren D. Price, Jr. and 224 E. Washington Boulevard

Los Angeles is moving to create affordable housing in South L.A., on the property of a vacant printing facility.

The property at 224 E. Washington Boulevard, had been the printing plant for the Spanish language daily, La Opinion, until it moved out. The city has owned the property for nine years. Still facing an affordable housing shortage, officials are looking for different solutions.

Now, the City Council is expected vote Tuesday on whether to allocate $1.3 million to demolish the existing three buildings there. The property’s three lots total around 50,000 square feet.

Council member Curren D. Price Jr. proposed the measure. Price’s motion notes the demolition is “associated with a future affordable housing development,” but doesn’t elaborate.

The city has proposed a number of ways to reduce the number of homeless, which is roughly 58,000. Those measures include building temporary shelters on city property. The first of those shelters opened last month Downtown. The city is also considering housing people in hotels.

The East Washington Boulevard property was last in the news in 2016, when Price and the L.A. Homeless Services Authority sought to repurpose the existing buildings into a temporary shelter for the homeless until permanent housing was built.

Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi (Credit: Getty Images)

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have sold their Beverly Hills mansion for $35 million, more than twice what they paid for it three years ago.

The couple sold the home to Sue Gross, according to the blog, Yolanda’s Little Black Book. DeGeneres bought the home for $16 million. The most recent deal was completed off-market.

Last month, DeGeneres and de Rossi also bought a Beverly Hills manse for $15 million and in July the couple sold their Montecito estate for $34 million. That purchase was about $5 million more than what they paid for the home in 2013.

Sue Gross and billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Gross divorced last year after more than 30 years together, and since then, have been active residential property buyers.

The 5,280-square-foot home Gross just purchased from DeGeneres is next to another home Gross bought seven months ago for $20 million.

Gross’ main residence is a three-house compound in Laguna Beach’s Irvine Cove community, where she lived with Bill Gross. When Bill Gross tried to return to a different property in Irvine Cove, Sue Gross started outbidding him on all the for-sale properties in the community. In the end, the couple spent nearly $150 million in separate transactions on four homes in Laguna Beach in the span of about a month [Yolanda] — Gregory Cornfield