Ross Perot with his Strait Lane mansion in Dallas and Tucker’s Town in Bermuda (Credit: Getty Images, Google Maps, and Douglas Newby)

H. Ross Perot, the computer services billionaire and two-time presidential candidate left behind a legacy of quotable quips, entrepreneurship, wealth and extensive property.

Perot, who died on Tuesday at 89, implored Americans during his first presidential run in 1992 ”to look under the hood.” So, we’ll do that with some of his residential property. But unlike his most famous catchphrase, “It’s just that simple,” uncovering all his residential holdings is not so easy.

The Perots of Dallas
In Dallas, the city Perot called home for much of his life, he and his wife, Margot, lived in an 8,200-square-foot mansion on a 16-acre estate worth a reported $21 million.

Their street, Strait Lane, is known as the city’s main drag for trophy properties with many of the palatial abodes described based on their proximity to Perot’s comparatively modest manse.

The Perot family collectively owns nearly $59 million worth of residential property in the Dallas area. Two of his daughters, Nancy Perot and Suzanne McGee, live next door to each other. Nancy Perot lives in a $10 million home and her sister, who is married to the co-founder of private equity firm Brazos Private Equity Partners, lives in a $17 million mansion, according to D Magazine. Perot’s third daughter, Carolyn, lives with her husband in a $9 million mansion. All four homes made the list of the 100 most expensive in the Dallas area, according to the magazine’s ranking last year.

Bermuda, for father and son
A year after Perot sold his computer company, Electronic Data Systems, to General Motors for $2.5 billion in 1984 — a deal in which he became both a billionaire and the automobile giant’s largest shareholder — he bought two vacation homes in Bermuda, according to the Dallas Morning News. One was for himself and the other for his son, H. Ross Perot Jr.

Though the precise addresses are not publicly known, Perot’s vacation homes were located in a wealthy enclave in Tucker’s Town, where his neighbors included former New York City mayor and fellow billionaire Michael Bloomberg, as the New York Times reported.

In 1992, when Perot was running for president, Time magazine documented an incident in which Perot blew up parts of a coral reef in Bermuda’s Castle Harbour area in order to build a dock and boathouse for his 68-foot yacht. That came despite environmental authorities’ rejection of the plan. As local authorities began investigating whether Perot had violated the country’s rules, Perot threatened “to sell my houses and leave.” The investigation was dropped and a permit issued retroactively.

In 2009, Perot sold a second computer services company, Perot Systems, to Michael Dell’s firm and walked away with a reported $800 million from the $3.9 billion deal. Last year, Forbes pegged his net worth at $4.2 billion.

A son in the real estate game
Perot Jr., whose net worth according to Forbes hovers around $2 billion, founded Hillwood, a Dallas-based real estate investment and development firm. The company has residential, retail and industrial projects around the country and abroad.

Asher Luzzatto and a rendering of the converted dairy

Luzzatto Company has closed on the deal for a former West Adams dairy building it’s converting into offices, which Sweetgreen will use as its corporate headquarters. The Real Deal first reported on the pending deal in May.

Luzzatto purchased the site from Olson Company for $14.8 million, according to property records. The new offices will take up part of the site. Olson Company is building townhomes on another portion.

Salad chain Sweetgreen signed a lease in May for all of the 50,000 square feet of office planned at 3101 Exposition Boulevard.

The dairy building is the former home of Unified Grocers and is a few miles east of Culver City, where Sweetgreen has been based since 2016.

West Adams is seeing a flurry of office development thanks to the relative affordability of development sites, and proximity to tech-heavy markets like Culver City.

A few days after Sweetgreen announced its lease, online luxury consignment market TheRealReal announced plans to move into a converted office space built by Lion Real Estate Group and Borman Group.

The Olson Company’s townhome plans date back to 2017. Originally, Olson planned 68 townhomes, but that number will likely be reduced because of the sale to Luzzato.

The shift can be attributed to a strong economy and lower mortgage rates (Credit: iStock)

The tide is turning in favor of U.S. homesellers, who are set to benefit from a slowing in new listings coming to the market.

Last month, U.S. homesellers added 40,000 new listings to the market last month, an increase of only 2.8 percent year over year, according to Mansion Global.

While it brings an end to an oversupply of housing stock that came online in 2018 and the first half of 2019, the slow in listings provides homesellers an advantage, with less options for homebuyers.

The shift can be attributed to a strong economy and lower mortgage rates. Last month, the median asking price for a home reached its highest point for the year, at $316,000.

It follows a growing trend of declines in major housing markets across the country. In February, home sales dipped 4.2 percent in 54 metro areas, while inventory grew 5.8 percent compared to the previous month, according to a survey by residential brokerage RE/MAX.

Some signs of a slowing housing market emerged earlier this year. One study released in March found that median home prices are unaffordable in 75 percent of U.S. counties. [Mansion Global] – David Jeans

Compass CEO Robert Reffkin and Zillow CEO Rich Barton

Zillow Group and Compass have buried the hatchet over allegations that the SoftBank-backed brokerage poached three technology executives from the listings giant.

The two companies — at odds since Zillow filed two separate lawsuits in April — said Wednesday that they settled those cases, which were filed in federal and Washington state court. “The two companies have agreed to resolve their differences,” a Compass spokesperson said, “and look forward to working together to help the entire real estate ecosystem.”

The news of the settlement came within an hour of Compass being hit with a searing lawsuit from Realogy — the parent company of the Corcoran Group, Coldwell Banker and others — accusing it of predatory recruiting and poaching, as well as price fixing and collusion. In a statement, Compass, which is valued at $4.4 billion, accused Realogy of turning to the courts to try to stifle competition.

In the Zillow cases, Compass was accused of hiring three technology executives from Zillow for its West Coast campus in violation of their non-competes. The listing giant also said Compass sought access to proprietary information that would accelerate its ability to build out a technology platform. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Zillow said the settlement agreement with Compass allows both firms to operate “in a fair, competitive environment.”

Compass launched the Seattle tech campus in December, with the goal of building an “end-to-end” platform for real estate.

At the time, the company said it planned to hire around 100 engineers. It also hired former Microsoft and Amazon executive Joseph Sirosh as chief technology officer. But last month, three of Compass’ top executives in marketing and product resigned or were forced out of their roles, including Eytan Seidman, head of product; Khurrum Malik, chief marketing officer; and Max Henderson, vice president of product. In March, Compass’ general counsel, David Carp, and chief people officer, Madan Nagaldinne, left the firm. At the time, Carp was said to have continued working on a part-time basis.

Ron Burkle owns Soho House

The Soho House is set to open a new warehouse in the Arts District next month.

The members only club will open in a 80,000-square-foot converted warehouse at 1000 S. Santa Fe Avenue, according to Curbed. The building also has 48 rooms that members can rent for $190 or more per night. The annual charge for is $2,160 per year, according to the report.

Plans for the warehouse have been in the works since 2017. The seven-story building was dates from 1916. It features a restaurant, a gym, event space, a pool, lounging space, and an eatery and bar. It previously was rehearsal space for musicians.

The Soho House chain purchased the property in 2017 for $30 million, records show. The conversion project was designed by Killefer Flammang Architects.

Soho House operates a number of private clubs around the world, including South Beach House in Miami Beach, along with West Hollywood and Malibu.

The company is also expanding in other ways. In Brooklyn, it is opening a co-working venture in a office redevelopment. This week, Glacier Global Partners and Triangle Assets took out a $205 million refinancing on the building.

The Arts District itself has been a recent draw, with massive new office conversions, breweries and other developments. Access Industries and Warner Music Group paid $195 million for the recently-renovated Ford Factory building earlier this year, and Continuum Partners is working on a 107,000-square-foot office and retail complex nearby at 640 S. Santa Fe Avenue. [Curbed] — Gregory Cornfield

Fredrik Eklund (Credit: Getty images)

UPDATE, Wednesday July, 10, 2019, 7:22 p.m.: Fredrik Eklund has officially left the New York City rat race — at least as a home base.

The celebrity broker at Douglas Elliman packed up his family and traded his Downtown Manhattan apartment for a luxe-looking Beverly Hills home with sweeping views of Downtown Los Angeles, as he revealed in an Instagram post on Wednesday.

In a lengthy message, the broker, who rose to fame after being cast on “Million Dollar Listing New York,” said he and his husband and their two small children will now be permanently based on the West Coast. He will be getting more involved in the West Coast expansion of the 64-person team he leads with John Gomes. Gomes will remain in New York City.

“We got to the new house in Beverly Hills and ordered sushi by the pool watching the incredible sunset over the city below,” Eklund wrote in the Instagram post, about the move earlier this week. “Moving a family with toddlers isn’t easy, but spending more time in California while expanding the business here’s something we’ve talked about for years.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Yesterday we moved to Los Angeles. I was a bit emotional seeing the kids so excited to get on the flight. We got to the new house in Beverly Hills and ordered sushi by the pool watching the incredible sunset over the city below. Moving a family with toddlers isn’t easy, but spending more time in California while expanding the business here’s something we’ve talked about for years. You’ll be able to follow our journey on MDLNY this season. The kids and Derek will be here full time and I’ll be going back and forth between LA, NY and even Miami overseeing the teams. I guess I do love airplanes and travel lol. We’ve grown the team to 64 people between the 3 cities. We’ve had some really big, exciting hires lately and have no plans to stop growing. Today I land running with pitches and the first VIP Top Broker event for an epic new development I’m heading up sales at in West Hollywood – I’m honored to be part of it (more on that very soon). LA has some of the world’s most exciting new development projects coming – vertical living is finally happening here. I’m already back in NY next week. But you can imagine the butterflies I have right now: this weekend we’ll take the kids to the beach for the first time, I went hiking this morning. I’m so grateful for the warm welcome here – at the same time I want to make crystal clear that my business in NY is going to expand with me very present. NY is the city that welcomed me first and gave me the platform to grow the business that allowed me to fulfill a lifelong dream of also be in LA. John and Julia my partners and extended family have their feet firmly planted in NY with the incredible team there. As you probably can tell, I’m so excited to share all of this with you. Love /Freddy

A post shared by Fredrik Eklund (@fredrikeklundny) on Jul 10, 2019 at 10:24am PDT

In the post, Eklund called the move to L.A. a “lifelong dream.” Despite “butterflies,” he’s launched his new life “running” with a string of pitches and is even hosting a party for a new project he’s leading sales for in West Hollywood.

“LA has some of the world’s most exciting new development projects coming – vertical living is finally happening here,” he said.

The Eklund-Gomes team has been on an expansion tear of late. After receiving permission from Elliman head Howard Lorber, The Eklund-Gomes team has grown far beyond the 10-agent limit the brokerage typically imposes on those units.

Since receiving Lorber’s blessing, the team has opened its own 10,000-square-foot office at 936 Broadway in New York and last fall announced their expansion to L.A. At the time, it had 23 agents in New York City and was adding four agents on the West Coast.

Since then, Eklund and Gomes have expanded in Brooklyn and launched an office in Miami’s South Beach. The team now has 64 agents across all three cities.

According to The Real Deal’s annual broker rankings, which the Eklund-Gomes team did not participate in, the Elliman team closed $721 million in sales last year in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

When it comes to Eklund’s reception among local L.A. brokers, Josh Altman of Douglas Elliman and a star of “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles” said he’s “happy to have him in our territory.”

“We’ve referred many deals together over the past years back and forth and not surprised he realized the west coast is the best coast,” he said. “[But] as far as anyone in the business being intimidated, last time I checked sharks are the top of the food chain…”

“If you’re going to have success in other markets you have to be there, which I think is why he’s moving there,” said Ryan Serhant of Nest Seekers International. Serhant, who co-stars on MDLNY with Eklund, opened an office in Los Angeles in 2015 and currently has three agents working in the city.

Serhant, 35, said a move to California was “not on my current horizon” but joked that in 10 years, when he’s closer to Eklund’s age, 42, he might change his mind.

Eklund also noted in his message to his 1.1 million Instagram followers that he’s not going all in on L.A. and will remain active across the cities where the team operates.

“I’ll be going back and forth between LA, NY and even Miami overseeing the teams. I guess I do love airplanes and travel lol,” he wrote.

Additional reporting by Natalie Hoberman

Editor’s Note: Updated with comment from Josh Altman and Ryan Serhant.

L.A. rents increased despite a national slowdown.

It appears as though the national slowdown in home sales has yet to trickle down to rents in housing-strapped cities.

A new report from ApartmentList reveals rents in Los Angeles increased slightly over the past year, Curbed reported. The city has consistently been considered one of the most unaffordable places to live in the country, given that wages are still lagging in comparison to rent.

The median price of a two-bedroom apartment in the city circled at $1,760 per month, up .1 percent since June and .6 percent year over year. Rents in Santa Monica and West Hollywood were more expensive at $2,190 and $2,680, respectively.

That’s lower than the cost of rent in other major cities. In New York, rent for a two-bedroom unit cost $2,560 in July. Meanwhile, rent in San Francisco reached $3,100.

It’s also not getting any easier to own a home. A report from ATTOM Data Solutions, released in March, showed that the average annual wage isn’t enough to afford a median-priced home in more than 70 percent of the counties in the country. The average earners in New York would have to spend more than 100 percent of their income to afford that, the report revealed. In L.A. and Miami-Dade, it was 68 and 40 percent, respectively. [Curbed] — Natalie Hoberman

Simon Property Group World Headquarters in Indianapolis (Credit: iStock)

Publicly-traded real estate firms have in recent years taken on cheaper, riskier debt in an effort to offset borrowing costs.

The debt, known as commercial paper, has become increasingly popular for firms looking to settle accounts or inventory payments, according to the Wall Street Journal. But the cheap debt, which is around a half-point cheaper than bank credit facilities, could leave REITs unable to refinance if investors lose confidence suddenly.

While commercial paper makes up for a minimal portion of a most companies debt portfolios, “It would be an unforced error” for firms that are increasingly reliant on it, if the debt became unavailable suddenly, Stephen Boyd, a senior director at ratings agency Fitch, told the Journal.

Its popularity has grown as real estate firms reportedly recognize the market’s cycle is slowing.

Simon Property Group, the publicly traded mall owner, first took on commercial paper in 2014, and was limited to issue up to $500 million. That figure has since increased to $2 billion, and at the end of the first quarter this year, it had $1.3 billion outstanding.

Another firm, apartment landlord Equity Residential has reportedly issued commercial paper since 2015 and had $345 million outstanding at the end of the first quarter this year. [WSJ] — David Jeans 

Airbnb co-founders, from left: Chief Product Officer Joe Gebbia, Chief Strategy Officer Nathan
Blecharczyk and CEO Brian Chesky

Airbnb has been an almost perfect embodiment of Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” culture since it burst onto the scene in 2008.

The company — which claims to have more than 6 million listings globally (a number it says is more rooms than the six largest hotel groups combined) — became very popular very fast with the public. But it’s also faced aggressive opposition from the city government and the hotel industry since the moment it landed in New York. And that ire has not let up.

Last year, city officials issued 718 violations to 139 single- and two-family homes as part of its crackdown on Airbnb. It also raided the Far West Side’s swanky Atelier condominium, doling out roughly two dozen violations to owners accused of illegally renting out apartments through the home-sharing site. (In New York, it’s illegal to rent out a residential property for less than 30 days if the owner or tenant is not there.)

Earlier this year, the city also hit Airbnb with a subpoena for details on 20,000 apartment listings in the five boroughs. The blowback is not just limited to the public sector, though. A recent survey found that about one in 10 Airbnb guests have found cameras hidden in their short-term rentals, and even more are worried that cameras are watching them.

But Airbnb — which has turned the hospitality space on its head — has forged ahead with its no-holds-barred growth strategy despite any opposition.

The company is expanding internationally and, after years of rumors about an initial public offering, now finally seems to be on the brink of going public. CEO Brian Chesky, who co-founded Airbnb with Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk, has said it’ll happen this year. Here’s a closer look at some of the numbers behind Airbnb before it goes public — whenever that might be.

47,542

The number of listings on Airbnb in New York — the third most of any city that the independent website Inside Airbnb tracks. London had the most with 77,096 listings, and Paris followed with 59,881. By comparison, the five boroughs had 115,000-plus hotel rooms as of 2017, according to the Department of City Planning.

$38B

Airbnb’s reported valuation at the end of 2018. Hilton Worldwide Holdings, by comparison, was valued at about $27.3 billion as of last month. Some analysts have predicted that Airbnb will pull in $8.5 billion in revenue in 2021, a 123 percent increase from its 2018 revenue of $3.8 billion.

$540,000

The amount Airbnb spent on federal lobbying in 2018. While that is not a huge amount, it’s a significant jump over 2014’s $220,000. In addition, it doesn’t include all of the lobbying Airbnb has done at the local level in New York, where it has met strong resistance.

Brian Chesky

$3.7B

Brian Chesky’s net worth. The 37-year-old Airbnb co-founder ranked 568th on Forbes’ Billionaires 2019 list and 65th on its Richest in Tech 2017 list. Chesky, who attended the Rhode Island School of Design, earned $40,000 a year as an industrial designer prior to Airbnb.

$43

Uber’s stock price as of June 24, down from $45 at its May IPO. Many venture-capital-backed unicorns have seen their sky-high valuations drop after going public, but some analysts believe Airbnb might have a stronger showing given that it’s already profitable.

Mumbai, India

2.7B

The approximate combined population of India and China, where Airbnb has been ramping up its presence recently. Earlier this year, the firm made an investment rumored to be between $150 and $200 million in OYO, an Indian budget hotel management company. It also has a growing foothold in China, where it had 300 employees as of April.

Scott Rechler

10

The number of floors Airbnb and Scott Rechler’s RXR Realty are converting into residential space at 75 Rockefeller Plaza. The space, which is set to open in about a year, will feature roughly 200 units for overnight stays. The deal marks the first standalone Airbnb facility in a New York office building.

$21M

The amount NYC is suing brokerage Metropolitan Property Group over allegations that it ran an illegal network of Airbnb rentals, hosting 75,000 guests across 13,000-plus Manhattan rentals between 2015 and 2018. Company CEO Sami Katri has denied the allegations.

2025-2027 Long Beach Avenue (Credit: Google Maps and iStock)

A restaurant supply company has purchased a last-mile distribution center near Downtown Los Angeles, helping the region maintain its nationwide industrial market dominance.

American Paper & Plastics paid $14.8 million through an entity named 2025 Long Beach Ave LLC, records show. The property was owned by Namu Properties Corporation, linked to an apparel manufacturer named SSC Apparel, or “Soprano Wear.” Namu Properties acquired the property in 2010 for $5.4 million.

The 46,500-square-foot building is at 2025-2027 Long Beach Avenue, just south of the 10 Freeway and the Fashion District. It is located in an Opportunity Zone, which could allow investors to delay or reduce capital gains taxes if substantial improvements were made.

The demand for last-mile destinations has been on the rise in L.A. Last month, Punch Studio signed a five-year lease at a last-mile warehouse in Harbor Gateway North, and Soho Logistics signed a lease earlier this year at a last-mile facility in the City of Industry.

In the nearby Fashion District, Urban Offerings is working on a mixed-use redevelopment, and Access Industries recently paid $32 million for two warehouses around the corner from the landmark Ford Factory building that it purchased a few weeks before.

Bridge Development Partners is also building a 117,400-square-foot facility in the nearby Vernon area, and Johnson Development Associates filed plans to build an 167,000-square-foot industrial warehouse in the neighboring Central-Alameda area.

Robert De Niro and an aerial view of 87 19th Avenue in Queens (Credit: Getty Images and Google Maps)

Robert de Niro’s second attempt to bring a major film studio to New York is going smoothly, so far.

His new project, Wildflower Studios at 87 19th Avenue in Queens, comes at a time when film companies are flocking to the city. Last year, 332 films were made in the city, more than double the figure in 1980, according to the New York Times.

Adam Gordon, the president of Wildflower, told the times that he and De Niro came up with the concept because of the state of studios across the country.

The production of movies and television shows has been on the up in New York because of the credits offered by the state — they can save up to 30 percent on production costs. (Wildflower has not applied for any credits as of now.)

Companies, including Steiner Studios have grown their footprints in the city. Silvercup Studios opened two new studios in the Bronx, and Netflix in April said it would be opening a corporate office in Manhattan and production space in Brooklyn.

“We toured studios in New York, on the West Coast and in the South to understand the landscape of current filming spaces,” Gordon said. “We saw the need for a true destination film campus.”

But De Niro seems to have always wanted to bring film to New York. Two decades ago, the Hollywood star partnered with now-disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein on such a deal, the Times reported. In that project, the pair had announced a $150 million deal to turn a 15-acre site at the Brooklyn Navy Yard into a dozen sound stages.

After receiving what the pair believed was the greenlight from then-Mayor Rudy Guiliani in 1999, the city reneged on its approvals, and the project failed.

This time around, De Niro has partnered with his son, Raphael De Niro, a broker at Douglas Elliman and film producer Jane Rosenthal, to launch Wildflower Studios. About a dozen studios are planned for the site to meet the demands of booming production houses and streaming services, including Amazon, HBO and Netflix.

The trio is purchasing the property from piano manufacturer Steinway for $73 million. They plan to raise $425 million for the project — $150 million in equity and $275 million in debt. Dustin Stolly and Jordan Roeschlaub at Newmark Knight Frank are handling the capital raise. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. [NYT] — David Jeans 

City Council President Herb Wesson and an aerial view of Leimert Park

Los Angeles officials are hoping to redevelop two city-owned lots in Leimert Park Village with residential projects, as it continues to battle a housing crunch.

The city will seek developers for the adjoining sites located near the Crenshaw/LAX Line, which is set to open next year, Urbanize reported. The lots are located at 3416 W. 43rd Street and 4300-4326 S. Degnan Boulevard.

City Council President Herb Wesson called for city agencies to issue a request for information for potential developments there. His motion pointed to a study that found “potential market demand for residential, retail, and office in the area surrounding Leimert Park Village.” Residential was found to be the highest performing option, and it will most likely be the use on both properties, according to the report.

Leimert Park is in South L.A. between Western Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard. The soon-to-open Metro line has brought increased investment to the area. Brasa Capital Management is planning to build a 62-unit live-work property in Leimert Park, and Olson Homes is also building a 38-unit condo building in the same area. [Urbanize] — Gregory Cornfield

Compass CEO Robert Reffkin (Credit: iStock)

The incendiary lawsuit Realogy filed Wednesday accuses Compass of “illicit” business practices, “predatory” poaching and attempts at price-fixing.

The 68-page suit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, provides a raft of detailed examples for how the $4.4 billion Softbank-backed firm allegedly operates — from making “inflated” job offers to flouting co-brokerage rules. In a statement, a Compass spokesperson said its competitors are “using the court system to stifle competition” and noted that past attempts to do so have failed.

We read through every page of Realogy’s suit so you don’t have to. Here are some of the juiciest tidbits.

1. To circumvent non-compete clauses, Compass offered new hires fake titles, the suit alleges. For example, an Atlanta office manager was hired as a “director of learning and development.” A Chicago manager was hired as a “national coach.” A Brooklyn manager was hired as “director of communications.” And a Houston sales director was hired as a “culture czar.”

2. In New York, Compass went after listings so aggressively that it encouraged recruits to alter Corcoran’s listing system, according to the suit. In one case, a former Corcoran agent was marketing a 500-square-foot studio in East New York. Just before leaving Corcoran, the agent changed the status of the listing to “sold.” When the agent joined Compass, she manually marked it as “active” on Compass’ site.

3. In California, a 2017 attempt to poach a manager involved wining and dining and dirty tricks, the suit alleges. First, the manager was taken to lunch by Compass’ senior vice president Gene Martinez — himself the subject of a now-settled suit filed by Corcoran in 2015. According to the suit, the manager was offered twice his salary, a large bonus and the opportunity to purchase $600,000 to $1 million worth of stock options. Compass CEO Robert Reffkin later urged the manager to “get a gmail account” and to restrict conversations with Reffkin to the phone to avoid traceable communications. Reffkin’s plan to get around the manager’s non-solicitation agreement was to recruit agents via a designated recruiter, the suit contends. To help that person be effective, Reffkin instructed the manager to bring his “A list” agents to Compass, and asked him to identify information that would help Compass make compelling offers to those agents.

4. The complaint accuses Compass of questionable SEO practices to generate leads. This spring, after purchasing the operations of a Maryland-based franchise — Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate The J. Melvin Group — Compass left references to Better Homes within the source code for the franchisee’s website. That’s ensured that anyone who Googles Better Homes is redirected to Compass’ website.

5. Compass got a bit creative with job locales to avoid non-competes, the suit says. In 2018, Corcoran’s former Brooklyn Heights office manager, Joe Fuer, joined Compass as “director of communications.” By 2018, Fuer’s LinkedIn profile said he was working in Atlanta as an expansion sales manager. And as of April, Fuer’s LinkedIn profile said he was working as a regional sales manager in the Hamptons. In a separate example, longtime Realogy finance executive Urvin Pandya — whose non-compete prohibited him from working for a competitor within 50 miles for six months — was hired and told to work out of Philadelphia, the suit alleges. But, it added, he still reported to Compass’ CFO in Manhattan.

6. Compass has accessed a proprietary database known as the Listing Exchange Apartment Rentals system (LEAR), according to the suit. Based on an analysis of log-in attempts, Realogy said it determined the “unauthorized incursions” were made from a computer with an internet protocol linked to Compass.

7. Recruiters use scripts that include rumors that Realogy is bankrupt or going out of business. In May 2019, one recruiter told a Coldwell Banker agent that Realogy planned to close their office, a claim that was “completely fabricated.” According to the suit: “This statement also raises questions about how Compass could have come by that confidential information, had it been true.”

8. Compass commissioned a study by Blueshift, which claims former Sotheby’s International Agents who joined Compass saw their business grow 20 percent to 40 percent within a year. Realogy said the study only included seven agents. Realogy’s own analysis found that agents who left the conglomerate in 2017 and early 2018 saw their business drop 9 percent to 20 percent.

9. Just before the lawsuit was filed, Reffkin solicited Realogy to enter a “price-fixing agreement where the two companies would agree to limit agent compensation and ‘compete on brand,’ but not on price, the suit claims. Realogy declined.

MedMen CEO Adam Bierman and a retail shop in West Hollywood

MedMen Enterprises is taking on another $30 million in debt from Gotham Green Partners to continue its expansion across the country.

Culver City-based MedMen announced the deal Wednesday, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported. The cash adds to $250 million in conditional debt that Gotham Green already lent the company in March.

Chicago-based investment firm Wicklow Capital partnered with Gotham Green, a private equity firm based in New York, on the debt deal. MedMen will use the money to open more retail stores, including in states set to permit recreational cannabis sales, such as Illinois.

The Land of Lincoln is a key market for MedMen. The firm, which is negotiating a $682 million all-stock deal to acquire Chicago-based retailer PharmaCann, plans to open 10 stores in the state with recreational legalization set for 2020.

MedMen’s financials look a lot like many tech startups — the company is recording quarterly losses and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to expand with the goal of establishing itself as the premier retailer in the legal weed market. In its most recent quarter, it reported $63.1 million in losses against $36.6 million in revenue, according to the LABJ.

Still, MedMen has often been called a so-called Apple Store of Weed due to its sleek and stylish online and retail branding. The company’s $250 million deal in March included an initial $100 million loan and $150 million in future debt tied to its performance on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

MedMen’s stock price dropped in May after it reported the company was cutting executive pay amid a push toward profitability, according to Investor’s Business Daily. The firm is currently licensed for 86 retail stores.

The company raised another $100 million in January when MedMen spun off its real estate assets into Treehouse Real Estate Investment Trust, an entity created in partnership with Venice-based investment firm Stable Road Capital. [LABJ] – Dennis Lynch

Jovan Vavic and his now-former home in Rancho Palos Verdes

A decorated former USC water polo coach allegedly involved in a widespread college admissions scandal has sold his Rancho Palos Verdes home.
Jovan Vavic sold his 3,200-square-foot Mediterranean-style home for $2.5 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The former coach purchased his home in 2004 for a hair more than $1 million and undertook a complete renovation. The home has four bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms. The backyard has views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island.

Vavic put the home on the market in April, a month after federal prosecutors indicted him and several others at schools across L.A. in a racketeering conspiracy.
Vavic is accused of accepting $250,000 in bribes from alleged mastermind Rick Singer to accept the children of Singer’s clients as athletes, even though they weren’t, to take advantage of the relaxed academic admissions standards for athletes.

Prosecutors allege that wealthy individuals paid Singer a collective $25 million over the last several years to get their children into elite schools using the scheme. Parents charged in the scheme include actress Lori Loughlin and Bay Area real estate developer Bruce Isackson.

Former UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo, who allegedly also accepted bribes similar to Vavic, listed his home in Century City shortly after the federal indictments. [LAT] —Dennis Lynch

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kamala Harris (Credit: Getty Images)

As democratic presidential candidates look to distinguish themselves from the pack and demonstrate their progressive bona fides, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kamala Harris are teaming up to strengthen protections against housing discrimination.

The duo proposed a bill that would outlaw the so-called “one strike” rule, which has been on the books since 1996 when Bill Clinton ordered an eviction for anyone in public housing committing a violent or drug-related crime.

NYCHA Polo Grounds Houses (Credit: Getty Images)

In effect, the legislation would prohibit Public Housing Authorities from denying housing only because a resident has a criminal record, The Root reported. It would also limit drug and alcohol testing by Public Housing Authorities, provide additional Section 8 funding for ex-offenders and kick in $10 million in additional funding for homeless service providers.

Critics of the law as it currently stands have said that it allows for entire families to be evicted for the misdeeds of one household member — or even a guest. And along with Clinton’s 1994 Crime Bill, it is widely recognized that the law disproportionately affects communities of color.

The bill follows a May exchange between Ocasio-Cortez and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, during a House Financial Services Committee hearing, when Carson stated that he was open to an alternative to the “one strike” rule. Ocasio-Cortez and Harris have wasted no time in testing Carson’s resolve. The proposed legislation also comes after Carson proposed a change that would lift an exemption to allow undocumented immigrants to live in public housing, a move that many say would displace tens of thousands of children. [The Root] — Georgia Kromrei

Roger Birnbaum and the home

For Roger Birnbaum, the long wait is over. But for the Hollywood film producer of movies like the “The Rush Hour” franchise, it’s not the release of his next potential blockbuster. It’s the sale of his home.

Birnbaum, who founded Spyglass Entertainment, sold the Beverly Hills home at a sharp discount from its original asking price.

The 8,000-square-foot home in the Trousdale Estates traded for $21.4 million after Birnbaum originally asked $33.8 million last year, which amounts to a 37-percent drop. Still, it was more than a million dollars over what he paid for it.

Price cutting has been the rule not the exception in Los Angeles’ luxury real estate market in recent months. The Spelling Manor in Beverly Hills, which sold for $120 million — the most expensive residential sale in the county ever — was still 40 percent less than its original asking price.

Birnbaum paid $20 million for his home in 2014, records show. The modern-style home on Hillcrest Road was designed in 1956 by architect Harold Levitt. It includes four bedrooms and seven bathrooms. It also features a 500-square-foot music room and a pool.

The property appeared in the “Four Days in L.A.” ad campaign for Versace, and its past owners include Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi — who have become expert luxury home flippers — developer Brad Korzen and decorator Kelly Wearstler, media executive Rosalie Swedlin, and CIA analyst-turned-producer Robert Cort.

Stephen Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency had the listing; Ari Afshar of Compass represented the buyer, who was not identified.

Birnbaum, who is co-chairman of Spyglass, also produced films like “No Strings Attached,” “Get Him to the Greek” and “Dinner for Schmucks.”

Amazon will open a second headquarters in Northern Virginia (Credit: Getty Images)

They don’t call it the Amazon effect for nothing.

The online retail giant has been causing some consternation in Northern Virginia, even though it has yet to start work on its corporate campus there.

The company announced in November it would open its HQ2 in Arlington, and residents say they have been inundated with interest in the months following, according to the New York Times. Many say Amazon’s plans have already driven up property and rent prices, putting pressure on low-income residents.

Tech companies have faced mounting scrutiny in recent years over their impact on housing and communities. In June, Amazon announced it would donate $3 million to a nonprofit organization, the Arlington Community Foundation, which focuses on affordable housing and homelessness in the area.

James Younger, a homeowner in South Arlington, said he had received about two inquiries a month since the announcement. Before, he received about two a year. “I’m certainly not going to sell it,” he told the Times.

Amazon plans to hire 400 employees for the mega-campus campus by the end of 2019, and more than 1,000 additional employees in the years that follow. It will purchase several development sites for a total of 4.1 million square feet of buildable space, in addition to leasing 500,000 square feet in the short-term.

“That day in November, I got more Zillow calls, inquiries and leads off of Zillow than I did the entire month of October,” Michelle Doherty, a real estate agent focused on South Arlington, said, according to the paper.

A report by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors and the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis showed that house prices were rising in Arlington County, and could spike by as much as 17.2 percent by the end of the year.

But Christian Dorsey, the chairman of the Arlington County Board, said it wasn’t clear whether rising prices could be attributed directly to Amazon, which has not yet arrived in the area. [NYT] — Sylvia Varnham O’Regan

Newport Partners founder Monique Hastings and 1141 S. Crenshaw Boulevard

Newport Partners’ affordable development wing Domus Management Company is planning a 43-unit project on the border of Mid-Wilshire and Arlington Heights.

The Irvine-based firm wants to build the five-story complex on a parking lot at 1141 S. Crenshaw Boulevard, just north of W. Pico Boulevard, according to a filing with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning.

Newport picked up the Arlington Heights parking lot last fall for $3.5 million. It’s about a third of an acre between two parcels.

Domus is seeking the go-ahead to increase height and reductions in yard space and open space via the Transit-Oriented Communities program, which provides those incentives for building affordable units near transit. The project would have just eight parking spaces, and all units are planned as affordable.

It’s Newport’s second filing for an affordable project in the last month. In June the firm filed for a 75-unit project two miles away in Koreatown.

Recently, Los Angeles County made a push to promote affordable housing developments as the housing crisis continues and financing for these projects becomes harder to get. The county will finance six projects with a total of 577 units after approving around $50 million in loans for six affordable projects.

Sonder CEO Francis Davidson and 20 Broad Street

A hotel-room-style listing startup just obtained unicorn status.

Sonder, a San Francisco-based startup with a platform that leases apartments and transforms them into furnished short-term rentals, closed on a $210 million funding at a $1 billion valuation, the company said Thursday.

Sonder’s big funding round signals confidence in the hospitality startup that is competing with Airbnb, which largely draws income from fees it charges renters and hosts.

Unlike Airbnb, Sonder relies on an asset-heavy model that draws some comparisons to WeWork, which also leases space, outfits them and then rents them to end users.

Sonder entered the New York market last year after signing a lease at 20 Broad Street and has side-stepped the city’s strict short-term rental laws by occupying buildings that meet the zoning and building requirements of a hotel.

Airbnb, which is now valued around $38 billion, has been forced to tighten its policies in the city, where the laws restrict short-term rentals unless the owner of a home lives there.

Sonder says that it manages more than 8,500 units in 711 buildings. It currently has locations in 20 cities and said it recently signed leases in Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, Dubai and Dublin.

The company has raised a total $400 million, which includes an $85 million series C fundraise last August. The latest funding round was backed by Fidelity, Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Capital, ARod Corp and the Pritzker family through Tao Capital Partners. Its early stage investors, Spark Capital and Greenoaks Capital, also participated.

In addition to the $210 million fundraise, an additional $15 million in equity will be provided by developers who are partnering with the firm.