The Real Deal

11/19/2025

L.A.’s fire recovery just turned into a political fight.

At a tense committee hearing, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez blasted Mayor Karen Bass’ team for “botched” and opaque handling of the Palisades recovery, slamming an $8 million funding request for AECOM’s planning work with little to show nearly a year after the fires. The committee signed off on up to $5 million for now — but put the brakes on the rest until it sees key infrastructure and fire-protection plans in the next month.

City Hall says Bass is focused on “the fastest disaster recovery effort in modern California history.” Rodriguez says it feels like “we’re circling the drain.”

Read our full breakdown of the clash over money, timelines and who’s really calling the shots on rebuilding at the link below.

11/19/2025

"Miami is where the world’s best architects come to do their worst work." That’s how Max Strang joked backstage, and in this highlight, he breaks down why out-of-town designers still get tripped up in Miami’s luxury market. From hurricane codes that "dumb things down" to buyers demanding all-in-one mega-homes, the panel pulled no punches.

▶️ Watch more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n778uhIi1M

The Strang Design founder, Choeff Levy Fischman's Ralph Choeff and Sabal Builder's Pascal Nicolai explained to moderator Kate Hinsche what it really takes to design for the country's most competitive luxury market — and why some architects should "stay away."

11/19/2025

Is a coffee shop a restaurant? A Flatiron co-op is asking a judge to decide.

Residents at 140 Fifth Avenue are suing to block Ralph Lauren's coffee chain Ralph's Coffee from moving into their ground-floor retail space, arguing that a coffee shop counts as a "restaurant," which their building's rules forbid after what they call a "disastrous" experience with a prior Russian eatery. The commercial condo owner, Ascot Properties, says Ralph's is just an "eating and drinking establishment," not a restaurant, and should be allowed.

Read the full story at the link below to see how a fight over lattes, lease language and Merriam-Webster could shape who moves in downstairs.

11/19/2025

"Faena is a place like no other… a place of fantasy, a place of entertainment, a place for fun,” Alan Faena told the crowd at the party for the official opening of the Faena Residences Miami Cultural Pavillion and Collaboratory, a sales center and cultural hub for the two-tower condo project designed by the late Rafael Viñoly.

Faena, KAR Properties and Fortune International Group marked the occasion with a high-season kickoff party on the 1.8-acre site, the first part of KAR and Fortune’s three-phase project spanning over 5 acres in the Miami River District.

Nearly 100 condos are already in presale, totaling about $300 million in contracts, as foreign and domestic buyers rush to lock in units at the 68-story, amenity-bridged towers.

TRD was on the scene. Step inside the event, and the project reshaping the Miami River, at the link below.

11/19/2025

Compass vs. Zillow just moved from behind-the-scenes lawyering to a Manhattan courtroom.

Hearings kicked off Tuesday on Compass’ bid to pause Zillow’s private listing policy, with CEO Robert Reffkin on the stand defending the brokerage’s claim that Zillow is using monopoly power to choke off competition in home search. Zillow’s attorneys pushed back hard, questioning whether Compass is really a search rival at all and highlighting Reffkin’s own “I don’t know” answers on market share and impact.

The fight centers on alleged violations of the Sherman Act — and could shape how private listings and “velvet rope” inventory are treated across the brokerage industry.

Read our full breakdown of Day 1 in Compass v. Zillow, and what’s still to come, at the link.

11/18/2025

Sapir Corp has placed its Nomo Soho hotel into Chapter 11, the latest development in the ongoing collapse and liquidation of Alex Sapir’s Israeli-backed real estate company.

Sapir Corp has placed its Nomo Soho hotel into Chapter 11, the latest step in the collapse and liquidation of Alex Sapir's Israeli real estate company.

11/18/2025

A billionaire Jose Cuervo scion may have tried a $90 million escape from one of NYC’s most notorious towers, 432 Park Avenue, where floods, cracks and lawsuits have hammered values.

🗞️ Keep reading here: https://bit.ly/4oMsOeu

11/18/2025

Bentley Residences Miami just broke two records this month. 🏗️ Fresh off securing Florida’s largest construction loan of 2025 at $630 million, the project completed the state’s biggest-ever residential construction pour — and the second-largest foundation pour in the U.S.

🎥 Watch the record-breaking pour that’s reshaping Miami’s skyline.
🗞️ Read more about the project's latest financing here: https://bit.ly/4pgwdC6

Over 36 nonstop hours this weekend, crews with Coastal Construction pumped 20,000 cubic yards of concrete and 2,400 tons of reinforcing steel onto the site. All for what will be one of the tallest towers on any U.S. oceanfront and Bentley’s first-ever branded condo.

Thank you Dezer Development for the exclusive look!

11/18/2025

Billionaire Rockstar Energy founder Russell Weiner is quietly building a South Florida residential empire. His latest move: going into contract on La Maison Blanche, a $20.9 million, 11,500-square-foot mansion in Stone Creek Ranch, the same gated enclave where Mark Wahlberg just paid $32.6 million.

It’s the newest addition to a portfolio that already includes a $35.3 million Star Island mansion and a $100 million-plus estate under construction on Miami Beach’s Pine Tree Drive.

Go inside Weiner's growing South Florida empire at the link below.

11/17/2025

Hospitality promises comfort, not headlines about guests feeling "stranded." Yet that’s the fallout from Sonder’s collapse. The once-$2B proptech star says it will file for Chapter 7 and halt operations after liabilities swelled to roughly $1.5B against $1B in assets. The unraveling accelerated when Marriott terminated its year-old deal, yanking about 9,000 "Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy" units overnight.

Lawsuits are already flying, including from the Moinian family, as owners from Silverstein to BLDG Management confront stranded occupants and murky lease obligations.

As Mike Romano writes at the link, the bigger story is the model: What becomes of master-leased properties, and does the sector pivot toward management agreements and hybrids that spread risk?

Read more at the link.

Sonder's Chapter 7 bankruptcy and abrupt shutdown are creating disruption for landlords nationwide and raising new questions about the master-lease model.

11/17/2025

New York loves big ideas. But what if fixing the city starts with small ones?

In his new column, Erik Engquist argues that New York’s real bottleneck is bureaucratic sludge: error-ridden portals, pointless affidavits and compliance hoops that stall projects and shut out seniors and small owners.

Read the full op-ed at the link below.

11/17/2025

Sometimes foreclosure is a family affair. The Ostad brothers, a trio of New York real estate investors, have been hit with nine foreclosure suits tied to more than $70 million in loans. Michael and Edward are named in all of them; youngest brother Steven appears in three. According to the lender, debt payments stopped in April 2025 — the same month Michael and Edward sued Steven to dissolve their family partnerships.⁠
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Steven's attorney says he's a passive investor who was "shocked" to learn payments weren't made and claims the older Ostad brothers were in "exclusive control of the properties' finances." The lender, which took over the loans after the collapse of Signature Bank, is trying to collect some funds from the brothers personally, accusing them of breaching guaranty agreements.⁠
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At the link, Lilah Burke charts the family feud, the foreclosure math and what’s at stake for each brother.