The private listings war continues apace.
This week, StreetEasy announced that it would shut off access to programs like StreetEasy Experts, StreetEasy Concierge and Zillow Premier Agent for New York City agents found publicly-marketing listings to individual groups of clients.
As Jake Indursky reported, it’s the latest development in the growing fight over private listings. Zillow, StreetEasy’s owner, has banned listings that are privately listed for more than one day. It takes direct aim at Compass, which has been pushing for private listings.
Other competitors in the space have been taking sides. “We’re leaning in pretty hard to … the fact that the broad distribution of listings is best for the customer, whether buyers or sellers,” Anywhere Real Estate CEO Ryan Schneider said on a recent earnings call.
Speaking of buying and selling, Blackstone is looking like the odds-on favorite for a Plaza District Tower that’s asking for more than $1 billion.
The former IBM Building at 590 Madison Avenue was eyeing a $1.1 billion sale. While there are a number of interested parties — SL Green, Tishman Speyer, RXR and RFR — Blackstone is the likely victor since it has the means to finance such a sale itself.
As Rich Bockmann reported, the deal hasn’t been finalized but an announcement may be on the horizon soon.
About 45 blocks south and a few avenues west of the IBM Building is another property about to change hands. RFR’s Michael Fuchs has been locked in a nasty divorce battle for years and has been shedding properties left and right.
The latest building is his West Village condo at 302 West 12th Street, which is facing foreclosure. Fuchs bought the pad in 2018 for $4.35 million; Citibank provided a $3.26 million mortgage at the time.
Now Fuchs has stopped making monthly payments on this mortgage.
This comes as RFR as a whole has been facing defaults as well. For example, the firm recently lost control of its ground lease at the Chrysler Building.