Summit Properties to take over 5K apartments from Joel Weiner’s Pinnacle

January 9, 2026 / no comments

Despite efforts by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration, Summit Properties is slated to take over more than 5,000 mostly rent-stabilized New York apartments from Joel Wiener’s Pinnacle Group. The final auction price was not immediately clear after the firm issued an initial bid of $451 million.  It’s the result of Pinnacle’s bankruptcy auction, in which Summit represented the minimum, or stalking horse, bidder. A confirmation hearing is scheduled for January 15.  The auction commenced despite efforts by tenants and elected officials, most recently Mamdani’s office, to delay the sale. The coalition had asked the judge in the case for more time, […]

This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.

LuxUrban founder Brian Ferdinand files for personal bankruptcy 

January 9, 2026 / no comments

The fallout from LuxUrban Hotels’ spectacular unraveling is no longer confined to courtrooms, creditors and locked hotel doors. For a former executive, it’s turning personal. Brian Ferdinand, the founder and former chief executive of the short-lived hotel operator, filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy last month, seeking a clean break from nearly $100 million in liabilities tied largely to the company’s failed New York City hotel leases. Ferdinand reported less than $4.5 million in assets against more than $98 million in debt, according to the filing, first reported by Bisnow. At the core of the wreckage are the personal guarantees […]

This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.

State comptroller wants “landlord disqualification” list for voucher program

January 9, 2026 / no comments

New York’s CityFHEPS voucher program has a $1.2 billion price tag. Now, the state comptroller wants less of that money going to “bad” landlords.  In an audit of the program released Friday, the comptroller’s office found that the city approved units with infestations and other serious concerns for participation in the program. And some tenants have used their vouchers to pay landlords on the city’s “Worst Landlords” list. As such, the comptroller recommended that the program establish a “landlord disqualification” list.  The audit is the latest public criticism of the rental assistance program, which serves mostly formerly homeless New Yorkers, […]

This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.

Charles Cohen’s distressed office sale irritates Fortress

January 9, 2026 / no comments

Charles Cohen can’t do right by his creditor, Fortress Investment Group. This week, Cohen sold the office building at 3 East 54th Street in the Plaza District to Vornado Realty Trust for $141 million, Bisnow reported. Steven Roth’s firm applied the $107 million debt it bought against the property over the last two years towards the purchase of the building, which it plans to raze. The sale would seem to be good news for Cohen, who is scrambling to raise cash after a New York judge ordered him to repay $187 million personally guaranteed to Fortress.  But the final sale […]

This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.