EB-5 Worries, China's Slowdown Are Creating Uncertainty For Developers
Developer Steven Witkoff’s plans for a big high-end development have been put on hold, as signs of oversupply—along with the EB-5 uncertainty—are putting dimming demand in New York's luxury market.
The property, the Park Lane Hotel, sits just two blocks north of the 57th Street corridor dubbed Billionaires’ Row, the epitome of Manhattan’s uber-luxury boom. Steven bought the property for $660M in 2013, and will keep it as a hotel for the time being, Bloomberg reports.
Partner and fellow developer Harry Macklowe—co-developer of 432 Park Place, another high-end NYC project—says the velocity is not what it was, but "because we have cash flow, we have the flexibility to wait."
Since the recession, towers aimed at multimillionaire buyers and money parkers have hit the Big Apple en masse, leading to concerns of who can actually afford to buy them.
Despite the concerns of demand, the New York market, as a whole, just keeps building, with Manhattan median home sales hitting a record $1.15M in Q4. [Bloomberg]
