With new financial controls from China, "premature sales" of U.S. projects by Chinese developers?

Chinese Property Shopping Spree Fades as Beijing Hits the Brakes, the Wall Street Journal reported 10/31/17 (also on Fox Business), noting that policies since late last year "have been tightening restrictions on overseas investments and scrutinizing some of the country's most ambitious deal makers, voicing concerns that deals in certain sectors were disguises for capital flight into havens."

And that means, those interviewed by the WSJ said, "there could be premature sales of Chinese-led American projects." One example: a potential sale of part of a south San Francisco project by Greenland USA, which bought the project only in August 2016.

Greenland didn't deny its plans, but did tell the WSJ that "China's capital controls will have a certain impact on immature companies," implying it was excluded.

But that raises the question, not addressed in the article: is Greenland USA selling, or considering selling, any more of its 70% share (minus the arena and the B2 tower) in Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park? Remember, Greenland Forest City Partners were selling stakes in three buildings last year, but that never came about, and they're no longer being marketed.

Could Greenland and/or Forest City be trying again? (And is Forest City looking to divest B2, aka 461 Dean, the one-off modular tower it owns wholly?)

There's an odd line in a Real Deal article posted yesterday,  Is Cushman’s new dynamo team delivering?:

And CBRE has also struggled to get listings across the finish line, including a majority stake in Forest City New York and Greenland USA’s Pacific Park megaproject in Brooklyn and Thor Equities’ 590 Fifth Avenue.

I'm not sure if that's an error (and should've referred to the three buildings) or that's much bigger news. Stay tuned.

The Chinese economy, again

Either way, it's worth recalling a warning at a 3/28/14 board meeting of Empire State Development, the gubernatorial-directed authority that oversees and shepherds Atlantic Yards.

Gib Veconi of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council focused on the state’s failure to consider the option of bringing in other developers. The pending Greenland transaction would not represent a multiple-developer strategy, Veconi observed, but rather a single-source development project, one "under the control of a partner exposed to one of the world’s most volatile economies.”

Selling it like Serhant

Brownstoner yesterday had an entertaining brief on one of its own events, ‘Find Your Niche’ Advises Million Dollar Listing’s Ryan Serhant at Brownstoner Open Houses:

“Million Dollar Listing” star and Nest Seekers broker Ryan Serhant and Executive Vice President of Development at Forest City Ratner Companies Susi Yu spoke about a changing Brooklyn, 550 Vanderbilt, and how to create a brand at last week’s Brownstoner Open Houses networking event.
...“It’s a very different world today” in Brooklyn compared to a decade ago, said Yu. “You’ve got institutional money coming into this market. What’s important for Brooklyn is that we don’t lose our authenticity and core values that make Brooklyn so great.”

We don't lose our authenticity and core values? Like giant tax breaks for luxury apartments?

A not-so-ultra-cheap rental

Finally, let's look at this round-up from yesterday's New York Post, How these New Yorkers scored amazing ultra-cheap rentals, which includes the following:

Affordable housing is also constructed as part of an incentive program for developers building so-called “mega-projects,” like Brooklyn’s Pacific Park or the Lower East Side’s Essex Crossing. Kristen Pedersen, a 38-year-old who works in education, considered leaving New York until she won the lottery for 535 Carlton Ave., an affordable 303-unit rental within Pacific Park. She moved into her $2,170/month, one-bedroom pad this fall, when it was ready. “This building would have never been on my radar,” she says. The income bands for this building were broad: Someone making as little as $20,126/year could secure a studio for $532/month, while someone making as much as $173,415/year would pay $3,695/month for a three-bedroom.

Well, the articles does highlight some truly cheap rentals, but $2,170 for a rent-stabilized new-construction one-bedroom apartment, while below market in the area, is hardly inexpensive. 

By the way, that's "Band 4" of five income bands, with the most expensive--and plentiful--one-bedroom units renting for $2,680. Y'know how to score those rentals? No lottery required any more, but you do have to fit the income band.