?? Trouble for WeWork, rent the Trump estate… and more

THE RUNDOWN:

1?? WeWork is on the brink of being dropped from the NYSE after the company’s stock closed below $1 for 30 days. The company has six months to recover, but a tough road ahead.?

?? A Blackstone lender is looking to sell its debt on the company’s 11-building New York City portfolio, signaling that it could be at risk of foreclosure.

?? In South Florida, Donald Trump’s 10,000-square-foot Palm Beach estate is up for rent. The going price: $195K per month.

?? Real estate mogul and Texas native Harlan Crow addressed a recent investigation into his cozy ties with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (and his trove of Nazi memorabilia).

?? The Reuben brothers paid $1B for Century Plaza development in Los Angeles, acquiring the foreclosed property for 40% of the $2.5B development cost.

?? Arbor Realty Trust is facing a lawsuit from tech entrepreneur Adam Cooper, who claims the company failed to pay him a $1M finder's fee for one of Chicago’s largest-ever multifamily deals.

THE DETAILS:

1?? WeWork faces delisting from New York Stock Exchange

WeWork is under pressure from the NYSE after the company’s stock price fell below $1 for 30 days. The long-embattled real estate firm has six months to get its share price up, but the stock is still heading in the wrong direction. The price is down 65 percent year-to-date, opening Thursday at 46 cents. It’s been a long, steep road for WeWork, which now has a market cap of just $361 million after earning a $47 billion valuation in 2019.?

?? Blackstone lender looks to sell debt

It’s been a month of highs and lows for Blackstone. Last week, the asset management giant set a new record for the largest real estate fund ever raised, at $30 billion. This week, the company was hit with the news that one of its mezzanine lenders, the Korean fund Inmark Asset Management, is looking to offload $50 million of debt tied to 11 Manhattan apartment buildings. It’s the latest of several signs that the firm’s NYC multifamily portfolio could be in trouble.

?? Trump’s Palm Beach estate could be yours (for $2.3M a year)

Ever want to live like an ex-president? Now’s your chance. Donald Trump's Palm Beach estate is back on the rental market for $195,000 per month. The 10,455-square-foot, eight-bedroom mansion sits right next door to the former president’s Mar-A-Lago resort. The home is the most expensive rental in Palm Beach. It’s also a potential moneymaker for Trump — he purchased the estate in 2018 for $18.5 million, but recent estimates place its value at $50 million.

?? Harlan Crow speaks?

Real estate scion Harlan Crow spoke publicly for the first time since ProPublica published an investigation into his relationship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Crow, the former CEO of Crow Holdings and son of real estate tycoon Trammell Crow, has lavished gifts on Thomas for years, often taking the justice on worldwide, six-figure vacations. Crow called the ProPublica piece a “political hit job,” but didn’t refute any of the reporting.

?? Century Plaza’s price tag? $1 billion

What’s Century Plaza worth? Depends on who you ask, but the Reuben brothers purchased it out of foreclosure for $1 billion earlier this month. Former owner Michael Rosenfeld defaulted on $1.8 billion of loans tied to the building in July 2021, kicking off a multi-year drama. The foreclosure allowed the British billionaires to place a credit bid on the building and scoop it up for just 40 percent of its $2.5 billion development price.

?? Arbor sued over Emerald Empire finder’s fee

Just a week after foreclosing on a $200 million+ portfolio in Houston, Arbor Realty Trust is facing legal issues in Chicago. The plaintiff, Adam Cooper, is a longtime friend of Arbor Trust’s founding family, Maurice Kaufman and his father, Arbor CEO Ivan Kaufman. But no longer: Cooper claims that the Kaufmans failed to pay him a $1 million finder’s fee after Cooper introduced the Kaufmans to Moshe Wechsler of Emerald Empire. Since that introduction, Wechsler’s firm has borrowed almost $1 billion from Arbor.?

THE CLOSE:

It’s been a year of family and friend feuds. In Chicago, a father is suing his son. In L.A., a man is suing his brother. In Miami, an ex-wife is suing her ex’s new wife. Now, we have a man suing a lifelong friend. What’s next? Father-daughter? Husband-wife? Keep reading TheRealDeal.com to find out.