Bloomberg

• November 2024 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Developers are looking to build 71,000 apartments with the extension to the lapsed 421a property tax break. Nearly 650 buildings have sent letters of intent to qualify for the extension, which would give them until June 15, 2031, to complete them. 33,000 planned apartments would not be built unless the state legislature extended the 421a construction deadline beyond June 2026. Bloomberg signed a lease for 925,000 square feet at 919 Third Avenue, bringing its total long-term office commitment in Manhattan to nearly 2 million SF. Amazon is negotiating for 350,000 SF at 452 Fifth Avenue for occupancy in 2025. …
  
  
• July 2024 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: The number of new leases Downtown was 35% below the five-year average. Blackstone is finalizing a deal to expand its headquarters at 345 Park Avenue, upping its lease from 750,000 SF to just over 1 million SF. Blackstone extended its lease by six years to the end of 2034, approximately 55% of the 1.9M SF office building. Two-year old Hudson Yards skyscraper is now 81% leased. Tishman Speyer signed five new lease agreements totaling 129,500 square feet at its Hudson Yards tower. Bloomberg extended its lease for another 11 years at 731 Lexington Avenue in the Plaza District for …
  
  
• July 2024 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Brookfield hopes to sell 3333 Broadway for $350 million for the 1,193 unit rental complex that has five connected buildings and is one of the biggest apartment complexes in Manhattan. Mitsui Fudosan America is looking to sell its majority stake at 525 West 52nd Street, a 392-unit property. Mitsui and Taconic are seeking a deal that would value the building at $275 million. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is looking to sell its New York Edition Hotel at 5 Madison Avenue. The 271-key hotel in the landmarked clock tower overlooking Madison Square Park is asking $271 million. …
  
  
• June 2024 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Leasing volume was up in Manhattan in May, with 3M SF of office although below the 3.6M SF monthly average in 2019. Bloomberg leased nearly 1M SF renewal 731 Lexington and will stay until 2040 in the same footprint. American Eagle’s leased 338,000-square-foot lease at 63 Madison Avenue. Bain & Company signed a 235,000 square feet across four floors at 22 Vanderbilt . The asking rent varied by floor, between $105 and $120 per square foot. Palantir’s 140,000 square-foot renewal at 620 Sixth Avenue . 126K SF lease signed by The Trade Desk 1114 Sixth Avenue. TD Bank’s 80,000 …
  
  
• January 2022 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Core Club signed a 20-year lease to take up to 60,000 square feet at 711 Fifth Avenue. The club is expected to take occupancy late next year, after outgrowing its 32,000-square-foot space at 60 East 55th Street. Touro College is consolidating its scattered Manhattan footprint in the heart of Times Square. The private university system has signed a 32-year lease for 243K SF at 3 Times Square tower. Touro intends to relocate much of the graduate and undergraduate programming at its three Manhattan locations. Bloomberg LP agreed to take an additional 191,000 square feet at 919 Third Avenue. Bloomberg …
  
  
• January 2020 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: New York City’s hotel inventory includes 113 new developments to open in the next few years, with just over half located outside Manhattan. New York’s hotel inventory will reach 144,000 rooms by the end of 2021 up 65% from the 87,000 rooms the city had in 2010. Chang has filed plans for his biggest hotel yet. The 34-story, 974-room development at 150 West 48th Street. Michael Bloomberg is moving his presidential campaign headquarters from the Upper East Side to Times Square. The new headquarters are located at 229 West 43rd Street, 8th floor. New York City will end …
  
  
• January 2019 New York New Developments
• NYC Major Developments: Overall, November’s top office leases outpaced October’s top office leases. The 10 biggest deals signed last month totaled 1.8 million square feet, up 400,000 square feet from October’s total of 1.4 million square feet. The largest office lease in November was signed in Grand Central. Bloomberg LP renewed its 11-year lease for 468,000 square feet of space at 120 Park Avenue. Ralph Lauren expanded its lease for 350,000 square feet of space at 601 West 26th Street. RXR Realty refinanced the property with a $900 million loan from New York Community Bank. Peloton signed a lease for …
  
  
• June 2017 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Developer David Marx continues to put the pieces together for an upcoming Aloft hotel at 450 11th Avenue, refinancing the project with $67 million in loans. The de Blasio administration is finally moving forward with a proposal it announced 18 months ago to curtail the city’s emerging self-storage industry as part of City Hall’s plan to preserve middle-class jobs by regulating development in certain manufacturing zones. Several retail brands are on the lookout for large spaces in the borough, including discount clothier Primark. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $75 million towards the construction of the Shed, an arts …
  
  
• March 2017 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: The city is taking another attempt at rezoning the Garment District, a move that will likely rollback rules that require landlords to lease a portion of their building to the fashion industry. The possible rezoning is connected to the Mayor’s plans to build a new manufacturing campus in Brooklyn. The Bloomberg administration tried to rezone the Garment District in 2009, but stopped the plan due to opposition. In the fourth quarter of 2016, absorption rate was negative in all three Manhattan office submarkets: Downtown, Midtown, and Midtown South for a total net absorption of negative 277,988 …
  
  
• May 2016: New York New Developments
• New Developments General Growth Properties and Thor Equities' are planning to add five new floors of office space at 685 Fifth Avenue. The developers are planning to redistribute space from the lower floors to create five new floors of office space that will be added to the 20-story building, raising its height from 227 feet to 292 feet.Isaac Chetrit">Isaac Chetrit and Ray Yadidi are planning a mixed-use skyscraper of up to 80 stories in a block-long assemblage on Sixth Avenue between West 36th and 37th streets, consisting of two existing buildings and 235,000 square feet of adjacent air rights. They …
  
  
• June 2014 New York New Developments
• Major Developments The South Bronx has had very few lodging destinations since the luxury Concourse Plaza Hotel at 161st Street and Grand Concourse closed in 1974. But now, with the opening of the luxury boutique Opera House Hotel at 436 East 149th Street last summer and the Umbrella Hotel looking to open 681 Elton Avenue this fall, the area’s hotel industry seems to be on the rebound.The Mayor’s administration has suggested rezoning a five-block stretch around Grand Central Terminal to allow for the construction of SL Green’s planned 65-story tower project at 1 Vanderbilt. De Blasio’s plan looks to partly …
  
  
• January 2014: New York New Developments
• NYC New Developments Brookfield Property Partners has increased its cash offer to buy Brookfield Office Properties to roughly $5.1 billion. Brookfield Office's board plans to recommend to shareholders to accept this new offer. In place of cash, shareholders can receive one limited partnership unit under the offer. In September, Brookfield Property's offer was valued at $5 billion. Hotel developer Zelig Weiss is planning a new 183-room hotel to Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg. The 150,000-square-foot building will be located at 55 Wythe Avenue. Citibank signed a lease worth more than $1 billion to renew its 2.7 million-square-foot lease in a two-building …
  
  
• December 2013: New York City New Developments
• New York City New Developments The state Public Authorities Control Board gave unanimous approval to the Empire State Development Corporation's $225 million National Urban League complex in Harlem. The project will include a civil rights museum, affordable housing and commercial space. Construction at 125th Street site will begin after the expiration of tenants' leases in 2015. The businesses currently occupying the site can apply for a low-interest loan for relocation services. However, lawsuits may still delay the complex.The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking to increase revenue by increasing the number of retail stores at subway stations and converting small spaces …
  
  
• October 2013: NYC New Developments
• NYC New Developments Ace Hotel is converting a 10-story building at 225 Bowery into a hotel, despite earlier plans to turn it into apartments. The Lower East Side building’s owner, the Salvation Army Chinese Community Center, will close within the year. Ace is serving as a silent partner and developer on this and the Jarmulowsky Bank project at 52 Canal Street. That development, from DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, is slated to be a 12-story, 105-unit hotel, and will be operated by Ace under a different name.Fairway Market is coming to the World Trade Center neighborhood. The market just signed …
  
  
• October 2013 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• If you are a corporate tenant looking for Manhattan office space, Downtown looks like your best bet now. The neighborhood had five of the ten largest office spaces currently on the Manhattan market. The Manhattan office leasing market saw a surprisingly hot close to the summer. Vacancy in the borough now sits at 11.2%, the lowest since 2008.The Flatiron District is riding high with businesses as it sees inventory of commercial retail space as tight as it has been since two years ago.The city’s Independent Budget Office is confident there will be enough demand for the glut of office space …
  
  
• June 2013 New York City New Developments
• NY New Developments The Federal Department of Transportation will give New York $185 million to help build a rail tunnel under the Related Companies’ Hudson Yards project that will allow for high-speed train service between Manhattan and Newark, N.JTwo recent Plaza District office leases have broken new price records, being the most expensive office leases since 2008. Hedge fund Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb and the Brazil-based Banco Itaú will pay just under $200 per square foot for space at 9 West 57th Street and the GM Building.The Lower East Side is getting a new 12-story, 44,000-square-foot, 38-unit residential building at …
  
  
• April 2013: Manhattan New Developments
• Manhattan New DevelopmentsThe Hudson Yards area is shaping up to be something of an office-{dynamic_word2} battleground, with the Moinian Group, Extell Development, the Related Companies and Brookfield Office Properties hunting for office tenants. Moinian's proposed 1.8 milllion-square-foot 3 Hudson Boulevard. Related's under-construction, 1.7 million-square-foot Coach building at 10th Avenue and 30th Street; and Brookfield's planned Manhattan West, which could bring 5.4 million square feet of office and residential space to Ninth Avenue. Extell has also proposed a 1.7 million-square-foot tower in the area dubbed 1 Hudson Yards. Peebles Corporation will pay $160 million for 346 Broadway, a 13-story building. Peebles …
  
  
• March 2013 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale The nearly 41,600-square-foot Colonial Revival U.S. Post Office location at 217 West 18th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues is for sale.The SUNY board of trustees voted to close the Cobble Hill-based Long Island College Hospital. The sale of the 200,000-square-foot building, which could be converted into a residential development, may bring up to $500 million.Lehman Brothers is looking to sell its 90 percent stake in 425 Park Avenue. The 31-story, 567,340-square-foot building, located in Midtown East, is to be demolished and replaced with a 650,000-square-foot Norman Foster-designed office tower being developed by L&L Holdings, which …
  
  
• February 2013: New York City New Developments
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency gave New Yorkers whose homes were devastated by Hurricane Sandy a 30-day extension on applications for home repairs. The Transitional Sheltering Assistance program, which has helped New Yorkers continue living in participating hotels and motels, will also be extended. Governor Cuomo requested that FEMA grant extensions. Alexander McQueen plans to decamp to 747 Madison Avenue. The designer will lease a double-height 3,300-square-foot space owned by Jeff Sutton, paying $1,300 per square foot during the 15-year lease. Fashion label Escada previously took up a portion of the retail space. Before that, Valentino occupied the space during …
  
  
• January 2013 NY New Developments
• NY New Developments Starchitect Norman Foster’s plans for the renovation of the New York Public Library flagship on Fifth Avenue were revealed, with features including a multi-level atrium, Bryant Park views and a teen center. Project construction will kick off this summer and will be completed in 2018. A long-stalled Midtown construction site has started construction again on a residential project at 325 Lexington Avenue. Permits for construction were renewed in July 2011. The new plans call for a ground floor restaurant and bar, 103 apartments with two full-floor penthouses, a club room and a fitness center. Construction may have …
  
  
• October 2012 New York New Developments
• New Developments The re-zoning of Midtown is to affect the area from Lexington to Fifth avenues and East 39th to East 57th streets. Developers can buy additional air rights from the city. Within a smaller Grand Central Sub district developers can buy from owners of landmarked properties that are under built. Argent Ventures controls nearly all of those air rights through its ownership of the Grand Central terminal. The record sale price was about $6,000 a square foot in 2008 in residential, and has now reached more than $10,000 a square foot. The very-rich have finally unleashed the liquidity that …
  
  
• September 2012 New York New Developments
• New Developments The Related Companies has won wage-cutting agreements with some four dozen construction unions in its efforts to save money at the $15 billion development of Hudson Yards. The developer, one of the most outspoken for the need to cut construction costs during contract negotiations with unions last year, got the groups to agree to cut wages and benefit packages by 10 percent to ensure they would be commissioned to work the massive construction project expected to carry on for the next decade. The deal is not yet final.With public support, the Kingsbridge Armory ice rink plan may appear …
  
  
• July 2012 New York New Developments
• Major Developments While details are sparse, Bowery Boogie is well underway on the 65,000-square-foot building, which has been covered in scaffolding for weeks. The renovation is being carried out by Lower East Side architecture firm Studio Castellano. The city’s Economic Development Corporation wants proposals from developers who would like to build and maintain underutilized industrial plots in three New York City boroughs. These include 95,000 square feet at 2399 Watson Avenue in the Bronx’s Zerega section, 80,000 square feet in East New York, Brooklyn, 53,000 square feet in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and 40,000 square feet in Queens’ College Point Corporate …
  
  
• June 2012 New York New Developments
• Major Developments A judge has rejected a bid by an investment partner at the Domino Sugar Factory to block its partner from recapitalizing the proposed $1.5 billion project. Express has signed for a flagship space in Times Square, believed to be at 1552 Broadway.The first retail stores at the World Trade Center site could open for business by March 2015. Westfield, which has a 50 percent stake in the WTC site’s retail space, said the first retailers will be announced in the first half of next year. The openings would come more than 13 years after the destruction of the …
  
  
• May 2012 New York New Developments
• New Developments Morgan Stanley just signed a lease for almost 1.2 million square feet of space at Brookfield Office Properties Inc.'s 1 New York Plaza in lower Manhattan. The bank, which currently occupies about 816,000 square feet at the building, will expand by an additional 337,000 square feet. The agreement is the largest office lease for a single building in New York since 2008. Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s push to modernize Midtown East office buildings has become a legacy issue as the mayor’s reign whines to a close. Bloomberg wants to re-zone the area bounded by Third and Fifth avenues and …
  
  
• April 2012 New York New Developments
• New Developments A joint venture partnership including New York Ace Hotel owner and GFI Capital Resources Group Gross’ GB Lodging is set to puchase the Temple Court building, a nine-story city landmark at 5 Beekman Street formerly owned by the Chetrit Group and Bonjour Capital.Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill to declare a formal state of emergency in New York City with regard to housing, allowing him to extend rent regulations for another three year even thought there is a Supreme Court challenge The mayor cited a citywide residential vacancy rate of 3.5 percent. Legally, rent regulations must be terminated …
  
  
• March 2012 New York New Developments
• New Developments There are thousands of acres of rooftop space in New York City where growing farm operations are looking to expand. Groups such as Gotham Greens, Brooklyn Grange and BrightFarms are looking for elevated space where they can grow crops to sell to local restaurants and supermarketsSheldon Solow outdueled his West 57th Street rival and acquired an office building on the block at a near record price. Solow, bid $120 million for 12 West 57th Street to beat out One57 developer Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development, for the 12-story property. The price works out to more than $1,400 …
  
  
• February 2012 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments The 226-room Courtyard Marriott on East 92nd Street may close this spring, in the wake of two years of legal battles, including a lawsuit against Marriott International. It is scheduled to lay off 59 employees by March 30. Having already ceded some of its demand to recent upstart office markets like Midtown South and downtown Manhattan, Midtown East is the subject of a Department of City Planning review intending to probe whether it needs to incentivize commercial property upgrades in the area Midtown East has more than 70 million square feet of office space, 13 Fortune …
  
  
• January 2012: Manhattan City New Developments
• Manhattan New Developments Cornell University, in partnership with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology will build a 2 million-square-foot applied science and engineering campus on Roosevelt Island. Atlantic Philanthropies a charitable organization founded by billionaire Charles Feeney made the $350 million gift to go towards the creation of Cornell University's 2 million-square-foot applied science and engineering campus on Roosevelt Island. Feeney, who made billions of dollars through co-founding the Duty Free Shoppers Group, graduated from Cornell's School of Hotel Management in 1956, and has been consistently making donations to his alma mater.Brooklyn politicians were still hoping on another phrase the mayor uttered …
  
  
• December 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Local 32BJ, the union representing more than 22,000 commercial building workers in New York City, voted to authorize their bargaining committee to call a strike if necessary. The union has been in contract talks with the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, since November 15th. The union opposes the landlords' proposal to establish a different wage and benefit structure for new hires, which they claim will create a two-tier system designed to push out workers with seniority. If negotiations fail by 12:01 am on Jan. 1, 2012, the union could strikeThe Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, which …
  
  
• November 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments The Chelsea Art Museum located at 556 West 22nd Street is about to be replaced by Hewlett-Packard, which has special plans for the building. HP signed a 10-year lease for the entire 34,500 feet inside the three-story museum building at 556 West 22nd Street near 11th Avenue.. Drastic job and spending cuts are in the cards for 2013 for the New York City construction industry, according to a report released today by the New York Building Congress entitled "New York City Construction Outlook 2011-2013." Construction spending is expected to total $27.7 billion this year.The average number of construction …
  
  
• October 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Time Warner is evaluating its plan to possibly move out of the Time Warner Center and consolidate its operations at new headquarters elsewhere to save costs. Time Warner moved to Columbus Circle in 2004, where it had partnered with Related Companies to build the building that is its company headquarters now. Many of its leases, including ones for more than 2 million square feet of space in Midtown, will expire as soon as 2017 and 2018. Since not many buildings could hold all of Time Warner's 6,000 employees in the city, possible alternative options would be Hudson Yards, …
  
  
• September 2011 New York New Developments
• Major NYC Developments The London-based Children's Investment Fund inked its first New York City real estate investment this month, providing $250 million in first mortgages for Macklowe Properties' condominium conversion of the luxury apartment building 737 Park Avenue in Lenox Hill. The fund, makes investments in a wide range of industries globally, and gives a portion of its profits to children's charities around the world. "It is the first direct real estate investment we have made in New York," New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is hindering federal efforts to negotiate a foreclosure settlement with Wall Street banks on …
  
  
• August 2011 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale 397-401 East 8th Street a development site is on the market for $5.2 million, EV Grieve. Chang's McSam Hotel Group purchased the 4,324-square-foot vacant lot, at 397-401 East 8th Street, for $4.9 million site. Chang appears to be in the midst of a selling spree -- he recently unloaded stalled hotel project sites in the Financial District and in Union Square, as well as his new Holiday Inn Express at 126 Water Street. A month after merging with EBSCO Publishing, library reference publisher H.W. Wilson has decided to market its former headquarters and nearby land holdings …
  
  
• July 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Governor Andrew Cuomo, signed a statewide property tax cap legislation, caps property tax increases at 2 percent, or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. Only a 60 percent vote in local communities override Cuomo's legislation. "We are beginning a new era in which New York will no longer be the tax capital of the nation," Cuomo said Community activists opposing the Rudin family's proposed takeover of the St. Vincent's Hospital campus in Greenwich Village dropped their court appeal without ever appearing before a judge.New York led a second consecutive month of U.S. housing price gains. Nationwide home …
  
  
• June 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Companies such as Boston Properties and Vornado Realty Trust are in negotiations with potential tenants and may even proceed with construction without securing leases. Boston Properties may be the first to break ground by the end of 2011. The company is finalizing negotiations to anchor a 1 million-square-foot tower at Eighth Avenue and 55th StreetRelated Companies CEO Stephen Ross said he was confident about attracting tenants for the first phase of the development, which will include four million square feet of office space. "I think we're going to surprise people," he said. "We're talking to nine tenants at …
  
  
• May 2011 New York New Developments
• Major Developments Mall of America developer Triple Five has reached a deal with lenders and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's administration to reboot and expand the stalled Xanadu complex in the Meadowlands,. The checkered, 2.4 million-square-foot complex, originally envisioned as a retail and entertainment destination that would rejuvenate East Rutherford, has sat incomplete along the New Jersey Turnpike for years, sapping up $1.9 billion in the process and developing a reputation as the poster child for failed boom-time real estate projects.Real estate investment firms Savanna and Monday Properties are launching a $30 million capital improvement for a 20-story, 260,000-square-foot commercial …
  
  
• May 2011 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• The Manhattan office vacancy rate increased in the first quarter of 2011 even as employment in the professional sector rose at the fastest rate since 2000. There were 11,500 new office workers in the first three months of this year. The first-quarter vacancy rate rose even as employment moved up because, large blocks of space being added to the market from tenants who signed relocation deals last year, and because many firms have excess space for their new hires.New York City office rentals got more expensive in the first quarter of 2011, even as vacancy and absorption rates remained mostly …
  
  
• April 2011 New York New Developments
• Major Trends Bruce Ratner wants to construct the world's tallest prefabricated structure at the Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn, according to the New York Times. The 34-story proposed tower would include 400 affordable apartment units, fulfilling a promise Ratner made when he took over the site. The annual rate of building permits issued for new privately-owned U.S. housing units fell by another 8.2 percent in February to a record-low 517,000, according to the latest data from the Commerce Department, backing up analysts' predictions that a sustained recovery in the housing market is still elusive. The permitting rate, which is indicative …
  
  
• April 2011 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan's office leasing market is on pace for its best year ever after February brought some 3 million square feet worth of deals,. That's far above the nine-year monthly average of 1.9 million square feet of office leases. The banner month also comes on the heels of a busy January, when 2.6 million square feet were snapped up in Manhattan office lease transactionsManhattan townhouses see 2010 sales uptickBoth the single-family and multi-family Manhattan townhouse markets showed signs of improvement last year, according to the Corcoran Group, which released its first annual Townhouse Report today. In the single-family market, the number …
  
  
• April 2011 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Host Hotels & Resorts closed on the $313.5 million sale of the New York Helmsley Hotel, which will be reflagged under the Westin Hotels & Resorts brand in mid-2012 after an extensive renovation. Host Hotels, will renovate the hotel, at 212 East 42nd Street, with a complete overhaul of its 775 guest rooms as well as a meeting space upgrade.Dune Real Estate Partners has agreed to pay $190 million for Anglo Irish Bank's mortgage loan on the embattled Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side. The note, which had a face value of around $300 million, …
  
  
• March 2011 New York New Developments
• Major Trends The laws that cap rent increases on 1 million city apartments expire in June, and landlord groups, tenant advocates and politicians all agree that they should be extended. Last time the laws were up for a renewal, in 2003, Senate Republicans threatened to let them expire and ended up forcing the Democrats to accept a simple renewal. Now the Democrats think they have a better chance of getting a good deal for tenants. The real estate industry is desperate to renew a tax break known as 421-a, which spurs new apartment building development, and Sheldon Silver believes developers …
  
  
• March 2011 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• New York City does not have enough big chunks of office space to go around for all of the major tenants who are looking. There are 24 tenants currently on the hunt for at least 250,000 square feet in New York City and only 29 available blocks that fit the bill. Only 12 of those spaces are in the coveted Midtown area, the crunch is shifting the office leasing market in landlords' favor. At 120 Park Avenue, Wells Fargo was recently bumped despite a letter of intent to lease 280,000 square feet because Bloomberg LP swooped to take that space, …
  
  
• January 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Columbia University may be moving forward with plans for a $6.3 billion expansion after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by local businesses whose properties may be subject to eminent domain. The justices refused to question findings by a state development agency and said that the area is blighted and that the expansion has a legitimate public purpose. Several years back, retail giant Walmart tried to open stores in Queens and Staten Island, but backed off after fierce community opposition. Now the discount chain store is trying again to break into the New York City market, since …
  
  
• January 2011 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Mayor Michael Bloomberg's budget director has ordered a 20 percent reduction in planned spending for the city's 10-year construction plan, due to the struggling economy. It's unclear which projects will be cut, but budget director Mark Page asked the city to identify work that can be postponed or canceled. New York City has, one million square feet too much real estate. We have to look at where we own, where we lease, the air rights and development rights and look broadly to return as much as possible to the private sector. Possible places that can be downsized are the 50 …
  
  
• December 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments Manhattan condominium prices climbed 9.4 percent in August, compared to the same month a year earlier. Transactions borough-wide increased 12.8 percent during that time, as well. Despite this recovery from 2009, activity and pricing are still a far away from pre-crash levels. This year, through August 31, has posted the second-lowest transaction count. A final hearing was held for the public to weigh in on Riverside Center, the proposed complex that Extell Development wants to build on the Upper West Side. The city council subcommittee on zoning and franchises heard more than four hours of testimony on the …
  
  
• December 2010 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• NY Commercial Real Estate Overview The Port Authority finalized its "backstop financing" agreement with Larry Silverstein for 4 World Trade Center, which allows the developer to place $1.3 billion in Liberty Bonds for the $1.8 billion tower. At the Nov. 18 board meeting, the PA approved the final documents. By converting the bonds to a construction loan, it will enable 4 WTC to be completed to its ultimate 64 stories. The PA itself will be an anchor tenant with about 800,000 square feet of the tower's total 2.1 million feet. Meanwhile, $1.3 billion more in Liberty Bonds remain in escrow …
  
  
• September 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments A deal with Silverstein Properties over how to pay for two towers was approved by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. The plan calls for the restoration of the east side of the site to at least street level and the completion of the WTC Transportation Hub. The funding needed for the project is now projected to be between $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion.A crucial City Council subcommittee and committee voted in favor of an office tower at 15 Penn Plaza proposed by developer Vornado Realty Trust. Although opposition to the 1,216-foot-tall tower stemmed from …
  
  
• August 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments Community Board 7 voted to disapprove Extell's plans for an eight-acre Riverside Center project, unless the developer agrees to build according to some modifications. The plan for the new development that would span 59th to 61st street and West End Avenue to the edge of the West Side Highway includes five skyscrapers, at least 2,500 apartments, 210,000 square feet of retail, a hotel, a movie theater, an underground automobile service center, a new K-8 school and three acres of open space. The Alex is facing an $81.7 million foreclosure suit after Anglo Irish Bank sold the note on …
  
  
• June 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments New York University may enter the public approval process for its new Silver Towers site, the crown jewel of its wildly controversial 2031 expansion plan. The biggest hurdle for the school will be gaining approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which will have final say on whether NYU can build on the landmark Bleecker Street site. The proposed building will be a "slender pinwheel tower," and is rumored to be planned for a 40-story structure. New York University dropped in on Community Board 3's zoning committee meeting and had little to say about how its 6 million-square-foot expansion …
  
  
• May 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments Of the many players featured in the high-stakes drama unfolding at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, David Tepper, who has bought more than $800 million worth of controlling bonds at the property over the last 18 months, is proving to be one of the most volatile and polarizing. Tepper took legal action to guide the distressed property to his liking. But his attitude toward Stuyvesant Town, one of the biggest commercial-deals-gone-sour, is one of optimism. Tepper sees an opportunity for bankruptcy and restructuring, a move he believes would save millions. The city's Economic Development Corp. issued two …
  
  
• April 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments The number of small- to mid-size medical and bio-pharmacy companies in the city has quadrupled to 120 from 2002, due to the city's recruitment and the accessibility of academic centers in the area. The Upper East Side girls' prep school has cancelled its expansion into the nearby apartment building. The Brearley School, at 610 East 83rd Street, had been angling to buy half the building at 85 East End Avenue, for use as additional teaching space but has fallen through. Extended Stay Hotels may accept a $905 million investment offer from Starwood Capital Group and associated investors in …
  
  
• March 2010 New York New Developments
• Major Developments Affordable housing programs throughout the city are facing trouble unloading units. The city has been praised across the country for its efforts to provide affordable housing to lower- and middle-income households but, while the low-income rentals continue to thrive, the ownership program is struggling, which could be seen as good since it ultimately means less foreclosures.Larry Silverstein believes his commitment to the World Trade Center redevelopment project can be measured not only by his enthusiasm, but also by his own cash. The developer recently proposed several different financing options to the Port Authority of New York & New …
  
  
• December 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments Commercial lenders did not throw out all of their standards in the recent cycle of easy credit. When developer Aby Rosen structured his $133 million loan for the acquisition and development of the Shangri-La hotel at 614 Lexington Avenue in 2007, the mortgage document included a personal guaranty to cover losses in the event of a default. Similarly, when Kent Swig negotiated $49 million in loans with Lehman Brothers Holdings to develop a hotel and condo project at 45 Broad Street in the Financial District in 2006 and 2007, the bank demanded a similar guaranty in the mortgage …
  
  
• September 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments New building permits issued in the first five months of 2009 showed a year-over-year drop in all five boroughs for the second year in a row. Citywide, permits were down 48.5 percent from the same period last year to 720, and were down 69 percent from the first half of 2007, when the building boom was still in full force. Of the five boroughs, Manhattan saw the biggest drop from last year, with 18 building permits filed between January and May, or 72.3 percent fewer than in the same period of 2008. This number was off 71.9 percent …
  
  
• August 2009 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• This year, leasing activity in Manhattan will likely be the weakest in decades. Expectation is this is going to be the worst year since keeping records on this in the 1980. There has only been 5.9 million square feet leased in Manhattan through July 1, and expects leasing for the year to be worse than the most recent low of 14 million square feet in 1991. Available office space rose to 41.2 million square feet, the highest level in the past four and a half years. The availability rate reached 11.5 percent, up from 10.5 percent at the end of …
  
  
• August 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments After many years of construction on Fulton Street, small business owners are now able to apply for grants from the city to improve storefronts that have been obstructed or damaged by the construction. The Fulton Nassau Crossroads Program, funded by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, offers free design, engineering and construction management, along with $275,000 for construction, to buildings located on Fulton and Nassau streets.Law firm Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe may sign a lease for 220,000 square feet at 51 West 52nd Street. They will take the space previously occupied by UBS and Cushman & Wakefield. Cushman will …
  
  
• July 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments The Federal Reserve has few deals for the start of its program to aid the commercial real estate market. Today is the first monthly deadline for investors to apply for loans to buy new commercial mortgage-backed securities through the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. The Fed will start accepting investor requests for loans to purchase older CMBS.James Abadie, head of New York operations for construction firm Bovis Lend Lease, has resigned amid investigations of the company for alleged overbilling and bribery. Bovis is working on the September 11th Memorial and the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building.Global real …
  
  
• June 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments Developers of a Jean Nouvel-designed skyscraper adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art have applied to build a tower seven stories taller than the original proposal unveiled two years ago was 75 stories tall. The building has been controversial, with Community Board 5 criticizing its height and bulk in a resolution in March 2008. The mixed-use project from Houston-based international developer Hines Interests will have 100 hotel rooms and 120 condominium units on the upper floors, and also include a 60,000-square-foot expansion of MoMa's galleries on the second to the fifth floors. The amount of space for the …
  
  
• April 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments New York City Department of Parks & Recreation officials showed its plans for parks around the new Yankee Stadium, which was built on land within the footprint of two parks that residents want replaced. The parks department plans to a park with a track and athletic field, plus two stories of parking, in the area. The department will also build tennis courts and parkland. The old Yankee Stadium will become Heritage Field Park by spring 2011.Stellar Management's president is in negotiations to settle a lawsuit against Landesbank Baden, Deutsche Hypo and State Street Bank after they allegedly cut …
  
  
• March 2009 New York New Developments
• The New York State Appellate Division ruled in favor of the Atlantic Yards project today in a lawsuit that challenged the project's environmental review process. Mayor Michael Bloomberg released a statement in support of the project, saying it will "create thousands of jobs and generate badly needed tax revenue." Bloomberg said the court's approval is a big step towards the start of construction for the delayed project.Proskauer Rose backed out of taking space at Mort Zuckerman's 250 West 55th Street, and now is in talks to move in again. Zuckerman put the 1 million-square-foot project on hold when the law …
  
  
• January 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments Lenders are going into bankruptcy and the sales market is disappearing, causing developers all over New York to face choices about how to ride out this down cycle.Over $400 billion in mortgages on commercial properties, including office towers and shopping malls, are to come due by the end of 2009. Even if these properties are performing well, they could go into foreclosure if mortgage holders are unable to pay off the loans. The commercial real estate market has shifted from property sales toward the purchase and sale of debt, where the loan, rather than the actual real estate, …
  
  
• December 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsRecently, banks have begun lending to one another, signifying a slight thaw in credit markets. Yet, the commercial real estate market still seems limited in its ability to get financing. This inability to line up financing has scuttled some major building and lease sales in the past few months, one such example is 17 State Street in the Financial District.About 150,000 jobs have been cut at major financial institutions, and more layoffs may be on the way. Some firms may shed an additional 5 percent of jobs this year if the market doesn't turn around. Citibank has cut 22,000 …
  
  
• November 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsIn the last few days, banks have begun lending to one another, signifying a thaw in credit markets that have been frozen for weeks. But despite those promising signs, a chill still seems to be pervading the commercial real estate market. The inability to line up financing has scuttled some major building and lease sales in the past few months, one such example is 17 State Street in the Financial District.With Lehman Brothers locked in bankruptcy, many real estate firms do not have financing to complete construction, meet lease obligations or pay vendors to complete sales, raising the prospect …
  
  
• October 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsThe Bush administration proposed granting the Treasury Department the ability to buy up to $700 billion in distressed mortgage-related assets from private firms. The proposal would raise the national debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion. The government also put together a plan that makes investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley holding companies, giving them access to Federal Reserve Bank of New York funds and putting them under stricter regulations. Boutique firms, like Lazard and Evercore Partners, are seizing clients and staff from fallen rivals. Nationwide, financial companies have announced 103,000 layoffs this year. Democrats proposed taxpayers could receive an …
  
  
• September 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsMacklowe Properties demolished the old Drake Hotel at Park Avenue and 56th Street but has not started building 440 Park Avenue yet. Extell still has not filed plans for its West 57th and 58th Street project, which was supposed to be a 50-story hotel-condo. Starwood Capital cleared a low-rise fur shop between the Economist building and the Buckingham Hotel; plans for a Crillon hotel haven not been realized. TriBeach has stopped work on its Eighth Avenue 37-story hotel-condo building, leaving a crater in two buildings on the lot between 46th and 47th streets. Although the plans have not been …
  
  
• August 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsOffice availability rises along with asking rents. Manhattan commercial rents increased in the year's first half even as the available for leasing increased. Average asking rents increased to $71.35 per square foot in June up from $63.46 per square foot in June, 2007. Despite an increase in leasing activity in the second quarter, the total for the first half of the year was 10.47 million square feet, a decline of about 1.5 million square feet from the same period in 2007. Some commercial landlords are raising the rents higher than ever before. L&L; Holding Company is asking for a …
  
  
• July 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsThe city has reached a deal with a developer that will bring schools to a mixed-use development planned for Midtown East. With financing from New York City Educational Construction Fund, the World Wide Group will build a new elementary school and a new high school that would replace the High School for Art and Design. In exchange, the city will lease the developer a 1.5-acre site at East 57th Street and Second Avenue. World Wide plans to build 200,000 square feet of retail and 488,000 square feet of residential space. Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a plan to rejuvenate the …
  
  
• May 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsVornado Realty Trust was selected to redevelop and expand the West Side trade show facility between 51st and 54th streets on the West Side Highway. The New York City Economic Development Corporation chose Vornado and its subsidiary Merchandise Mart Properties to expand the facility. The project is to create 355,000 square feet of trade show and conference space. Broadway Partners, a New York-based real estate investor, bought several billion dollars worth of property in 2006 and 2007, at the height of the market, borrowing short-term debt that comes due in 2009. The company is considering selling some properties and …
  
  
• April 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsThe City Council approved the rezoning for Sheldon Solow's $4 billion development on the East River, making the way for seven towers to rise on nine acres of First Avenue from East 35th Street to East 41st Street. The project will create about 3,000 apartments, 1 million square feet of commercial and 69,000 square feet of retail. The development will include affordable housing, a public school and five acres of public space. Gov. David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have hailed Tishman Speyer's plan for developing the MTA's 26-acre Hudson Yards. Tishman Speyer owns Rockefeller Center, a fact that …
  
  
• March 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsThe amount of leased in the fourth quarter of 2007 was 34.5 % lower than the amount of leased in the fourth quarter of 2006. Average asking rents fell by 45 cents to $61.46 per square foot in the fourth quarter, down from $61.91 per square foot in the third quarter.In 2007, the office market in Downtown Manhattan had a lower overall vacancy rate than the Midtown market for the first time since 2001. The year-end report showed that Downtown had a 7.6 percent vacancy rate last year, compared to a 7.7 percent rate in Midtown. Downtown saw 412,108 …
  
  
• February 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsNew York City's office market has gained on the world's two most expensive cities, London and Hong Kong. London vaulted over Hong Kong to become the world's priciest office market with rent for Class A hitting $265 per square foot. The peak rate in New York City's Midtown reached $225 per square foot. The next most expensive U.S. office markets were San Francisco, with a rate of $110 per square foot; Boston, with a rate of $90 per square foot; and Manhattan's Downtown, with a rate of $65 per square foot. Steven Witkoff, Developer, pulled bid to develop Pier …
  
  
• October 2007 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Highest Manhattan rents surpassing $200/RSFWith Class A market vacancies in Midtown at 5.1%, (levels not seen since 2001), Landlords are competing to see who can charge the highest rents. Highest asking rents of $225/RSF are reported for the top floors of 9 West 57th Street, $185 for the remaining floor at One Brant Park, to name a just a few. A sampling of 80 Class A Office buildings leased from April to September showed an increase in average direct lease rents from $99.00 to $107.50 per RSF. Governor Moves Closer to a Costlier Javits Plan The Spitzer administration told hotel …
  
  
• May 2007 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For SaleNew York City New Construction:Mayor Bloomberg released a two decade plus report on a greener greater New York Create housing by constructing decks over rail yards, rail lines and congested highways, cleanup of 7,600 acres of brownfields, adapt unused hospitals schools and other outdated municipal sites.Meryl Lynch reported in talks for the new office tower where the Hotel Pennsylvania is now.JP Morgan chase looking to build a 1.3 Million sf office building near group zero on the former deutsch bank building site.Empire State building getting a $400 million renovation.New York Buildings sold