Columbia University

• 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. …
  
  
• November 2023 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: CIM Group will hand the keys to 1440 Broadway back to its lender. It saw the $399 million loan backed by the Midtown building go to special servicing this month. Buildings Sold: Extell sold 1710 Broadway for $173 million. In 2017, Extell paid $268 million for it. Extell is working to get plans approved for a 54-story, 673-unit hotel to replace the six-story. Sherwood sells Times Square hotel for $165 million. Apollo Global Management and Newbond Holdings are buying the 317-key hotel at 2 Times Square. The 200,000-square-foot hotel has 317 rooms. The transaction would break down …
  
  
• June 2023 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Hennepin County wrongfully pocketed the excess proceeds from the sale of Geraldine Tyler’s condo unit. Tyler owed the county $15,000, a sum that ballooned from $2,311 in unpaid property taxes. To settle the debt, the county sold her condo unit for $40,000 and kept all of it. The court agreed that this violated the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause, reversing the Eighth Circuit’s decision in the county’s favor. NYC’s lien sale, debt from overdue taxes, water bills and the like is sold to an investment trust that can foreclose on the property …
  
  
• April 2022 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Sapir is selling 260 and 261 Madison Avenue for about $600 million. The two office properties span close to 1 million square feet and are approximately 80% leased. Simon Development and BPG, are selling the 43-story, 466-unit Alta+ complex at 29-22 Northern Boulevard in Queens. The building is 97% occupied. Blackstone Firm hands over keys to 1740 Broadway. Office property’s $308M loan transferred to special servicing. Bank Leumi is seeking to foreclose on a $120 million loan on Seaport Residences (aka One Seaport), a planned 60-story condo tower that has long been plagued by the building’s tilt: …
  
  
• March 2022 New York Buildings For Sale
• For Sale: GFP Real Estate is looking to sell an industrial property (Bushwick Place) on the border of East Williamsburg and Bushwick for $30 million. The decision was made after a noodle manufacturer renewed its lease for the 71,500-square foot Brooklyn building for 10 years. Properties Sold: An institutional owner sold 375 West Broadway for $130 million. The building houses a 10,000-square-foot Gucci store on the ground floor beneath 60,000 square feet of office space. Oaktree Capital Management sold a condominium building at 90 Greene Street for $39.4 million to Acadia Realty Trust. The building contains 11,200-square-foot with four full-floor …
  
  
• February 2022 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: 24-09 Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, a long-stalled hotel development site in Long Island City, is up for sale. Toyoko Inn is aiming to get around $60 million for its property at 24-09 Jackson Avenue in the Court Square section of the Queens neighborhood. Watermark Capital is exploring a sale of the 226-key hotel at 125 West 26th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues. The investment firm has owned the building since 2013, when it purchased it from Magna Hospitality for $113 million. Oceanwide Holdings defaulted on its $175 million loan against 80 South Street, …
  
  
• December 2021 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: 740 West End Avenue, a 14-story, 135,000-square-foot, pre-war apartment building, is owned by Wolk Properties. The property has six commercial units and 95 residential units, 57 of which are rent-stabilized, averaging approximately 1,000 square feet. Madison Capital and Lubert-Adler Partners are looking to sell the leasehold interest on 71 Fifth Avenue. The property could fetch as much as $150 million. 8 Spruce Street, a 76-story highrise, are seeking north of $850 million. Brookfield Property Partners and Nuveen. 5 East 59th Street, a nine-story, mixed-use building, is facing foreclosure by a Singaporean investment bank. PWM Property Management filed …
  
  
• March 2020 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Cosi has filed for Chapter 11 for the second time in four years. The company has locations across the U.S. Modell’s Sporting Goods is renegotiating leases in more than 150 locations across 10 states. They sent letters to 19 landlords pleading with them to “dig deeper” so the retailer can avoid filing for bankruptcy. The latest proposal to expand Penn Station includes buying a full city block to the south for an entirely new terminal with eight tracks. The governor now has sights on West 30th and West 31st streets between Seventh and Eighth avenues for the “Empire …
  
  
• May 2019 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Financial services accounted for 39% of the leasing activity, of which 13% was leased by co-working companies. Coworking had accounted for 12% of leasing volume last year and 5% in 2017. TAMI followed with 16% of leasing volume in the first quarter. There were six Midtown deals over 100,000 square feet. Sumitomo’s 266,000 square foot renewal and expansion at 277 Park Avenue and the Bank of Montreal’s 215,000 square foot relocation to 151 West 42nd Street. Job growth in New York City increased by 1.8% with 68,700 jobs added by the private sector from 2018 to 2019. The …
  
  
• October 2017 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings Sold: Gaw Capital Partners is looking to obtain a $170 million loan to make one of the largest single-asset New York City hotel deals of the year: the $340 million purchase of the Standard Hotel from Dune Capital Management and Greenfield Partners. Extell Development purchased a drug rehabilitation center building with seven-floors, 27,000-square-foot property at 500 West 57th Street that is entirely leased to substance-abuse treatment center ACI for $19 million. Charles Ekblom, a now-deceased landlord, bought it from Columbia University in the 1960s, and the building was placed in a family trust until the sale. A famous recording …
  
  
• January 2017 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Wall Street firms with leases expiring in the near term are searching for new offices, in part because they believe President-elect Donald Trump will reduce corporate taxes and roll back regulations. Wall Street companies went from occupying 32% of Manhattan’s office stock to 25% in the last four years, during which time TAMI firms have increased from 19% to 24%. Hospitals in the city are big spenders on construction to update and expand their facilities. New York University’s new $1 billion academic building will have an all-glass facade that allows neighbors to peer into students’ lives. The university …
  
  
• October 2016 New York New Developments
• Major Developments:The Related Companies is planning a 63-unit mixed-use building at 501 West 18th Street in Chelsea. The 10-story building will contain 97,800 square feet of residential space, along with 10,300 square feet of commercial space that will be divided across two retail units on the ground floor. Related bought the pair of parking lots which are adjacent to the IAC building in 2014 from investors Barry Haskell and Matthew Resnicoff. The $205 million price or $700 per square foot set a record for the neighborhood. The developer secured $125 million in financing for the purchase. Tishman Speyer filed plans …
  
  
• August 2015: New York New Developments
• Brookfield Property Partners paid $69 million to acquire Planned Parenthood's 72,500-square-foot space at Vectra Management Group's 424 West 33rd Street. Planned Parenthood had paid $34 million for the commercial condominium in 2012. Vectra still holds the title to the remaining 68,300 square feet in the 13-story building.Plans for a new Marriott hotel at 151 Maiden Lane in the Financial District have been done by Architect Peter Poon who is designing the new 33-story building. Fortis Property Group is developing the 271-room hotel project . The project also includes a taller, 52-story residential tower with 95 units. The developer bought the …
  
  
• May 2014 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale A West Side’s Hudson Yards development site, nearby parcel could sell more than $100 million. A nonprofit organization is selling a landmarked church for $50 million. The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, the owner of the Church Missions House at 281 Park Avenue South, is looking to sell the century-old building to fund its services, including advocacy and management assistance for more than 200 churches and social-service groups. An affiliate of Walter & Samuels is looking to sell an Upper West Side parking garage site, which is being marketed as a potential redevelopment into condominiums. The 7,700-square-foot …
  
  
• April 2014 New York New Developments
• New Developments The planned performing-arts center at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan has stiff competition for funds. The $469 million dollar project now sits in limbo while the new Mayor, Bill de Blasio, comes to a decision about the future of the planned center.The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey board of commissioners are fighting over subsidies for 3 World Trade Center, the 80-story, $2.3 billion tower in the Financial District. The project is currently stalled. Developer Larry Silverstein and Port Authority’s Vice Chair are pushing for the subsidies that they said would allow for construction …
  
  
• November 2013: NY New Developments
• NY New Developments Harlem's rapid development and emergence as a viable tourist and business destination has suddenly led to a spike in the demand for hotels in the area, so much so that the neighborhood is now short of about 1,500 hotel rooms. Even future growth in the hotel industry will not be able to meet demand. Although two hotels are in the works with a 210-room property near the old Victoria Theater on 125th Street and a 230-room property near Columbia University's West Harlem expansion. The Landmarks Preservation Commission has recently voted in favor of the Nordstrom tower cantilever, …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• January 2012: Manhattan Buildings For Sale
• Manhattan Buildings For Sale The 12,083-square-foot parcel, is for sale which is right now home to a seven-story, mixed-use loft building, also comes with air rights from nearby properties. The buildings at 146-148 West 28th Street and parking lot at 140-144 West 28th Street offer 170,000 feet of buildable space. A prime Midtown East development site at 249-53 East 50th is for sale with approximately 44,000 buildable square feet and 55 feet of frontage between Second and Third avenues. A free-standing retail building near Columbia University's Manhattanville campus is for sale for $11 million. The 18,200-square-foot, rectangular building at 701 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• October 2010 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Overall asking rent for Manhattan office space climbed slightly to $47.73 per square foot in August, up from $47.57 per square foot in July. The vacancy rate in Manhattan also showed modest improvement, dropping gradually month-over-month to 13.4 percent, from 13.7 percent. Compared to August 2009, vacancy was down .5 percent. Of all the boroughs prime office neighborhoods, the Downtown market struggled the most showing its slowest leasing momentum since September 2009, as the vacancy rate remained steady at 14.3 percent. Midtown, however, showed promise: 10.55 million square feet has been leased so far this year, up 56 percent from …
  
  
• October 2010 New York New Developments
• Major Developments The number of retail condominiums for sale in the city is on the rise, with this year's supply already up 30 percent as developers have adjusted to the new economic landscape. Next year, there will be more going through the pipeline once the foreclosures and loans are settled. While an influx of new retail space coming on the market could test the recovery as pent-up demand diminishes, things are, so far, looking good for developers. The first phase of the Second Avenue Subway is running two years behind schedule and is set to run $420 million over budget. …
  
  
• July 2010 New York New Developments
• New York Developments The closure of St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village dominated the news, neighborhood institution succumbing to financial troubles. Despite the credit crunch, New York-area hospitals are finding ways to fund major expansion projects. Through the support of philanthropists, often from the real estate sector, there's funding to build state-of-the-art health care institutions, keeping New York a world leader in health care. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey yesterday approved an agreement with the city, under which the city will reimburse the agency up to $44 million for building underground foundations and infrastructure for a …
  
  
• February 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments The year-end review of Manhattan commercial real estate casts doubt on 2010's outlook. Commercial property sales volume was weak through the end of 2009, with projections suggesting that the total volume for the year was just $5.7 billion, a decline from $23.6 billion in 2008 and $62.8 billion in 2007.Manhattan commercial property sales volume remained slow through the end of 2009. Total commercial property sales for the year were just $5.5 billion, down from the peak level of $62.8 billion in 2007, and less than a third of the total sales made in 2008. There is pent-up energy …
  
  
• January 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments Mort Zuckerman, chairman and CEO of Boston Properties, discussed his outlook on commercial real estate and whether the national recovery is on its way. While he was somewhat pessimistic about the industry as a whole, there are some pockets of the country that are moving toward stabilization. The industry in general is in a fairly weakened condition. In the major cities the commercial real estate is doing reasonably well but in the minor cities they are having more difficulty.Hudson River Park, the five-mile waterfront band stretching from Battery Park to 59th Street, is short on cash and may …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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, …
  
  
• November 2008 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale236 Second Avenue, an East Village 12,366-square-foot building, formerly housing Gateway Schools is on the market, along with an adjacent townhouse. It is located at 15th Street has seven floors contains nine classrooms, a gym, multi-purpose room, art room, library, offices and a courtyard.1540 Broadway may be for sale as the remaining Harry Macklowe's Midtown portfolio moves into the final phase.Bossert Hotel Developer RAL Companies walked from its agreement to purchase the former Bossert Hotel, located at 98 Montague Street, for $92 million from the Watchtower Group. The property will return to the market soon, probably with …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• May 2008 New York Buildings For Sale
• 650 Madison Avenue, a 27-story, 600,000 RSF office building, was sold to Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. for $695 million. 1250 Broadway, a 39-story, 670,000 RSF office building, was sold to Murray Hill Properties for $310 million. 100 Fifth Avenue, a 19-story, 240,000 RSF office building, was sold to Rock New York (100-104 Fifth Avenue) LLC for $152 million. 100-104 Fifth Avenue, a 20-story, 270,000 RSF office building, was sold to Rock Investments for $150 million. 370 Canal Street, a 20-story hotel, 360 rooms total, was sold to Magna Hospitality Group for $83 million. 8 Gramercy Park South and 141 East 33rd …
  
  
• January 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsNew Construction BrooklynAt 75 Flatbush Avenue, a permit to build a 21-story, 108-unit new Flatiron has been issued. The 150,000-square-foot building, which is going up Extension will be 262 feet tall.Developers of the Domino Sugar Refinery, a historic landmark, will be part of an ambitious $1.2 billion, 10-year residential development project.Major Market News Columbia Expansion Approved. The City Council voted to rezone a 35-acre section of Harlem, allowing Columbia University's $7 billion expansion. Columbia plans to expand onto 17 of the rezoned acres, bounded by Broadway, Riverside Drive, West 129th Street and West 133rd Street.The Federal Reserve's proposal to …
  
  
• December 2007 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Demand for Manhattan office space exceeds the pace of new construction. As a result office vacancy rates continue to decline and rental rates continue their upward climb. New DevelopmentsThe Federal government has approved $1.3 billion for the Second Avenue subway's first phase. The first phase is expected to cost more than $4 billion and is scheduled to open in 2014. A new television transmission may make unnecessary the 408-foot spire planned to broadcast tower on of roof the Freedom Tower. If not built, the tower will be reduced from its symbolic 1,776 feet to 1,368 feet tall, the height of …
  
  
• 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 …