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• October 2024 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Hope for longer and larger office spaces was encouraged as more people showed up to work and tenants continued to sign leases. Last month office leasing was 3.5% higher year-over-year. Manhattan’s year-to-date activity of almost 21 million square feet with leasing on track to surpass 30 million square feet for the year. Midtown South leasing volume jumped 45% month-over-month and up 28% from last year, from Yeshiva University’s 160,000-square-foot condominium leasehold at 1293 Broadway. Midtown South 17.4% availability. Average asking rents dropped slightly to foot to $74.56/RSF Midtown leasing activity dropped from 3 million to 1.4 million square feet …
  
  
• October 2024 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Mayor Eric Adams pleaded not guilty to five criminal charges from an alleged bribery scheme for luxury travel and fraudulent campaign donations. Adams pleaded not guilty before being released without bail. The battle over a hotel licensing bill continues over a requirement for hotel operators to obtain licenses and, in many cases, change the way they operate. The bill has pitted union members against subcontractors as the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council pushes the bill and the hotel industry assails it as a back-door attempt at unionization. RFR sues Cooper Union to stop Chrysler Building eviction. Cooper Union …
  
  
• September 2024 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Market Overview: Manhattan Office Leasing volume is likely to surpass 29 million square feet, but still below 2019 levels. Office-to-residential conversions are taking large blocks of space off the market, with more to follow. The pace of office demand has a long way to go in order to absorb the office space that came to the market during Covid. Midtown is having a moment. A few big deals boosted the leasing market last month, and the six largest were in Midtown. Leasing volume grew nearly 60% from the previous month and surpassed the 2019 (pre-pandemic) monthly average of about 3.5 …
  
  
• September 2024 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The Department of Citywide Administrative Services is directing city agencies to identify underused office space that could be dropped in an effort to cut costs. The project was described to agency heads in the memos as a “mayoral priority”. The process is in the early stages. Proto filed a rezoning application to add to 2950 West 24th Street Proto already owns a 19-story, 360-unit building on the site, which it purchased in 2013 for $35.6 million. Proto is looking to add a 17-story, 415-unit building dubbed the Ocean Queen. Plans call for a 440,000-square-foot building with 15,000 square …
  
  
• August 2024 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office Leases: Manhattan office leasing still has a long way to go. Leasing volume during the first half of 2024 was up 16% year-over-year. Even if leasing volume continues at the same pace for the second half of the year, it would still be about one-third below 2019. This past quarter, the Plaza District led leasing, accounting for more than 30% of Manhattan’s leasing volume. The flex office industry leased almost half a million square feet in Manhattan during the highest quarterly volume in the industry since 2019. Certain Midtown corridors are faring better than others. On Park Avenue, for …
  
  
• August 2024 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Red Apple Real Estate obtained a $57 million construction financing for a 12-story mixed-use project in Chelsea at 280 Eighth Avenue. The 100,000 square-foot building will include 104 residential units, a community space and ground-floor retail. Blackstone signed a deal to expand its headquarters at Rudin's 345 Park Avenue for over 1 million SF. Ares Management expanded its headquarters at 245 Park by more than 130,000 SF to 307,000 SF and JPMorgan Chase reached a deal, in a joint venture with Hines, to acquire 250 Park for more than $300 million. JPMorgan construction crews are building the bank's …
  
  
• July 2024 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The Adams administration’s plan to rezone a 46-block area of the Bronx is moving forward, with a final City Council vote expected this summer. New York City Planning Commission signed off on the plan, which targets the areas surrounding the four new Metro-North Stations planned for Co-op City, Hunts Point, Morris Park and Parkchester/Van Nest. The stations are expected to be built by 2027. The rezoning is expected to pave the way for 7,474 apartments, and add more than 300,000 gross square feet of retail space, 1.6 million square feet of life-science space and 1.2 million square feet …
  
  
• June 2024 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: New York City’s Conversion Accelerator Program has received interest from 64 office landlords seeking to convert their office properties to housing. Four buildings that have already been converted or begun construction through the accelerator, creating about 2,100 apartments. 650 First Avenue and 980 Sixth Avenue have received permits to begin renovations for reuse. The accelerator, announced in August, assists developers in navigating city laws and bureaucracy to expedite complex conversion projects. Coupled with Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to rezone Midtown, the initiative's aim is to create 20,000 apartments from underutilized office stock over the next decade. City Planning …
  
  
• May 2024 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: The chief executive of Manhattan’s second-largest landlord bemoaned free rent and tenant allowances as a “killer.” Vornado needs to commit as much as $300 per square foot on concessions to secure companies as tenants for more than $40 per square foot over 10-year deals. The weighted average rent of Vornado’s Manhattan office buildings is $100 per square foot. Demand for the best office buildings in New York has not only recovered but it’s causing a spillover effect. Large tenants that have lease terminations over the next several years are racing to snap up space while it’s hot in trophy …
  
  
• May 2024 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The new good cause eviction law limits evictions, requires lease renewals for tenants up-to-date on rent and effectively caps rent increases for most market-rate apartments. The new lease-renewal rights will complicate value-add projects, which often rely on not renewing leases so units can be vacated and renovated. Large developments, which typically require demolitions to clear a site, will also be harder to pull off if tenants can cling to their rentals. Bruce Teitelbaum has filed preliminary plans for the One45 complex with the Department of City Planning. Teitelbaum proposes a three-building, 922-unit complex, with more affordability than the …
  
  
• May 2024 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Chanel and LVMH are in talks to purchase 745 Fifth Avenue from Paramount . LVMH’s interest in the property, when it was believed not to be the only bidder. The 35-story building is at the corner of 58th Street along an iconic retail corridor. Milsteins to unload all of their UWS Dorchester Towers condos. They are seeking $375 million for all of its 324 condo units at the Dorchester Towers on the Upper West Side. Default reported for $250 million CMBS loan at 25 Broadway. Debt at landmarked Cunard Building sent to special servicing. The $250 million …
  
  
• April 2024 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Last year, Law firms leased 3 million square feet in Manhattan. Daily attendance of law firms is 65%. Law firms are leasing 40% less space or an average of 600 square feet per lawyer. Rents for prime office space in New York City peaked at the beginning of last year but dipped over the next three quarters. Average effective rents for prime Class A office space which includes new construction, trophy and recently-renovated buildings peaked around $105 per square foot in the first quarter of 2023. That was up 19% from the same time in 2019. Average effective rents, …
  
  
• April 2024 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Owners of the retail condos at 697 Fifth Avenue, 647 Fifth Avenue and 205 East 59th Street are suing the city’s Department of Finance, claiming its tax assessments are too high. The anchor tenants at all of these buildings have either ended or renegotiated leases since 2022. The Real Estate Board of New York has proposed increasing average wages and benefits paid to construction workers on projects receiving a new version of the 421a property tax program. Leaders of the Building and Construction Trades Council rejected the offer. The Department of Environmental Protection is going after 2,400 “chronically …
  
  
• March 2024 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Office values are down 25% year-over-year through December. With the rise of remote working and other economic conditions, there’s no guarantee those values will ever reach previous levels again. Office owners are showing more willingness to sell properties at a discount. As declining occupancy rates and higher interest rates have driven down values on buildings, some of which were bought at previous market cycle peaks. High interest rates have discouraged dealmakers, while office values have fallen by billions (maybe trillions) of dollars thanks to remote work. Peel back a few layers and things might not be quite so dire, …
  
  
• February 2024 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Retail: Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse renewal for 25,000 SF restaurant at 1121 Sixth Avenue. Madewell signed a 10-year lease to consolidate its two Brooklyn stores along North 6th Street in Williamsburg for 8,300 sf. Barnea Bistro signed a 15-year lease at 114 West 47th Street in Times Square for 7,602 sf. Max Deals, the home goods retailer, signed a 20-year lease at the base of a new residential construction located at 1049 Ogden Avenue in Highbridge for 5,800 sf. TFogo de Chão, the Brazilian steakhouse, signed a new lease in the Oculus mall at 3 World Trade Center in …
  
  
• February 2024 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the parent company of Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and jewelry designer Tiffany & Co., is in negotiations to acquire 745 Fifth Avenue, a 35-story tower. LVMH is competing against other bidders for the property. SL Green acquired 2 Herald Square leasehold for next to nothing; it had completed a deal to acquire a 95% stake in the leasehold at 2 Herald Square: SL Green paid $7 million to settle the property’s $182.5 million mortgage. The City Comptroller is suing Lloyd Goldman’s development company over allegations that it failed to pay the wages required …
  
  
• January 2024 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the LLC Transparency Act but made a critical change to keep information on limited liability companies out of public view. The owners behind these entities will have to disclose their names and business addresses to the state government, which will keep it confidential. The governor signed a bill that expands the definition of fraud in rent overcharge cases. Governor Hochul unveiled plans for more than 2,800 homes in Queens. The governor will tap industry to revamp 58 acres of underutilized land at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. 1,633 homes will be for sale, as two-story homes …
  
  
• January 2024 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Pakistan International Airlines Corporation is nearing an agreement to bring its Roosevelt Hotel to market in the first step towards a redevelopment. The hotel on the 43,000-square-foot site by Grand Central Terminal through the state-run. Rene Benko’s Signa forced to sell stake in Chrysler Building. An Austrian court is forcing a sale of Signa Holding’s stake in the landmark Midtown Manhattan property. Benko’s company is believed to hold a 50-percent stake in the 77-story office tower. Lender seeks to foreclose on Isaac Hager’s Trader Joe’s property. G4 alleges his firm owes $140 million on the Williamsburg building. …
  
  
• December 2023 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The U.S. Immigration Fund of a 22-acre megaproject that was supposed to deliver more than 3,000 units of housing in Brooklyn is at risk of losing control of several still-unbuilt development sites. to foreclose on six sites owned by Greenland USA. Steve Cohen details his Queens casino plan dba Metropolitan Park would be an 8 billion project near Citi Field and spread over 50 acres of parking lots surrounding Citi Field, home to the Mets. Hard Rock International is partnering with Cohen on the project. Cohen’s plan includes a hotel, music venue, food hall and 20 acres of …
  
  
• December 2023 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: 222 Broadway is for sale. The owner is hoping for a price between $150 million and $200 million. The office portion of the 780,000-square-foot building is only 31% occupied after Bank of America. WeWork also leased a large portion of the space, and the location is part of the company’s bankruptcy. The property is said to be a “blank canvas opportunity for an investor to either re-lease the building as office, or convert some or all of the building to residential,”eyeing a price of somewhere between $150 million and $200 million. Disney is looking to sell UWS …
  
  
• November 2023 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Office leasing in activity jumped 26% from the second quarter to the third. But much of that was upheld by two large leases and availability remained at record highs. Finding office tenants has been a slog for Manhattan landlords. Midtown and Midtown South have improved as “flight to quality” companies upgrading to better Class A space. Midtown South’s availability hit a new all-time high with an 18.6% jump. One of New York City’s prominent real estate law firms is going out of business, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. Their demise is a blow to New York’s real estate industry. …
  
  
• November 2023 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: New York City building owners commercial janitorial workers’ union contract expires at year’s end. Wages and health benefits will play prominently into the labor fight. Hotel occupancy in Times Square and Midtown West hit 88%, a post-pandemic high. The average daily room rate is up more than 10% from last year. Almost a quarter of the $1.9 billion in closed hotel sales in Manhattan this year have come to Times Square. Industrial Space in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens had an asking rent of $26.02 per square foot in the third quarter. New York Community Bank …
  
  
• October 2023 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Shorenstein falls behind on payments on its office tower at 1407 Broadway and is 30 days delinquent on the $350 million mortgage. Moody’s downgraded a security holding the mortgage at Columbia Property Trust’s 245-249 West 17th Street in Chelsea. The 281,000-square-foot building’s largest tenant is X, which occupies 76% of the space. Columbia was acquired by PIMCO two years ago for $3.9 billion. Musk stopped paying rent at X offices across the country when he bought the social media giant 11 months ago. For office developers to double down on new projects, they’ll need to command approximately double the …
  
  
• October 2023 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The Adams administration laid out a framework to change the area’s light manufacturing zoning to allow for higher density residential and commercial use. The rezoning is expected to create between 1,150 and 1,500 below market–rate apartments, depending on the options developers select under the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law. NY City's plan to rezone a 13-block stretch of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn would spur the construction of 4,000 apartments, up to 38 % affordable. The projects would have to deliver affordable units and other benefits required by the new zoning. Other rezonings in the works include a 46-block area …
  
  
• October 2023 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: US Masters Residential Property Fund is looking to sell its 479-property portfolio piecemeal of largely one- to four-unit properties for $858 million. Blackstone stopped making payments in March 2022 on the $308 million CMBS loan backing 1740 Broadway, a 26-story office tower a block from Carnegie Hall, and gave the keys to the lender. CWCapital was appointed and is now planning to sell the note for the 621,000 SF tower. Extell Development is now asking $195 million for the triplex down from $250 million. The price of the 17,500-square-foot triplex or $11,100 per square foot. A $240 …
  
  
• September 2023 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Blackstone and Hudson Pacific Properties are joining with Vornado to build a new film studio on Manhattan’s West Side. Dubbed Sunset Pier 94 Studios, the project would be developed as a public-private partnership with New York City Economic Development Corp. The total investment from the three publicly traded firms will be about $350 million. The campus would span 266,000 SF with six soundstages. The development would feature a 1,850 SF amenity space, 25,000 SF of waterfront open space. Vornado has the long-term leasehold on Pier 94 and is providing the lease to the joint venture, in which it …
  
  
• September 2023 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Vornado weighs sale of Farley building in quest for liquidity. The Farley Building which Vornado and Related Cos redeveloped from a former U.S. Post Office was leased to Meta Platforms, Facebook's parent company, in 2020 in a 730,000 SF, 15-year deal that was a bright light for the market during the worst of the pandemic. The Metropolitan College of New York is looking to sell two of its floors at an office building at 60 West Street. Metropolitan College has struggled since the pandemic, feeling a sizable drop in enrollment. Buildings Sold: Capital One is selling a …
  
  
• August 2023 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The value of commercial and multifamily construction declined by 31% year-over-year from January through June. 5 World Trade Center will be the first residential building at the World Trade Center. Gov. Kathy Hochul approved a deal to include 400 income-restricted apartments as part of a 1,200-unit tower. Margaritaville lenders go after El-Gamal and partners for $86 million debt after they triggered a bad boy guarantee by throwing the project into bankruptcy, and the investors are personally on the hook for $86 million in debt. El-Gamal and his partners, Flintlock Construction Services’ Andrew and Stephen Weiss, became personally liable …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• June 2023 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Premier Equities bought the hotel at 1141 Broadway in 2019, and is seeking around $60 million for the 10-story NoMad property. Three Nolita Veracity Equities are slated for a foreclosure auction as the firm struggles to repay a $41 million loan. 31 Prince Street, 46 Spring Street and 48 Spring Street are now more than 121 days delinquent. Appraised value has dropped from $66 million when the loan was issued in March 2018 to $49.5 million. All the properties are walk ups and have a combined 48 residential units, only six of which are rent-regulated and eight …
  
  
• May 2023 New York New Developments
• New Developments: The MTA launched eminent domain proceedings for nine sites in East Harlem. The MTA plans on demolishing existing buildings to make room for some heavy machinery to extend the subway from East 96th Street to East 125th Street. The staging ground at East 116th Street will ultimately become a subway entrance for the extension. A collapsed Lower Manhattan parking garage had open violations. The Manhattan DA is investigating the incident that killed one. The partially collapsed building at 57 Ann Street racked up dozens of violations for decades. Four of those violations remained open when the building, owned …
  
  
• May 2023 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Flatiron Building auction set for May 23. The winning bidder will have to produce a $100K check. 300 Park Avenue, Tishman Speyer’s $485 million loan is in a special servicer after the landlord opted to get ahead of an upcoming maturity. The loan on the 770K SF, 25-story building, which was issued in 2013 by German American Capital Corp., is coming due in August. L&L; Holding and its partner are in default on the $92.5 million loan backing the office portion of the 68-story, mixed-use tower at 142 West 57th Street. The $50 million mezzanine B note, …
  
  
• April 2023 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Twitter listed 200,000 square feet of space up for sublease at its Chelsea offices. The connected buildings at 245 West 17th Street and 249 West 17th Street. Touro University at 3 Times Square adding 66K sf across two more floors bringing, total footprint in the tower to nearly 310,000 square feet. STV leased 65,000 square feet at 350 Fifth Avenue and will occupy the full 10th and part of the 11th floor. Asking rent for the 16-year lease was $69 per square foot. StubHub leased 3 World Trade Center and signed a 44,000-square-foot lease on the 59th floor of …
  
  
• March 2023 New York New Developments
• New Developments: Extell swaps office for residential at 180 East 125th Street. The 415,000-square-foot project is aiming for 543 apartments, pending the approval of a zoning bonus for locating a grocery store at the building as part of the city’s FRESH foods program. The building will also include 24,500 square feet of commercial space. Bally’s eyes casino bid at Trump’s Bronx golf course at Ferry Point in the Bronx. Bally’s would operate the casino on 10 acres and use the other seven acres for green space or another use, like housing for workers. The end goal for Bally’s would be …
  
  
• March 2023 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Related Companies’ fund management arm and BentallGreenOak are ready to walk away from the Point LIC, a small campus of converted warehouses in Long Island City, that sit mostly vacant after six years. BrightSpire Capital is looking to sell the non-performing loans, and the borrowers have agreed to hand the keys to the Point over to whoever buys the debt through a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. The mortgages on the two buildings total around $150 million. The two properties: a 130,000-square-foot former oil storage warehouse at 2100 49th Avenue, dubbed the Paragon Building, and a 220,000-square-foot building across …
  
  
• February 2023 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Mayor Adams proposes Manhattan rezoning of Midtown to allow conversions of offices to residential construction in areas that only permit manufacturing and office use. West 23rd to West 41st streets is zoned for manufacturing, which prevents ground-up residential development and conversions of vacant office space for residential use. Office conversions could lead to 20,000 new apartments but would require changes to the Multiple Dwelling Law, including lifting the cap on the city’s residential floor area ratio. Citadel is eyeing a 51-story, Norman Foster-deleased tower at 350 Park Avenue, where it will redevelop properties leased from Vornado Realty Trust …
  
  
• February 2023 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Chetrit to pay off the floating-rate loan $481 million. The Chetrit Group is facing default on a $481 million loan, covering 43 properties that the developer is now looking to sell. APF Properties is looking to sell its plot at 24 West 57th Street, for north of $80 million. As a development site, the property holds about 140,000 square feet of buildable space as of right. Maverick sues Chetrit over unfinished Penn Station hotel. Lender alleged the developer neglected matured loans, didn’t complete the project. Maverick Real Estate Partners sued for the second time going after the …
  
  
• January 2023 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: AECOM renewed its lease at 100 Park Avenue, but renewed for only 45,000 square feet from 108,000 square feet. Asking rent for the space was $65 per square foot. Crowell & Moring leases 71,000 sf at Brookfield's Two Manhattan West. GameChanger signed a 25,000-square-foot lease at 124 East 14th Street aka Zero Irving. The company will occupy the 17th and 18th floors. Asking rents started at $120 per square foot. Pandora takes 27,000 sf at 1540 Broadway. The asking rent on the 15-year lease at the former Bertelsmann Building was $82.00 per square foot. CompStak signed a five-year lease …
  
  
• January 2023 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Quarters into bankruptcy, the co-living firm’s flagship property in Williamsburg has hit the market. Developer David D. Dweck is looking to sell the 160-bedroom, 62,600-square-foot campus on North 6th Street between Bedford and Driggs Avenues for $65 million. Fred Ohebshalom is under pressure from Stillwater Asset Management who is looking to foreclose on the nine-story office building at 226 East 54th Street after purchasing the building’s debt. 180 Nassau Street is facing foreclosure after Pink Stone allegedly failed to service the debt 103-unit apartment building. Ezra Unger is once again facing foreclosure at 427 Marcy Avenue as …
  
  
• December 2022 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Kushner has listed 18 buildings with more than 325 units in Greenwich and East Village for sale, about a third of the firm’s multifamily portfolio in Manhattan. One is a group of 11 buildings in the East Village with 197 units. There are seven buildings in the East Village and West Village with 129 units. An entire building is for sale for $50 million. The 38-unit co-op at 38 Gramercy Park North, keys to the park included, spans 21,400 square feet and comes with 9,750 square feet of additional development rights. Sale could result in luxury condo …
  
  
• October 2022 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: September office occupancy numbers may represent a new normal. As more companies are settling into a wide range of work policies, from full-time, never or somewhere in between. The pandemic-induced drop in office use is projected to have a devastating effect on the market. The city’s office buildings will fall in value by 28%, or $49 billion. The stretch along Third Avenue from 42nd Street to 59th Street is becoming a stark example of the downside to the city’s ongoing flight to quality. The city’s office vacancy rate is at 19%, it is 29% on the 17-block corridor, nearly …
  
  
• October 2022 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The Gateway tunnel project is to take three years longer and cost $2B more than originally budgeted. The completion of the tunnel is now expected in 2035 . The existing two-way tunnel, which will close for repairs when the new one opens, won’t be fixed until 2038. The tunnel, which is part of a larger Gateway project, is now estimated to cost $16.1 billion. The 4.5-mile rail project will carry travelers under the New Jersey Palisades, the Hudson River and Hudson Yards. New York City upped its demands on landlords to disclose retail vacancies in their buildings in …
  
  
• September 2022 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Retail: Bed Bath & Beyond is closing hundreds of stores and laying off a large percentage of its workforce. About 150 of its lower-performing stores would be closed in the near future, marking a footprint reduction of about 16% of its 955 stores. Free People, an Urban Outfitters subsidiary, is responsible for more than $13 million in back and future rent at 58-60 Ninth Avenue. Mayor Eric Adams announced a crackdown on abandoned dining sheds. The mayor believes that sheds are dangerous or a haven for rats, and he wants to root out those who use the sheds for illegal …
  
  
• August 2022 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Manchin-Schumer deal closes real estate tax loophole Package would raise taxes on carried interest, including developers’ “promotes. The senators’ plan would raise taxes on carried interest by about $14 billion, presumably by treating it as ordinary income rather than as a capital gain. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams came to an agreement over how the city will collect property taxes from the 18 million square feet of construction planned on sites surrounding the station. The city will continue to collect the property taxes it receives now on the development sites, increasing by 3% each year. It …
  
  
• July 2022 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: An analysis predicted that by 2029, the city’s office stock will drop in value by 28%, or roughly $49 billion, due to lease revenue falling and remote work rising further. Office value declines could cost the city $600 million in annual property tax revenue. The city’s office market has a vacancy rate of 16%, while the sublease vacancy rate is 5%; both are higher than they were during recent economic crises. The widespread increase in permanent hybrid work situations spurred a recent lift in the sublease market. Sublease space available in Manhattan was more than 20.2 million square feet, …
  
  
• July 2022 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The state advanced the $7 billion redesign of Penn Station, The state will begin accepting bids from architecture and engineering firms for the redesign of the station. Proposals are due in July and a winner will be selected in the fall. J-51 joins 421a in the graveyard of real estate benefits as The decades-old tax exemption program J-51, which incentivized landlords to renovate apartment buildings expired on June 29. Rent board approves first full-year, post-Covid hike of 3.25%. Landlords and tenants, both unhappy with vote, say reform is needed to the chagrin of both sides, the Rent Guidelines …
  
  
• June 2022 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Vornado hopes to sell 40 Fulton Street for $130 million and $140 million. The REIT’s 1980s-era office property at 40 Fulton Street in the Financial District is for sale, a 29-story building. Oceanwide Holdings has lost control of a Manhattan development site where it planned to build a 1,500-foot skyscraper at 80 South Street. Buildings Sold: Host Hotels & Resorts sold the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, a 1,780-room hotel, located at 811 7th Avenue to MCR Investors for $323 million. RFR Holding and Penske Media Corporation finalized the $290 million purchase of 475 Fifth Avenue. …
  
  
• May 2022 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Four Manhattan hotels sold that could reflect how far Hotel values have fallen. Sonesta International Hotels purchased the Benjamin, the Shelburne Hotel & Suites, the Gardens Suites Hotel and the Fifty Hotel & Suites from Denihan Hospitality Group. Google’s campus on Pier 57 in Chelsea is a 630,000-square-foot space that contains three buildings for 450 employees and a two-acre publicly accessible rooftop park, along with a food hall and an outdoor screening area. Blackstone’s agreed to buy American Campus Communities in a deal that values the student housing provider at $12.8 billion, including debt. ACC is the largest …
  
  
• May 2022 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: SL Green Realty has to sell its $120 million stake in Times Square’s Crowne Plaza hotel, after a judge ruled that investor Andrew Penson has the right to buy it. SL Green and Argent Ventures are fighting over control of the land underneath the 795-room hotel at 1601 Broadway, which is in default on its $330 million mortgage. Brookfield Asset Management and China Investment Corporation are selling One New York Plaza, their 50-story office building in the Financial District. Nightingale Properties is selling 300 Lafayette Street. Bids on the property, which features 63,000 square feet of office …
  
  
• April 2022 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Developers have started office projects totaling 2.1 million square feet since the beginning of 2021, well below the 3.2 million square feet of office construction starts in 2019 and the 5.7 million square feet of office construction starts in 2020. There are 19 million square feet of office construction underway in Manhattan. Deliveries are expected to surpass supply in both 2022 and 2023, increasing the supply of office stock by 4%, after that, however, office deliveries will likely begin to fall off in 2024, a decline that may continue through 2027. Many office tenants appear to be ready to …
  
  
• 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 Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Tech companies leased 76% more space year-over-year in the last three quarters of 2021. Santander Bank is relocating its headquarters to WeWork and subletting 160,000 square feet at 437 Madison Avenue. Hermès inked a lease at 550 Madison Avenue. The brand signed a three-floor, 71,757-square-foot lease relocating from 55 East 59th Street. Mutual of America Financial Group signed a lease for 252,000 square feet it already occupies. A year before the company brought in a joint venture partner to co-own the 766,000-square-foot property. First Service Residential took 48,000 square feet at the Midtown building across the ninth and 10th …
  
  
• March 2022 New York New Developments
• Major Developments Since New York State legalized recreational marijuana, operators are rushing to set up stores. There is a very high influx of cannabis operators looking for space in Manhattan. MRR Development scored a loan worth $113 million to refinance the Hotel Indigo on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The loan was through an Israeli bond market. Wells Fargo, acting as a trustee for commercial mortgage bondholders, is seeking to foreclose on Terzi’s property at 63 Spring Street, alleging Terzi has been in default on an $18.5 million CMBS loan since April 2020. Andrew Kimball is expected to be appointed as …
  
  
• February 2022 New York New Developments
• Major Developments Tentative property Real Estate Tax assessments for rental buildings in New York City are up 8.6%. Rental buildings’ market value jumped by 11.7%, while the assessed value that owners are taxed on rose by 8.6%. Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed $2 billion in pandemic relief money that could fund the emergency rental assistance program. Extell Development received permits for a more than 541,000-square-foot, 1,350-key hotel tower at 740 Eighth Avenue in the Theater Subdistrict, an area exempt from the recently enacted requirement that developers must obtain a special permit for new hotels. Hakimian filed documents changing a 113,000-square-foot Midtown …
  
  
• 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, …
  
  
• January 2022 New York New Developments
• Market Overview: The Terminal 1 project at John F. Kennedy International Airport is ready to take off with a new $9.6 billion price. The terminal has been restructured, moving forward after a two-year delay. A consortium led by the Carlyle Group along with Johnson Loop Capital Infrastructure and Union Labor Life Insurance Company will finance the development, which is now expected to break ground in mid-2022. The latest cost estimate includes $7.2 billion for design and construction and $2.3 billion in “financing and other costs.” The new Terminal 1 will include 23 international gates across 2.4 million square feet, spanning …
  
  
• December 2021 New York New Developments
• Major Developments Biden signed into law a bipartisan $1 trillion bill aimed at rebuilding the country’s aging infrastructure. Funding will be available for the extension of the Second Avenue subway line, the revitalization of the Port Authority bus terminal, upgrading the subway’s signals and improving trip times, and bridge and road upgrades for Long Island and Westchester. Amtrak’s high-speed rail proposals for the Northeast corridor are slated to receive more than $6.5 billion for capital renewal backlog projects, as well as $3.6 billion for intercity passenger rail grants. JFK International Airport could get $295 million and LaGuardia Airport $150 million …
  
  
• November 2021 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: The Durst Organization signed Venable LLP for a 15-year lease for nearly 158,000 square feet, at One Five One, formerly known as 4 Times Square. Prospective tenants are looking for 6.5 million square feet of office space up 64% from the first quarter of this year. Crédit Agricole’s 167,000-square-foot relocation within 1301 Sixth Avenue. BDO USA’s 143,000-square-foot lease at Tishman Speyer’s 200 Park Avenue. Interpublic Group of Companies 514,000 square feet at 100 West 33rd Street. Fried, Frank, Harris Shriver & Jacobson 400,000 square feet at 1 New York Plaza. City of New York 313,000 square feet at 60 …
  
  
• November 2021 New York New Developments
• Major Developments The City Planning Commission approved a high-profile proposal to rezone Soho and Noho to allow for more residential and ground-floor retail. The proposal covers 56 blocks in the neighborhoods, largely zoned for manufacturing use. Hotel developers in New York City may soon face a large obstacle to getting their projects approved. The City Planning Commission approved a zoning text amendment to require special permits for all new hotel construction, sending the proposal on to the City Council. Radson Development’s plans up for City Council review call for a 794,000 square-foot, mixed-use building at 495 Eleventh Avenue consisting of …
  
  
• November 2021 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: A CMBS trustee filed to foreclose on the loan on the defaulted loan secured by the 470 Broadway property citing $22.9 million in debt. The debt consists of $18 million in unpaid principal, $2.6 million in unpaid interest and $2.3 million in protective advances. Thor was delinquent on a $105 million loan at 597 Fifth Avenue, after missing payments in August and September 2020. PBC is seeking a buyer for its 865,000-square-foot building at 452 Fifth Avenue where HSBC’s New York office is located. The building is expected to go for at least $850 million, or $982 …
  
  
• October 2021 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Retail: Most restaurateurs across New York City have sought to maximize their space under the city’s Open Restaurants rules, which allows eateries to place seating on sidewalks and in roadways. Landlords can, however, control and monetize the space on their property, and new tenants are gunning for as much outdoor space as possible. Sears is set to close its final New York City location after 89 years on November 24th. Jokr, aims to get consumers everything from a single ingredient to a full grocery haul within 15 minutes. To meet this logistical challenge, these companies need a lot of real …
  
  
• October 2021 New York New Developments
• New Developments 2 World Trade Center is looking for an anchor tenant, which would be required for a construction loan. Norman Foster of Foster + Partners would serve as the architect on the project. Landlords are ready to fight over whether the city should regulate retail and office rents. The City Council’s Committee on Small Business is planning a hearing on a bill to create a rent guidelines board that would limit rent increases on small commercial spaces. The board would have jurisdiction over small retail and office spaces, up to 10,000 square feet, as well as manufacturing establishments up …
  
  
• October 2021 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: The retail condo at 808 Broadway and 104-110 Fourth Avenue is for sale, asking $15.95 million. Halloween Adventure has been operating from the building since 1996, but the store will close up shop after the sale. Three retail condominiums at 385 First Avenue are up for sale for $29 million. Rialto Capital is foreclosing on 33 West 46th Street, a 10-story office and retail building in the Diamond District. The property belongs to the estate of Jorge Justo Neuss, an Argentinian businessman who authorities said killed his wife and then himself late last year. Buildings Sold: Google …
  
  
• August 2021 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Landlords have reduced office rent. Average asking Manhattan office rent in the second quarter was $72.77 a foot, down 8.2% from a year ago, and down 0.6% from the first quarter. Leasing volume from April through June was 4.5 million square feet, which was up by 43% from the same period last year, but unchanged from the first quarter which was 45% lower than Manhattan’s five-year rolling average, 8.27 million square feet. There was a gradual tightening of subleasing availability as companies reduced the amount of space they had for sublease. Manhattan sublet availability shrank by 340,000 square feet …
  
  
• June 2021 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Companies that listed their offices for sublease are now pulling them off the market. At least 589,000 square feet of space that was offered for sublease has been delisted. Subleases now account for 30% of total vacant office space. 3.5 million square feet of office space was offered for sublease in the first quarter of the year, compared to 4 million square feet in the fourth quarter of 2020, and 4.6 million square feet in the third quarter of that year. Average asking rent was $72.97 a foot, down 0.4% from March and 8.3% from a year ago. Net …
  
  
• June 2021 New York New Developments
• New Developments The Gateway tunnel is back on track. Federal officials completed their environmental review of the $11.6 billion rail tunnel, giving the project the green light. The move comes after years of delays from the Trump administration. The plan calls for building a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River, which would connect New Jersey’s Bergen Palisades to New York’s Penn Station. The approval could potentially advance real estate acquisitions and other pre-construction activities. State lawmakers are seeking to give New York City more control over Cuomo’s Penn Station expansion and new development in the surrounding area. A recently …
  
  
• June 2021 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: A Williamsburg assemblage once slated for an office and retail development is on the market for $65 million. The parcel at 87 Wythe Avenue is a combination of a 37,000-square-foot renovated retail space and 22,400 square feet of vacant land, which could give way to a 53,000-square-foot building. Billionaire investor Ron Burkle and hotelier Andrew Zobler, the owners of the NoMad Hotelare, are facing a foreclosure on their equity in the hotel at 1170 Broadway. This is the second time that Burkle and Zobler have faced foreclosure on the property, which they control via a ground lease. …
  
  
• May 2021 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: By September, more than 50% expect to be back in the office and an additional 24% back by the fourth quarter, while just 11% wouldn’t return until the first quarter of 2022. Fewer people working in the office could mean smaller offices: 47% would need less space. Yet, future office sizes could also be affected by added emphasis on collaboration spaces, whether they are conference rooms or informal breakout areas. Office availability hit 16.1% in the first quarter of 2020, the highest number on record. The average asking rent was $73.23 per square foot, down 7.6% from a year …
  
  
• April 2021 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: As Covid vaccinations bring a return-to-office closer to fruition, more companies are expecting to reduce their real estate footprints. 21% of company executives expect to reduce their office space in the next 12 months, up by 3% points from the third quarter. Total office leasing was also 43% lower than the 2020 monthly average volume of 1.58 million square feet.in 2020. Nearly half of companies expect that employees will be back in offices by September. As of early March, just 10% of Manhattan office employees have returned to the workplace. Some believe the trend of working-from-home or work-from-anywhere is …
  
  
• April 2021 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed a measure that expands commercial eviction and foreclosure protections for some small businesses until May. Saadia Group, Lord & Taylor’s new owner, has found a new headquarters at 275 Madison Avenue. The proposed development at 250 Water Street will look a bit different from what the developer originally envisioned. A revised design will shrink the project’s size by about 27%, from 757,000 square feet to 550,000 square feet. The tallest building will be reduced in height from 470 feet to 345 feet. The Down Town Association, lower Manhattan’s oldest social club …
  
  
• March 2021 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments New York’s moratorium on commercial evictions and foreclosures and a bill to replace it has hit a roadblock. The current ban from March 2020 moratorium on commercial evictions and foreclosures, which he has repeatedly extended. The latest extension, through a Jan. 23 executive order, prevents those actions from taking place until Feb. 22. But Cuomo has yet to take action on legislation that would make the ban semi-permanent. The state Senate proposed a bipartisan commission to review Cuomo’s orders, and Assembly Democrats have also called for the revocation of those powers. The rate of positive Covid …
  
  
• February 2021 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments Real estate leaders in New York have admitted that there’s a long road ahead before things return to normal or a new normal. WeWork recently exited four locations in Midtown, Soho and the Meatpacking District. Knotel declared bankruptcy. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pushing a plan to get employees back in office buildings and office landlords are on board. Cuomo announced that rapid testing would be used in state-designated orange zones to open office buildings, along with restaurants and theaters. He said that major commercial operators with space totaling more than 100 million square feet have already …
  
  
• January 2021 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Office: Breather, the flexible office provider, is to close all of its locations, totaling more than 400 across the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Deutsche Bank could move up to half of its Manhattan employees to smaller U.S. hubs in the next five years, as it plans a major building downsize. The potential move could be another blow to Manhattan’s hobbled office real estate market. Deutsche is in the process of relocating from its 1.6-million-square-foot office at 60 Wall Street to a 1-million-square-foot building at Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle. The new location has workspaces for 4,200 people, …
  
  
• January 2021 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments Covid-19 vaccines are being distributed. A return to the office likely will not happen until early summer. It will take months for the vaccine rollout to become effective and for employees to reach herd immunity, meaning remote work will continue into the next year and office rents will continue to drop. Some companies are planning their return to the office in light of the vaccine news. In New York, 25 new tenants per week were searching for office space in the first two weeks of December, up from 20 per week in November. New York has …
  
  
• January 2021 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: HFZ Capital Group is in danger of losing another project in its embattled development portfolio. Ziel Feldman’s firm is facing foreclosure on the mezzanine position at a NoMad development site where it plans to build a 600,000-square-foot office tower. HFZ’s site consists of eight parcels on the block between Fifth Avenue and Broadway between 29th and 30th Street, with another under contract. With additional air rights and a bonus for a public plaza, the assemblage has a total of 617,167 square feet of development rights. Buildings Sold: The Seidman Family sold a 12,590-square-foot mixed-use building at 128 …
  
  
• December 2020 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments The planned redevelopment of the Grand Hyatt Hotel could consist of a supertall tower rising more than 1,600 feet. The development at 109 East 42nd Street is tentatively called the Project Commodore. The proposed building would have 2.1 million square feet of office space, a 500-room hotel, around 10,000 square feet of open-air public space with 43,370 square feet of retail. Vornado Realty Trust has suspended its efforts to sell two office towers that it co-owns with the Trump Organization. They had been looking for a buyer for its 70% stake in the buildings, located at …
  
  
• December 2020 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: Thor Equities has missed two months of payments on a loan tied to the Charles Scribner’s Sons Building in Midtown. Thor is now 60 days delinquent on a $105 million loan at 597 Fifth Avenue. The owner of a five-story commercial building in Tribeca has filed for bankruptcy, facing foreclosure and $23 million in debt. CTW Realty owns the 18,300-square-foot building at 381 Broadway through an entity, 381 Broadway Realty, which filed for Chapter 11 protection. Their lenders have been trying for more than two years to foreclose on the property for default, but can’t proceed now …
  
  
• November 2020 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Office: At the current rate of office leasing, leasing volume in 2020 would be the lowest in the last 20 years. The third quarter saw 4.81 million square feet of office leasing, just half of what was leased during the same time last year. The year’s total is 14.81 million square feet so far and is down 50% from the same period in 2019. There are 16.1 million square feet of Sublease space in Manhattan or 27% of the total available office space. This is a 47% increase year-over-year, far outpacing the 14% increase in direct space availability over …
  
  
• November 2020 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments Tourism in NYC has fallen by 80% and nearly 9 in 10 office employees are still working remotely. The New York City Employees’ Retirement System ramped up its exposure only to see it underperform the stock market by $260 million and rack up at least $110 million in fees between 2016 and 2019. The pandemic has shaved $16 billion off projected construction spending in 2020 and 2021. The New York Building Congress estimates spending will reach $55.5 billion this year, down from the $65.9 billion previously forecasted. Next year, spending will be just about flat at …
  
  
• October 2020 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Office: Manhattan’s office real estate market weakened in August, as leasing volume was down 21% from a year ago. Manhattan’s leasing volume was 1.3 million square feet in August, down by 20.7% from 1.64 million a year ago. The vacancy rate for Manhattan office hit a seven-year high, as sublease space and new construction came onto the market. Average asking rent was $78.01 in August, down by 2.5% from a year ago. Manhattan’s availability rate in August jumped by 0.8% points from July to 11.8%, the highest since 2013. The rate is 2.1% points higher than a year ago. …
  
  
• October 2020 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments Vacant office and retail space will have a domino effect on the city’s budget and economy. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority faces a $12 billion budget deficit by 2021. The low office numbers have also led to a projected $9 billion drop in sales tax and other revenues. About 24,000 New Yorkers have lost their lives to the coronavirus. The unemployment rate is 16% and just 10% of workers have returned to the office by September. Personal income tax revenue may drop by $2 billion this fiscal year. Only a third of hotel rooms are occupied, and …
  
  
• September 2020 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to cut service by 40% if Washington does not send $12 billion in federal aid, crippling the city’s chances to come back from the pandemic. The timeline for the overhaul of John F. Kennedy International Airport will likely be pushed back years because of plummeting passenger demand. Passenger volume is down 85%, and officials warn that passenger numbers might not match last year’s level of nearly 62 million passengers until 2023. July was the slowest month of the year for large construction applications. The total size of the 10 biggest projects …
  
  
• September 2020 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: Pace University is looking to sell part of its Lower Manhattan campus near the Brooklyn Bridge. The school has come to market with One Pace Plaza East, a 462,500-square-foot, 18-story tower that houses dorms, classrooms and a library. The property could get $300 million, or $350 per square foot. 831, 835 and 837 Madison Avenue are on the market for sale. The buildings contains total 34,000 feet and are between East 69th and 70th streets. Buildings Sold: Jeff Sutton quietly sold the majority of his stake in the retail portion of the Crown Building on 57th Street. …
  
  
• August 2020 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Office: Manhattan office leasing in the second quarter of 2020 totalled just 3.18 million square feet. That is 50% of the prior quarter and down 72% year-over-year. This is the slowest quarter for Manhattan office leasing since 2009. Office workers have been working from home during Covid. How many will remain at home after Covid has yet to be determined. Midtown saw 1.88 million square feet in leasing activity in the quarter, down 52% year-over-year. Midtown South leasing activity declined 87% year-over-year to just 640,000 square feet. Leasing activity downtown fell 73% year-over-year to 660,000 square feet. Manhattan’s Office …
  
  
• August 2020 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments 476 new building permits were filed in the three-month period from April through June, spanning 9,309 multi-family units. Nearly half of the footage is residential, just over one-third is commercial, and the rest is split between education and utilities. Amazon said it would increase its fulfillment center square footage by 50% in 2020, that is on top of the 15% increase it reported in 2019. NYC Health + Hospitals’ six administrative offices were consolidated at 50 Water Street and resulted in $200 million in cost savings . HHC signed a 25-year lease for 526,552 square feet. …
  
  
• August 2020 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: 22 West 35th Street, a 4,340 RSF building asking $22,800,000 209 West 20th Street is a 12 story free market apartment building asking $9,500,000 152 West 24th Street is a 2,468 RSF building asking $6,800,000 57 West 38th Street is a retail condo 9,500 SF on ground floor and basement asking $12,500,000 10 West 46th Street is a commercial condo 4,915 SF asking $5,200,000 91 East Broadway Hotel for sale 15,113 SF asking $20,000,000 420 Fifth Avenue commercial condo 18,003 RSF asking $21,500,000 62 Mulberry Street, a 44,160 RSF parking garage for sale asking $18,500,000 Buildings Sold: …
  
  
• July 2020 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments WeWork is considering ditching its co-living business and is working with an adviser on options to hand over operations of its two communal living locations in New York City and outside Washington, D.C. Topshop shuttered its 608 Fifth Avenue store and Vornado Realty Trust has turned over control of the property at 608 Fifth Avenue to the Korein family, which owns the ground under the building. City Council members are fighting Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed cuts to the city’s capital budget, saying it will mean a loss of 21,000 affordable apartments over the next few …
  
  
• June 2020 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office Office leasing was virtually dead, except for TikTok who just rented 232,000 at 4 Times Square. A few landlords have lowered prices. Many are taking a wait and see attitude until Tenants return to work and the dust has settled. Retail The brick and mortar apocalypse keeps getting worse, as more national chains declare bankruptcy or announce store closings. Mom and pop retail is faring far worse with many lacking reserves to stay in business. Restaurants will hurt even more, once they partially open and have to pay full rent. Sales Building sales were very very slow with only …
  
  
• June 2020 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law a package of Covid-19 relief bills, including one that temporarily bars landlords from going after restaurants and store owners’ personal assets. Attempting to enforce such provisions constitutes harassment under the measure. New York state’s coronavirus foreclosure ban does not apply to mezzanine loans. The last observation deck at the Chrysler Building closed in 1945 and will now be getting a new one. RFR Realty received unanimous approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for the new deck on the terraces that frame the 61st floor of the 77-floor tower. They …
  
  
• June 2020 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings Sold: The volume of commercial real estate deals fell to the lowest level in a decade. Deal volume totaled $11 billion, a 71% year-over-year drop. The number of deals, meanwhile, has fallen an average of 36% since January, but saw a drop of 61% between March and April. Although some property types fared better than others, not one ended the month on a high note. Hotel sales descended to $5.1 billion, their lowest level since RCA started recording transactions. The office and industrial sectors performed the “best,” but each still notched a 60% drop in transactions. Shulamit Prager’s Opal …
  
  
• May 2020 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Office Office Leasing in April was near zero with brokers unable to show, so the only deal done were started long ago. March was dead quiet and all showings stopped in Mid March. February leaving numbers showed a 41% drop in month-over-month leasing volume compared to January, across all three Manhattan sub-markets. Leasing volume for the quarter totaled 6.82 million square feet, the fewest since the third quarter of 2013. Office leasing in Manhattan ended the first quarter of 2020 on a low note, with the coronavirus pandemic putting a damper on all types of economic activity. Manhattan Retail: …
  
  
• April 2020 New York New Developments
• New York New Developments Gov. Andrew Cuomo barred all employees of non-essential businesses from reporting to work, and laid out what amounts to shelter-in-place rules for New Yorkers, though he avoided the phrase. The order exempts food businesses and others deemed essential. After saying he will halt all residential and commercial evictions for 90 days, Cuomo noted that landlords would have a hard time renting out vacant apartments anyway, and real estate agents can’t show apartments under the new workforce rules. About $20 billion in retail property loans are coming due, and it’s unclear how much of that debt will …
  
  
• April 2020 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Four years after receiving approval to build a 26-story, 310-key hotel at 1150 Sixth Avenue, developer Morris Moinian has decided to sell the vacant site instead. The midblock site is between West 44th and West 45th streets. It is a great development site with approved plans to build a hotel there, which a new owner could use or not. Brookfield Property Partners and Blackstone Group are reportedly in talks about a possible sale of One Liberty Plaza, a 2.3 million-square-foot office tower in the Financial District. Barneys has put its downtown Manhattan property at 101 Seventh Avenue …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• March 2020 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: 2 Grand Central Tower was built in the 1980s and is for sale. Rockwood Capital is the seller of the 44-story building. They are expecting to sell for $580 million or about $850/RSF. CBS is looking to sell 51 West 52nd Street for more than $1 billion for its nicknamed Black Rock. The broadcaster, which merged with Viacom late last year in a $25 billion deal, announced that the company would look to sell the building. Amazon has been in talks to acquire the Lord & Taylor building from WeWork. The deal could be valued close to …
  
  
• February 2020 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Amazon leased a warehouse in Staten Island containing 450,000 square feet next to the 855,000-square-foot distribution center in 2017. The new warehouse will focus on last-mile deliveries. Gulliver’s Gate, the miniature-landscapes attraction finally closed its location at 229 West 43rd Street. The two-and-a-half year old company filed for bankruptcy with a plan to restructure its business, which reportedly struggled under the weight of its $5.7 million annual rent. Uncommon Schools signed a deal to take around 42,000 square feet at Rudin Management’s 55 Broad Street. The 15-year lease covers the second and third floors at the 30-story tower. …
  
  
• November 2019 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Barneys has been sold to Authentic Brands Group and B. Riley for around $270 million. The new owners will likely shut Barneys’ locations, including its 275,000-square-foot flagship property at 660 Madison Avenue. IBM is looking for 500,000 square feet to consolidate its New York office space from multiple locations including a WeWork. IBM’s lease at WeWork’s 88 University runs through 2024. Vornado Realty Trust has encountered more retail challenges as Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy protection. However, Forever 21 may be able to keep its stores at 435 Seventh Avenue and 1540 Broadway open for a bit longer. …
  
  
• October 2019 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: WeWork is pulled its public offering. Neumann’s was removed as CEO from Wework. The reported value plummeted at least two-thirds from its once $47 billion. 20 people aligned with the former CEO Adam Neumann are leaving the company.WeWork’s parent company bought 14 venture-backed startups since 2014. The We Company is now trying to shed some of those acquisitions, many of which were purchased with stocks leaving some investors feeling stuck. Banks seek to revise Adam Neumann’s $500 million credit line. Following a cool reception from investors over his company’s valuation, lenders are looking to revise the terms of …
  
  
• September 2019 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings Sold: A seven-story, 87-unit mixed-use building at 2785 Broadway traded for $22.6 million. The buyer was TriArch Real Estate Group. The sellers were five companies: Adama Holdings LLC, Crane Key Co. LLC, Noam Associates LLC, FLI Properties LLC and Israel Family Noam LLC. The Hospital for Special Surgery bought a six-story parking garage at 524 East 73rd Street for about $19.7 million. The seller was River Company LLC. The property is two blocks from the hospital’s main campus. JAM Real Estate Partners picked up a six-story, mixed-use walkup at 1685-1687 First Avenue for $13 million. The seller of the …
  
  
• July 2019 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Office Market saw an average asking rent increase of 0.7% despite 20.8 million square feet of space in the pipeline. Midtown office leasing continues to rise, totalling 1.85 million square feet, a 38% increase from the month before. The availability rate stayed flat at 10.7%, while the average asking rent hit an all-time high of $88.20, breaking a record set in 2008. The largest deal in Midtown was AIG, which leased around 320,237 square feet at 1271 Sixth Avenue. Leasing activity in Midtown South rebounded, to 680,000 square feet in leases, more than the previous two months combined. The …
  
  
• July 2019 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The top office leases made up more square footage than last month. The top 10 totaled 1.7 million square feet, up from 1.5 million square feet the previous month. EmblemHealth renewed its 15-year lease for 440,000 square feet of space at 55 Water Street. The landlord is the Retirement Systems of Alabama. New York City Human Resources Administration renewed its 10-year lease for 342,496 square feet of space at 250 Livingston Street. The Department of Environmental Protection will also occupy the entire eighth floor as part of the lease. The landlord is Clipper Equity. Colgate-Palmolive Company renewed its …
  
  
• June 2019 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The City Council approved the new headquarters for JPMorgan, the first project to take advantage of New York’s Midtown East rezoning. JPMorgan will stay and rebuild its global headquarters at 1,400 feet and 70 stories tall, and will allow the company to consolidate employees who now work out of multiple different locations. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is moving ahead with plans to replace the bus terminal. The agency is moving forward with the formal environmental review process and released a document for public review. Blumenfeld Development Group has received a $235 million refinancing …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• April 2019 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Gyms and athletic wear retailers once again dominated the retail leasing scene last month in New York City, securing four of the top 10 biggest deals. The rest mostly comprised of restaurants. The biggest retail lease deals signed last month totaled 188,100 square feet, down 41,600 square feet from January’s total of 229,700 square feet. In February of 2018, the top 10 retail leases totaled 108,200 square feet. Hermès of Paris inked a lease for 40,000 square feet of space at 706 Madison Avenue for a new flagship location. The building’s landlord is Friedland Properties. Brooklyn Boulders signed …
  
  
• March 2019 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Office: 2018 was record-setting year for Manhattan’s office market. Leasing including new deals and expansions hit 32.2 million square feet. 17 million RSF of new office space will be hitting the market over the next few years, so new developments are in heated competition to land elite tenants. Midtown office leasing rose 81% in December compared to November, totaling 3.15 million square feet and making 2018’s fourth quarter the submarket’s strongest quarter since 2001. The availability rate dropped by 0.4% points to 10.3%, while the average asking rent rose to $78.43 per square foot. Leasing activity in Midtown South …
  
  
• March 2019 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments Amazon has decided against coming to New York City. The company won’t build a new campus in Queens. Amazon was reconsidering its selection of New York, amid fierce political opposition. Much of the blowback sprung from the $3 billion state and city incentive offered to the company to come to the city. The company also indicated that it isn’t planning to reboot a search for another location, instead will focus on its new headquarters. The gallery space at Sotheby’s auction house is being upgraded and expanded at their headquarters on 1334 York Avenue for $55 million. …
  
  
• February 2019 New York New Developments
• The top 10 office lease deals totaled 2.65 million square feet, up more than 885,000 RSF more than the previous months top 10 leases. Deutsche Bank is set to take over 1.1 million square feet of office space at 10 Columbus Circle and will leave 60 Wall Street. Millennium Management signed a lease for 300,000 square feet of space at 399 Park Avenue, relocating from 666 Fifth Avenue. Asking rents are between $73 and $90 per square foot. WeWork signed a lease for 236,000 square feet of space across seven floors at 1440 Broadway, where it will have its own …
  
  
• January 2019 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings for Sale: Coca-Cola is looking to sell its building on Fifth Avenue. The soft drink maker has put the 18-story, 354,000-square-foot building it owns at the corner of 55th Street on the market. Coca-Cola, which inherited the building at 711 Fifth Avenue in 1983 with its purchase of Columbia Pictures “has determined that it does not need to retain its investment in the building to support its activities in New York. New York Buildings Sold: SJP Properties and longtime partner Prudential Financial bought the Midtown South office building at 470 Park Avenue South for $245 million. The …
  
  
• December 2018 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: After months of speculation, Amazon made its long-awaited HQ2 announcement. The Seattle-based company will divide its second headquarters between Crystal City in Virginia and Long Island City in New York. New York State plans to dole out $1.7 billion in tax credits and grants to Amazon for choosing Long Island City. This month’s top office leases accounted for more square footage than last month. The top 10 office lease deals last month totaled 1.9 million square feet, larger than September’s top 10 leases, which totaled 1.1 million square feet. City of New York signed the largest lease of …
  
  
• November 2018 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: L&L; Holding Company and Normandy Real Estate Partners are trying to upgrade the Terminal Stores warehouse in West Chelsea into a $1.8 billion property in four years. They plan to spend an additional $220 million to renovate the property which will need approvals from the city Landmarks Preservation Commission, call for the creation of 100,000 square feet of glass penthouse space on top of the building. The project’s setup is estimating rents of $135 per square foot for the penthouse office space. New York City hotel developers are about to lose nearly half of the land …
  
  
• November 2018 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale: Barnett’s Extell Development put the 600-unit building at 555 10th Avenue on the market with an asking price of $775 million. The owners of 417 Park Avenue are making another push to co-op the apartment building. 417 Park is a 13-story building that has fielded interest from a number of buyers in recent years, including a $250 million offer from Kushner Companies. Trinity Real Estate is looking to ground lease one of its Hudson Square development sites in a deal that could be worth $180 million or more. Trinity Church put the development site at the …
  
  
• October 2018 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings Sold: Icon Realty Management bought a four-story residential property in the East Village for $10.4 million. The property, at 21-23 Avenue, contains apartments and four commercial units. The seller is 21-23 Ave. B, LLC, which is controlled by Andrew Chang. Fong’s Great Empire Realty bought the Down Town Association building at 60 Pine Street in Manhattan for $28.3 million The company will lease the landmarked property back to the club. East Harlem Tutorial Program bought a church site in East Harlem for $15.2 million. The package includes St. Lucy’s Church and a School at 342-344 104th Street and …
  
  
• August 2018 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Office Manhattan leasing activity totaled 8.96 million square feet in the second quarter. Despite good demand, there is 16.7 million of office space under construction which will continue to put pricing pressure for years to come. There was an increase in all sublease markets. Midtown had a 3.6% increase and Midtown South 5.5% increase and Downtown has a 76% Increase. Downtown’s vacancy rate is expected to hit double digits in the second quarter because of the recent opening of 3 World Trade Center. The 2.2 million-square-foot tower was delivered with 45% of the space pre-leased. small_column_chart_by_brian Manhattan Retail Many …
  
  
• August 2018 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: New York City’s hotel market had a better-than-expected first quarter in 2018, with revenue per available room growing 7.4%. Warehouse space is at its tightest level since the first dot-com boom, and it’s driving business. The second quarter saw availability fall to 7.2%, the lowest level since 2000, as demand continues to outpace supply. Hotel and condominium developer Lightstone Group plans to build a fourth Moxy Hotel in Manhattan at the site of a lighting store in the Bowery. Lightstone is in contract to acquire the building at 151 Bowery from Emmut Properties. Chinese insurers, conglomerates …
  
  
• July 2018 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: The top 10 office lease deals totaled 2.4 million square feet, larger than last month’s top 10 leases, which totaled 1.9 million square feet. 1) Deutsche Bank signed a lease for 1,100,000 square feet of office space at 1 Columbus Circle. 2) Facebook signed a lease for 370,000 square feet of office space at 770 Broadway. 3) McKinsey & Co. signed a lease for 186,000 square feet of office space at 3 World Trade Center. 4) Blank Rome signed a lease for 138,000 square feet at 1271 Sixth Avenue. The firm is taking the 15th, 16th …
  
  
• May 2018 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: 666 Fifth Avenue announced that the tower lost $25 million in 2017, largely due to the debt service on the property outweighing its net income. Chinese developer Zhonghong Holdings has defaulted on more than $174 million debt, just one year after the company tried to buy a senior living facility chain. Brookdale Senior Living for $4 billion. Co-working companies have stepped up their game in New York City, increasingly competing with traditional commercial landlords for the same tenants. Sixteen co-working companies have leased 664,000 square feet in the city so far in 2018. Brookfield Property Partners …
  
  
• April 2018 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Office Manhattan office leasing continued its slow start to the year, with demand in February down more than 18% from a year earlier. Two months into 2018, leasing activity is trending downward at a time when the pipeline is flush with new supply. The market recorded 2.57 million square feet worth of new leases and renewals in February. That was down 18.3% from February last year, and continued the year-over-year decline recorded in January. For the first two months of 2018, leasing activity stood at 5.54 million square feet, down 21.6% from the same time period last year. Manhattan’s …
  
  
• April 2018 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: An Upper East Side retail site that has been vacant for more than two years will soon be Morton Williams. A curated version of the supermarket is coming to 1251 Third Avenue, the former site of a Talbot’s. The grocery store chain has taken 13,000 square feet across two floors, with an asking rent of $2 million per year. Chinese investment in the United States’ commercial real estate has plummeted by 55% last year, dropping from $16.2 billion in 2016 to $7.3 billion in 2017. Purplebricks, a London-based discount brokerage, received $177 million equity investment from …
  
  
• April 2018 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings for sale: Two sites in Staten Island spanning roughly 1.1 million square feet were hitting the market with an asking price of $23 million. The two parcels at 4482 Arthur Kill Road and 742 Sharrotts Road span 24.5 acres. The owner of sports apparel chain Modell’s is in talks to sell its Bronx warehouse for more than $100 million. The chain uses the nearly 300,000-square-foot warehouse on Marconi Street for storage and distribution. Modell’s is close to selling the two-story building, which sits on a 12-acre lot. Magnum Real Estate Group’s Ben Shaoul is in contract to …
  
  
• March 2018 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings for sale: HNA Group will put $4 billion in U.S. properties on the market, including 245 Park Avenue, the Manhattan office tower it paid $2.2 billion for just last year. The Roe Corporation is looking to sell the 131,000-square-foot development site with approved plans for a 45-story condominium-and-hotel tower overlooking City Hall Park at 267 Broadway. Ares Management is looking to sell its 50% stake in a Greenwich Village office building at 799 Broadway that its partner Normandy Real Estate Partners is planning to demolish and replace with a ground-up, Class-A office building. The sale of the …
  
  
• February 2018 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: The supply of hotel rooms in the Financial District grew 10.7% last year, with another 1,917 rooms in the pipeline. Hotels continue to be built despite the softening of the overall hotel market. There are more hotel rooms slated to come online in 2018 than any year since, at least 2000. Developers have already delivered 26,193 rooms since 2013. Kushner Companies’ retail condominium at the old New York Times building could be facing challenges in the wake of Guy Fieri’s restaurant closing. Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar, a yet-to-be opened food hall run by celebrity chef …
  
  
• January 2018 New York New Developments
• Co-working is coming for two of the country’s leading office building owners. Blackstone Group-owned Equity Office and Houston-based Hineshave both released RFPs looking for partners to help them gain experience in the co-working business currently dominated by WeWork. Equity Office is particularly interested in figuring out how to make tenants more interested in their Howard Hughes office complex in Los Angeles, and the company expects responses to their RFP in the next few days. WeWork has lately been seeing explosive growth and is currently valued at $20 billion. The firm has launched a gym and elementary school in recent months …
  
  
• December 2017 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: Retailers south of 96th Street that pay more than $250,000 per year in rent also pay a tax on that rent. A new bill would raise the threshold to $500,000, meaning about 2,000 business would escape the tax. London-based rhubarb, a major hospitality company in England, plans to open new restaurants at 30 Hudson Yards and at the Hudson Yards Shops & Restaurants. The restaurant at the mall will contain 5,800 square feet on the fifth floor. At 30 Hudson Yards, rhubarb plans to open a 10,000-square-foot restaurant on the 92nd floor. Soho Properties, in partnership …
  
  
• December 2017 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings For Sale: Isaac Chetrit is looking to sell off a pair of office buildings. Chetrit and partner Sioni Group are asking around $190 million and $200 million for the properties at 15 West 47th Street and 22 West 48th Street. Brookfield Property Partners is looking to sell its 2.3 million-square-foot office tower at One Liberty Plaza in Lower Manhattan, which could trade for as much as $1.6 billion. Offers on the Park Lane Hotel were due, but no buyers showed up willing to pay the $1 billion the property was expected to obtain. The 47-story hotel overlooking …
  
  
• November 2017 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: New construction starts for nonresidential projects tripled to more than $3 billion due largely to massive undertakings at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and the Moynihan Train Hall. The total dollar volume for nonresidential construction starts in New York City jumped to $3.66 billion, a 203% increase from $1.21 billion a year earlier. Most of the private air rights along the High Line are used. New York City is seeking to sell its own air rights to West Chelsea property owners for $500 per square foot. The Department of City Planning proposed a rule change …
  
  
• November 2017 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: HSBC and Edge Fund Advisors put a 48% stake in the office portion of 1540 Broadway on the market, hoping to get around $445 million. Brookfield Property Partners is looking to sell its 2.3 million-square-foot office tower at One Liberty Plaza and could go for as much as $1.6 billion which works out to $695 per square foot. Brookfield is open to selling the entire tower or a partial stake. RFR Realty is looking to sell the 38,000-square-foot commercial condominium at the base of the Park Avenue Place of 60 East 55th Street, which RFR developed in …
  
  
• October 2017 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Average Manhattan office rents were $73.00 per rentable square feet (RSF) in August, down $70.00 year over year at .93 million square feet. Manhattan office availability rate was 11.7%, up from 10.6% the same time last year. Office leasing activity picked up significantly. The top 10 biggest office lease deals in New York City made public totaled more than 1.5 million square feet, up about 350,000 square feet. Manhattan and Brooklyn together will see 5.1 million square feet of office space delivered through the fall and winter of 2017, across 15 projects. The two biggest projects are the Brooklyn Navy …
  
  
• September 2017 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings For Sale: Thor Equities has put the two-story, 50,000-square-foot retail condominium at 88 Greenwich Street, that is home to the 9/11 Tribute Center up for sale for $52 million. New York REIT is marketing 1440 Broadway, a 749,000-square-foot building. The real estate investment trust, which is in the process of selling its 4.4 million-square-foot portfolio as part of the comp. The Broadway property is expected to get $775 per square foot or $580 million. NYRT purchased the building in 2013 from Rockpoint Group and Monday Properties, paying $530 million. The majority owner of the Plaza Hotel is …
  
  
• September 2017 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: Brookfield Property Partners are in talks to become a partner in one of the largest redevelopment projects underway in New York City. Brookfield is negotiating to acquire a stake in the St. John’s Terminal site, which Westbrook Partners and Atlas Capital Partners are planning to transform into a five-tower, 1.7 million-square-foot mixed-use complex. The three-block-long site which consists of north, south and center sections would hold 1,586 rental apartments, offices, a hotel and around 400,000 square feet of retail space next to Hudson River Park’s Pier 40. Manhattan’s hotel market may be nearing the end of …
  
  
• July 2017 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• The first signs of distress have emerged in several areas of the New York City’s commercial real estate market in recent months. Retail vacancies increasing, declining hotel revenues and foreclosures on Park Avenue are among indications that the market is inching closer to financial trouble. Manhattan Office: Leasing activity in Manhattan’s office market is the same as mid-2016, with less new supply coming online. Less supply means the absorption picture is looking better. Leasing activity was down 21% year-over-year at 2.3 million square feet. Midtown office leasing activity dipped to 920,000 square feet from just over one million square feet …
  
  
• July 2017 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: NYU Langone Medical Center is opening a 50,000-square-foot biotech co-working center at 180 Varick Street, a project that hopes to help compete with biotech hubs like Boston and San Francisco. NYU Langone invested $10 million over the last several years on upgrades at 180 Varick Street and is investing another $5 million. The state’s economic development arm Empire State Development is contributing another $2 million. New York City is the most expensive city in the world when renting flexible, short-term office space. The average monthly price to rent a workstation in flexible offices for one person …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• May 2017 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is rethinking plans to move its Midtown bus terminal a block west and is now considering renovating the existing station. The bi-state agency ordered a study of its current bus terminal to assess the cost of revamping its existing facility. Officials have estimated that moving the terminal would cost $10 billion. Earlier this year the Port Authority dedicated $3.5 billion to creating a new terminal. The borough’s hoteliers saw revenue per available room dip to its lowest point of the current cycle, as the hotel market struggles …
  
  
• April 2017 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings For Sale: Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation and DekaBank are looking to sell a newly redeveloped retail space at the base of 522 Fifth Avenue. The owners finished a $16 million renovation of the two vacant retail condominiums at the base of the 23-story, 380,000-square-foot office condo building. The two-floor retail condos together have 27,310 square feet, with about 10,850 square feet on the ground floor. The retail was valued at $277 million last year, when General Growth Properties sold its 10% stake to an unidentified investor. Ashkenazy, Germany-based DekaBank and Chicago-based real estate investment trust GGP jointly acquired …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• February 2017 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Jared Kushner sold his equity stake in 666 Fifth Avenue though the identity of the buyer and what they paid for remains unknown. Kushner paid $1.8 billion for 666 Fifth Avenue in 2007, he then sold off a major stake in the retail portion to Carlyle Group and Crown Acquisitions for $525 million. The Chinese Investment in foreign property increased by more than half last year. The U.S. received the bulk of those investments, totaling $14.3 billion. New York University signed a lease for 58,000 square feet at 180 Madison Avenue, and has committed to taking another 41,000 …
  
  
• February 2017 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: Forest City Realty Trust is looking to sell its majority stake in a New York retail portfolio to fund manager Madison International Realty. The portfolio encompasses 15 properties and 2.65 million square feet, including 311,000 square feet of retail space at 234 West 42nd Street. MetLife and Beacon Capital Partners are looking to sell the former Goldman Sachs headquarters at 85 Broad Street. The building is a 1.1 million-square-foot building, which is 91% occupied, and valued at up to $700 million. Governor Cuomo wants to sell a 170,000-square-foot building used by the City University of New York …
  
  
• January 2017 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan office Manhattan Office leasing was down 4.2% in November and 16.2% year-over-year. Office availability in Midtown South is up, with subleasing comprising 27% of availability. Downtown leasing activity was slow as the market waits for big deals in the pipeline to close. Manhattan Retail Between fall 2015 and 2016, average asking rents fell in 11 of Manhattan’s 17 retail submarkets. The Flatiron District on Broadway between 14th and 23rd streets was hardest-hit, with asking rents down 23%. Herald Square as well as on Madison Avenue between 59th and 72nd streets saw asking rents drop 11%. Uncertainty continues in the …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• January 2017 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: Premier Equities.">Premier Equities is in the process selling three NoMad buildings and a Lower East Side retail condominium unit in separate deals for a total of about $26 million. Premier paid Victor Group $12 million for 275 Fifth Avenue and $4.6 million for 2 East 30th Street. The developer is in contract to buy 273 Fifth Avenue for around $3.5 million. The lot at 2 East 30th Street currently houses a five-story, 5,719-square-foot mixed-use building. The five-story apartment building at 275 Fifth spans 9,269 square feet. The adjacent four-story commercial building at 273 Fifth Avenue is 8,060 …
  
  
• December 2016 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: Brookfield Property Partners has put the 45-story office tower at 245 Park Avenue up for sale. Sources close with the 1.8 million-square-foot tower believe it is worth north of $2.1 billion, or more than $1,200 per square foot. Lightstone Group hopes to sell the retail space and garage at the base of the Marriott Moxy Hotel in the Garment District, which is under construction, for $64 million. The developer is looking to offload a 4,000-square-foot retail condo and 27,000-square-foot garage at the 16-story building at 485 Seventh Avenue. Buildings Sold: United American Land bought 65 Spring Street …
  
  
• November 2016 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: Construction spending in New York City is expected to soar to $127.5 billion by the end of 2018, showing that the building boom still has legs. Predictions that spending will reach $43.1 billion in 2016, a 26% increase from 2015’s construction spending in 2017 is projected to reach $42.1 billion and then $42.3 billion in 2018. Non-residential construction of $17 billion projected in 2016, a 27% increase from last year. Office construction accounts for 20 million square feet of new space will be added over the next five years, much of it in Hudson Yards. Tishman …
  
  
• October 2016 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• With millions of square feet of new office construction coming online and the Manhattan office leasing market 23% slower than over the same two-month period a year ago. Manhattan’s overall net absorption stood at negative 2.65 million square feet year-to-date, a 131% increase over the same period last year. The availability rate also rose slightly to 11.2% from 10.6%. Asking rent is also up from $70.08 per square foot to $73.72. Over the next five years, more than 20 million square feet of new office space in Manhattan is expected to be delivered. The office space is spread across 23 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• October 2016 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale Ashkenazy Acquisitions and Deka Immobilien put the New York Marriott East Side hotel on the market 17 months after buying it. The sellers are unlikely to get more than the $270 million they paid for the 525 Lexington Avenue property in 2015. The landmarked building spans 319,319 square feet and includes 655 hotel rooms and the 525LEX restaurant. Jona Rechnitz, the developer at the forefront of a probe into corruption at the New York Police Department, is looking to sell a Midtown development site for $26 million. JSR Capital bought the property at 238 Madison Avenue in …
  
  
• September 2016 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: SL Green Realty says it has shaken a pesky lawsuit that threatened to stall the construction of its office building near Grand Central Terminal, One Vanderbilt. The REIT has settled a lawsuit filed by the owner of Grand Central, which alleged that the office landlord and the city rendered his 1.2 million square feet of air rights useless when it rezoned the area. The settlement was made possible, in part, by the recent sale of a stake in Grand Central to Michael Dell’s MSD Capital. In 2012, the Witkoff Group announced it would build a new hotel at …
  
  
• August 2016 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: The Blackstone Group is shopping its 665,000-square-foot office tower at 1065 Sixth Avenue and hopes to get as much as $700 million. ABC Carpet & Home is shopping around its property at 880-888 Broadway, an office-and-retail condominium that could get upwards of $200 million, or over $2,600 per square foot. ABC has owned and fully occupied the six-story, 76,400-square-foot building since 1981. The property has a 20,600-square-foot retail condo and a 55,800-square-foot condo for office and manufacturing space. It is still not clear if ABC Carpet would vacate upon selling the building or make a sale-leaseback agreement. …
  
  
• July 2016: New York New Developments
• New Developments U.S. commercial real estate values continue to experience a slowdown in growth in 2016. Despite the slight uptick, property value appreciation has slowed significantly, after near-double-digit gains in each of the past few years. Cap rates have stopped declining. The City Council approved plans to rezone portions of the Financial District that will allow landlords to fill unused space with retail. 20 buildings along Water Street can fill in 110,000 square feet of pedestrian arcades. In exchange, the landlords are required to upgrade nearby plazas and any of the arcades larger than 7,500 square feet must go through …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• April 2016: New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Jeff Sutton">Jeff Sutton purchased a four-story, mixed-use building along Bleecker Street in the West Village for $11 million, or $2,434 per square foot from Mark Perlgut. The 4,159-square-foot building at 275 Bleecker Street is home to David's Tea on the ground floor, and four apartments on the upper floors.Mack-Cali Realty Corp. is in contract to sell its interest in 125 Broad Street in the Financial District for $202 million. Recently, Mack- Cali Realty was looking to sell its commercial condominium at the 40-story, 1.3 million-square-foot tower. Mack-Cali bought the 525,000-square-foot condo, spanning the second through 16th …
  
  
• March 2016 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan office and retail leasing has been slow and the stock market is making companies nervous. Both office and retail leasing volume were down last month compared to the month-over-month and year-over- year figures. Office leasing activity was down about 1 million square feet from both December and January 2015. The retail market this year will be slow with some predicting a drop in tourism and others noticing that tenants are jittery over high rents. Manhattan retail leasing ended 2015 on a high note, even as availability rates crept up. But January's preliminary figures show a reversal of that leasing …
  
  
• March 2016: New York New Developments
• New Developments Joseph Beninati's Bauhouse Group filed Friday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the LLC entity that owns the 3 Sutton Place development site in Midtown. There is an upcoming foreclosure auction by Gamma's who holds more than $180 million in debt on the property at 426-432 East 58th Street. Bauhouse defaulted on nearly $129 million in loans last month that it had received from Gamma, led by Richard Kalikow, for its planned 68-story, Norman Foster-designed condo tower, also known as 3 Sutton Place. The $4 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub is about to open. It will connect to …
  
  
• March 2016: New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Gary Barnett's Extell Development made another deal with the Duell family, buying four adjacent commercial buildings on Sixth Avenue in the Flatiron District for a combined $50 million. The buildings collectively have about 63,500 buildable square feet. At 116 Seventh Avenue and 204 117th Street for $11 million. Extell also bought 502 Third Avenue, a rental property with ground-floor retail, from the family for another $11 million around the same time.Extell Development is in talks to buy a Greenwich Village commercial property with substantial development rights from the Duell family. 530 Sixth Avenue is an existing …
  
  
• February 2016: New York New Developments
• New Developments Water Street in the Financial District is a pedestrian wasteland. The BID aims to change that with a retail makeover. A re-zoning could make way for 167,357 square feet of new retail space, most of which would be built into existing arcade space on the ground floors of various buildings. It is essential to the revitalization of Lower Manhattan. The top 25 office tenants in Manhattan take up more than 56 million square feet of space, with JPMorgan Chase occupying 4.67 million square feet and Citigroup, occupying 4.49 million square feet. The City of New York occupies 7.22 …
  
  
• December 2015: New York New Developments
• New Developments AvalonBay Communities is planning a new 33-story, mixed-use residential tower at the site of the former American Bible Society located in Lincoln Square. The building will house 160 apartments. There will also be 34,000 square feet of retail space on the lower levels.Vornado Realty Trust lauded a third quarter that saw it sign seven Manhattan office leases at asking rents of over $100 per square foot. Vornado completed 43 office leasing deals totaling 509,000 square feet in the third quarter at an average starting rent of $79.80 per square foot. The total year-to-date leasing activity was nearly 1.7 …
  
  
• December 2015: New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold The Dermot Company is in contract to buy a Kips Bay apartment building from AvalonBay Communities for $175 million, part of its effort to transition into the luxury market. A majority of the 209 units in the building located at 377 East 33rd Street are occupied. The 23-story building consists of 185,549 square feet of residential space and 19,000 square feet of commercial space, which is currently leased by New York University.Forest City Enterprises has agreed to sell its development site at 625 Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn to Simon Dushinsky's Rabsky Group for $158 million. …
  
  
• November 2015: New York New Developments
• New Developments Developer Bo Jin Zhu filed permit applications for a nine-story hotel and a 16-story apartment building at 412 West 126th Street and 402 West 126th Street. The two buildings together will contain a total of 129,000 square feet of space. UBS is looking for 700,000 and 900,000 square feet in Midtown for its New York headquarters. The company is being forced to move by its current landlord.The Columbus Avenue retail corridor on the Upper West Side has gone from zero vacancies in a 15-block stretch along Columbus Avenue to 14. The spike in retail vacancies is due to …
  
  
• September 2015: New York New Developments
• Sam Chang plans to build a 25-story, 175-key hotel on a Garment District development site. The hotelier filed a permit application to build a 60,000-square-foot hotel at 338 West 39th Street, near Ninth Avenue. He bought the 12-story factory building for $22.4 million.The Hakimian Organization is in the process of acquiring 16,000 square feet of air rights from the landmarked Helen Hayes Theatre. This would allow the company to build a 246-key hotel at 250 West 49th Street containing 96,000-square-foot hotel on the property. The plans call for a renovation of the existing eight-story, 58,000-square-foot building, and add another 16 …
  
  
• August 2015: New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale The Related Cos. is considering selling a stake in its 10 Hudson Yards office tower now that the building is almost fully leased. The developer is in discussions with Boston Consulting Group to take about 175,000 square feet at 10 Hudson Yards, which would boost the building to near full occupancy before its scheduled completion early next year. A stake sale would allow Related and equity partner Oxford Properties Group to capitalize on the building's value and provide funds to finance further construction at the 28-acre, $20 billion development. Ian Bruce Eichner is shopping around his …
  
  
• July 2015: New York New Developments
• New York University's campus expansion plans to expand the school by about 2 million square feet in Greenwich Village hasve been approved by Tthe New York State Court of Appeals.s gave an approval to New York University's campus expansion plans to expand the school by about 2 million square feet in Greenwich Village. Neighborhood activists sued to prevent the expansion, claiming it used land that was permanently designated for public park use. The plan will create new high rises on two blocks between West Third and Houston Streets and La Guardia Place and Mercer Street. FAO Schwarz is close to …
  
  
• June 2015: New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold The Sapir Organization and CIM Group sold 11 Madison Avenue for $2.6 billion to SL Green. SL Green Realty Corp. agreed to pay $2.3 billion, and spend an additional $300 million for building improvement costs. 11 Madison contains a 2.2 million-square-foot building.Prodigy is buying a 12-story building at 331 Park Avenue South for $51 million, including air rights from nearby properties. Prodigy is paying $49 million to buy 114 East 25th Street, a 42,000-square-foot loft-style property.Crown Acquisitions and Oxford Properties Group bought the entire office and retail base of 641 Fifth Avenue (Olympic Tower), after paying …
  
  
• June 2015: New York New Developments
• Foot traffic on madison avenue has declined by 200,000 people over the last seven months when the Whitney closed in October. While many luxury retailers still maintain locations there, some of them are global brands that are simply there for the status and are actually losing money on the area rents.The City Council approved plans for One Vanderbilt, the 63-story, 1.6 million-square-foot office tower to be built next to Grand Central Station. The tower will be anchored by TD Bank, with 200,000 square feet. One Vanderbilt will deliver critically-needed, state-of-the-art Class A office space and dramatically upgrade Grand Central's overburdened …
  
  
• May 2015: New York New Developments
• New Developments China's largest publicly-traded developer is buying a majority stake in at 130 West 42nd Street, a 30-story office building for $125 million. Real estate funds are receiving more investment from pension funds, endowments and institutional investors. Madison Capital is buying a retail space encompassing at least 32,000 square feet at 549-555 and 557-559 Broadway in Soho for $400 million. Asking rent for the new ground-floor retail space will likely exceed $1,000 per square foot. Scholastic paid $25.5 million for the 10-story property at 557-559 Broadway in 2010, and $255 million for the 12-story property at 549-555 Broadway last …
  
  
• May 2015: New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Eliot Spitzer's sale of the Crown Building for $1.78 billion to Jeff Sutton and General Growth Properties set an all-time price per-square-foot record. The deal, which closed last month, marks the highest price paid per square foot ever paid for an entire office building. At 390,000 square feet, the price breaks down to $4,564 per square foot.Extell Development and the Group.">Carlyle Group sold a portion of their Riverside Center project on the Far West Side for $410.8 million to James Linsley's GID Development Group. GID purchased 40 Riverside Boulevard, one of five buildings in the 8-acre …
  
  
• March 2015: New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale General Growth Properties is putting an 85,000 square feet of fully-leased Noho office space up for sale located a 200 Lafayette Street.Just three years after paying $360 million for an office tower at 575 Lexington Avenue, Normandy Real Estate Partners is looking to sell.The Chetrit Group is seeking a buyer for its Hudson Yards development site, but in the interim, the firm is planning on spending $29 million to more than double the buildable square footage the property allows as-of-right.433 Fifth Avenue is for sale asking $30 million for a six-story Midtown commercial building. The 17,000-square-foot …
  
  
• January 2015: New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Jeff Sutton and General Growth Properties are buying the Crown Building at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street for $1.75 billion. The price works out to $4,490 per square foot, which sets a new world record for the price of an entire office building. The nearly 400,000-square-foot tower includes roughly 50,000 square feet of valuable retail space with retail tenants including: Bulgari , Mikimoto, Bank of America and Piaget. Broad Street Development purchased two Noho apartment buildings for a combined $178.5 million. The properties are located at 298 and 304 Mulberry Street. The buildings house 182 apartments, …
  
  
• January 2015: NYC New Developments
• New Developments A new building by Cape Advisors at 535 Greenwich Street would have 26 floors and 116 condo units, on an L-shaped lot. The 57,500-square-foot warehouse site with 42,500-square-feet of buildable air rights. Kaled Management filed plans for a 10-story apartment building at 711 West End Avenue, also known as 306 West 95th Street. Alchemy Properties unveiled plans for a new 24-story tower in NoMad at 846-850 Sixth Avenue. It will contain 52 residences totaling 105,973 square feet or 2,000 square each condo. The tower will rise 316 feet and have a 3,100 square feet retail space. Demolition permits …
  
  
• December 2014: NYC New Building Developments
• New Developments The prices of U.S. commercial buildings are higher than the peak in 2007. Since January 2010, the Moody's/RCA Commercial Property Price Indices has seen a climb of 40 percent.The Bronx borough president's South Bronx waterfront redevelopment project looks to be moving forward.A Movie theater chain is on the search for eight retail spaces in New York City and on Long Island to either lease to buy.Prior to constructing 55 Hudson Yards the 1.3 million square feet office development, the developer Related will have to pay up to $180 million to buy the building bonuses that help in the …
  
  
• December 2014 NYC Buildings purchased & For to purchase
• New York Buildings sold The developer who is turning Verizon's former downtown headquarters into luxury condominiums has bought the building's 40,000-square-foot retail space for $40 million.A Developer acquired a three-story Upper West Side commercial building located at 2307 Broadway for $25.9 million. The 9,900-square-foot property, between West 83rd and 84th streets, is home to a Duane Reade store on the ground floor. There are offices on the upper floors.A Financial services firm acquired a 16-story office building at 21 Penn Plaza in Midtown from Savanna and the Feil Organization for an undisclosed price.A Canadian property investor and Chicago-based Callahan Capital …
  
  
• September 2014: Manhattan New Developments
• New Developments The city approved Gregg Singer's plan to convert a former Alphabet City public school into a college dormitory. The landmarked building aka P.S. 64 is locateded at 605 East 9th Street. The Department of Buildings approved Singer's plan exam for the conversion.The city's last Office Depot will shut its doors near Times Square at the end of the year. Manhattan building owners keep building even taller buildings. The trick is to bring record height skyscrapers with the minimum of big chunks of useless hidden space. The Bank of America tower at 1111 Avenue of the Americas, which is …
  
  
• August 2014 New York Buildings Purchased & For Sale
• New York Buildings sold A Hong Kong-based Investment firm, bought SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Midtown for $82 million. Hidrock Realty sold the 173-room, Gene Kaufman-designed property at 25 West 37th Street for $82 million. The hotel opened last year.Madison Realty Capital has teamed with RWN Real Estate Partners to purchase a pair of buildings along Frederick Douglas Boulevard in Harlem for about $30 million.Real estate investment firm KUB Capital is in contract to acquire a one-story Soho baby stroller store and adjacent parking lot for a sum of $50 million.A White Plains, N.Y.-based real estate investment trust is in …
  
  
• August 2014:NYC New Developments
• New Developments The large retirement investment firm is the buyer in a $365 million deal to acquire the leased fee interest in 2 Herald Square.Wharton Properties received a $95 million construction loan to develop a six-story, 33,000-square-foot Harlem retail building to be anchored by Whole Foods. Natixis Real Estate Capital provided a three-year, interest-only loan that comes with two options to extend it for a 12-month period. The site at 100 West 125th Street, near Lenox Avenue, will hold Whole Foods as well as Olive Garden, TD Bank, Burlington Coat Factory and American Eagle. All leases are for 20 years; …
  
  
• July 2014: New York New Developments
• A Private Upper East Side girls' school sent a letter to parents saying the school has been reviewing 20 sites that would accommodate the school's 700 students. The K through 12th grade school has operated out of a 12-story brick building at 610 East 83rd Street since 1929.The Bauhouse Group has recently secured a $35 million construction loan from Doral Bank to finance its condominium-and-retail project in Chelsea. The developers acquired a 35,000-square-foot, six-story warehouse at 515 West 29th Street for $24.4 million, and {dynamic_word3} three additional parcels of air rights for a total of $6 million. Permits have been …
  
  
• June 2014 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings For Sale The Rubin Museum of Art is looking to sell a Chelsea development site that delivers more than 70,000 buildable square feet of space. The site, which is now a seven-story building, is expected to go for $60 million. The site at 115 Seventh Avenue near West 17th Street is most valuable as a condominium-and-retail project. Thus, the current structure would have to be demolished.A local investment company that has for decades owned a building which houses a drug abuse treatment facility has put the property on the market. Many in the industry think the property …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• May 2014 New York New Developments
• Major Developments Duane Reade recently vacated a location next to department store H&M; and is now on the market. The unofficial asking rent for the property is nearly $8 million per year. Commune Hotels & Resorts, a San Francisco-based joint partnership between Thompson Hotels and Joie De Vivre Hotels, has plans to develop two more hotels in Manhattan. One will operate under the Thompson Hotel brand, while the other will have a different hotel brand. The properties, for which Commune has already inked deals, are looking to open in 2016. The lineup for Westfield Group’s central shopping hall within the …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• February 2014 New York New Developments
• New Developments A Brooklyn fashion networking company away is moving into Manhattan. Manufacture NYC, a program that gives budding designers access to industrial sewing machines and design software, conducted an exhaustive search for a budget-friendly spot in Brooklyn before finally giving up and settling on a space in Manhattan’s Garment District. 7-Eleven is trying to gain acceptance in Manhattan. Since entering Manhattan in 2011 the number of locations has quadrupled from eight to 37 stores.Hospitals are increasingly opening full-service walk-in clinics in an effort to reduce inpatient costs. As a result, outpatient medical facilities are cropping up throughout the city. …
  
  
• 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 NYC Buildings For Sale
• New York City Buildings For Sale Jeff Greene has switched tactics in Hudson Square. Rather than build a 140,000-square-foot condominium project at 100 Vandam Street, he has decided to sell the parcel for $150 million, or three times what he paid for last year. The move follows a contentious rezoning of the area that will allow for bigger residential developments. India-based Sahara Group is trying to unload the iconic Plaza Hotel along with the Dream Downtown Hotel in Manhattan and Grosvenor House in London, and has received a $1.6 billion offer from a Middle Eastern group for the luxury hotel …
  
  
• November 2013 NYC Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• One year after Hurricane Sandy ravaged Lower Manhattan, the area has mostly recovered according to The Downtown Alliance. All sectors of the real estate market: office; residential and retail have been steadily improving over the year, and have shown gains in the last quarter.Commercial investors in New York City real estate are after “land”. Sales of prospective development sites multiplied, while sales of other types of commercial properties, including multi-family assets and office buildings have declined.New York is the biggest real estate investment market in the world. The metropolitan area saw commercial property investments rise 39 percent, to $49.2 billion, …
  
  
• October 2013 NYC Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale The ground lease for the Time Hotel, the 192-room boutique Theater District property formerly owned by hotelier Vikram Chatwal, is to hit the foreclosure auction block. Discussions between Hampshire Hotels and special servicer have collapsed.The owner of three adjacent parcels at the corner of 42nd Street and Ninth Avenue near Times Square has put the site on the market, expecting offers of about $2 million per year in triple net rent, meaning the tenant pays taxes and other expenses.Millennium Partners, a developer of luxury mixed-use properties, is seeking a buyer for the 335,000-square foot Ritz-Carlton Hotel …
  
  
• 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 2013: NYC Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale Developer Centaur Properties has paid $45 million to acquire a West Chelsea site with close to 110,000 square feet of unused air-rights.A developer known for converting old buildings into condominiums has paid $27 million for the former Ridley Department Story on the Lower East Side.Westwood’s company purchased a five-story townhouse for $13.5 million to plant the designer’s New York City flagship. The 12,000 square-foot townhouse at 14 East 55th Street, next to the St. Regis Hotel, will hold the corporate headquarters as well as a Vivienne Westwood retail store and showroom.Northwood Investors paid $150 million for …
  
  
• July 2013: New York City New Developments
• New York City New Developments Internet radio provider Pandora Media has slated a 52,450-square-foot lease at 125 Park Avenue. Warner Music Group is looking at a 225,000-square-foot space at 7 West 34th Street. Warner currently has space at 75 Rockefeller Center, and faces a deadline with its lease expiring next year. Still, the company is also looking over options to move elsewhere.Planet Fitness gym has inked two Manhattan leases in a city expansion effort. The largest contiguous block of class A office space in Midtown will soon come available at 1221 Sixth Avenue. About 537,000 square feet of space will …
  
  
• June 2013: NYC Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale Hines is selling off two Midtown office properties at 499 Park Avenue and 425 Lexington Avenue for a combined price of more than $1 billion. JPMorgan Asset Management will pay $750 million for 425 Lexington.Quinlan Development Group will pay $4 million for air-rights from God’s Love We Deliver and intends to build a 14-story residential condominium project. The charity wants to sell the development rights to raise funds for a $26 million expansion at 166 Sixth Avenue, at Spring Street.Verizon is planning on selling or leasing around half the space inside its 31-story headquarters. The company …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• May 2013 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale Vornado Realty Trust plans on selling Harlem Park, a plot of land that was previously designated for the development of an office building. The site, located at 1800 Park Avenue at 125th Street, will most likely get $62 million in proceeds and a $22 million net gain.Officials at the Italian American Museum in Little Italy are planning to sell their three-story building to a real estate developer. The property is not landmarked and the zoning lot allows for an 85-foot, or more, six-story building. A new owner would allow the 1,000-square-foot museum to occupy a bigger …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• March 2013: New York New Developments
• New York New Developments Acadia Realty Trust has defended its stance on hiring non-union workers for its City Point megaproject and responded to a trade group's accusation that the development exploits the community and wastes taxpayer dollars. They believe that City Point will generate thousands of jobs and enhance Downtown Brooklyn's quality of life. Acadia is committed to maximizing local and minority contracting and employment as they create a LEED-certified development with the affordable housing, retail and entertainment options that the neighborhood well deserves.A trio of Russian entrepreneurs is redeveloping a three-acre sports complex, slated to be the largest in …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• February 2013 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• The aggregate value of the priciest ten Manhattan investment sales for 2012 was $4.8 billion, down from $6.0 billion in 2011, a majority interest sales only. The three office buildings that made the list were RXR Realty’s $720 million acquisition of the 910,473-square-foot 450 Lexington Avenue from Dubai investment fund Istithmar World in September, along with Crown Acquisition’s $390 million purchase of 530 Fifth Avenue in January and Normandy Real Estate Partners’ $360 million purchase of 575 Lexington Avenue in October. Manhattan office leasing experienced a parallel slowdown in activity. The overall volume of deals declined in 2012 by about …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• December 2012 New York New Developments
• New Developments 13 new hotels in the pipeline for the Lower East Side, tripling the number of hotel rooms in the neighborhood over the next few years. Four new hotels are scheduled to open, boosting the existing inventory by approximately 30 percent. Six other projects in various stages of construction and four of which are on a two-block strip along upper Orchard Street will add another 900 rooms. And three other recent proposals, a 130-room boutique hotel in the landmarked Jarmulowsky Bank building on Canal Street, a 376 room hotel/condo combination building on Chrystie Street and a Broome Street project …
  
  
• November 2012 New York New Developments
• New Developments The Chrysler Building just got a little greener. The Owner has received a LEED gold certification for the 1.2 million-square-foot office tower. Tishman spent two years updating the building’s energy, waste, water and maintenance systems. The upgrades include new plumbing fixtures that will cut the property’s water consumption by 64 percent; a waste-management policy that will ensure 81 percent of the building’s waste is recycled; and a 21 percent reduction in energy usage. The city’s plan to sell of three historic but outdated office buildings in Lower Manhattan, all of which would likely become luxury housing or hotels, …
  
  
• 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 Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale Forest City Ratner is looking to find an investor to take as much as a 49 percent stake in 8 Spruce Street, the tallest residential building in New York. The 76-story, 903-unit Frank Gehry-designed building is now 80 percent occupied.Thor Equities is seeking $45 million for the three-story, 15,525-square-foot building, at 446 West 14th Street, between Washington Street and 10th Avenue that it bought for $23.4 million in 2007.Vornado Realty Trust is marketing its stakes in three New York City-area malls, as the investment trust looks to exit the sector. Vornado wants to unload a 32.4 …
  
  
• 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 Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• In the first quarter of 2012, Manhattan office leasing is the leanest it has been in almost three years. About 5.7 million square feet of space will be leased in the first three months of the year in Manhattan, marking the lowest volume of leasing since the second quarter of 2009, when 4.5 million square feet was leased. The pace of Manhattan leasing activity through February was down 40 percent from the same two months in 2011. Commercial landlords and real estate brokers alike are becoming frustrated with the lack of activity and the negative absorption since the final three …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• March 2012 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan’s slumping office market is about to be get worse, when 6 million square feet of new office space will be delivered to the market — the most since 1989.The unsteady economy and the compression of the financial services industry have lessened demand for office space recently. Developers point to the city’s growing tech, law and media sectors for relief, though those tenants tend to prefer using smaller space more efficiently to signing for extremely large blocks. The developers of the buildings, 1 World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center and 51 Astor Place, say they aren’t worried because of …
  
  
• 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 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 …
  
  
• 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 Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale A Times Square Hotel, the 47-room Hotel 41 at 206 West 41st Street, will be auctioned Dec. 5, after lender Crane, A.G., a 50 percent owner of the hotel, filed to foreclose on developer Benjamin Soleimani's interest in the property. The 11,562-square-foot Hotel 41 building, on a side street just below Times Square, was purchased by Soleiman's 206 West 41st Street Hotel Associates in 2008 and underwent a complete transformation by architect Andrew Pollack and Soleimani with ultra-modern interiors. ATCO is selling the Atlas Terminals, an industrial park adjacent to the Atlas Park mall it developed …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• October 2011 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold TIAA-CREF purchased the 280,000-square-foot office building 475 Fifth Avenue from Barclays Capital Real Estate for $144 million or about $514 per square foot. A joint venture of real estate developer Joseph Moinian and Westbrook Capital acquired 475 Fifth Avenue, located at 41st Street, in 2007 for $160 million, but lender Barclays took the property back in 2009 through a deed in lieu of foreclosure.Stonehenge Partners has closed on the 93-unit apartment building at 1143 Second Avenue and 60th Street. Stonehenge paid KFJ Realty $47 million for the six-story building, which includes 15,000 square feet of retail …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• July 2011 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Newly landmarked 70 Pine sells for $205M to Nathan Berman's Metro Loft Management, or $186 per square foot,. Metro signed on to buy the 1.1 million-square-foot tower, the fifth tallest in the city at 66 stories, from Kumho Investment Bank of South Korea. Kumho previously purchased the building, along with 72/74 Wall Street, from AIG for $150 million.. The Henry T. Sloane mansion at 18 East 68th Street, between Madison and Fifth avenues, sold at auction yesterday to its only bidder -- Alexander Rovt, a Ukrainian-born billionaire fertilizer magnate -- for $40 million, the amount in …
  
  
• 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 Buildings For Sale
• New York City Buildings sold Russian composer Igor Krutoy and his wife, Olga, signed a contract signing for a Plaza Hotel condominium for upwards of $40 million. If the sale closes, it will be the second-priciest residential sale in the city since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, behind the Duke Semans Mansion, which sold for $44 million last year. For their money, the Krutoys will get around 6,000 square feet with views of Central Park, a combination of at least two renovated units, that was not officially on the market.The 14-room duplex at 778 Park Avenue that Brooke Astor once …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• February 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Three years after the Related Cos. began developing its 26-acre Hudson Yards project, the company is now trying to find a tenant willing to commit to occupying at least 600,000 square feet of office space. To land its key tenant, Related is offering either to construct a building and sell it to that company or to provide a big break on the rent. The 12 million-square-foot space, bordered by the High Line and the Hudson River, will run from 10th to 12th avenues and from West 30th to 33rd streets. The $15 billion project is expected to take …
  
  
• 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 Buildings For Sale
• New York City Buildings sold Developer Continuum Company is to put $40 million into the troubled One Madison Park residential development and finish up the project, after reaching a deal with the developer and creditors. The deal, which is contingent upon bankruptcy court approval, would fund the costs of a proposed restructuring on a loan from lender iStar. The lender gained control of the building in April, after asserting that the builder had failed to pay it $12 million in interest between October 2009 and February 2010, and owed upwards of $200 million. Larry Gluck's Stellar Management purchased the 374-unit …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• November 2010 NYC Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan landlords received positive news last quarter as leasing deal volume remained high, but the market continued to show evidence of weakness through a slight rise in the amount of available office space for rent. The United States is still the most attractive country to invest in for real estate. The top three cities are Washington D.C, New York City and San Francisco. Based upon investment sales this year, it looks like Israeli investors who have invested in the Big Apple are once again becoming very bullish on Manhattan. Earlier this month, Gaia Real Estate announced a partnership with Harel …
  
  
• November 2010 New York New Developments
• Major Developments Despite a slight rise in the vacancy rate, which rose .5 points to 9.3 percent on top of the decline in asking rents. To illustrate the demand can be seen by a new retailer trying to elbow into the high-traffic area, an existing store agreed to relinquish its space after its lease was bought out.New York City had $4.74 billion worth of delinquent commercial property loans as of Oct. 1, down 0.6 percent from one month ago, when there was $4.77 billion outstanding. The decline can be largely accounted for by Joseph Moinian's 1775 Broadway which had been …
  
  
• 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 Buildings For Sale
• New York City Buildings sold SL Green, the largest commercial office landlord in New York, agreed to sell 19 West 44th Street in Manhattan to Deka Immobilien for $123.2 million. SL Green will continue to manage and lease the building as part of the sale agreement with Deka. SL Green originally bought the 292,000-square-foot Class B property in 2004 for $67 million. Since the acquisition, SL Green has renovated the lobby, windows and heating and cooling systems, and raised occupancy to 99 percent, compared to 86 percent in 2004. SL Green Realty is expected to gain $66 million profit on …
  
  
• 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. …
  
  
• September 2010 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• The vacancy rate for Downtown surpassed the vacancy rate for Midtown for the first time in two years, as several large blocks of space were returned to the market in Lower Manhattan. The vacancy rate for Downtown was 13.5 percent in July, compared to a rate of 12.8 percent for Midtown. A month earlier Midtown had a higher rate. The last time the Downtown rate was higher was in November 2008, when it had a vacancy rate of 10.1 percent while Midtown had a rate of 9.7 percent. It is the historical norm for Downtown to have a higher vacancy …
  
  
• 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 Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Retail space on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan continues to be in strong demand for retailers worldwide. Average rents on Fifth Avenue for 2010 were $1,650 per square foot, compared to $1,553 in 2009, a 6.6 percent year-over-year increase. Some notable transactions for the first quarter of 2010 were Uniqlo's three-level, 90,000-square-foot lease at 666 Fifth Avenue for $18.5 million, and the sale of the 20-story, 97,500-square-foot Takashimaya building at 693 Fifth Avenue for over $140 million. The office leasing market is strengthening and asking rents in Midtown Class A buildings rose for the first time in two and a half …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• The best lease deals are being done now. Manhattan Office and Retail rents are at the bottom. Landlords are still offering generous concession packages to close leases, especially for larger users. This will not last. Concessions still key to grabbing tenants. More and more real estate professionals are talking about the market bottoming out, with two more major brokerage firm feeling that we have also reached the bottom. Manhattan overall, the net absorption, was a negative 140,000 square feet and average asking rents fell. Midtown showed positive net absorption of nearly 360,000 square feet in March, and in the first …
  
  
• May 2010 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York City Buildings sold The retail space at 40 Mercer, the Jean Nouvel-designed condo, has sold for $41.9 million. The space at 465 Broadway contains 9,400 square feet of space at the ground level. SL Green is buying Hines Interests' 600 Lexington Avenue for almost $180 million, or $700 a square foot. The 282,000-square-foot office tower is one of three major city properties of its kind that had been attracting attention from investors while on the market despite the sector's slump. The others are 340 Madison Avenue and 125 Park Avenue. The acquisition for the city's largest landlord follows …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• April 2010 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• The largest drop in Class A asking rents was in the Gramercy Park area. There was little or no change in asking rents in Midtown and Midtown South. Downtown saw a moderate drop after landlords cut prices in anticipation of higher vacancy rates in the coming months. The average asking rents in Midtown did not change from January, at $59.43 per square foot, while in Midtown South, the average asking rents rose by 3 cents from the prior month to $43.79 per foot. Downtown, asking rents fell by 31 cents in February to $36.97 per square foot. Manhattan, overall pricing …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• February 2010 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Last year was miserable for New York investment sales with below $7 billion in deals for all property types in the metropolitan area, down from $77 billion in 2007 and $26 billion in 2008. The dearth in sales means Manhattan no longer sits as the No. 1 market. It is not even in the top 10 of all property types, down to No. 13.New leasing activity in Midtown jumped by 34 percent in December from the prior month, ending the year with an annual volume of the 2008 level yet despite the strong leasing levels, average asking rents continued to …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• January 2010 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• New leasing velocity improved in Manhattan last month, average asking rents continued to fall. Leasing activity rose to its highest level in three months to 1.78 million square feet as landlords dropped average asking rents last month by $0.73 to $49.17/RSF. The highest vacancy rate in Class A buildings in Midtown was in the Columbus Circle submarket at 17.6 %. In Midtown South, the neighborhood with the highest Class A vacancy rate was Chelsea, at 19.4 %, and Downtown, the Financial District had the highest rate, at 10.9 %. In Manhattan office buildings, Class A asking rents were $59.72 per …
  
  
• December 2009 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Just one month after declines in rents in Midtown seemed to be leveling off, the average asking rents in October fell sharply as vacancies rose by their largest amount in nearly a year. The average asking rent in Midtown fell by 99 cents per square foot to $56.89 per square foot, while the vacancy rate rose by .7 points to 10.3 percent. In September, the average asking rent in Midtown declined by just 6 cents per square foot, to $57.88 per foot. However that price support did not continue last month. The price decline in Midtown was the largest since …
  
  
• December 2009 New York Buildings For Sale
• Manhattan Buildings sold The Volkswagen Group of America has purchased the 265,000-square-foot Potamkin General Motors building at 798-804 11th Avenue between 55th and 56th streets. The space was purchased for $84 million with plans to renovate through a $41 million investment, and will be used as the flagship Manhattan dealership for Audi and Volkswagen. The 24,700-square-foot retail space in the St. Regis New York was sold to a three-way partnership of property managers for $117 million. GFC Fifth Avenue is comprised of Crown Acquisitions, Goldman Properties and the Feil Organization, and they bought the property, located at 2 East 55th …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• November 2009 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Building sales for the first three quarters of the year are down 92% in Manhattan compared to the same period in 2007. Sales totaled $3.2 billion in the first nine months of 2009, a sharp decline compared to the same time in 2007, when there were $40 billion in investment sales. In the first three quarters of 2008, there were $18 billion in sales. The situation has improved on the building sales front. The number of sales in Manhattan jumped 270 percent in the third quarter of 2009 to $1.2 billion compared to the quarter earlier when there were $338 …
  
  
• November 2009 New York Buildings For Sale
• Manhattan Buildings sold Midtown Equities and Israeli holding company IDB Group announced their acquisition of HSBC Bank USA's New York headquarters at 452 Fifth Avenue, between 39th and 40th streets. This was the first time Midtown Equities had teamed up with IDB, and are now working on six or seven projects in New York City, where they will be either buying buildings or buying first mortgage notes from banks. At 452 Fifth Avenue, two parties are considering signing a lease on the top 18 floors that will be vacant in 2011. HSBC will continue to occupy the remaining 11 floors …
  
  
• November 2009 New York New Developments
• Major NYC Developments 11 Times Square, the city's largest office tower, remains entirely unleased more than two years after breaking ground in 2007. Some give the owner little chance of holding on to the 1 million-square-foot building without a significant debt restructuring. They cite the current weak economy, the 25 percent decline in rents, and the cost of the building, a pricey $1,100 per square foot as the reason. There are currently no signed leases for the 40-story glass commercial tower stationed across from the Port Authority terminal, which is three-quarters completed.JPMorgan Chase may hold onto its 60-story office property …
  
  
• October 2009 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• There is some stability in the office market, but it will likely be temporary. The Class A office vacancy rate fell 0.2 points in August to 11.8 percent, while average asking rents rose 19 cents to $64.36 per square foot. The amount of direct and sublet availabilities, fell by about 100,000 square feet to 58.8 million square feet between July and August. In Manhattan, for all building classes, the vacancy rate remained unchanged at 13.2 percent, with average asking rents falling 24 cents to $51.71. The month's uptick in rents and decline in vacancy rates in some classes of office …
  
  
• October 2009 New York New Developments
• Major Developments Stalled construction projects are not having much of a psychological impact on the city. Despite an increasing number of delayed projects, including 250 West 55th Street, 99 Church Street and Solow's First Avenue project, any psychological effects are likely to be short-lived, because the projects will be completed eventually. Large banks are only about halfway done with their commercial real estate losses. The U.S. commercial real estate losses could reach 10 or 15 percent of loans in this cycle. Banks with retail and office loans face the highest risk.The Plaza hotel is on tough times. The building's lower …
  
  
• September 2009 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan's office rents are declining more sharply than those in other U.S. markets, though it's probably due to a soaring multi-year run-up. Average Manhattan asking rents were $60.23 per square foot, down from $71.59 a year ago, or an almost 16 percent plummet. Midtown leasing velocity beat its five-year average for the first time in 18 months while the availability rate of office space improved slightly for only the second time since late 2007. There was 1.58 million square feet leased in Midtown in July,up from 1 million in June, besting its 60-month average of 1.32 million square feet. The …
  
  
• 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 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• May 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments Hyatt Hotel & Resorts is opening two new hotels in the next year under its new brand name called Andaz. One hotel is scheduled to open across from Bryant Park on 41st Street and Fifth Avenue next year, and the second, at 75 Wall Street, is to open in September. The 41st Street hotel will offer time-share units on the top floors, and the downtown hotel, converted from the former JP Morgan Chase building, will have 253 rooms, with condo units on the 18th through 42nd floors.Hotel Developer Sam Chang filed plans for a 225-key Hyatt Place hotel …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• February 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments Lehman Brothers filed suit to begin foreclosure proceedings on Kent Swig's 45 Broad Street. Swig had been planning to build a 62-story Nobu Hotel and Residences on the property, with 77 luxury condos, 128 hotel rooms and 13,000 square feet of retail. Trump Marina Hotel Casino Trump Entertainment Resorts has struck a deal with lenders and note holders had until Jan. 21 to try negotiating a restructuring of its debt. Trump had delayed paying a $53.1 million bond interest payment that was due in December, and the 30-day grace period expired. The Atlantic City, N.J.-based company had hoped …
  
  
• December 2008 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Asking rents in Class A office buildings in Manhattan declined while vacancies rose to their highest level since March 2006. Rents were down 5.6 percent to $83.38 from the May 2008 high of $88.37. Total vacancies were up 29 percent from the start of the year to 8 percent, or 18.4 million square feet. The last time so much was available was March 2006 when vacancies hit 18.2 million square feet. There was 4.4 million square feet of sublease available in Midtown Class A properties, which made up 28.2 percent of all available Class A in the area. As vacancy …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• September 2008 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For SaleNew York Buildings soldLehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is negotiating to sell its $40 billion portfolio of commercial real estate. A group led by Boston Properties finalized the purchase of Harry Macklowe's Two Grand Central Tower buying it for $237 million and the assumption of $190 million in mortgage debt. Real estate firms rich in cash have snatched up the most high-profile office towers on the market in Manhattan this year, while highly-leveraged players have been sidelined. Shorenstein Properties bought two of the seven office buildings that Harry Macklowe needed to unload, the Park Avenue Tower at 65 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• February 2008 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For SaleGM building Sale. The sale for the GM building could be in doubt as buyers are scared away by the pending lawsuit from Sheldon Solow. Developer Harry Macklowe is trying to sell the General Motors Building to pay off massive debts that are soon due. People wait to see who might try to buy the 50-story tower. Sheldon Solow, Larry Silverstein, Vornado CEO Steven Roth, and Tishman Speyer CEO Jerry Speyer. Bidding is expected to begin at $3.5 billion, and the property might not even sell. A recapitalization could be all that happens in the end. A …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• September 2007 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Tightening credit may mean the end of the acquisition frenzy and trouble for buyers of recent deals who have not locked in long term financing.Summerset Partners who last month announced it was acquiring 450 Park Avenue for $1,589/RSF. Now, the firm is struggling to close the $510 million deal, because of the rising cost of debt and requirements for more equity. The same is true for all developers such as Macklow who recently completed the $7 billion acquisition of several Manhattan skyscrapers from the The Blackstone Group and an Israeli investment group, who just bought the Lipstick Building at 885 …
  
  
• August 2007 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• The office market is red hot with little space. Major Corporations are starting to announce relocations out of the city as prices in prime locations are over $100/RSF.There are a number of new office building talked about being built space delivery is years away.New York City New Construction:A new, 1.5-million-square-foot office tower by the Extell Corporation at 34th Street and Eleventh Avenue is expected to begin in 2009 and completed in 2012.Reisman Properties plans to build the first luxury hotel in Harlem, on Fifth Avenue from 125th to 126th streets.According to the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, more than 14,000 …
  
  
• January 2007 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsBuildings Plans changed from residential to commercial. 1. Toy buildings located at 200 Fifth Avenue and 1107 Broadway owners considering going back to office use from proposed condo apartments as the residential market cools and the office market remains red hot with office space in that neighborhood expected to reach as high as $60/rsf.2. Macklow considering making his project at 510 Madison Avenue into offices rather than hotel/residential condominium Construction City wide busy but off of 2005 highs. According to Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff construction spending is likely to increase over the next three years. Total spending likely to …