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• December 2024 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The City Council agreed to Mayor Adams’ signature housing policy after securing $5 billion in public funding and will now generate to 80,000 units over 15 years, the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity is now expected to add about 80,000 units beyond what would otherwise have been built. The zoning text amendment will go back to the City Planning Commission for review before it goes to a full City Council vote next month, but those are formalities in light of the agreement reached. City to supersize Midtown rezoning. Mayor Adams’ administration set its sights on Midtown South …
  
  
• November 2024 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Maguire initiated a U.C.C. foreclosure on the equity interests of two mixed-use buildings at 53 and 55 Stone Street. The properties are owned by Alicia CastroLeal Harper. The properties, built in 1900 and 1913, total 16,700 square feet and consist of seven free-market apartments and a pub Underdog, a former taco joint. Both buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. The Metropolitan College of New York has opted to sell three floors and a portion of the ground floor at 40 Rector Street. The private college has listed part of the property as a portion …
  
  
• September 2024 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: A group of Goldman Sachs-led lenders took control of the TSX Broadway project after Fortress Investment Group and L&L; Holding Co., along with others, failed to repay the loan when it came due. The 46-story tower sits at the corner of 47th Street at 1568 Broadway. It includes 75,000 square feet of retail space and a 669-room hotel. There is also a Hilton-branded Tempo hotel and Palace Theatre. The vacant property at 329-343 West 25th Street, which comprises the church and rectory, a school building and convent. The site spans three adjacent parcels with a combined lot …
  
  
• August 2024 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: The CMBS loan for 200 million at 500 Fifth Avenue, a 727,757-square-foot office property in Midtown, was moved to special servicing because of imminent maturity default. Meyer Chetrit’s 65 Broadway. The $151 million CMBS loan tied to the FiDi office building had landed in special servicing in February. Cash flow couldn’t cover loan payments, The American Express Building was reappraised at $104 million below the loan balance. Lexin Capital is selling a development site at 75 Nassau Street asking $75 million, either in an outright sale or through the sale of a partial stake. The site is …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• July 2024 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Brookfield hopes to sell 3333 Broadway for $350 million for the 1,193 unit rental complex that has five connected buildings and is one of the biggest apartment complexes in Manhattan. Mitsui Fudosan America is looking to sell its majority stake at 525 West 52nd Street, a 392-unit property. Mitsui and Taconic are seeking a deal that would value the building at $275 million. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is looking to sell its New York Edition Hotel at 5 Madison Avenue. The 271-key hotel in the landmarked clock tower overlooking Madison Square Park is asking $271 million. …
  
  
• 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, …
  
  
• March 2024 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: The real estate arm of insurer MassMutual put the 29-story 100 Wall Street up for sale, eyeing a figure of about $125 million That’s nearly $150 million less than Barings, through its subsidiary Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors, paid for the tower in 2015. Buildings Sold: Jeffrey Wu is selling 41-60 Main Street in Flushing, Queens for $80 million to Madison Realty Capital. The 100,000-square-foot office and retail building is located in Downtown Flushing. An entity connected to the Holiday Inn Club, 501 Lexington Development LLC, paid $30.3 million. Sold by Timeshare Acquisitions At Lexington LLC, purchased the …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• August 2023 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: In the first quarter, investors spent less than $500 million buying Manhattan office properties, down from $5 billion in the first quarter of last year. Värde Partners aims to force the sale of Public Hotel. Steve Witkoff and Ian Schrager appeared to have gotten a handle on the debt at their Public Hotel after falling behind on their mortgage. Witkoff and Schrager are facing a UCC foreclosure on their equity in the 367-room hotel at 215 Chrystie Street. The partners owe more than $86 million in mezzanine debt from Värde Partners. The sale is scheduled for Sept. …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• May 2023 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Retail Market: Burberry rented a short term lease at 693 Fifth Avenue. This means the cash flow from the property is short of revenue to cover its $250 million loan. Burberry took 14,000 square feet of retail space, 15% of the property at 693 Fifth, paying just $372 annually per square foot, a third of the $1,144 that Valentino agreed to pay when it inked a 15-year lease in 2013. David’s Bridal layoffs target 14 New York stores including three locations in New York City: including 45 West 25th Street in Manhattan, Plaza 48 at 3460 48th Street in …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• January 2023 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: The Mayor and the Governor laid out initiatives to future-proof New York, including 40 proposals aimed at increasing the housing supply and making business districts more attractive. The city and state will push to increase mass transit options and housing around employment hubs to cut commute times. Other proposals include removing the cap on the residential floor area ratio as well as allowing accessory dwelling units. New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program will finally shutter Jan. 15. ERAP provided eviction protection despite running out of rent aid, resulting from a lawsuit settlement Non paying tenants to delay eviction …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• October 2022 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Aman Group is looking to sell the hotel portion at the f Crown Building. One person familiar with the matter said the hotel could fetch $600 million. The deal would be structured with a manage-back clause, retaining Aman as operator of the property. UBS seeks $125M for UES apartment tower 408 East 92nd Street for somewhere between $120 million and $125 million, Developed in 2004, the building has an affordability agreement, set to expire in 2026, that subjects 20 percent of its 196 units to rent stabilization in exchange for the 421a property tax abatement. Madison Realty …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• August 2022 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Steve Witkoff and Ian Schrager have defaulted on their Public Hotel on the Lower East Side. The developers defaulted on their $189 million mortgage backing the 367-room hotel at 215 Chrystie Street, and are now paying a 9% penalty interest rate. Their lender, Deutsche Bank, is looking to sell the non-performing loan. Aby Rosen has put the Church Missions House for sale at $135 million, or about $3,000 per square foot. It is a six-story, 45,000-square-foot office property located at 281 Park Avenue South. Thor Equities is still trying to sell a Lenox Hill townhouse after 10 …
  
  
• 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 New Developments
• Major Developments: 689 new building permits were filed in the first quarter, an increase of 69.3% from a year ago. The number of building filings represented the highest volume for a quarter since 2014. Roughly 23.3 million square feet is planned, 300% higher than the first quarter of 2021. The amount of residential units, slightly more than 20,000, is up more than 500% year-over-year. The planned square footage is down 25.6% from the fourth quarter and planned residential units were down by 4,000 units. Eric Adams said the DOB should “roll out the red carpet” for building professionals. The mayor, …
  
  
• May 2022 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Chase rents 8.7 million square feet in the city. Chase is trying to sublease 700,000 square feet at 4 New York Plaza in the Financial District and 100,000 square feet at its Hudson Yards office, 5 Manhattan West. The national office vacancy rate is already 12.2%, the highest of the pandemic. It’s up from 9.6% at the end of 2019. About 243 million square feet of office leases are set to expire across the country in 2022. Lease expirations are projected to exceed 200 million square feet in each of the following three years as well. Tenants are negotiating …
  
  
• 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 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 …
  
  
• September 2021 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Retail: In January 2020, Fendi and Berluti inked leases at 595 Madison Avenue after Coach left. Hermes, Giorgio Armani and Brunello Cucinelli are also planting a flag in or increasing their footprints in the area. Toys ‘R’ Us is planning a large-scale comeback with the help of retailer Macy’s. Toys ‘R’ Us is set to bring more than 400 shops within Macy’s department stores, across the country, starting next year. Madison Avenue retail from 57th Street to 72nd Street is only seeing 71% of its 2019-foot traffic. Upper Fifth Avenue is at 92% of its 2019 levels. Soho foot traffic …
  
  
• July 2021 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: In the depth of the pandemic last year, a majority of New York City office tenants facing lease expirations did not want to commit to a long-term deal. Instead, they opted for shorter extensions. The number of short-term renewals, a deal shorter than five years, was up 46% in 2020 compared to the year before. Almost 20% of Manhattan office space is up for rent, up to about 80 million square feet of space either unrented or for sublet. About a third of commercial leases are to expire in the next three years. Only a fifth of workers are …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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, …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• April 2020 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Office Leasing volume slid to 1.16 million square feet, from 2.1 million square feet in February. Adjustments to commercial real estate activity after market sell-offs also can take months. There are concerns that the pandemic will have a long-lasting impact on the economy and subsequently on demand for commercial real estate. Many clients have put deals on hold or completely walked away from them. Manhattan Retail: Around 50,000 retail stores have closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Retailers across New York City are closing. Amid the uncertainty and the layoffs, landlords are now faced with the choice of cutting …
  
  
• January 2020 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• The office leasing scene maintained momentum with just under 2.2 million square feet of deals in the ten largest leases. Facebook’s 1.5 million-square-foot lease at Hudson Yards accounted for more than half of that total. Facebook signed a lease at 30, 50 & 55 Hudson Yards for 1,500,000 square feet. The landlord is Related Companies. Dentsu Aegis Network signed a 15-year lease at 341 Ninth Avenue for 320,000 square feet. The landlord is Tishman Speyer. Morgan Stanley signed a new deal to expand its existing lease at 1 New York Plaza for 90,000 square feet. The landlord is Brookfield. New …
  
  
• November 2019 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: JPMorgan may sell 383 Madison Avenue. The consideration comes as the financial company weighs moving thousands of jobs outside of the New York area in an effort to lower costs ahead of a possible financial slowdown. Buildings Sold: Jeon America Inc. bought a five-story office building at 42 West 28th Street for $10.5 million from Uk Choi’s Legend Corp. The property is about 42,000 square feet. Savanna has gone into contract to sell 2417 Third Avenue the Bruckner building for $65 million to ZG Capital Partners. The deal works out to about $369 per square foot and …
  
  
• October 2019 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: Unizo Holdings Co. is selling two office buildings 40 West 25th Street and 685 Third Avenue. Blackstone subsidiary EQ Office put the 622,000-square-foot office building at 65 East 55th Street on the market. Asking more than $800 million. The land underneath Manhattan’s iconic Lipstick Building at 885 Third Avenue is for sale. Buildings Sold: A subsidiary of South Korean-based conglomerate Aju, bought 52 West 36th Street for $85.5 million and 30 West 31st Street for $51.2 million. Combined, the properties have 307 rooms. The seller was Chesapeake Lodging Trust. HUBB NYC purchased three commercial condo units at …
  
  
• August 2019 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings Sold: Magnum Management and Real Estate Equities Corp sold the retail portion of 196 Orchard Street to the AR Global affiliate New York City REIT. The sale price is $88.75 million, which makes it the most expensive deal for a retail condo in more than two years. The price works out to more than $1,475 per square foot. The Hematian family is purchasing a Midtown-office building at 145 West 45th Street from Isaac Chetrit for $92 million. If it trades for that amount, it works out to over $1,000 a foot. An entity to Taube Management Realty picked up …
  
  
• January 2019 New York New Developments
• NYC Major Developments: Overall, November’s top office leases outpaced October’s top office leases. The 10 biggest deals signed last month totaled 1.8 million square feet, up 400,000 square feet from October’s total of 1.4 million square feet. The largest office lease in November was signed in Grand Central. Bloomberg LP renewed its 11-year lease for 468,000 square feet of space at 120 Park Avenue. Ralph Lauren expanded its lease for 350,000 square feet of space at 601 West 26th Street. RXR Realty refinanced the property with a $900 million loan from New York Community Bank. Peloton signed a lease for …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• August 2018 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings for sale: Brookfield Property Partners is in talks to buy a stake in the 1,400-unit Waterside Plaza complex in Kips Bay. The $600 million deal is not yet finalized and there’s no guarantee it will go through. The complex includes apartments, stores and space rented to the British International School of New York. The owner is Richard Ravitch. A six story building at 75 Warren Street is for sale for $12,950,000 or $1,199.07 SF. It has commercial space with 16-foot ceilings. 240 Fifth Avenue is a 5 story commercial building for sale with an asking price of …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• July 2018 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings for sale: RXR and Walton Street want to sell 237 Park Avenue, with an unofficial price tag of around $1.4 billion. Host Hotels may sell some of its non-core hotels that could exceed $2 billion. Host owns multiple hotels in New York City, including the W Union Square and the New York Helmsley. It is close to selling the W to Westbrook Partners. A subsidiary of Blackstone Group, EQ Office, is putting one of its office buildings near Bryant Park on the block. The 22-story, 350,000-square-foot property is at 114 West 41st Street with an unofficial asking …
  
  
• June 2018 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: The top 10 office leases totaled 1.9 million square feet, much larger than the previous month’s top 10 leases, which totaled 996,000 square feet. Pfizer signed a lease for 800,000 square feet of office space at 66 Hudson Boulevard. Latham & Watkins signed a lease for the 25th through the 34th floors, totaling for 407,000 square feet at 1271 Sixth Avenue. Jet.com inked a lease for 200,000 square feet of warehouse space at 1055 Bronx River Avenue. The asking rent was $22.00 per square foot. McDermott Will & Emery signed a 20-year lease for around 106,000 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• March 2018 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: The city is moving forward with plans to make way for 4.5 million square feet of development on Governors Island. The Trust for Governors Island held its first meeting to discuss rezoning part of the island for commercial real estate development. Beauty chain L’Occitane en Provence is relocating its Fifth Avenue store of 3,378-square-foot lease at 555 Fifth Avenue. The building had an asking retail rent of $1,100 per square foot. L’Occitane’s lease is expiring nearby at 610 Fifth Avenue. Facing high costs and lower than expected profits, retailers on some of Manhattan’s most expensive thoroughfares …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 Buildings For Sale
• Buildings Sold: Gaw Capital Partners is looking to obtain a $170 million loan to make one of the largest single-asset New York City hotel deals of the year: the $340 million purchase of the Standard Hotel from Dune Capital Management and Greenfield Partners. Extell Development purchased a drug rehabilitation center building with seven-floors, 27,000-square-foot property at 500 West 57th Street that is entirely leased to substance-abuse treatment center ACI for $19 million. Charles Ekblom, a now-deceased landlord, bought it from Columbia University in the 1960s, and the building was placed in a family trust until the sale. A famous recording …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• June 2017 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings Sold: Kobe Bussan, which operates a chain of supermarkets in Japan, sold two empty lots at 439-443 West 54th Street in Hell’s Kitchen. The buying entity is Yaus Special Clinton District LLC. WanXin Media purchased the Midtown office building and vacant lot at 7-15 West 44th Street for $68 million. WanXin plans to develop a boutique luxury hotel and Chinese cultural center which has 90,000 buildable square feet. If approved, the hotel will include 96 rooms and restaurant space in a 19-story building, seven stories taller and nearly 40,000 square feet larger than the existing building at …
  
  
• May 2017 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings For Sale: L&L; Holding Company and PGIM Real Estate are looking to sell three interconnected Chelsea office buildings. The firms own the buildings at 511-541 West 25th Street, between 10th and 11th avenues. They bought them from the Related Companies for $160 million in 2014. Sources said they are seeking about $200 million, or $1,000 per square foot, for the buildings. Billy Macklowe and Principal Real Estate Investors are looking to sell a Midtown office building at 311 West 43rd Street. The partnership purchased the 186,000-square-foot building in 2015 for $107 million from Atlas Capital. The 43rd …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• September 2016 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: Kevin Maloney’s Property Markets Group is looking to sell a newly built and still empty rental tower in Long Island City. PMG built the 45-story, 391-unit tower at 23-01 42nd Road in partnership with Vector Group and toyed with the possibility of turning the units into condominiums, filing a $364.2 million condo plan. Leasing at the tower is set to begin next week, with average asking rents of $62 per square foot. Since the building’s condo plan was approved, a potential buyer could opt to sell the units instead of renting them out. PMG and partner Hakim …
  
  
• August 2016 New York New Developments
• Major Developments Hershey Company plans to open a new flagship store at the base of 20 Times Square, a location that will triple its current 2,200-square-foot space at Times Square. The new location will be a block away from the company’s rival, Mars Inc.’s M&M; World. Gary Barnett’s plans to raze 10 buildings on the block including 10 West 47th Street. Extell secured permits to demolish 10 West 47th and 2 West 47th, 3-13 West 46th Street, 562 and 564 Fifth Avenue. Extell bought 10 West 47th, a 72,000-square-foot office building for $74.4 million. L+M Development Partners and Hornig Capital …
  
  
• 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 Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Harry Macklowe and Qatari investment bank QInvest closed on a deal to buy 432 Park Avenue's retail space for $411.1 million. CIM Group is developing the 1,396-foot condo tower in partnership with Macklowe the seller. The cube will include 6,600 square feet of retail space and will be connected to 20,000 square feet of retail space in the tower itself through a 30,000-square-foot underground concourse. Global Holdings is in contract to buy 1250 Broadway, an office tower owned by Jamestown and Murray Hill Properties, for $565 million. 1250 Broadway is a 39-story, 721,000-square-foot tower. The contract …
  
  
• May 2016: New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Sierra Assets Group bought at 160 East 56th Street a Midtown office building for $18.7 million. The building has 42 units which are mostly office tenants with some retail and contain 51,900 square feet. David Associates, sued three of the property's managing members in October to fairly partition the proceeds from the sale, citing constant friction between the owners. The owners countersued, claiming they were owed income from the property that was never distributed.The Renatus Group bought two contiguous mixed-use buildings at 152-154 7th Avenue for $10.5 million from Michael Connolly. One of the building's three …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• January 2016: New York Buildings For Sale
• New Developments Retail:Overseas retail Brands operate 39% of the stores on Fifth and Madison Avenues and in Soho. Of the 906 retailers, Soho is the most nationally-diverse area, with 24 countries represented. Fifth Avenue had 17 non-U.S. outlets and Madison Avenue had 13. Italianstores had the largest number of stores in those areas.Footlocker and Nike signed leases for large spaces on Broadway. Footlocker signed a $15 million deal to lease 36,000 square feet at 1460 Broadway and Nike signed a $16 million lease for 55,000 square feet at 529 Broadway.Gap signed two leases at 1514 Broadway, into two stores for …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• November 2015: New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Condo developer Six Sigma is in contract to buy a six-story self-storage facility near the northern end of the High Line in Chelsea for $54 million at 517-523 West 29th Street. The seller is self-storage Nicholas Sprayregen. The six-story, 55,000-square-foot, warehouse is one of 14 facilities in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. The site is zoned for up to 74,000 buildable square feet. Vornado Realty Trust purchased 265 West 34th Street for $28.5 million. Vornado acquired the property from a group led by Manhattan attorney William Silverman. The deal gives the company three contiguous properties …
  
  
• July 2015: New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Thor Equities sold a Midtown development site at 520 Fifth Avenue to Ceruzzi Properties and an unidentified Chinese partner for $275 million, after purchasing it for $150 million in 2011. Ceruzzi , a Fairfield, Conn.-based real estate investor, plans to follow through with Sitt's plans to develop for a 71-story residential, hotel and retail tower on the site. The plot has approximately 300,000 buildable square feet, between 43rd and 44th streets and has been vacant since two prewar buildings were demolished there when purchased the site. Real estate investor Arthur Shapolsky is in contract to buy …
  
  
• 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, …
  
  
• November 2014: NYC New Building Developments
• New Developments The average Manhattan commercial building sale was smaller year-over-year, though the number of sales so far is on pace to break a 2007 record high. Manhattan saw 328 commercial deals worth $30 billion through September. That marks a 47 percent jump from the 223 sales worth $30.2 billion recorded for all of last year. In 2007, there were 346 deals valued at roughly $48.5 billion.The 40,000-square-foot retail component at TF Cornerstone's 22-story office building in Midtown East is being marketed. The retail space spans several floors and sits at the base of the 164,000-square-foot building at East 60th …
  
  
• October 2014 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold San Francisco-based Carmel Partners officially completed the purchase of a downtown development site for $171 million. The transaction also includes development rights.Potential buyers are in early discussions interested in buying the Diamond Center of America, a 16-story office tower that is being marketed as a potential redevelopment site. The building, located at 36-42 West 47th Street, is home to some of the top jewelry merchants in the world, but the property has a number of leases set to expire and is seen as a potential site for anything from new commercial development to residential or hospitality …
  
  
• July 2014: NYC Building Sold & For Sale
• {dynamic_word1} Buildings {dynamic_word3} A development firm bought a pair of Financial District buildings from the Century 21 department store company for $46 million.The San Francisco-based investment and building firm inked a contract to buy a development site at 112-118 Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan from the Lightstone Group for more than $170 million.375 West Broadway may be {dynamic_word3} for $125 million. It {dynamic_word3} for $81 million last year.Michael Shvo is in contract to buy 22 Thames Street, or 125 Greenwich Street, from Fisher Brothers and Steven Witkoff for around $180 million.A New York-based asset firm is nearing a deal to …
  
  
• May 2014 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• With Manhattan retail rents skyrocketing retailers such as Rizzoli Bookstore and J&R; Music and Computer World have shuttered. Retail tenants are increasingly turning to hybrid models to be profitable. Despite being one of the wealthiest places in the nation and a shopping mecca for 50 million plus tourists, Manhattan still has more vacant retail space than anyone can count. This is caused by Landlord seeking higher rents than tenants can profitably operate. The two emerging centers for tech office tenants in the city are the Manhattan corridor spanning 14th Street through 42nd Street, and Downtown Brooklyn. Tech firms are looking …
  
  
• 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 NYC Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale The Rhinelander Children’s Center at 350 East 88th, an Upper East Side townhouse owned by the nonprofit Children’s Aid Society, is for sale, asking $20 million. The four-story, 15,405-square-foot site is 50 feet wide. School programs have included preschool, summer camp and after-school care. Verizon is selling a former telephone-exchange building on West 36th Street near Seventh Avenue as a potential hotel site.Bank of New York Mellon is looking to downsize, and is considering a sale of its 52 story headquarters at 1 Wall Street. Chinese Christian Herald Crusades has put their building at 48 Allen …
  
  
• November 2013: NY New Developments
• NY New Developments Harlem's rapid development and emergence as a viable tourist and business destination has suddenly led to a spike in the demand for hotels in the area, so much so that the neighborhood is now short of about 1,500 hotel rooms. Even future growth in the hotel industry will not be able to meet demand. Although two hotels are in the works with a 210-room property near the old Victoria Theater on 125th Street and a 230-room property near Columbia University's West Harlem expansion. The Landmarks Preservation Commission has recently voted in favor of the Nordstrom tower cantilever, …
  
  
• October 2013: NYC New Developments
• NYC New Developments Ace Hotel is converting a 10-story building at 225 Bowery into a hotel, despite earlier plans to turn it into apartments. The Lower East Side building’s owner, the Salvation Army Chinese Community Center, will close within the year. Ace is serving as a silent partner and developer on this and the Jarmulowsky Bank project at 52 Canal Street. That development, from DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, is slated to be a 12-story, 105-unit hotel, and will be operated by Ace under a different name.Fairway Market is coming to the World Trade Center neighborhood. The market just signed …
  
  
• September 2013: Manhattan New Developments
• Manhattan New Developments Architect Santiago Calatrava has been chosen to design the newGreek Orthodox Archdiocese Church of St. Nicholas at 130 Liberty Street. It will sit just south of the site of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub that the architect also designed..Sheldon Solow clock is running out at his long-dormant, six-acre lot between East 38th and East 41st streets on First Avenue. Mr. Solo could lose his permits and public approvals for a $4 billion project if he does not build a foundation for the office building or one of several apartment towers by this November.The battle to secure …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• March 2013 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale The nearly 41,600-square-foot Colonial Revival U.S. Post Office location at 217 West 18th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues is for sale.The SUNY board of trustees voted to close the Cobble Hill-based Long Island College Hospital. The sale of the 200,000-square-foot building, which could be converted into a residential development, may bring up to $500 million.Lehman Brothers is looking to sell its 90 percent stake in 425 Park Avenue. The 31-story, 567,340-square-foot building, located in Midtown East, is to be demolished and replaced with a 650,000-square-foot Norman Foster-designed office tower being developed by L&L Holdings, which …
  
  
• February 2013 NYC Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale In one of the largest land deals in years, Sheldon Solow has reached an agreement with a consortium led by JDS Development Group to sell a parcel of land overlooking the East River for roughly $200 million. The full-block piece of land is zoned for residential use, and there are intentions to build a 37-story tower and a 47-story tower on the site, with a total of more than 830 units. The deal is being financed primarily by a $125 million loan from UBS. The parcel being sold is the smaller of two plots totaling nine acres …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• December 2012 NYC Office and Retail Market Report
• Asking retail rents are continuing to climb in some major Manhattan retail corridors due to high demand and a limited availability of space. Overall in Manhattan, however, asking retail rents were down 4 percent from the spring and 2 percent year. One of the areas that stands out is lower Fifth Avenue, between 42nd and 49th streets. In fall 2012, average asking rents ticked in at $1,021, up 13 percent from the spring 2012 figure of $900 and 51 percent increase from the same period last year when the average came in at $675.Herald Square experienced the greatest growth in …
  
  
• November 2012 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale A Flatiron District office building will hit the foreclosure auction block next month with an outstanding lien of close to $41 million, following the issuance of a foreclosure judgment against the property in September. The building, at 119 West 25th Street, had been owned by Brooklyn-based investors Miriam and Michael Chan before it was placed in receivership. The duo purchased the building for $34 million via an LLC in 2006. The 11-story building, which totals 113,000 square feet and has 15,000 square feet of retail, will hit the block November 17.A parking lot in the Chelsea …
  
  
• 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, …
  
  
• September 2012 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale A Coney Island development site ready for a 22-story building is hitting the market for $14 million.The property is located at 271 Seabreeze Avenue, near the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent to the Coney Island boardwalk and Seaside Park. It is zoned for residential, hotel or senior living use, and plans drawn up by owners American Development Group would sustain up to 153 apartments, or 183 extended-stay hotel rooms, and 102 parking spaces.A troubled 12-story commercial loft building Noho is scheduled for auction next month, after CW Capital foreclosed on the mortgage and sold the debt to …
  
  
• August 2012 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale One of the city’s oldest non-profit organizations has put its Gramercy Park headquarters on the block. The Xavier Society for the Blind will sell the 16,000-square-foot building at 154 East 23rd Street, starting with an asking price of $13 million. The organization is downsizing drastically because its services which provide large print and braille books and periodicals are no longer needed due to technological advances. Milstein is selling all but two of his 32 Emigrant Bank branches. Apple Bank is buying all of the branches, and their $3.2 billion in assets, except for the one at …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan office leasing activity hit its highest level since 2000, with tenants signing new deals for more than 30 million square feet. The velocity of office leasing slowed in the third quarter though it improved in the fourth quarterThe city’s low office vacancy rates and slowly rising rents are overshadowing a disturbing office leasing trend. Ground-up office projects have been unable to secure major tenants, which in turn have stifled development. News that Silverstein Properties might cap off 3 World Trade Center at seven stories because of its inability to land a tenant, is just the most recent example. Three …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• New York City saw almost no job growth in May. The revised gain for May was 10,200 jobs, putting the year-to-date gain at 42,300, up from 38,900 jobs a month earlier. The flat result should be viewed only a small "bump in the road" to recovery rather than a negative shift in momentum. The biggest losses, 2,800 jobs, were in health services. The real estate and hotel sectors added zero jobs.Stephen Ross' Related Companies is currently in talks with nine prospective tenants for its Hudson Yards development, each seeking more than one million square feet of space. Ross said he'll …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• May 2011 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Joseph Sitt's Thor Equities and developer Joseph Moinian have completed the long awaited deal to buy out Goldman Sachs at 245 Fifth Avenue for $162 million. The property, near 28th Street, had been up for sale since January, when Moinian and his previous venture partner, Goldman Sachs Whitehall Funds, decided to put the building up for sale through Eastdil Secured. The property was originally purchased for $190 million, or $620 a square foot, at the height of the market in 2007.RXR Realty purchased the Starrett-Leigh building at 601 West 26th Street for $900 million from Shorenstein …
  
  
• April 2011 New York New Developments
• Major Trends Bruce Ratner wants to construct the world's tallest prefabricated structure at the Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn, according to the New York Times. The 34-story proposed tower would include 400 affordable apartment units, fulfilling a promise Ratner made when he took over the site. The annual rate of building permits issued for new privately-owned U.S. housing units fell by another 8.2 percent in February to a record-low 517,000, according to the latest data from the Commerce Department, backing up analysts' predictions that a sustained recovery in the housing market is still elusive. The permitting rate, which is indicative …
  
  
• April 2011 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan's office leasing market is on pace for its best year ever after February brought some 3 million square feet worth of deals,. That's far above the nine-year monthly average of 1.9 million square feet of office leases. The banner month also comes on the heels of a busy January, when 2.6 million square feet were snapped up in Manhattan office lease transactionsManhattan townhouses see 2010 sales uptickBoth the single-family and multi-family Manhattan townhouse markets showed signs of improvement last year, according to the Corcoran Group, which released its first annual Townhouse Report today. In the single-family market, the number …
  
  
• March 2011 New York New Developments
• Major Trends The laws that cap rent increases on 1 million city apartments expire in June, and landlord groups, tenant advocates and politicians all agree that they should be extended. Last time the laws were up for a renewal, in 2003, Senate Republicans threatened to let them expire and ended up forcing the Democrats to accept a simple renewal. Now the Democrats think they have a better chance of getting a good deal for tenants. The real estate industry is desperate to renew a tax break known as 421-a, which spurs new apartment building development, and Sheldon Silver believes developers …
  
  
• January 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Columbia University may be moving forward with plans for a $6.3 billion expansion after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by local businesses whose properties may be subject to eminent domain. The justices refused to question findings by a state development agency and said that the area is blighted and that the expansion has a legitimate public purpose. Several years back, retail giant Walmart tried to open stores in Queens and Staten Island, but backed off after fierce community opposition. Now the discount chain store is trying again to break into the New York City market, since …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 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 …
  
  
• August 2010 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York City Buildings sold An investment fund affiliated with residential and commercial property owner Stonehenge Partners closed on the $67.34 million purchase of the former St. Vincent's Hospital residential building at 555 Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village. Investors in the purchase include an entity called SITQ, which is a subsidiary of Canadian investment fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, and another Canadian institutional investor. Stonehenge won the 180,000-square-foot building in an auction which followed the bankruptcy of the hospital in April. Hotel owners Richard Born and Ira Drukier, principals with BD Hotels, led a partnership that bought …
  
  
• August 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments Community Board 7 voted to disapprove Extell's plans for an eight-acre Riverside Center project, unless the developer agrees to build according to some modifications. The plan for the new development that would span 59th to 61st street and West End Avenue to the edge of the West Side Highway includes five skyscrapers, at least 2,500 apartments, 210,000 square feet of retail, a hotel, a movie theater, an underground automobile service center, a new K-8 school and three acres of open space. The Alex is facing an $81.7 million foreclosure suit after Anglo Irish Bank sold the note on …
  
  
• June 2010 New York New Developments
• New Developments New York University may enter the public approval process for its new Silver Towers site, the crown jewel of its wildly controversial 2031 expansion plan. The biggest hurdle for the school will be gaining approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which will have final say on whether NYU can build on the landmark Bleecker Street site. The proposed building will be a "slender pinwheel tower," and is rumored to be planned for a 40-story structure. New York University dropped in on Community Board 3's zoning committee meeting and had little to say about how its 6 million-square-foot expansion …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• July 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments The Federal Reserve has few deals for the start of its program to aid the commercial real estate market. Today is the first monthly deadline for investors to apply for loans to buy new commercial mortgage-backed securities through the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. The Fed will start accepting investor requests for loans to purchase older CMBS.James Abadie, head of New York operations for construction firm Bovis Lend Lease, has resigned amid investigations of the company for alleged overbilling and bribery. Bovis is working on the September 11th Memorial and the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building.Global real …
  
  
• June 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments Developers of a Jean Nouvel-designed skyscraper adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art have applied to build a tower seven stories taller than the original proposal unveiled two years ago was 75 stories tall. The building has been controversial, with Community Board 5 criticizing its height and bulk in a resolution in March 2008. The mixed-use project from Houston-based international developer Hines Interests will have 100 hotel rooms and 120 condominium units on the upper floors, and also include a 60,000-square-foot expansion of MoMa's galleries on the second to the fifth floors. The amount of space for the …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• April 2009 New York Buildings For Sale
• Manhattan Buildings sold Real estate investor Robert Gans bought the closed Scores West building at 533-535 West 27th Street for $9.58 million. The 10,000-square-foot venue closed when its license was revoked. The asking price for the building, between 10th and 11th avenues, was to be around $40 million.The New York Times Company and W. P. Carey & Co., an investment management company, entered into a $225 million sale-leaseback transaction for space at the Times' Manhattan headquarters. The sale-leaseback involves 750,000 square feet over 21 floors of the 52-story building on Eighth Avenue between 40th and 41st streets. The lease extends …
  
  
• March 2009 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings For Sale The Lower East Side building 217 East Houston Street, at Essex Street, is on the market for $6.5 million. The five-story building has a club on the ground floor. Its lease extends until 2018 and the club pays $20,000 per month in rent, with a 3.5 percent annual increase.The sale of Starrett City has been put on hold because the owner of the Brooklyn complex, Starrett City Associates, and federal housing officials have been unable to agree on the fair market value of future rents. Starrett City Associates had initially expected to select a winning …
  
  
• December 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsRecently, banks have begun lending to one another, signifying a slight thaw in credit markets. Yet, the commercial real estate market still seems limited in its ability to get financing. This inability to line up financing has scuttled some major building and lease sales in the past few months, one such example is 17 State Street in the Financial District.About 150,000 jobs have been cut at major financial institutions, and more layoffs may be on the way. Some firms may shed an additional 5 percent of jobs this year if the market doesn't turn around. Citibank has cut 22,000 …
  
  
• October 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsThe Bush administration proposed granting the Treasury Department the ability to buy up to $700 billion in distressed mortgage-related assets from private firms. The proposal would raise the national debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion. The government also put together a plan that makes investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley holding companies, giving them access to Federal Reserve Bank of New York funds and putting them under stricter regulations. Boutique firms, like Lazard and Evercore Partners, are seizing clients and staff from fallen rivals. Nationwide, financial companies have announced 103,000 layoffs this year. Democrats proposed taxpayers could receive an …
  
  
• July 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsThe city has reached a deal with a developer that will bring schools to a mixed-use development planned for Midtown East. With financing from New York City Educational Construction Fund, the World Wide Group will build a new elementary school and a new high school that would replace the High School for Art and Design. In exchange, the city will lease the developer a 1.5-acre site at East 57th Street and Second Avenue. World Wide plans to build 200,000 square feet of retail and 488,000 square feet of residential space. Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a plan to rejuvenate the …
  
  
• May 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsVornado Realty Trust was selected to redevelop and expand the West Side trade show facility between 51st and 54th streets on the West Side Highway. The New York City Economic Development Corporation chose Vornado and its subsidiary Merchandise Mart Properties to expand the facility. The project is to create 355,000 square feet of trade show and conference space. Broadway Partners, a New York-based real estate investor, bought several billion dollars worth of property in 2006 and 2007, at the height of the market, borrowing short-term debt that comes due in 2009. The company is considering selling some properties and …
  
  
• December 2007 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Demand for Manhattan office space exceeds the pace of new construction. As a result office vacancy rates continue to decline and rental rates continue their upward climb. New DevelopmentsThe Federal government has approved $1.3 billion for the Second Avenue subway's first phase. The first phase is expected to cost more than $4 billion and is scheduled to open in 2014. A new television transmission may make unnecessary the 408-foot spire planned to broadcast tower on of roof the Freedom Tower. If not built, the tower will be reduced from its symbolic 1,776 feet to 1,368 feet tall, the height of …