Vornado

• 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 …
  
  
• 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 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• April 2024 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: The Duell family is seeking about $300 million for their nine-building portfolio of largely retail properties: 5 East 57th Street, a 22-story, 49,000-square-foot property, containing 19 commercial units, 90% occupied and 673 Madison Avenue, the 9,000-square-foot building. The rest of the Duell portfolio for sale is in Greenwich Village including a mix of retail and residential space. Investors are working together to try and sell the 1,331-key property for around $350 million for Manhattan’s Row hotel. An investment group led by David Werner, which owns the ground underneath the hotel at 700 Eighth Avenue, is jointly marketing …
  
  
• 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. …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• July 2023 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office: Microsoft is subleasing more than 42,000 square feet. Savanna exits 110 William Street as Pacific Oak restructures and the city agency takes 640,000 sf. The 20-year deal accounts for more than two-thirds of the entire footprint of the 32-story, 930,000-square-foot building. The tenant news comes as the owners reached an agreement with Invesco Real Estate to restructure more than $334 million in debt. Savanna will transfer its 40% ownership stake to Pacific Oak, . Pacific Oak would then invest between $110 million and $130 million of equity for tenant improvements. An existing $85.7 million mezzanine debt would be converted …
  
  
• July 2023 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: NYC office struggles no threat to tax revenue: Worst-case 40% value decline would decrease revenue up to 1.4% by 2027 The city would face a revenue shortfall of $323 million in fiscal year 2025 (which starts on July 1, 2024) if the value of office properties declines 40% from 2023 to 2029. By the time fiscal year 2027 rolls around, that shortfall would be projected to jump to $1.1 billion. That figure represents only 3% of the city’s property tax levy and 1.4% of its tax revenues. The city’s tax revenues may be slightly worse condition than suggested. …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• April 2023 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Gov. Kathy Hochul dismissed doubts around Penn Station’s redevelopment and expansion, as the plan appears to be in trouble. The development is expected to yield 18 million square feet of commercial space and around 1,200 apartments. Vornado controls five of the eight development sites. State authorities approved a plan to partially pay for the redevelopment of the transit station, estimating that payments in lieu of taxes from private development could generate up to $3.75 billion for the project. The donut and coffee chain last year led the city in ubiquity again with 620 storefronts, five more than the …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 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 …
  
  
• 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. …
  
  
• February 2022 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Retail: Manhattan’s retail market is slowly making a comeback. Last quarter aggregate leasing velocity rose to about 1.86 million square feet. The figure is up 17% from the prior quarter, but still 14% below the prior year.The number of direct ground-floor availability in the fourth quarter decreased to 266 spaces from the 282 recorded in the third quarter, across the 16 retail corridors. On Broadway in SoHo, availability dropped 24% from 25 to 19 spaces. The average retail asking rent in those 16 retail corridors dropped about 1% to $597 per square foot or 8% below the prior year. This …
  
  
• January 2022 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: All Year Holdings has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with $1.6 billion in debt. The filing in Manhattan federal court came a day after the company discovered a $37.8 million confession of judgment was entered by Yoel Goldman, its troubled founder and sole owner, without the approval of All Year’s board. The company has $1.17 billion in assets, including 69 commercial units and 1,648 residential units. It has about $1.6 billion in outstanding debt, consisting of $800 million in bonds issued in Israel and about $760 million in property-level mortgage debt. Brookfield Asset Management is looking to …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• September 2021 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: Edison Properties, which manages the storage provider, is working with Eastdil Secured to find a buyer. The company may be the largest market among Manhattan storage providers. The leasehold for 587 Fifth Avenue, a 10-story, mixed-use building between 47th and 48th Streets, is asking $36 million. Infinity Collective holds the ground lease. The building has 4,000 SF retail and 38,600 square feet of office space. It is 66% leased. The ground lease runs through August 2079, and annual payments rise in fixed steps from $655,000 today to $750,000 in 2036, then drops to $600,000 from 2041 on. …
  
  
• August 2021 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings for Sale: A vacant Lower East Side lot is on the market for $2.49 million. The lot allows for the building of either 4,271 square feet or parking for six cars. Buildings Sold: Andrew Farkas purchased the Lexington Hotel for $185 million. The Midtown hotel had sold for $333.7 million a decade ago. It is set to reopen next month. The seller was DiamondRock Hospitality. SL Green acquired the fee interest in 461 Fifth Avenue, a 200,000-square-foot office building in Midtown South for $28.3 million. The seller, an affiliate of Karp Family Associates, was Lane Owner LLC. SL Green …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 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 …
  
  
• 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 Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan Office: Manhattan Office leasing was 2.39 million square feet, a sharp increase from June but less than ½ from a year ago Leasing was driven by renewals, including several short-term extensions. Net sublet availability went up by nearly 1 million square feet, reaching 22% of total availability. Manhattan has yet to see a widely expected increase in sublet availability. Monthly absorption was negative 2.25 million square feet as new office construction came online, and the average asking rent went down by 0.4% since June to $79 per square foot. Of New York City’s major employers, only 8% of their …
  
  
• July 2020 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Manhattan office leasing in the second quarter of 2020 totalled just 3.18 million square feet, ½ the previous quarter and down 72% from the previous year and the slowest quarter for office leasing since 2009. Manhattan’s overall availability increased 0.4% points to 10.6%, the highest since early 2015. Manhattan’s asking rent average slightly decreased. Subleases have remained constant. Office leasing activity in April (1.35 million square feet) and May (1.42 million), in June, it was remaining at 410,000 square feet . Midtown Office 1.88 million square feet in leasing activity in the quarter, down 52% year-over-year. The largest lease was …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• February 2020 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Total Manhattan office leasing activity was up 2.9% from last year, reaching 42.97 million square feet and up 28.4% above the ten-year average. Average asking rents dipped slightly to $78.75 at the end of the year, following a few large above-market deals. Midtown South had 16.41 million square feet in leasing activity, a 14.5% increase from 2019. With an overall average asking rent of $76.70. Midtown office leasing hit a new all-year high with 2,750,000 square feet in leases signed, up 58% year-over-year. Availability rate of 11.3%, with base rent average fell by nearly $2 to $87.003. Facebook’s 1.5 million-square-foot …
  
  
• 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. …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• January 2020 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings For Sale: Viacom is considering a sale of CBS’ 38-story Midtown headquarters. CBS occupies about a third of the 870,000-square-foot building at 51 West 52nd Street. Orda Management Corp. is looking to sell 225 and 233 Park Avenue South containing about 675,000-square-foot for as much as $800 million. Target signed a lease for a 33,000-square-foot store on 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The store will be Target’s 10th small-format shop in Manhattan, and is slated to open in 2022. Buildings Sold: McDonald’s sold a three-story retail building containing 5,800-square-foot at 429 Seventh Avenue for $35 million. The …
  
  
• December 2019 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Market Overview: Office: Midtown saw 1,070,000 square feet in office leases signed, up 37% from the prior month but down 39% year-over-year. The availability rate rose to 11.5% with the average asking rent hitting a new high of $89.45. Midtown South leasing increased to 420,000 square feet up 27% from the prior month but down 9% year-over-year. The availability rate dropped to 9%, average asking rent down to $83.56 per square foot. Lower Manhattan saw leasing pick up with 260,000 square feet, up 62% from the month before and up 68% year-over-year. The availability rate dropped further to 11.8% and …
  
  
• November 2019 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office leasing volume from the top 10 leases was 820,500 square feet. With half of them coming from WeWork, who will be out of the market for a while if at all. Other big tenants include law firms, branding agencies and Knotel. Manhattan Retail: Retail leasing for gyms and restaurants were among the largest deals. The top was Ikea’s first Queens location. Manhattan Sales: Manhattan investment sales hit a two-year low with $995 million in deals recorded, 52% down from June and 59% below the 12-month average. The borough’s largest deal was Savanna’s $180 million buy of 360 Lexington Avenue …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• August 2019 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Several New York landlords have resisted leasing large chunks of their buildings to co-working tenants. One prominent owner is Empire State Realty Trust who will not lease to WeWork. The Durst Organization rejected WeWork’s offer to lease 12 floors at the World Trade Center in hopes that there were better offers. Oscar Health is doubling it spaced in Hudson Square and signed a sublease for the fourth floor at One Hudson Square, bringing its total presence to 160,000 square feet. The asking rent was around $80 per square foot. Barneys luxury fashion is reportedly weighing a second bankruptcy, …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• July 2019 New York Buildings For Sale
• Buildings Sold: The land under the Dream Downtown hotel in Chelsea sold for $175 million. The buyer of the hotel and retail condominium units at 355 West 16th Street was Worth Capital Holdings 52 LLC, with Charles R. Holzer as managing member. VRV Corporation sold two adjacent, five-story mixed-use buildings at 213 and 215 First Avenue for $19.65 million. The corporation had owned the buildings, which have 28 apartments combined, for decades. The buyers were two limited liability companies that listed Abraham Sanieoff as manager. First Republic Bank loaned $11.3 million for the purchase. Entities tied to Sanieoff recently picked …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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. …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• September 2018 New York New Developments
• New York Major Developments: Manhattan dominated the list of New York City’s top 10 largest real estate projects in July. Marx Development Group’s roughly 213,000-square-foot hotel and retail project at 450 11th Avenue in Hudson Yards. Covenant House is planning a 12-story, 60-unit building in Hudson Yards about 53,000 square feet. Its new project would replace a smaller eight-story youth homeless shelter currently on the site of 460 West 41st Street. 323 East 61st Street from the William Macklowe Company will span about 50,000 square feet and stand six stories and 74 feet tall. WeWork just signed a 258,344-square-foot lease …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• May 2018 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings for sale: SL Green Realty and partner Ivanhoe Cambridge are in contract to sell the office portion of 1745 Broadway for $633 million, or $939 per square foot. The buyer is an “institutional client of Invesco Real Estate.” The owners put the 685,000-square-foot office condo, which spans floors 2 through 26 in the 50-story building up for sale. Vornado Realty Trust said they had a “handshake” deal to sell the company’s 49.5% stake in 666 Fifth Avenue to the, Kushner Companies. It intends to retain its ownership in the building’s retail condominium, even if the deal 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 Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings for sale: Columbia Property Trust is looking to sell a nearly 400,000-square-foot Midtown building entirely leased to NYU Langone Medical Center. the 25-story property at 222 East 41st Street, which in 2016 saw one of the bigger long-term medical-use lease deals in recent years. Joseph P. Day Realty, which has owned the 100,000-square-foot property at 9 East 40th Street for around 50 years, is now looking to sell and could fetch between $65 million and $70 million. The 18-story building sits half a block from Bryant Park, between Fifth and Madison Avenues. JPMorgan Chase, Olmstead Properties and …
  
  
• January 2018 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• Office rents on Fifth Avenue are the second-most expensive in the country. Average asking rents on the Midtown stretch between 50th and 61st streets clocked in at $116.04 per square foot, and at the top end of the range reached $185 per square foot. Manhattan’s office-leasing market stood tall. Tenants flocked to get deals done, particularly in new buildings on the Far West Side and in Lower Manhattan, pushing leasing volumes ahead of last year’s figures. In fact, half of the year’s Top 10 most valuable office leases were inked at Hudson Yards and Manhattan West. The 10 biggest new …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• January 2017 New York New Developments
• Major Developments: Wall Street firms with leases expiring in the near term are searching for new offices, in part because they believe President-elect Donald Trump will reduce corporate taxes and roll back regulations. Wall Street companies went from occupying 32% of Manhattan’s office stock to 25% in the last four years, during which time TAMI firms have increased from 19% to 24%. Hospitals in the city are big spenders on construction to update and expand their facilities. New York University’s new $1 billion academic building will have an all-glass facade that allows neighbors to peer into students’ lives. The university …
  
  
• October 2016 New York New Developments
• Major Developments:The Related Companies is planning a 63-unit mixed-use building at 501 West 18th Street in Chelsea. The 10-story building will contain 97,800 square feet of residential space, along with 10,300 square feet of commercial space that will be divided across two retail units on the ground floor. Related bought the pair of parking lots which are adjacent to the IAC building in 2014 from investors Barry Haskell and Matthew Resnicoff. The $205 million price or $700 per square foot set a record for the neighborhood. The developer secured $125 million in financing for the purchase. Tishman Speyer filed plans …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 New Developments
• New Developments Bizzi& Partners, Michael Shvo and New Valley raised $175 million through the EB-5 program from the Chinese for their 91-story tower at 125 Greenwich Street. The developers were about halfway to reaching their goal through the EB-5 program.Vornado plans to combine its One Penn and Two Penn Plaza office buildings to form a 4.2 million-square-foot complex. New renderings for the combined building of one and two Penn plaza show a new glass facade and canopy over Seventh Avenue from Penn Station revealing a reorganized lower-level retail space.Banks are exercising more caution when it comes to financing commercial real …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• September 2015: New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale Unizo Holdings is buying Sherwood Equities and JPMorgan Chase's 370 Lexington Avenue office building for $247 million. 370 Lexington Avenue contains 311,000-square-foot.350 East 86th Street went into contract with Gary Barnett's Extell Development Company for $100 million. Innovo Property group and Artemis Real Estate Partners bought the 15,500-square-foot retail condo at 202 Canal Street for $44 million.Extell just acquired a 14-story office building at 10 West 47th Street for $74.4 million containing 72,000-square-foot building between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Gaia Real Estate is in contract to buy the rental conversion of a former St. Vincent's Midtown …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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, …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• February 2014 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale Vornado Realty Trust is asking roughly $650 million for its 20-story office tower at 1 Park Avenue. The real estate investment trust saved the 925,000-square-foot tower from foreclosure in 2011 after paying $180 million to recapitalize and gain control of it from Norman Sturner’s Murray Hill Properties.A Financial District development site that will allow for a 264,200-square-foot residential tower or hotel is on the market for an undisclosed price. The site at 45 Broad Street once belonged to Kent Swig, but he was forced to turn it over in 2011 after defaulting on a loanA 1.2 …
  
  
• December 2013: New York City New Developments
• New York City New Developments The state Public Authorities Control Board gave unanimous approval to the Empire State Development Corporation's $225 million National Urban League complex in Harlem. The project will include a civil rights museum, affordable housing and commercial space. Construction at 125th Street site will begin after the expiration of tenants' leases in 2015. The businesses currently occupying the site can apply for a low-interest loan for relocation services. However, lawsuits may still delay the complex.The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking to increase revenue by increasing the number of retail stores at subway stations and converting small spaces …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• About two million square feet of space at the World Financial Center is expected come to market, due to lease rollovers by Nomura and Deloitte, along with other tenants. 50 Midtown Manhattan buildings have at least 100,000 square feet of contiguous availability. The average size of these Midtown blocks is just under 310,000 square feet, Hudson Yards Number 1 (has 1 million square feet, 1221 Avenue of the Americas has 780,000 square feet available. these buildings have about 15.5 million square feet available. Four of the 50 blocks are subleases, and 46 are direct by landlord. 40 of the 50 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• January 2013 Manhattan Buildings For Sale
• The Lehman Art House has undergone a price cut from $65 million to $49.9 million. The asking price still makes the art house New York's most expensive office property on a price-per-square-foot basis Sony has finally been able to line up bidders for its 550 Madison Avenue building. The potential buyers include the Rockefeller Group, Mitsui Fudosan America, Vornado Realty Trust, Boston Properties, as well as teams of pension funds and some high net worth individuals. New York's largest office tower is getting ready to reopen, after being shuttered by Hurricane Sandy for nearly a month and damaged by a …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• March 2012 New York New Developments
• New Developments There are thousands of acres of rooftop space in New York City where growing farm operations are looking to expand. Groups such as Gotham Greens, Brooklyn Grange and BrightFarms are looking for elevated space where they can grow crops to sell to local restaurants and supermarketsSheldon Solow outdueled his West 57th Street rival and acquired an office building on the block at a near record price. Solow, bid $120 million for 12 West 57th Street to beat out One57 developer Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development, for the 12-story property. The price works out to more than $1,400 …
  
  
• February 2012 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale The Sapir Organization, the developer of Manhattan's Trump Soho, is planning to put the hotel and its unsold condominium units on the auction block. The auction will likely take place later in the spring.Aby Rosen's RFR Holding is in contract to buy back the debt for far less than the $144.2 million face value at the Midtown development site at 610 Lexington Avenue.Although the vacant property, where Rosen sought to build the Shangri-La Hotel, New York, is in contract to RFR Holding. Several more properties in the William Gottlieb estate have hit the sales market, encouraging …
  
  
• January 2012: Manhattan City New Developments
• Manhattan New Developments Cornell University, in partnership with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology will build a 2 million-square-foot applied science and engineering campus on Roosevelt Island. Atlantic Philanthropies a charitable organization founded by billionaire Charles Feeney made the $350 million gift to go towards the creation of Cornell University's 2 million-square-foot applied science and engineering campus on Roosevelt Island. Feeney, who made billions of dollars through co-founding the Duty Free Shoppers Group, graduated from Cornell's School of Hotel Management in 1956, and has been consistently making donations to his alma mater.Brooklyn politicians were still hoping on another phrase the mayor uttered …
  
  
• December 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Local 32BJ, the union representing more than 22,000 commercial building workers in New York City, voted to authorize their bargaining committee to call a strike if necessary. The union has been in contract talks with the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, since November 15th. The union opposes the landlords' proposal to establish a different wage and benefit structure for new hires, which they claim will create a two-tier system designed to push out workers with seniority. If negotiations fail by 12:01 am on Jan. 1, 2012, the union could strikeThe Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, which …
  
  
• November 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments The Chelsea Art Museum located at 556 West 22nd Street is about to be replaced by Hewlett-Packard, which has special plans for the building. HP signed a 10-year lease for the entire 34,500 feet inside the three-story museum building at 556 West 22nd Street near 11th Avenue.. Drastic job and spending cuts are in the cards for 2013 for the New York City construction industry, according to a report released today by the New York Building Congress entitled "New York City Construction Outlook 2011-2013." Construction spending is expected to total $27.7 billion this year.The average number of construction …
  
  
• October 2011 New York 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 …
  
  
• September 2011 New York New Developments
• Major NYC Developments The London-based Children's Investment Fund inked its first New York City real estate investment this month, providing $250 million in first mortgages for Macklowe Properties' condominium conversion of the luxury apartment building 737 Park Avenue in Lenox Hill. The fund, makes investments in a wide range of industries globally, and gives a portion of its profits to children's charities around the world. "It is the first direct real estate investment we have made in New York," New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is hindering federal efforts to negotiate a foreclosure settlement with Wall Street banks on …
  
  
• August 2011 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale 397-401 East 8th Street a development site is on the market for $5.2 million, EV Grieve. Chang's McSam Hotel Group purchased the 4,324-square-foot vacant lot, at 397-401 East 8th Street, for $4.9 million site. Chang appears to be in the midst of a selling spree -- he recently unloaded stalled hotel project sites in the Financial District and in Union Square, as well as his new Holiday Inn Express at 126 Water Street. A month after merging with EBSCO Publishing, library reference publisher H.W. Wilson has decided to market its former headquarters and nearby land holdings …
  
  
• July 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Governor Andrew Cuomo, signed a statewide property tax cap legislation, caps property tax increases at 2 percent, or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. Only a 60 percent vote in local communities override Cuomo's legislation. "We are beginning a new era in which New York will no longer be the tax capital of the nation," Cuomo said Community activists opposing the Rudin family's proposed takeover of the St. Vincent's Hospital campus in Greenwich Village dropped their court appeal without ever appearing before a judge.New York led a second consecutive month of U.S. housing price gains. Nationwide home …
  
  
• June 2011 New York New Developments
• New Developments Companies such as Boston Properties and Vornado Realty Trust are in negotiations with potential tenants and may even proceed with construction without securing leases. Boston Properties may be the first to break ground by the end of 2011. The company is finalizing negotiations to anchor a 1 million-square-foot tower at Eighth Avenue and 55th StreetRelated Companies CEO Stephen Ross said he was confident about attracting tenants for the first phase of the development, which will include four million square feet of office space. "I think we're going to surprise people," he said. "We're talking to nine tenants at …
  
  
• May 2011 New York New Developments
• Major Developments Mall of America developer Triple Five has reached a deal with lenders and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's administration to reboot and expand the stalled Xanadu complex in the Meadowlands,. The checkered, 2.4 million-square-foot complex, originally envisioned as a retail and entertainment destination that would rejuvenate East Rutherford, has sat incomplete along the New Jersey Turnpike for years, sapping up $1.9 billion in the process and developing a reputation as the poster child for failed boom-time real estate projects.Real estate investment firms Savanna and Monday Properties are launching a $30 million capital improvement for a 20-story, 260,000-square-foot commercial …
  
  
• May 2011 New York Commercial Real Estate Market Report
• The Manhattan office vacancy rate increased in the first quarter of 2011 even as employment in the professional sector rose at the fastest rate since 2000. There were 11,500 new office workers in the first three months of this year. The first-quarter vacancy rate rose even as employment moved up because, large blocks of space being added to the market from tenants who signed relocation deals last year, and because many firms have excess space for their new hires.New York City office rentals got more expensive in the first quarter of 2011, even as vacancy and absorption rates remained mostly …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• November 2010 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York City Buildings soldJRK Hotel Group has sold the 193-room Hotel Roger Williams, at 131 Madison Avenue, to LaSalle Hotel Properties. LaSalle acquired the hotel's leasehold interest for $90 million, along with around $4.5 million in other costs which closed recently. JRK, who acquired the property on the corner of 31st Street in 2003, will retain management of the hotel. Embattled developer Kent Swig lost ownership of 5 Hanover Square after Manhattan-based real estate firm Savanna bought the discounted mortgage on the 325,000-square-foot building. Savanna paid $51.5 million in cash to Capital One Bank, a 14 percent discount 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• June 2010 New York Buildings For Sale
• NYC Buildings For Sale Fifth Avenue's Takashimaya building, which hit the market last month, is drawing a slew of high-profile bidders, and several have already been selected to submit second-round offers. Vornado Realty Trust and an unidentified luxury retailer are among those preparing their second bids for the 693 Fifth Avenue spot.SL Green Realty is selling its 45 percent stake in the 51-story McGraw-Hill building for more than $500 million in an effort to raise cash for recent and future acquisitions. The city's largest landlord prefers a controlling stake in its properties which is why it wanted to sell the …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• April 2009 New York New Developments
• New Developments New York City Department of Parks & Recreation officials showed its plans for parks around the new Yankee Stadium, which was built on land within the footprint of two parks that residents want replaced. The parks department plans to a park with a track and athletic field, plus two stories of parking, in the area. The department will also build tennis courts and parkland. The old Yankee Stadium will become Heritage Field Park by spring 2011.Stellar Management's president is in negotiations to settle a lawsuit against Landesbank Baden, Deutsche Hypo and State Street Bank after they allegedly cut …
  
  
• 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 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 …
  
  
• September 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsMacklowe Properties demolished the old Drake Hotel at Park Avenue and 56th Street but has not started building 440 Park Avenue yet. Extell still has not filed plans for its West 57th and 58th Street project, which was supposed to be a 50-story hotel-condo. Starwood Capital cleared a low-rise fur shop between the Economist building and the Buckingham Hotel; plans for a Crillon hotel haven not been realized. TriBeach has stopped work on its Eighth Avenue 37-story hotel-condo building, leaving a crater in two buildings on the lot between 46th and 47th streets. Although the plans have not been …
  
  
• August 2008 New York New Developments
• New DevelopmentsOffice availability rises along with asking rents. Manhattan commercial rents increased in the year's first half even as the available for leasing increased. Average asking rents increased to $71.35 per square foot in June up from $63.46 per square foot in June, 2007. Despite an increase in leasing activity in the second quarter, the total for the first half of the year was 10.47 million square feet, a decline of about 1.5 million square feet from the same period in 2007. Some commercial landlords are raising the rents higher than ever before. L&L; Holding Company is asking for a …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• 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 …
  
  
• April 2007 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Midtown portfolio, 8 office buildings, 6.5 million SF total, was sold to Macklowe Properties for $7 billion. 450 West 33rd Street, a 1.7 million SF office building, was sold to Broadway Partners for $700 million. 14 Wall Street, a 1 million SF office building, was sold to John Zamir, Capstone Equities for $325 million. Bruckner Plaza (The Bronx), a 386,000 SF shopping center, was sold to Vornado Realty Trust for $165 million. Albee Square Mall (Brooklyn) with a 70-year ground lease was sold to Acadia Realty Trust and P/A Associates for $125 million. 102-05 Ditmars Blvd …
  
  
• January 2007 New York Buildings For Sale
• New York Buildings sold Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, a 11,232 residential units in 110 buildings was sold to Tishman Speyer, Blackrock Realty for $5.4 billion. 666 Fifth Avenue was sold to Kushner for $1.8 billion or $1,200/RSF. Kushner is reported to be selling the retail space of 99,000 SF for $640 Million. 350 Park Avenue, a 37-story, 538,000 sf office building, was sold to Vornado Realty Trust Holdings for $542 million. 1330 6th Avenue was sold to Macklow for $498 million. 1330 6th Avenue is a 522,000 RSF class A office building. 2207 Broadway and 390 West End …