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The Sexist-y Beat? Why Women Dominate Commercial Real Estate Reporting

 

Published 10/16/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

The world of New York commercial real estate is often still a tale of clubby patronage, posturing and mistakenly asking the one female broker at the meeting to fetch coffee. Sixty-four percent of commercial real estate brokers nationwide are men, a ...

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Goodbye, Views! Bank of America Sells Off Its Pricey Time Warner Apartment

 

Published 10/16/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

On Friday, just after Bank of America announced a billion-dollar loss in the third quarter, a deed in city records showed that the massive firm had sold off its corporate apartment in the Time Warner Center for $7.2 million . On the bright side, ...

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City Moves to Landmark Modernist Rudolph's East Side Penthouse

 

Published 10/15/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

The Landmarks Preservation Commission has taken the first step toward landmarking 23 Beekman Place, designed by notable modern architect Paul Rudolph. The so-called Rudolph House was purchased by Rudolph in 1965, and modified with the addition of a ...

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Cushman & Wakefield CEO Mosler's Note to Staff

 

Published 10/15/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

The Observer has obtained the memo departing CEO Bruce Mosler emailed Thursday to the Cushman & Wakefield staff. Earlier Thursday, The Observer broke the news that Mr. Mosler, after nearly five years as president and CEO of the commercial ...

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Cushman & Wakefield Looking for New CEO; Mosler To Become Co-Chairman

 

Published 10/15/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Cushman & Wakefield, one of New York’s biggest commercial real estate brokerages, is looking for a new chief executive. Bruce Mosler, its CEO and president since January 2005, has been appointed co-chairman of the firm’s board, alongside John ...

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Thompson on Mega-Development: Look to Battery Park City

 

Published 10/15/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

City Comptroller Bill Thompson has a model for building mega-projects, and—surprise!—it’s not the same strategy as Mayor Bloomberg’s. Speaking at a Crain’s New York breakfast Thursday morning at the Hyatt on 42nd Street, the Democratic nominee ...

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Daniel Radcliffe Buys a Sea Captain's $5.65 M. West 12th Street Brownstone

 

Published 10/15/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Harry Potter has a nice new West Village house. According to city records, a brownstone on West 12th Street that was apparently built 162 years ago by a sea captain, was just sold for $5.65 million to the same limited liability corporation ...

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Batten the Brownstones! Brooklyn Housing Stats Give Hope to Skinny-Jeans Set

 

Published 10/15/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

For the second consecutive quarter, half the homes sold in Brooklyn went for under half a million dollars, a psychological benchmark if there ever was one that the American Dream could be within the reach of even the skinny-jeans set. Appraisal ...

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Atlantic Yards at New York's High Court

 

Published 10/15/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

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Leona Helmsley Trust Sheds Two Manhattan Properties

 

Published 10/14/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

The estate holding the assets of the one-time hotelier and reputed Queen of Mean Leona Helmsley sold two properties on Manhattan's East Side on Oct. 1, according to city records. The properties in question are a ground-floor 4,178-square-foot ...

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Slapping Sense Into the Taxman

 

Published 10/14/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Federal and state governments will see sharp reductions in tax revenue collection this year and for years to come. Budget deficits are rising to record levels, and there are only two ways for elected officials to bridge these deficits: by raising ...

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Tax Credits and the Multifamily Market

 

Published 10/14/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

In an effort to hasten the absorption of the nation’s vacant housing inventory, first-time home-buyer tax credits, originally introduced in 2008, were expanded in their scope and benefits last February. Under the terms of the American Recovery and ...

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Neighbors, Electeds Sue City Over Walentases' Dock Street Project

 

Published 10/14/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

City Council approval apparently failed to extinguish the fight against the Walentas family’s Dock Street project in Dumbo. On Wednesday, a neighborhood group announced it had filed a lawsuit against the city regarding the planned apartment building ...

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Soho Mews' Muses: Cheers and <i>Meh</i>

 

Published 10/14/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

“The mono-cultural make-up of this crowd… If I lived here, I’d feel empty,” said Bruce Schachne, of the Patrician assemblage present Tuesday night at the Soho Mews to view condos decorated by up-market interior designers Thom Filicia, John Saladino ...

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Wolfe Grins? Rosen Gets 980 Madison O.K.--for Stumpier Tower

 

Published 10/14/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

It’s been a long three years for Aby Rosen . The landlord and art collector has tried for that long to get approval for an apartment tower at Madison Avenue and 77th Street designed by British starchitect Norman Foster . He’s gone to hearing ...

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Proprietress of the Skyline

 

Published 10/14/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

As the summer was winding down, Hines Interests, the Texas-based firm planning a 1,250-foot slender tower set to soar next to the Museum of Modern Art, visited the Department of City Planning’s Lower Manhattan offices, designs in hand, to seek the ...

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Icahn, Icahn! Son's $2.9 M. PH, Lawyer's $4.2 M. Condo

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

One can assume that it would be exceedingly upsetting to be close with Carl Icahn, the 43rd wealthiest man in the world. Fellow billionaire Wilbur Ross once said that the activist investor is “especially good at terrorizing people.” And Mr. Ross is ...

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Eloise Victories! Suit Won; Klum’s Sire Finds Renter for $65K Sprawl

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Of all the huge indignities suffered by deluxe pieces of Manhattan real estate this past year, not even Julian Schnabel’s fuchsia Palazzo Chupi has had more to put up with than the Plaza . There was the Russian oligarch who sued over his $53.5 ...

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Caviar Vus

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

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The Op-Ed Page: Why Winter Is Springtime for Office Market

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Last spring I was asked (again) about the health of the New York City commercial real estate market. Six months later, I am still asked about market bottoms, shifting cycles and the future velocity of leasing (among other variables). How I respond ...

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Litigious MoFo Looking for 200K Feet

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Morrison & Foerster —the international San Francisco–based law firm that takes a twisted sort of pleasure in its nickname, MoFo (the firm’s URL is mofo.com, just one “s” away from an entirely different kind of Web site)—has hired CB Richard ...

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How Keen Is Manhattan Valley?

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

An unexpected alliance between a powerful developer and a neighborhood retirement home is causing an uproar in the Manhattan Valley section of the famously ornery Upper West Side. Enigmatic developer Joseph Chetrit and Jewish Home Lifecare , ...

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Sales? More Like Snails!

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

The commercial real estate cataclysm has proven false yet another real estate truism: the long-held belief that even in the most desertlike of investment sales markets, at least 1.6 percent of the 27,649 elevator and walk-up apartment buildings and ...

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$37 M. and Still a Hike to the Bathroom

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

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Atlantic Yards Opponents Sue M.T.A.

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

On the eve of their big day in the State Court of Appeals, opponents of Atlantic Yards have filed another lawsuit, this time against the M.T.A. Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn alleges that the transit agency violated the Public Authorities ...

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The Week in Commercial Real Estate: October 5 - October 12

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Tribeca, Soho Buildings Listed Marcus & Millichap listed two mixed-use buildings: the 28,500-square-foot 70-72 Wooster Street in Soho, and the 21,375-square-foot 70-72 Franklin Street in Tribeca. Adelaide Polsinelli, associate vice president ...

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New Finance Firm Takes Prebuilt Space in Sherwood’s 370 Lexington

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

In uncertain times following a financial implosion, it is either a terrible time to be a financial consulting firm or the perfect time to start one. Newly formed Boxwood Strategic Advisors is going with the latter option. The firm signed a lease ...

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Healthcare Network Moves Its Admin Offices to Moinian’s 60 Madison

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Community Healthcare Network , which provides medical care and services to underserved New York neighborhoods, is shifting its administrative offices down the street to 60 Madison Avenue . The nonprofit signed a 15-year lease for the entire fifth ...

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U.N.’s IT Guys Take 24th Floor of 730 Third

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

With the looming United Nations Secretariat building about to undergo a $1.9 billion renovation, its legions of diplomats, bureaucrats and support staff are seeking refuge. The tide of office-space demand in a downbeat market is resulting in some ...

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Duane Reade Goes for Omnipresence: 200 Water First in Major Re-branding

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Duane Reade is in for a makeover. The ubiquitous drug store chain is planning to re-brand 100 of its 253 New York locations over the upcoming year. High on the re-branding agenda are wider aisles and respectable lighting for the stores better ...

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Boston Properties Woos Studley to 399 Park for New HQ

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Studley , a leading brokerage specializing in tenant representation, played the tenant itself in a major deal at 399 Park Avenue. The firm is relocating its corporate headquarters to the entire 11th floor of the Boston Properties –owned building, ...

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The Commercial Observer: Oct. 13

 

Published 10/13/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

>>Read our weekly newspaper covering New York's commercial real estate...

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Atlantic Yards Heads to Albany

 

Published 10/12/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

On Wednesday, Albany will host the start of a closing chapter in the saga of Atlantic Yards, the mammoth $4.9 billion housing, office and sports arena development proposed to rise near downtown Brooklyn. Six years since the project was first ...

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The Peacock Slayer

 

Published 10/12/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

When Country-Wide Insurance Company chose to renew its lease in Lower Manhattan last month, the move was shepherded by a close ally. The lengthy search, which steered the insurance behemoth to Brooklyn and other exotic locales before ending right ...

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On Development and Related Things

 

Published 10/12/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

The Commercial Observer: Tell me about this building you’re building at 42nd and 10th. Mr. Beal: At the end of ’07—it was a $900 million deal, we got $700 million of financing. That was all put together prior. … We built the foundation and I ...

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Your Brokers on the Ballyhooed Manhattan Market Reports

 

Published 10/9/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

“I glance at them,” said John Burger, a top co-op broker at Brown Harris Stevens, “but Manhattan is really eight different markets, and none of them really address the nuances." Mr. Burger was talking about the third-quarter Manhattan housing ...

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Cote D'Ivoire Drops $8 M. on New East Side Offices

 

Published 10/8/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

The Ivory Coast, a country where nearly half the population makes do with less than $1.36 a day, has dropped $8 million on new offices for its Permanent Mission to the United Nations, according to city deeds. Alcide Djedje , the mission's ...

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REMIC Schmemic

 

Published 10/8/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Rising delinquency and default rates of multifamily and commercial mortgages have paved the way for our sector’s entry into the popular and policy discourse. From a barely discernible count of nonperforming loans a year ago, default rates for ...

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The Value of a Building These Days

 

Published 10/8/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

One of the most frequently speculated about and most difficult statistics to quantify in our marketplace has been the drop in Manhattan’s commercial real estate sales values. Thus far in 2009, a lack of abundant data points makes this difficult, and ...

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Eliot Spitzer Personally Sells Murray Hill Garage for $10.3 Million

 

Published 10/7/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

For all the talk of a return to politics, former Governor Eliot Spitzer remains ensconced in his family's muscular real estate business. Last week, Mr. Spitzer sold a parking garage underneath The Corinthian condomium built by his dad Bernie in ...

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State Consultant: Ratner’s Assumptions at Atlantic Yards 'Moderately Aggressive'

 

Published 10/7/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

For its Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, developer Forest City Ratner has planned construction of its 6,430 apartments based on a set of relatively aggressive assumptions, a state-commissioned report found. The report—which was not expected to ...

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Getting in Front of the Liquidity Crisis

 

Published 10/7/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Toward the end of 2008, the meltdown in the financial and residential mortgage markets led to a credit crisis that froze lending nationwide. Over the course of the past year, analysts have been forecasting another looming credit crisis—this time with ...

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The Plaza's Dictatorial Spread

 

Published 10/7/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

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MoMA Tower Would Like Its 200 Feet Back

 

Published 10/7/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

“You have to keep the city alive,” Jean Nouvel pleaded to the City Council yesterday in a heavy French accent. “I try to respect the neighborhood. The building is so slim.” Mr. Nouvel was asking the City Council to restore 200 feet to the top of ...

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‘So Slim!’: Frenchman Begs Burden for Reprieve on His Chic Tower

 

Published 10/7/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Jean Nouvel wants his 200 feet back. Mr. Nouvel, the bald Frenchman who won architecture’s esteemed Pritzker Prize in 2008, engaged in a last-ditch effort on Tuesday, Oct. 6, to save the 1,250-foot height of the tower he’s planned to have rise next ...

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Real Estate Titans Gather, Express Commercial Confidence

 

Published 10/7/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Amid increasingly apocalyptic prophecies about the fate of  New York’s commercial property market, more than a dozen “Masters of Real Estate” convened at the Metropolitan Club on Tuesday for an eponymous conference hosted by The Observer  ...

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Cronkite’s Companion to List His UN Plaza Co-op; ‘It Looked Like Walter’

 

Published 10/7/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

Anytime an important New Yorker leaves behind a nice home, real estate agents wonder aloud about how they might nab the listing. “You find out who the estate attorney is,” the director of Stribling Private Brokerage once said, “and you write them.” ...

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Marty Richards' Old River House Razzle Dazzle

 

Published 10/6/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

By the rules of New York real estate, the greatness of any apartment saga is measured by its eccentricity, length and weight. So a furious but short-lived fight over a condo is trumped by a run-of-the-mill but lengthy feud over a co-op, which is ...

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Plot Twist

 

Published 10/6/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

There’s a rule of thumb that applies to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission: The agency shouldn’t try to designate a building a landmark against its owner’s will unless the commission’s ready for a loud public skirmish. And, generally in ...

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Memories of the Way We Were … Hopeful Stats a Year Since Lehman

 

Published 10/6/2009 at Real Estate | The New York Observer

There are lots of memories—many of them apparently traumatic—in that glass-encased and forever under-heated back room at Michael’s, the midtown power lunch-counter where Cushman & Wakefield executives host quarterly market briefings for the ...

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