From left: Edward Minskoff and 101 Sixth Avenue (building credit: PropertyShark)Edward Minskoff has bought out partner Andalex Group at 101 Sixth Avenue for an undisclosed price, the New York Post reported. Minskoff had owned at 32 percent stake in the building before the purchase, and now takes complete control of the 425,000-square-foot tower, which will be vacant once SEIU Local 32BJ moves out (it’s moving to 620 Sixth Avenue).

The building, between Watts and Grand streets in Soho, is undergoing a gut renovation in hopes of attracting entertainment, media and technology companies. [more]

Local 32BJ Service Employees International Union and three affiliated
funds sued their landlord at 101 Sixth Avenue, alleging that the owner
of the building owes them more than $5 million dollars as part of an
unusual lease provision, Crain’s reported. The union leased the entire
400,000-square-foot building, between Watts and Grand streets, which is owned by the Andalex Group, in
1989, and subleases a minor portion to other tenants. Under the lease,
the landlord has to share a portion of money generated from the building
with the tenant, a highly unusual arrangement, brokers said. Comments

620 Sixth Avenue (source: PropertyShark)

SEIU 32BJ, the largest property services union in the country, has leased 245,000 square feet at 620 Sixth Avenue in a cost-saving move that will trim nearly $20 million from the organization’s annual budget, according to a press release. The union is ditching its current headquarters at 101 Sixth Avenue, where its lease is set to expire next year and where, the Wall Street Journal reported, it occupies around 400,000 square feet for almost $70 per square foot. The building workers union, which last month reached a last-minute contract agreement with the city to avoid a strike, will pay in the mid-$30s per square foot for its new digs. 620 Sixth Avenue is owned by a partnership between Charles Dayan and developers Joseph Chetrit and Yair Levy. TRD

[more]

335 Madison Avenue and Edward Goldman, an executive vice president with CBRE

Fighting back after losing millions of square feet in leasing agency assignments in recent months, commercial services firm CB Richard Ellis picked up the assignment for the 1.1 million-square-foot 335 Madison Avenue, Edward Goldman, a company executive vice president, told The Real Deal. The news comes two months after CBRE picked up the assignment for the 430,000-square-foot 101 Sixth Avenue in Hudson Square, but after losing the Empire State Building, 100 Church Street and others. The new assignment is welcome news for the brokerage. Because of losses such as 100 Church Street, CBRE is agent for nearly 7 million fewer square feet in Manhattan since September. As of this week, it was leasing agent for buildings, covering 55.5 million square feet, down from 62.2 million square feet three months ago, according to data from research firm CoStar Group. CBRE signed on earlier this month as leasing agent for the Milstein Properties Midtown building at Madison Avenue between 43rd and 44th streets, Goldman said. Before taking over, leasing had been handled by the Milstein in-house firm MB Real Estate. [more]

Just weeks after its leasing assignment was ended at the 2.8-million-square-foot Empire State Building, full service commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis told The Real Deal it has clawed back some of that space by inking a deal to represent 101 Sixth Avenue on the border of Soho and Hudson Square. CBRE picked up the leasing assignment for the 430,000-square-foot building at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Watts Street Oct. 7, said Peter Turchin, executive vice president at CBRE. The 23-story office building is owned by a partnership between the Andalex Group and Edward J. Minskoff Equities, and was built in 1991. The entire building is leased by the influential Service Employees International Union local 32 BJ, whose 20-year lease expires Dec. 31, 2011. [more]