Gregory Kraut, formerly of CB Richard Ellis, and 100 Church Street

Canadian commercial property firm Avison Young continued its American expansion kick with its first hire in Manhattan, tapping a mid-level CB Richard Ellis leasing broker, Gregory Kraut, to start the difficult task of building a New York City office.

Kraut, who had been at CBRE for six years focusing on representing tenants, was most recently a first vice president working closely with David Hollander, a company senior vice president. Thirty-five-year-old Kraut was hired this month and will be a principal at the new firm.

The Real Deal reported in June that Avison Young, a private, independent firm headed by CEO Mark Rose was looking to open an office in Manhattan. Young brokers have been in high demand recently. Last week Eric Anton and Ronald Solarz, both in their 40s, left Eastern Consolidated for real estate investment firm Brookfield Financial, and earlier this month Oklahoma-based net lease brokerage Stan Johnson opened an office in Manhattan with former Massey Knakal agent Jason Maier. [more]

From left: Broadway Partners CEO Scott Lawler, 280 Park Avenue and 450 West 33rd Street

Recapitalizations are driving the Manhattan commercial real estate market as investors try to better position debt of properties acquired during the boom. Crain’s reported that one-third of all commercial transactions by dollar volume, and seven of the 10 largest office transactions, were recaps. In total, $5.4 billion worth of recapitalizations have occurred thus far in 2011, compared to $2.6 billion in all of 2010.

Two of the largest such transactions involved properties Broadway Partners acquired during the boom, Crain’s noted. In April, Brookfield Office Properties took responsibility for $517 million worth of debt Broadway Partners had at 450 West 33rd Street, a 1.6 million-square-foot office building Broadway bought in 2007, and earned a majority stake in the property. [more]

New York-based investment firm Paramount Group has recapitalized a 49 percent interest in its 2.5 million-square-foot office tower at 1633 Broadway, between 50th and 51st streets, GlobeSt.com reported, after Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch affiliates exited the building partnership.

Paramount’s new partners in the 48-story, Class A property include affiliates of Beacon Capital Partners and Paramount Group’s Real Estate Fund IV. In addition, SL Green Realty also acquired a preferred equity interest. Paramount retained its 51 percent controlling interest.

“We took our interest in the property to 51 percent to about 75 percent,” Dan Lauer, vice president of acquisitions for Paramount, told GlobeSt.com. “SL Green is making a preferred equity investment and Beacon is acquiring the remaining limited interest in the property.”
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The volume of Manhattan office property sales has more than doubled in the second quarter to $5.5 billion, after lagging the rest of the commercial property sales market in the first quarter of 2011 and all of 2010, according to Eastern Consolidated’s office property mid-year report for 2011 released today. After stalling for more than nine quarters, the office sales market surged in the second quarter with 14 sales of $100 million or more, the report shows. Those included Paramount Group’s purchase of a minority interest in 1633 Broadway for $980 million and Monday Properties’ $760 million recapitalization of 230 Park Avenue through Invesco. These preliminary second-quarter results mark a large increase over the fourth quarter of 2010, when Google purchased 111 Eighth Avenue for $1.77 billion. That deal marked 46 percent of the $3.85 billion volume that quarter. – Miranda Neubauer [more]

From left: 1633 Broadway, 712 Fifth Avenue (source: PropertyShark), 745 Fifth Avenue

Since taking over as leasing director at Paramount Group, one of the city’s largest office space landlords, in January, Ted Koltis has facilitated some smaller leases and helped leverage the iPad to the firm’s advantage. But the New York Observer said the transactions that could define his tenure are set to transpire over the coming months. Paramount bought out the remaining 49 percent of 1633 Broadway, previously held by Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, to gain full control of the 2.4 million-square-foot building at a $2 billion valuation. Now, their work in the building has just begun. It’s getting a renovated lobby, and needs a tenant to take 250,000 square feet of vacant space near the building’s base, which Koltis called the firm’s biggest “availability.” [more]

1. Amato Opera on the Bowery listed for $6.95M
[Curbed]
2. Greenpoint condos struggle on the market
[Brownstoner]
3. Famed Soho Korean eatery to shutter
[DNAinfo]
4. German Paramount Group is marketing a partial stake in 1633 Broadway
[NYO]
5. Morningside Heights’ basements flood thanks to burst sprinkler system
[DNAinfo]
6. Blue-striped Williamsburg building at 110 Broadway now renting
[Brownstoner]
7. Amira Yunis is Newmark’s model broker?
[NYO]
8. Greenpoint’s Transmitter Park is under construction
[Curbed]
9. German Mohn family wishes to live above its American publishing company headquarters, Random House
[Curbed]

Paramount Group purchased the remaining 49 percent stake of the 2.4 million-square-foot, 48-story 1633 Broadway from Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, sources told the New York Observer. The deal values the building, at the corner of Broadway and 50th Street, at $2 billion, and the Observer called it the most significant commercial building deal since Googe’s purchase of 111 Eighth Avenue last winter. The office tower at 1633 Broadway has several high-profile tenants, including Allianz Global Investors, which signed a 20-year deal for 213,000 square feet in August in one of the largest deals in 2010. [NYO]

Accounting giant Deloitte has signed an 18-year lease for 12 floors with a total of around 430,000 square feet at 30 Rockefeller Center, according to the Observer. The deal — the largest of 2011 so far and only slightly smaller than the largest office lease of 2010 — brings a likely end to more than a year of intense speculation about the firm’s real estate search, which was headed by Cushman & Wakefield’s John Cefaly and Dale Schlather and included high-profile buildings like 11 Times Square, 4 World Trade Center and 4 World Financial Center. [more]

Allianz Global Investors, the German financial services firm, has inked a 20-year deal for 213,000 square feet at 1633 Broadway in one of the largest office leases of the year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Allianz, which is currently located at 1345 Sixth Avenue, first considered relocating more than two years ago to consolidate its offices, but put those plans on hold during the economic downturn. With the market now increasingly stable and with landlords still offering incentives and slashed rents, the company jumped back into the fray. Terms of the deal weren’t immediately clear, except that it includes the rights to expand to 260,000 square feet and to signage at the top of the building, which is owned by Paramount Group. CB Richard Ellis represented Allianz in the deal. [WSJ]

Allianz Global Investors, the German financial services firm, has inked a 20-year deal for 213,000 square feet at 1633 Broadway in one of the largest office leases of the year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Allianz, which is currently located at 1345 Sixth Avenue, first considered relocating more than two years ago to consolidate its offices, but put those plans on hold during the economic downturn. With the market now increasingly stable and with landlords still offering incentives and slashed rents, the company jumped back into the fray. Terms of the deal weren’t immediately clear, except that it includes the rights to expand to 260,000 square feet and to signage at the top of the building, which is owned by Paramount Group. CB Richard Ellis represented Allianz in the deal. [WSJ]

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