Manhattan investment sales by quarter (source: Massey Knakal)

New York City investment sales fell a sharp 25 percent in the third quarter from the prior three-month period, but commercial property trades are still expected to top 2010 activity and reach $24 billion by the end of the year, executives at brokerage firm Massey Knakal Realty Services said.

Total third-quarter sales in the city hit $6.5 billion, down from $8.7 billion in the second quarter of the year, according to figures the company released at its quarterly media briefing in Midtown this morning. For the first nine months of the year, commercial property sales including multi-family, office, retail and development, reached $19.2 billion citywide, the firm reported.

But Robert Knakal, the company’s chairman, did not see the quarterly falloff as a permanent pullback. [more]

From left: UDR CEO Tom Toomey and 95 Wall Street (building source: PropertyShark)

Colorado-based UDR has closed on its acquisition of the 507-unit rental building at 95 Wall Street for $325 million, the firm announced today. It bought the 22-story Financial District building, formerly known as Dwell95, from the Moinian Group, which converted it to luxury rentals after it previously served as JPMorgan’s headquarters.

As The Real Deal previously reported, the transaction comes out to about $550,000 per unit, excluding the 97-space parking garage and 7,526-square-foot ground-floor retail space. The apartments are 93 percent occupied, according to UDR, and rent for an average of $3,100 per month. Six units in the building are currently on the market, Streeteasy.com shows, ranging from a $2,600 per month studio to a $5,000 per month two-bedroom apartment. – Adam Fusfeld Comments

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Colorado-based UDR announced today that it entered a “definitive agreement” to acquire Dwell 95, a 507-unit Financial District apartment complex owned by the Moinian Group, for $325 million. The deal brings the company closer to its planned $1.8 billion investment in New York City multi-family properties.

Located at 95 Wall Street, the 22-story building once served as JPMorgan’s headquarters before Joseph Moinian’s Moinian Group converted it into luxury rentals.

It is one block east of 10 Hanover Square, a 493-unit apartment building UDR acquired for $261 million in April, which marked the firm’s first foray into the New York City market despite owning 60,000 units nationwide. In July the company spent $581 million on multi-family acquisitions in the city, closing on a $443 million purchase of the 706-unit Rivergate complex in Murray Hill and paying $138 million for the 210-unit 21 Chelsea.
– Adam Fusfeld [more]

Kevin Ellerton, the CEO of Blackstone Properties, which has snagged a significant market share but also drawn ire from competitors.

From the February issue: At the ripe old age of 24, Kevin Ellerton is managing to become one of
the most powerful players in the Lower Manhattan rental game. To hear
his competitors talk, he’s also one of the most loathed.
Ellerton is the CEO of Blackstone Properties, a company he started
less than two years ago with a high school friend, David Yomtobian.
(Ellerton’s company has no relation to the powerful private equity firm
the Blackstone Group.)
By Ellerton’s calculations, about half of all brokered rental deals
in the Financial District and Battery Park City are inked by Blackstone
agents. While executives at other Lower Manhattan firms say that number
might be closer to 40 percent, they grudgingly concede that Blackstone
has grabbed a formidable share of the rental market in a very short
period of time. [more]

Joseph Moinian and Dwell95

Developer Joe Moinian filed a lawsuit on Monday to block the scheduled auction of Dwell95, his luxury rental building at 95 Wall Street, however a last minute bankruptcy filing by the mezzanine lender has postponed the proceeding. Monian’s Moinian Group, one of the city’s biggest real estate development companies, filed suit in New York State Supreme Court against Rubicon Finance America, which held a $42 million mezzanine loan on the 507-unit property in the Financial District. Moinian had a $227 million construction loan on the building from Credit Suisse-unit Column Financial, but the value of the property fell below the loan balance due to the 2008 economic downturn, which put the mezzanine loan into default, according to the complaint. Moinian alleges he reached an agreement with Rubicon and Credit Suisse to buy the $42 million mezzanine loan for $1 million, but he says on Dec. 10 that Rubicon agreed to sell $1.4 billion in loans, including the Dwell95 loan , to a joint venture firm that included FBE Limited and Lane Capital Management. Right after the sale, Moinian alleges that FBE and Lane Capital scheduled a Dec. 30 auction to foreclose on 95 Wall Street and basically deprive him of the chance to buy back the defaulted mezzanine loan. [more]

From left: REBNY award winners Alan Pfeifer, Rena Goldstein and Nancy Teague

The founders of the New York Residential Specialist committee, a post-graduate program aimed at educating existing brokers, received the Real Estate Board of New York’s Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Service during REBNY’s annual gala award ceremony. Meanwhile, the Moinian Group announced yesterday that it has donated one year of rent-free living to a silent auction hosted by lung cancer research foundation Joan’s Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has signed an agreement to sell the Bliss Spa and product company to Steiner Leisure Limited for $100 million. Click here for more. TRD [more]