Sofia Song and Noah Rosenblatt

On Monday, March 15, visitors to the real [more]

While commercial real estate experts had expected to see a significant uptick in market activity in the fist quarter of 2010, the volume of building sales in New York City stayed relatively stagnant, according to Massey Knakal Realty Services’ first-quarter report, released today.

The city had one borough that showed some strides — Manhattan, with the northern part of the borough producing particularly strong figures.

There were 35 properties sold in the first quarter in northern Manhattan (which covers north of 96th Street on the East Side and north of 110th Street on the West Side), 94 percent higher than was seen during the same time period a year earlier. Aggregate sales meanwhile, which hit approximately $117 million, went up 197 percent over first-quarter 2009. [more]

Dario Zar, president at Zar Property NY, and 349 Fifth Avenue (Building photo source: PropertyShark)

The Midtown-based real estate firm Zar Property NY bought the JPMorgan Chase building at 349 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street across from the Empire State Building, for just under $20 million, David Zar, a vice president at Zar Property NY, told The Real Deal today. The purchase closed Dec. 15, Zar said, but he did not immediately provide an exact sale price. The sale has not yet appeared on the city’s public property Web site Acris. The price of about $300 per square foot for the 64,000-square-foot building was far higher than the bank received for a 1.1 million-square-foot property it is selling Downtown. JPMorgan Chase is in contract to sell 4 New York Plaza at Water Street for $108 million, or about $99 per square foot. The building was part of a nearly two-dozen-building portfolio that was put on the market earlier this year. The Fifth Avenue building merited the $300 price per foot, he said, because of the location across from the Empire State Building and the quality of the space, which was turned over fully furnished.  More

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