From left: Lloyd Goldman, president of BLDG, and 888 Lexington Avenue

Property owner Lloyd Goldman is on a bit of a roll. He’s closed on or in contract to buy at least three small retail properties over the last four months in Manhattan and says there are more to come.

Most recently Goldman, president of BLDG Management, which is one of the major commercial owners in the city, acquired the two-story commercial property at 888 Lexington Avenue on the corner of 65th Street Jan. 24 for $13.25 million from Allen Rosenberg’s struggling Alrose Group, city property records published yesterday show. [more]

1372 BroadwayJust as Walmart pushes to enter the New York City retail market, it has exited Garment District office space.

Crain’s reported that two years after opening a 46,000-square-foot apparel office at 1372 Broadway, between 38th and 39th streets, where it bought and designed fashionable clothing to compete with Target’s popular clothing lines, Walmart has shut down its 275-employee office. Apparel purchases never picked up, and the retail giant quickly pivoted back to basic items, letting the leaders of the venture leave the firm last year. In 2010, apparel comprised just 7 percent of Walmart’s sales. [more]

Lloyd Goldman’s BLDG Management and Tavros Capital have teamed up to purchase the foreclosed condominium conversion site at 448-452 Broome Street, in the Soho Cast Iron Historic District, for $17 million. According to Eastern Consolidated, which brokered the sale, the two, mixed-use buildings were unloaded by Spanish lender Caixanova, which was “keen to dispose of [them] because a new era of regulatory scrutiny had been instituted in Spain.” Caixanova had seized the two loft properties, which contain a total of 12 rent-stabilized residential units and two commercial spaces, in 2009 from their original developers, who had picked them up for $23 million three years earlier. TRD [more]

A mostly-gutted, two-building structure at 133-137 East 73rd Street, at Lexington Avenue, is now on the market for $35 million and has the potential to be one of the city’s most luxurious private mansions. The 27,500-square-foot property has been used as medical offices and ground-floor retail space for the past 30 years, but it was once residential, and owner BLDG Management has received approval to bring the five-story, elevator building back to its roots. In addition to transforming the building into a private residence, BLDG also has permission to build a 2,500-square-foot duplex addition above it. The property, which has an alternate entrance at 1024 Lexington Avenue, first hit the market last year for $40 million before the latest price reduction. Ivan Hakimian of Itzhaki Properties has the listing. [Post, 4th item]

From the September Issue: In the West 20s, the name “F.M. Ring Associates” is emblazoned on the
sides of numerous buildings. The fading mural-like advertisements look
like relics from a bygone era. Brokers say much of Ring’s valuable
portfolio, most of which is in the prime neighborhoods of Gramercy,
Chelsea and Flatiron, sits strangely empty. This month, The Real Deal looks at the mystery of the Ring family and profiles a host of big under-the-radar players in New York. more

After Lehman Brothers collapsed, the biggest commercial investors in
New York City went from large international firms to domestic
investors. Of the 15 biggest investors post-Lehman, 10 are based in New
York City, including number two on the list, Lloyd Goldman’s BLDG
Management. The biggest commercial property investor in the city
between October and April was CB Richard Ellis Investors, the
independent investment arm of the brokerage giant, which is based in
Los Angeles. In March, the firm closed on the majority of the condo
interest in 1540 Broadway for $355 million, the biggest commercial
investment trade so far this year. Harry Macklowe bought the tower in
2007 as part of his $7 billion portfolio, and in that 2007 deal, the
building was valued at $950 million. [more]