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]
Posts Tagged ‘brookfield properties’
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From left: Gustavo Rivera, Pedro Espada, Robert Knakal and Jeffrey LevineIn the city’s Democratic primary Tuesday, voters resoundingly rejected Sentor Pedro Espada, who represents the northwest Bronx in the New York State Senate. He lost by a more than 2-1 margin to Gustavo Rivera, a political science professor, who now will run in November for the seat, which represents the 33rd district.Much of that unhappiness with Espada likely had to do with his legal woes, which involve charges he stole $14 million from a non-profit health clinic. Espada may have suffered another fatal blow to his reputation in Summer 2009, when he temporarily defected to the Republican Party.But many developers and landlords had hoped those problems would be overlooked, as Espada, who chaired the Senate’s housing committee, was a sympathetic lawmaker.“Regardless of what you thought of Espada personally, his defeat was not good for the real estate industry,” said Robert Knakal, chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services. “Typically he was very pro-business and very moderate with regard to housing issues.”Frank Ricci, a lobbyist for the Rent Stabilization Association, whose 25,000 members include many single-building property owners, was more circumspect, but agreed.“I think Senator Espada was a very good listener when it came to real estate issues,” he said. “He weighed every issue on the merits despite what many people will say [now].”Among those issues that Ricci supported was Espada’s call last year to freeze rents for struggling tenants and have landlords cover the difference through a complicated process in which they would return rents they had illegally charged over the years.While that may have sounded helpful to tenants, opponents cried foul because the landlords would essentially be let off the hook for the bulk of those illegal charges, which were technically violations of J-51 tax exemptions.J-51 exemptions are given to landlords to encourage them to renovate their buildings in exchange for not raising rents.Espada was clearly supported by New York’s development community. A look at state financial disclosure forms from recent months turns up names like Stellar Management, which donated $5,000; Brookfield Properties ($2,500); Jack Rudin ($2,500); and Greenberg Traurig, the real estate law firm ($1,750). A call to Espada’s Bronx office was not returned by press time.In contrast, Rivera’s backers over the past year include mainly individuals, unions and tenant groups, but no real estate groups.For his part, Rivera doesn’t dispute that he will bring a decidedly pro-tenant slant to Albany, if he can win the general election in November.“I am a tenant, and I will go and be a defender of tenants,” said Rivera, who’s lived in a rent-stabilized Bronx apartment for the past decade. “That does not mean I will be an enemy of landlords, but we must defend laws that support an affordable-housing stock.”Specifically, Rivera wants a non-vacancy-decontrol law passed, which would stop landlords from charging market rents for units after rents clear a $2,000 a month threshold.He also seeks a repeal of the 1970s Urstadt Law’s provision that took away New York City’s right to regulate its own rents and handed it to the state, because most of New York’s rent-regulated units are in the city, he explained.
“With all due respect to my upstate colleagues, I don’t think we should be in the business of setting housing policy in the city unless we live in the city,” Rivera said.Not all landlords say they are mourning Espada’s defeat. Some suggest that they will support whomever heads the Senate’s housing committee, since they will continue to have business before it.“We will try to make ourselves familiar to the next chair, because we’re in the housing business, and we would like to be known,” said Jeffrey Levine, chairman of Douglaston Development, who gave $2,500 to Espada in October. “I have supported elected officials many times. It’s good on a business level to do that.” -
Brookfield Properties, the New York-based landlord and subsidiary of
Toronto’s Brookfield Asset Management, plans to depart from the housing
market entirely to focus exclusively on office properties, Bloomberg
News reported. The company, which just invested billions in bankrupt
shopping mall owner General Growth Properties and also has $1.2 billion
in residential assets, is currently in talks to merge its Carma
Development home building unit with Brookfield Asset Management’s
Brookfield Homes. It plans to then sell its home building operations,
which it said produced $33 million in revenue in the second quarter, to
free up capital to invest in more office buildings, particularly in the
U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K. The company has also changed its
name to Brookfield Office Properties to affirm its new focus. [Bloomberg] -
Sneak a peek above at an animated rendering of the planned $3.2 billion, Santiago Calatrava-designed transit hub at the World Trade Center, which will serve the PATH train to New Jersey and 12 subway lines. The project is slated for completion in 2014, and the video was commissioned by Brookfield Properties, which is planning a simultaneous $200 million renovation of its adjacent World Financial Center. -
Accounting firm Deloitte — one of the largest tenants on the market
for office space in New York City — has asked the city for at least
$10.65 million in tax credits in exchange for staying on this side of
the Hudson River and increasing its employee count, according to the
Observer. The firm, which is currently headquartered at 1633 Broadway
with offices at 25 Broadway and the World Financial Center, had been considering a move to New Jersey.
If the city doesn’t grant tax exemptions Deloitte wants — the total
sum requested could rise up to $21 million — the firm is threatening
to follow through with that interstate move. Last month, it was
reported that Deloitte was renewing its 400,000-square-foot lease
at Brookfield Properties’ 4 World Financial Center. According to the
firm’s request to the city, it is still in the process of negotiating
that lease, which will house its U.S. headquarters, and could thus back
out if it deems New Jersey a better choice. [NYO] -
Accounting firm Deloitte is officially staying put at Brookfield Properties’ 4 World Financial Center, following rumors that a lease renewal was in the works, the Post reported. The direct deal allows Deloitte to keep its 400,000-square-foot space at the building for around $40 per square foot and to expand into another 230,000 square feet. The firm had been subleasing its space from Merrill Lynch, but the deal was set to expire in 2013. Deloitte was reportedly considering a move to New Jersey, which would have been cheaper for Deloitte but potentially very damaging for Brookfield. Deloitte has asked the New York Industrial Development Agency for state and city sales tax breaks for furniture and other finishing touches for the office space. [Post]
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Accounting firm Deloitte is officially staying put at Brookfield Properties’ 4 World Financial Center, following rumors that a lease renewal was in the works, the Post reported. The direct deal allows Deloitte to keep its 400,000-square-foot space at the building for around $40 per square foot and to expand into another 230,000 square feet. The firm had been subleasing its space from Merrill Lynch, but the deal was set to expire in 2013. Deloitte was reportedly considering a move to New Jersey, which would have been cheaper for Deloitte but potentially very damaging for Brookfield. Deloitte has asked the New York Industrial Development Agency for state and city sales tax breaks for furniture and other finishing touches for the office space. [Post]
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General Growth Properties is receiving a $2.5 billion shot in the arm from Canadian property manager Brookfield Asset Management that will allow the shopping mall giant to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company announced today. Brookfield will invest the funds in exchange for a 30 percent stake in General Growth, the second largest mall owner in the country, whose portfolio includes the South Street Seaport. General Growth, which filed for the biggest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history last year with $27 billion in debt, said shareholders would receive $15 per share in the deal, which is pending bankruptcy court approval. The company also plans to raise up to $5.8 billion in cash to repay its creditors and to create a new company for some of its existing assets. Last week, Indianapolis-based competitor Simon Property Group offered to buy out General Growth for $10 billion, or $9 per share, including $9 billion in cash. General Growth dismissed the offer as low-ball. [AP via Crain's]
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Donald Trump is reportedly weighing an entry into the 1 World Trade Center bidding fray after visiting the site with sons Donald Jr. and Eric and daughter Ivanka last month to discuss a potential $100 million offer. Sources told the Post that while Trump’s good track record with finishing projects on schedule and working with unions makes him an attractive candidate from the perspective of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, the Donald himself isn’t yet convinced that he wants the project. As one source put it, “Trump loves the concept [of owning what was being called the Freedom Tower], but doesn’t know where the tenants would come from — and it’s such a target. He keeps saying, ‘There’s a big red target painted on it.’” If Trump does wind up making an offer, he’ll be joining the likes of Brookfield Properties, Vornado Realty Trust, Related Companies, the Durst Organization, Boston Properties and Hines Interests, all of which are said to have submitted proposals. The Port Authority wants the eventual owner to oversee construction and to finish leasing and managing the 1,776-foot-tall property. [Post]
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Six different high-profile property owners are angling for a stake in 1 World Trade Center, formerly called Freedom Tower, including Related Companies, Vornado Realty Trust, Boston Properties, the Durst Organization, Brookfield Properties and Hines Interests, according to the Observer. A stake in the 1,776-foot tower being constructed by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey would require a $100 million commitment — at least — from the interested parties. The Port Authority is eager to draw interest from non-governmental agencies, according to Stephen Sigmund, a spokesperson for the agency. “We’re pleased with the private sector’s strong interest,” Sigmund said. [more]
