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From the May issue: With 7.6 million square feet of commercial space under construction at the World Trade Center site, the New York City skyline may appear to be adding an unprecedented amount of office space. But a closer look shows that office builders were far busier in the previous periods of Manhattan history.

New Yorkers accustomed to cranes looming overhead might be surprised to hear that Manhattan commercial construction is in one of the slowest periods of the past century, according to a recent report by Newmark Knight Frank. In fact, Manhattan lost more office space than it gained in the aughts, according to the report, which details how the city’s commercial construction has ebbed and flowed over the past 100 years.

And even as commercial lending begins to rebound, experts say they don’t expect a huge burst of activity in the next few years, despite activity at the World Trade Center site and, eventually, Hudson Yards. [more]

Clinton Willis Blume (Credit: Clinton Blume III)

Clinton Willis Blume Jr., a managing director with ABS Partners Real Estate who helped arrange the deal that allowed for the 1960s expansion of Roc [more]

If every New York City office building went up for sale right now, which ones would command the best prices? That’s the question the Observer posed to some of New York’s most prominent commercial real estate this week, resulting in a subjective list of the 10 most valuable office buildings in the city. There were few surprises among their picks, which included the Chrysler Building, the General Motors Building, the Empire State Building, the World Financial Center, the Seagram Building, 9 West 57th Street and Bank of America’s brand new headquarters at One Bryant Park. [NYO] 

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Noven Pharmaceuticals signed a lease for the entire 37th floor of the Empire State Building, with plans to leave the Chrysler building. The new space is 25,346 square feet, with a starting rent in the mid-$30s per square foot. The building’s landlord, Tony Malkin of Malkin Holdings, has spent close to $500,000 on capital improvements to accommodate larger tenants in the tower. In the past the building has had 800 tenants, but that number is now down to 300. [NYO]

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Veronica Mainetti heads the Sorgente Group’s U.S. office.

From the January issue:
For more than a year, foreign investors have been sitting on the
sidelines waiting for a sign that the capital markets were beginning to
thaw and the time was right to invest in New York real estate.
One of the first big tests for them may be coming from an unlikely
source: the Sorgente Group, a Rome-based investment firm that has
already acquired some of the city’s most iconic properties and is
currently negotiating to buy another — the famed Woolworth Building in
Lower Manhattan.
In addition to those Gotham properties, the group, headed by
investor Valter Mainetti, is reportedly in talks to acquire some of the
most sought-after buildings in the United States, including San
Francisco’s TransAmerica Pyramid.  More

With commercial property values spiraling downward, foreign investors are looking to inject capital into Manhattan’s premier buildings, but some experts say they’re too eager for their own good. There’s not enough product to go around, said columnist Lois Weiss, and foreigners are having trouble securing bids on properties, or even getting their calls returned. “Everyone shows up wanting to buy trophies on the cheap and thinks they’re going to steal the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building,” said Will Silverman of Studley’s capital markets group. Nonetheless, many foreign investors are succeeding in their efforts, and benefiting from exchange rates to boot. Recently, Joseph Cayre partnered with Israeli IDB Associates in purchasing 452 Fifth Avenue from HSBC at $400 per foot, and another Israeli company, Gilmore and Optibase, is acquiring SL Green Realty’s 485 Lexington Avenue at $560 per foot. The Middle Eastern Safra family is in serious talks to buy a 49 percent interest in 299 Park Avenue from UBS, and the Italian Sorgente Group purchased a piece of the Flatiron Building this week. [Post, 1st item]

A selection of photos from Richard Berenholtz’s New York Deco, from left: the book’s cover, 40 West 40th Street, 181 Madison Avenue and the old GE tower. All photos copyright Richard Berenholtz from New York Deco.

The most recent real estate boom brought New York City eye-popping real estate prices and loans that still haunt developers and building owners.

An earlier economic boom in the 1920s, followed by another devastating bust, produced the opulent Art Deco designs of many existing New York City skyscrapers.

These buildings are highlighted in New York Deco, a forthcoming book of photographs by architect-turned-photographer Richard Berenholtz. The 130 photos (see a few samples, above) are accompanied by quotations from famous New Yorkers who lived in the city in the 1920s and 1930s.

The mosaics, murals and sculptures that adorned the city’s Art Deco buildings are particularly striking in contrast to the stalled construction fears and architectural scale-backs that have marked New York City over the past year.  More

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