The computer gaming company Atari that popularized early digital favorites such as Asteroids and Pong signed a new lease at Cohen Brothers Realty’s Murray Hill office tower at 475 Park Avenue South, cutting its space by more than 75 percent.

Atari, founded in 1972, is taking 7,998 square feet on the seventh floor of the 35-story building at the corner of 32nd Street, Henry Goodfriend, executive vice president at commercial firm NAI Global New York City, said. Goodfriend and Trent Dickey, a company associate, represented Atari in the transaction. Marc Horowitz, a vice president at Charles Cohen’s Cohen Brothers, represented the landlord. [more]

Charles Cohen and Daffy’s

Discount clothing retailer Daffy’s is striking back at landlord Cohen Brothers Realty, owner of 135 East 57th Street, five months after the chain store beat back an effort by the building owner to throw it out of its basement retail space where it is paying a below-market rent.

Secaucus, N.J.-based Daffy’s accused Cohen Brothers of poor upkeep of the building resulting in water damaging the retailer’s mostly-underground 54,000 square feet of space, and is seeking more than $5 million, a suit filed in New York State Supreme Court March 10 shows. In addition, the suit claims Daffy’s has been overcharged for air conditioning, electricity and other expenses.
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Marc Horowitz, 525 Seventh Avenue and 989 Sixth Avenue (building photos source: PropertyShark)

Marc Horowitz has joined commercial property firm Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation as vice president of leasing. Horowitz, 39, was formerly a partner in the brokerage division of Kaufman Adler Realty, now known as the Kaufman Organization. During his 12-year tenure at Kaufman, he helped lease several Manhattan office buildings, including 525 Seventh Avenue, 230 West 39th Street and 989 Sixth Avenue. “We’re confident that Marc will prove to be a valuable resource for our company and an important addition to our in-house leasing team,” said Charles Cohen, CEO and president at Cohen Realty, which manages leasing for approximately 8 million square feet of Class A office buildings in Manhattan. TRD

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(Photograph by Ben Baker for The Real Deal)

From the March issue: Charles Cohen is the president and CEO of Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation, the company founded by his family in the 1950s. CBRC owns and manages more than 12 million square feet of office space and design centers across the country, including 623 Fifth Avenue, the Decoration & Design Building and the Pacific Design Center — designed by Argentine architect César Pelli — in West Hollywood, Calif. He was also the coproducer of the film “Frozen River,” which in 2009 received Oscar nominations for best original screenplay and best actress. This month, Cohen sat down with The Real Deal to talk about the movie business, real estate lessons from his dad, and why trivia isn’t trivial. [more]

Despite the recession, the practice of including major sculptures and
artwork to high-end New York City real estate projects has prevailed.
The Rockefellers started the trend of using pricey sculptures and
artwork to adorn prominent properties during the 20th century and the
practice has continued despite economic gloom. For example, in October,
Cohen Brothers Realty installed a $3,300 dollar, 5,000-pound sculpture
on the ceiling in the atrium of 805 Third Avenue. Silverstein
Properties included a Tom Otterness-designed playground sculpture in a
new park near to two of its apartment developments on West 42nd Street
which was priced in the seven-figure range. “Sculpture can also add a
human element. Often in New York, buildings are overscale; sculpture
can bring the scale down,” said Joel Straus, a corporate art consultant
in Chicago. [NYT]
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