Timothy King (top) and Brian Leary, managing partners of CPEX, and 81 Willoughby Street

The investment sales, leasing and advisory firm CPEX Real Estate is doubling its office space in a move set for Friday to a new location in Downtown Brooklyn, the company told The Real Deal.

The firm, headed by managing partners Timothy King and Brian Leary, is moving its headquarters to 8,000 square feet at 81 Willoughby Street, between Lawrence and Bridge streets from about 4,000 square feet at 350 Livingston Street, about six blocks apart. [more]

From left at the Brooklyn Real Estate Summit: Tim King of CPEX, Joe Chan of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Michael Phillips of Jamestown; Michael Zazza of the Zazza Development Group and Susan Pollock of CPC Resources

Though the price disparity in their residential markets may be narrowing,
Brooklyn still lags far behind Manhattan in the number of big national
retailers. That was a major discussion point at the 2011 Brooklyn Real
Estate Summit held yesterday at St. Francis College in Downtown
Brooklyn. Not coincidentally, commercial real estate veterans pointed
to the very neighborhood where the conference took place, Downtown
Brooklyn, as crucial to landing those retailers.

“Brooklyn is too spread out to achieve national retailers in every business
district in the borough,” said Michael Phillips, managing director at
real estate investor Jamestown, which has stakes in Be@Schermerhorn in Downtown Brooklyn and four Manhattan buildings. But, by trumpeting Downtown Brooklyn, where retail traffic is already evident, Brooklyn
can lure the big-box national retailer willing to be a pioneer. [more]

Joseph Cayre and 242 Bedford Avenue

Discount clothing department store Marshalls and drugstore CVS are interested in leasing space in a troubled development site in Williamsburg, once the stalled construction project is completed, several brokers said. The national chain retailers are looking at a lower-level space at 242 Bedford Avenue, just south of North 4th Street, the brokers, who asked to remain anonymous, said. The half-built site is owned by Yehuda Backer’s Williamsburg-based Backer Group, which halted construction several years ago. Instead, the parcel has only steel shells with no current construction evident.
[more]

From left: Pret A Manger is moving in on the corner of 29th Street and Seventh Avenue and Fresh & Co. is a recent addition to the neighborhood on the corner of 30th Street and Seventh Avenue

Once thought of as a transit hub for travelers moving in and out of Penn Station, a strip of Seventh Avenue is slowly gaining retailer clout. Brokers say the stretch of retail from 29th to 34th streets is improving because of shifting real estate values, large development projects on the horizon and the influence of one property owner: Vornado Realty Trust. In the last few months, the quality of retailers in the area appears to have shifted. Fresh & Co., an upscale — primarily lunch — eatery, opened several months ago at the corner of 30th Street and Seventh Avenue. Pret A Manger, meanwhile, has plywood up on the corner of West 29th Street. And, within a couple of months after Supermac macaroni and cheese joint’s closing last November, a new vegan sit-down restaurant opened in the location on Seventh Avenue between 29th and 30th streets. And, as these high-end eateries crop up, some retail experts say that the neighborhood is turning a corner. [more]

After-school education program Kumon Learning Center is opening its ninth Brooklyn location at 8506-8508 Fourth Avenue in Bay Ridge, after signing a 1,800-square-foot lease at the building. The asking price for the space was $55 per square foot, and the five-year lease came with a five-year renewal option, according to CPEX Real Estate, which brokered the deal. Other tenants in the building, which is owned by Pappas & Pappas, include H&R Block, Dunkin Donus, New York Sports Club and Sleepy’s. The learning center expects to move in within three months. TRD

From left: Timothy King of CPEX and maps showing the retail corridors covered by the CPEX report

A new report on New York City’s traditionally tight-lipped retail leasing market lifts the curtain on pricing in more than 193 shopping districts in the five boroughs (see the full report after the jump). The survey, the first undertaken by the two-year-old Brooklyn sales and leasing firm CPEX Real Estate, gives ranges for rents based on a review of more than 1,200 leases as well as interviews with owners, appraisers and other industry sources, company principal Timothy King said. The overview is a rare glimpse into the retail leasing industry that remains far more secretive than residential and office leasing, brokers said. While brokerage firms release retail reports, for example commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis released a sophisticated fourth-quarter retail analysis of 10 shopping districts in Manhattan south of 86th Street this week, they do not cover all five boroughs. King said there were few surprises in the CPEX data. He said its value was as a tool for clients looking for a broad view of the market. “If a retailer comes from out of town, this is a road map to give you a logical starting point,” King said. [more]

Jason Pennington of Ripco Real Estate

From the February issue: Mayor Bloomberg may have declared war on high-calorie, sodium-filled diets, but New York City’s landlords seem to think fast-food joints are good for their health — their fiscal health, that is. Fast-food restaurants are under construction all over the city, gearing up to serve greasy burgers, fried chicken and burritos, as well as accompanying sugary sodas, which the Bloomberg administration portrayed as globs of fat in a glass in a recent public awareness campaign. In this tough retail climate, food and beverage leases in the city are rising faster than any other category. While they generally make up the largest portion of leases on The Real Deal‘s monthly Deal Sheet, last month the category saw 19 deals for over 70,000 square feet of retail space. That’s more than double the second most active category: fashion. And the greasy diet that landlords have signed up for is, in many cases, long-term, with 10- and 15-year leases.  [more]

Broker Timothy King (left) is suing Paul Massey’s firm Massey Knakal

Despite a year passing since broker Timothy King filed a $3 million
lawsuit accusing his former partners Paul Massey and Robert Knakal of
Massey Knakal Realty Services of improper activities and mismanagement
of the firm, the two sides remain at loggerheads after a hearing in
Brooklyn court today. A judge in State Supreme Court rejected motions introduced by both
sides and left open the possibility that she would move the dispute to
arbitration. King filed suit June 2008 on behalf of Massey Knakal Realty of
Brooklyn, a partnership in which he holds a 10 percent interest.
Massey, CEO of Massey Knakal Realty Services, and Knakal, that
company’s chairman, are 50-50 partners in Massey Knakal Realty
Holdings, which owns 70 percent of the Brooklyn entity. King is not
suing the other five individuals who have a 20 percent stake in the
Brooklyn office. [more]