From left: Michael Fascitelli, CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, and Sherri White, senior vice president at Vornado, at the Marquee Nightclub at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel

It’s become a cliche to say much of the deal making at the annual International Council of Shopping Centers’ retail bash RECon in Las Vegas takes place at the parties surrounding the convention, even if it’s true. To get a closer look, The Real Deal visited a handful of those gabfests. Click here to see the photos and more.

Stanley Chera (top), Aristotle Onassis and the Olympic Tower

The Cheras’ Crown Acquisitions has acquired a 49.9 percent stake in a four-building Fifth Avenue portfolio that includes the Olympic Tower, the Wall Street Journal reported, although it could not confirm the terms of the deal. The transaction is expected to have valued the 51-story Olympic Tower, at 641 Fifth Avenue near 51st Street, a building at 10 East 52nd Street and two mansions north of the tower at $1 billion.

Crown purchased the stake from an affiliate of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. The foundation was created in his son’s honor by Aristotle Onassis, whose Victory Development first erected the tower in 1975. [more]

Crown's Haim Chera and a rendering of the retail space at 530 Fifth Avenue

The new owners of 530 Fifth Avenue are looking to bring prime Fifth Avenue rental rates to the traditionally overlooked stretch of the avenue below 49th Street. According to the Wall Street Journal, the partnership of Jamestown Properties, Rockwood Capital, Crown Acquisition and Murray Hill Properties that bought the property from Joseph Moinian and the Chetrit Group last September for a total of $420 million has a plan to charge $1,500 per square foot for the nearly 50,000-square-foot retail space. [more]

From left: Chase Wells, executive vice president at Northwest Atlantic, Steven Gillman, a partner at Northwest Atlantic, David Firestein, former president of Northwest Atlantic, and Jacqueline Klinger, also a partner

Westchester tenant-advisory firm Northwest Atlantic Real Estate Services, best-known as the Manhattan representative for Starbucks Coffee and Whole Foods, merged with the Atlanta-based retail brokerage Shopping Center Group, company officials told The Real Deal.

Northwest Atlantic, a 10-broker company The Real Deal ranked as the ninth most active retail brokerage in Manhattan by square feet leased, joins a firm with about 120 licensed professionals in 15 states. [more]

Knickerbocker hotel

When the owners of the former Knickerbocker Hotel divided the structure into two floors of retail condominiums and 14 stories of hotel rooms, they had larger plans in mind. According to the Wall Street Journal the sold the remaining building for $109 million to Texas-based FelCor Lodging Trust, which plans to continue the property’s conversion from Class B office space to a 330-room luxury hotel. [more]

From left: Knickerbocker Hotel and a rendering of the hotel coming to 136 West 42nd Street

The high-profile block of West 42nd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues has long needed an upgrade, according to the New York Post, and after tracking developments on the block it’s clear that progress is being made.

The partnership of Highgate Holdings, Crown Acquisitions and Ashkenazy Acquisitions has completed interior demolition work in its bid to revert the former Knickerbocker Hotel, at 1466 Broadway, back to a luxury hotel from Class B office space. [more]

From left: Stanley Chera, founder of Crown Acquisitions, Ben Ashkenazy, chairman and CEO of Ashkenazy Acquisition, Neil Bluhm, a co-founder of Walton Street, and the Knickerbocker Hotel building

A joint venture that includes Crown Acquisitions and Ashkenazy Acquisition has segmented the landmarked, 282,000-square-foot Knickerbocker Hotel building near Times Square into three commercial condominiums.

The ownership split the 15-story Beaux-Arts structure at 1466 Broadway on the corner of 42nd Street, into one hotel condo and two retail condos, city property records filed Monday show. The state Attorney General’s office, which regulates condominiums, approved the conversion plan Nov. 10, the papers show.

Chicago-based investor Walton Street Capital partnered with Texas-based hotel owner Highgate Holdings, and Midtown-based Crown and Ashkenazy to purchase the building for $180.5 million in July 2010.
[more]

From left: Stanley Chera, founder of Crown Acquisitions, Joseph Sitt, CEO of Thor Equities, and Mike
Pappagallo, COO of Kimco Realty

Although just a fraction of the size of the largest global retail convention held each year in Las Vegas by the International Council of Shopping Centers, the trade group’s conference taking place in New York City next week is considered the second most important in the country.

One advantage of its smaller size, insiders said, is that the New York show provides for greater concentration on closing deals.

“In Las Vegas, the annual convention has more pageantry,” Mike Pappagallo, COO for the New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based real estate investment trust, Kimco Realty, said. “At New York there is more good old-fashioned blocking and tackling and deal making.” [more]

Crown Acquisitions’ Stanley Chera and the Apple store at 103 Prince StreetCrown Acquisitions partnered with Centurion Realty to purchase the site of the city’s first Apple store for $75 million, the New York Post reported. Apple is renovating and expanding the 30,000-square-foot space at 103 Prince Street and is currently operating out of a temporary location a block away, at 72 Greene Street.

The building was previously owned by Westchester-based Ingersoll Realty, which had leased it to the U.S. Postal Service from 1975 through 2000. [more]

Clockwise from left: Crown Acquisition’s Haim Chera, 720 Lexington Avenue and Guess CEO Paul MarcianoThe owner of 720 Lexington Avenue has prevailed against Guess in a lawsuit alleging the clothing company wrongly backed out of a $30 million commercial lease at the building.

A New York federal judge this past Friday found Guess liable for breaching its contract with the building’s owner, an entity backed by Haim Chera and his family’s firm, Crown Acquisitions. Guess had claimed that the parties verbally agreed to drop the lease, and that a commission-sharing agreement between brokers who set up the deal rendered the lease invalid.

The dispute dates back to mid-2008, when Guess signed a 15-year, $30 million lease for the entire four-story building on the corner of Lexington and East 58th Street, contingent on the retailer getting access to the property by Aug. 1, 2009. [more]