The buyer of the 254,000-square-foot office condominium atop Barneys New York at 660 Madison Avenue was an investment entity controlled by Brazilian billionaire Joseph Safra, Bloomberg News reported. At $285 million, or $1,100 per square foot, the transaction was the priciest for a New York City office building on a per-square-foot basis last year, said Dan Fasulo, managing director of Real Capital Analytics. [more]

Kent Swig and 80 Broad Street

The defaulted $75 million senior mortgage loan on Kent Swig’s 80 Broad Street is officially up for sale through Cushman & Wakefield, confirming rumors that surfaced last month and setting the stage for a potential takeover from a buyer, the Post reported. Last year, the loan was transferred to special servicer J.E. Robert Company after it was determined to be in “imminent default” by Fitch Ratings. While Swig’s loan payments are still current, the tower is still in “covenant default.” According to Real Capital Analytics’ Dan Fasulo, Swig would “have to work magic to keep this one” because whoever buys the senior mortgage will likely be looking to wrest control of the building. [more]

SL Green founder Stephen Green and 1330 Sixth Avenue

Several companies, including SL Green Realty, are expected to place bids next week on a 40-story tower at 1330 Sixth Avenue in the Plaza District, Crain’s reported. The 570,000-square-foot tower, which was recently renovated, is generating interest, and Dan Fasulo, managing director at Real Capital Analytics, estimates that the building, which is about 25 percent vacant, will fetch between $350 million and $400 million. The property has been off the market in recent weeks due to the impending sale. Bid offers are due next Friday. The building is owned by Caisse de Depot et placement du Quebec, a unit of a Canadian-government owned pension fund which took over the building last year from Harry Macklowe, who couldn’t pay the mortgage. Macklowe spent close to $30 million renovating the building, which he bought for $498 million in 2006. The building is being marketed by Darcy Stacom, vice chair of CB Richard Ellis. [Crain's]

[more]

Left: One Mad. Park, Trump Soho, William Beaver House, Dan Fasulo of Real Capital Analytics

Fitch Ratings downgraded and issued a dire warning about iStar Financial, saying the Manhattan-based commercial lender would need to negotiate significant concessions from bondholders to avoid a [more]

Brad Case, a vice president with the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts

From the April issue: Whle real estate investment trusts clearly have a lot of challenges right now, they have one key thing going for them that a lot of other investors don’t: access to capital. In this month’s Q&A, experts who track REITs told The Real Deal that the tremendous volatility the sector was experiencing a year ago is largely gone now. They said the biggest challenge REITs face today is finding worthwhile investments and paying down their debt. Some REITs, including Sam Zell’s Equity Residential, SL Green and Hersha Hospitality (see “Hersha’s New York play”) have already started picking up more property in New York. Others, like Simon Property Group and Westfield Group, are going head-to-head to take over bankrupt megamall operator and South Street Seaport owner General Growth Properties. Sources said they expect more REITs to start going after entire portfolios of properties (though not on the General Growth Properties scale) in the coming months. For more on which REIT sectors are faring best and worst and which REITs are most under- and overvalued, click here to turn to our panel of experts.

From the February issue: While activity remains sluggish in the New York real estate market,
there may be pockets of opportunities for profits over the next few
years for those who invest wisely.
Experts point to three areas for investors looking to lay the
groundwork for a future fortune: office towers, land and multifamily
buildings.
First, a warning or two. Many of the properties sold will go to
insiders rather than victors in a public auction process. With few
assets available for cheap prices through public listings, “smart money
will use alternative paths to get to core real estate,” said Dan
Fasulo, managing director at Real Capital Analytics.
While there will be “opportunities to pick up quality assets at
attractive prices over the next year,” he warned that “investors who
feel like we’re going to fall off a cliff … will be greatly
disappointed.” [more]

From left: Sam Chandan, head of Real Estate Econometrics, and Dan Fasulo, managing director of Real Capital Analytics

New York City-based research firm Real Estate Econometrics has joined another New York City-based research company Real Capital Analytics, said Dan Fasulo, RCA head of research and managing director, in a release sent today by RCA. Sam Chandan, head of the approximately two-year-old national Real Estate Econometrics, will become global chief economist with RCA and will serve as executive vice president. Chandan said that the firm is joining RCA in part because of its global scope. “We are looking forward to being part of the RCA family,” Chandan said. “As the flow of real estate capital and credit becomes increasingly international, RCA’s global platform offers the foremost vantage point for thought leadership and industry impact.” TRD

From the January issue: While the pipeline for condos has slowed to a near-stop, there are a
few daring developers out there picking up land and buildings in this
tough market. But those who are making purchases and starting up projects now are
doing so with revised cost projections — faced with the reality that
expenses must be contained in a weak sales market. The Related Companies, for example, restarted construction in the
fall on a long-delayed skyscraper at 440 West 42nd Street, which
includes a Frank Gehry-designed theater, a hotel and 800 apartments –
a mix of market-rate rentals, affordable units and condos. The deal was made possible with the help of $25 million from the
city for the theater and a citywide agreement between developers and
more than 40 labor unions to trim construction costs up to 20 percent.
The project had been on hold for months amid the downturn and limited
financing.

W New York – Union Square hotel

LEM Mezzanine, a Philadelphia-based private equity fund, acquired Istithmar’s former W New York – Union Square hotel for $2 million, plus the assumption of $212 million in debt, in a foreclosure auction held in Manhattan this morning, marking the first major asset to be sold since the November debt crisis emerged in Dubai. LEM bagged the troubled property at 201 Park Avenue South after a brief bidding war in which Istithmar officials tried to buy the 270-room hotel on the condition that they not have to assume the hotel’s October and November debt payments. Sources at the auction told The Real Deal that the hotel would continue to operate under the W brand, while LEM would make an undisclosed amount of capital improvements and position the hotel for an eventual recovery of the New York economy. “Despite the recent downturn of the hotel industry, and the defaults that led to today’s foreclosure auction, we are optimistic about the future,” LEM’s affiliate company said in a statement. [more]

To the investors hoping to score one of Dubai’s prized Manhattan properties as the beleaguered city-state struggles to climb out of its $59 billion debt hole, analysts are saying: not so fast. In order to sell any of its five Manhattan properties, Dubai World, the government’s holding company, would be taking a big hit, which might not be wise. The Knickerbocker Hotel building, which the company bought for $300 million in 2006, is half-empty and worth “nothing,” one source told the Post’s Steve Cuozzo. “They’re going to take a huge hit if they sell,” said Dan Fasulo, managing director at Real Capital Analytics. “They’re going to get wiped out.” Dubai World may also be underwater at 450 Lexington Avenue, where the company has a 99-year leasehold, purchased in 2006 for $600 million. Meanwhile, the W Hotel Union Square, bought for $285 million in 2005, was scheduled for a Dec. 8 foreclosure auction. [Post]