From the December issue: As 2011 draws to a close, real estate executives and brokers say it’s now clear that office tenants made faster leasing decisions this year than last. The coming off the fence was driven, professionals say, by the realization that the economy was not likely to experience any major changes — for better or worse — anytime soon.

Peter Braus, managing principal at commercial firm Lee & Associates, which last month announced an affiliation with Midtown-based Sierra Realty, said the mood in 2011 was a recognition that the economy was not going to turn around right away.

“[This year] has been more of a realization that the recessionary economy is here to stay — at least for the foreseeable future,” he said. [more]

The non-profit theater organization that runs the city’s TKTS discount ticket booths is taking its 75,000-piece costume collection to Queens after being priced out of the 13,000-square-foot Starrett-Lehigh Building space in Chelsea that has housed it for the past 35 years. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Theatre Development Fund will move in the fall to a lower-rent, 16,000-square-foot space at Kaufman Astoria Studios, where film and television shows like “Men in Black III” and “The Smurfs” have been shot. Perkins Eastman, the architecture firm that designed the new TKTS booth in Times Square, plans to gut and custom-design the space in order to accommodate TDF’s unusual garment collection, which has grown over the years through donations from Broadway, Off-Broadway, opera and television and film productions since the 1970s. [more]

Top to bottom: the current BankNote building and a rendering of the potential outcome of the redevelopment

Taconic Investment Partners is moving in a new direction with its project at Hunts Point’s landmarked BankNote building. Taconic, along with Denham Wolf Real Estate Services, has made a multi-million dollar commitment to transform one of the South Bronx’s most iconic buildings into an epicenter of higher education, in an underserved community. The century-old structure is one of the largest in the South Bronx and is an enduring landmark in a neighborhood dominated by new structures. It was there that current Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz chose to have his inaugural reception. “It’s a little bit of a departure from what we’ve done,” said Charles Bendit, co-CEO of Taconic. Bendit has teamed up with Paul Wolf, president of Denham Wolf, a non-profit real estate group. Bendit said on top of the $32 million they spent purchasing the BankNote commercial building at 890 Garrison Avenue in 2007, the development team plans to pour another $50 million into the project to transform portions of the building into educational use. [more]