From left: Laurence Gluck and 233 Spring Street and 161 Sixth Avenue

Stellar Management President Larry Gluck closed on his purchase of two industrial office buildings in Soho and plans to combine the structures into a single tower, according to the New York Post. Gluck paid $200 million for the 16-story, 320,000-square-foot office building at 161 Sixth Avenue and the 10-story, 250,000-square-foot property at 233 Spring Street, both of which are off the corner of Sixth Avenue and Spring Street. [more]

From left: Ron Burkle and 430 West 14th Street

Forty-eight days after closing on his $65 million purchase of 430 West 14th Street, billionaire investor Ron Burkle is looking to unload it for more than $100 million, according to the New York Post.

He chose Eastdil Secured’s Douglas Harmon, Adam Spies and Kevin Donner to market the 61,321-square-foot office building with 50 feet of frontage each on West 13th and West 14th streets, and 206 feet along Washington Street. [more]

A group of Israeli investors is set to purchase the 1.5 million-square-foot Long Island City office tower One Court Square from SL Green Realty, sources told Real Estate Weekly. Among the investors is Joel Schreiber, owner of real estate investment firm Waterbridge Capital, and David Werner, a private real estate investor from Brooklyn.

SL Green took control of the property when it acquired the real estate investment trust Reckson in 2006, REW said. Citibank leases the entire 50-story building. The value of the transaction was not immediately clear, though the New York Post, which previously reported that the building was in contract, estimated it would close for slightly less than $500 million.  [more]

From left: Paul Leibowitz, Doug Harmon, Darcy Stacom, Vincent Carrega and Jon Epstein

Darcy Stacom, a vice chairman of CBRE, represented the seller in two of the top five brokered commercial real estate sales, based on price, recorded in city property records last month, data from PropertyShark.com and CoStar Group show.

Stacom, along with CBRE’s William Shanahan and Paul Leibowitz, were the brokers for the sale of two St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers buildings to Rudin Management and Long Island-Jewish Health Care System. In another bankruptcy proceeding, Eastdil Secured brokers Doug Harmon and Adam Spies represented the bankruptcy court in the sale of 1107 Broadway to the Witkoff Group. [more]

Potential buyers are offering about $130 million for the 16-story office building 1370 Broadway, owned by office landlord Sitt Asset Management and investor Carlton Associates, multiple sources said.

Sitt Asset, controlled by president Ralph Sitt, partnered with the Cohen family’s Carlton Associates to buy the property in 2003 for $57.18 million from property giant SL Green Realty.

Bids for the property, being marketed by Doug Harmon and Adam Spies, senior managing directors of Eastdil Secured, are coming in this week, sources said.

Sitt Asset, Carlton and Eastdil did not immediately return calls seeking comment. [more]

Scott Rechler, Jeffrey Levine, Hal Fetner and Kenneth Horn, the heads of
RXR Realty, Douglaston Development, Durst Fetner Residential and
Alchemy Properties, respectively, were just some of the top-flight real estate executives that attended Michael Stoler’s “Stoler State of the Market” conference yesterday, at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (see photos above). Stoler asked direct, probing questions covering the availability of debt and equity, financing, expectations for 2012 and residential market from the private equity perspective. Those four topics were discussed by 32 panelists in front of an audience of more than 200 people.

Many panelists were optimistic looking forward. AKA Hotels & Korman Communities co-President Larry Korman said he expected a big year in 2012 as money comes off the sideline and returns to the investment game. – Marc Becker [more]

Vornado Realty Trust Chairman Steven Ross and 11 East 68th Street (building credit: PropertyShark)Vornado Realty Trust went into contract to buy an Upper East Side rental building for $170 million, the New York Post reported.

The 11-story, 41-unit apartment building at 11 East 68th Street, with two rental units along Madison Avenue, hit the market in July, with some experts predicting it could fetch as much as $220 million, in part because of its potential for a condominium conversion. Adam Spies and Doug Harmon, senior managing directors at Eastdil Secured, marketed the property. [more]

Clockwise from top left: Eastdil Secured’s Adam Spies, the Helmsley Building at 230 Park Avenue, Eastdil Secured’s Doug Harmon, Howard Michaels of the Carlton Group and Anthony Westreich of Monday Properties

From the August issue: For the owners of distressed properties, it’s a harrowing ride to stabilization. Note sale, foreclosure, bankruptcy or recapitalization, there is no easy path from financial trouble to stable footing. And while some savvy investors have seized control of valuable New York City properties, many owners and lenders have lost billions of dollars through distressed real estate sales and restructurings since the financial crisis began.
This month The Real Deal examines five deals and how they unfolded.
In the second part of the series, Monday Properties held onto a stake in the iconic Midtown tower at 230 Park Avenue but took a large hit to its equity share in the property. At the same time, other former owners such as one of Goldman Sachs’ Whitehall Street funds, bowed out entirely when Invesco Institutional and a Korean pension fund bought a 95 percent interest in the building. Click here to read the story. [more]

Possible contenders Ian Schrager (top) and Andre Balazs with the Hotel ChelseaA mystery buyer has agreed to buy the Hotel Chelsea for more than $80 million, triumphing over a pool of luminaries that for months have fueled intense speculation about the future of the landmark West 23rd Street property, Eastdil Secured broker Douglas Harmon confirmed to the Wall Street Journal. But the speculation doesn’t end here. Previously reported front-runners for the takeover of the legendary hotel included hoteliers Ian Schrager and Andre Balazs, former manager Stanley Bard and Tristar Capital’s David Edelstein. (On Monday, a tenant-written blog reported that Edelstein had emerged the victor, which a hotel spokesperson quickly denied). Today, the rumor mill churned out a few fresh names, including Aby Rosen, pop singer Marc Anthony and Google. [more]

The Hotel Chelsea and David Edelstein

The landmark Hotel Chelsea could go the condominium-hotel route under the ownership of a new front-runner in the closely watched bidding process for the 127-year-old property. According to the Post, David Edelstein, president of New York-based Tristar Capital and developer of the W Hotels in South Beach and London, is seen as a top contender for the 250-room hotel, which is said to be asking close to $100 million and has drawn interest from the likes of Andre Balazs and Ian Schrager. [more]