Larry Gluck’s Stellar Management has finalized a plan to partner with tenant Erez Shternlicht and replace a loading dock in Gluck’s Meatpacking District office building at 450 West 15th Street with a prime retail storefront.

The retail addition, that will sit just west of luxury clothing retailer Jeffrey New York on West 14th Street between Ninth and 10th avenues, is part of a larger approximately $60 million sale and lease transaction Milk Studio’s Shternlicht executed in two separate deals including the sale of the neighboring Mobil gas station.

Shternlicht said the extremely complicated deals would unlock millions of dollars in value for the Stellar Management building and influence the area by adding retail on 14th Street all the way to 10th Avenue. [more]

Normandy Real Estate Partners has gone into contract to purchase a 275,000-square-foot, 16-story office building at 1370 Broadway and 37th Street for $125 million, according to the New York Post. Sources said the building was snapped up by the company just before Thanksgiving.

As The Real Deal previously reported, the seller, Sitt Asset Management, had been soliciting bids for the building in October. CoStar Group data shows the property has about 22 percent of its space available to lease. Large tenants there include apparel retailer Esprit and executive office firm Jay Suites. [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]

Beacon Capital may have to rethink the sale of the News Corp. building at 1211 Sixth Avenue, one of the largest Midtown Manhattan office towers to hit the market since the economy turned in 2008, Crain’s reported, after bids came in around 16 percent below the property’s asking price.

Beacon, which purchased the building in 2006 for $1.5 billion, put the 1.9 million-square-foot office tower up for sale in June for a reported $1.9 billion, but may instead look for an equity partner, Crain’s said, though the company wants to retain majority control in any partial sale.

Some high-profile potential buyers were said to have dropped out of the bidding. SL Green Realty and Vornado Realty Trust made offers, sources told Crain’s, but then decided against pursuing the deal. [more]

SL Green Realty has found a buyer for its leased fee interest in a 26-story, 193,000-square-foot property at 292 Madison Avenue and 41st Street for $85 million, or $440 per square foot, GlobeSt.com reported, the sale of which is expected to generate approximately $22.7 million in net proceeds for the company.

Eastdil Secured represented the company in the pending transaction.

SL Green paid Gramercy Capital $19 million for the interest in the building in 2010 as part of a deal for $391 million worth of office and retail, including the land and lease fee for the Lipstick Building at 885 Third Avenue and for 2 Herald Square. [more]

From left: Jeff Sutton, SL Green President Andrew Mathias and 141 Fifth Avenue

SL Green Realty and its joint venture partner, Jeff Sutton, have made an agreement to sell two retail condominium units totaling 9,860 square feet at 141 Fifth Avenue for $46 million, SL Green announced today. The identity of the buyer was not immediately clear.

The transaction, which is subject to the lender’s approval of the transfer, is expected to generate around $17.5 million in net proceeds for SL Green, the company said in a statement.

Andrew Mathias, president of SL Green, said: “SL Green continuously looks to take advantage of evolving market conditions to enhance both its office and retail portfolios with selective dispositions and acquisitions. We are very pleased with the growth and success of our retail platform and anticipate making more strategic investments in the near term.” -- Katherine Clarke [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]

Benjamin Lambert (left), founder and
chairman of Eastdil Secured, and company
CEO Roy March in the firm’s
Midtown headquartersFrom the September issue: Google’s record $1.8 billion purchase of 111 Eighth Avenue late last year momentarily put the name Eastdil Secured on the lips of everyone in New York’s real estate industry. But the low-profile real estate investment banking firm, which managed the sale, doesn’t have the street-level cachet that many of its rivals have.

While Manhattan’s building-sales brokers and financiers (those who focus on large institutional deals, often over $100 million) know the firm as a powerhouse, many others in real estate still have no idea who Eastdil is. [more]

From left: Adam Spies, Robert Knakal, Woody Heller, Richard Baxter and Harry Krausman

Sources: CoStar Group, PropertyShark.com and The Real Deal.
Footnotes: Sales data is for Manhattan deals published on the city property record site Acris in September and provided by PropertyShark.com. Brokers and additional information is from CoStar Group and The Real Deal.

The top commercial deal to be recorded in city property records in September
was JPMorgan Chase Asset Management closing on the $719 million acquisition of the 14-story office and commercial building
200 Fifth Avenue, (part of the former International Toy Center buildings),
PropertyShark.com data shows. Eastdil Secured’s Adam Spies and Douglas
Harmon brokered the sale (see chart above). The purchase drove much of the
monthly total transfer value, which was $2.9 billion in commercial deals reported
on the city property record site Acris, an analysis of PropertyShark.com figures
show. [more]

From left: Steve Witkoff, founder of the Witkoff Group, 1107 Broadway, Yitzhak Tessler of Tessler Developments and Eastdil Secured’s Adam Spies and Douglas Harmon

Steve Witkoff’s Witkoff Group has completed its purchase of part of the former International Toy Center building from Lehman Brothers Holdings for $191 million, Lehman announced yesterday, following a bankruptcy auction by Eastdil Secured in June. Witkoff is planning a $290 million condominium conversion of the property, at 1107 Broadway, featuring 145 units, in collaboration with a Morgan Stanley real estate fund.

Eastdil Secured brokers Adam Spies and Doug Harmon represented the seller in the deal, and brought the buyer and seller together.

The closing of the 16-story office building follows the sale of 200 Fifth Avenue earlier this month, which was previously the main Toy Center building, for $726 million. [more]