Peter Hauspurg and 311 West 43rd Street

Atlas Capital Group has paid $62.4 million for a 185,000-square-foot office building home to several theater and design firms, public records show, and apparently plans to reposition the property to appeal to more traditional office tenants. The acquisition of the building, located at 311 West 43rd Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues, helped close an eventful year for the real estate investment firm. [more]

From left: Eastern Consolidated’s Scott Ellard, Brian Ezratty, Martin Ezratty and 212 East 57th St. (credit: PropertyShark)

Malachite Services, a Long Island-based real estate company, has purchased a 5,315-square-foot retail condominium at 212 East 57th Street for $4.05 million, the New York Observer reported. The space, located between Second and Third avenues in the Plaza District, is now occupied by the furniture gallery ILIAD New York, whose lease expires in 2019. [more]

Eastern Consolidated’s chief economist Barbara Byrne Denham and 666 Fifth Avenue, which help retail jumo 729 percent, with Vornado’s $707.8 million purchase.

Manhattan’s retail property sales volume surged in the fourth quarter, posting sevenfold increase,  its strongest performance since 2007, according to preliminary data from Eastern Consolidated, cited by the New York Observer. The final quarter of 2012 saw nearly $13 billion in sales volume, which is the best increase since record-breaking sales volumes — fueled fears of impending capital gains taxes – were posted. The market peaked in the second quarter of 2007 at $19 billion. “This was definitely fiscal-driven growth,” Barbara Byrne Denham, Eastern Consolidated’s chief economist, said.  “Sellers wanted to cash out and buyers knew it, so they were eager to come to the table as well.”… [more]

Eastern Consolidated’s Roberto Ortiz and the Tribeca building

The iconic headquarters of the Tribeca Film Festival, an 80,000-square-foot building known for its wraparound film festival signage, has traded for $56 million, The Real Deal has learned. Its buyer, an LLC registered to James Bishop, of Florida-based investment advisory firm Whitestar Advisors, hopes to expand and repurpose the property as luxury condominiums, sources said.

The six-story mixed-use property at 13-17 Laight Street came on the market late last year with an asking price of $60 million. It was marketed co-exclusively by Eastern Consolidated’s Roberto Ortiz and DY Realty Services’ Aaron Grumet. Ortiz and colleague Alan Miller also represented the buyer. [more]

From left: soon-to-be developed area near Citi Field and Citi Field

A development site with “extremely permissive zoning” has hit the market in the Willets Point area of Queens, listing broker David Schechtman of Eastern Consolidated confirmed to The Real Deal today. The site, which boasts about 350,000 buildable square feet and is just down the road from Citi Field, is asking $21 million, according to documents obtained by TRD. [more]

From left: Ziel Fedlman, the Chatsworth and Lipa Lieberman

Ziel Feldman’s HFZ Capital and partner BSG Real Estate have closed on the purchase of the Chatsworth, an Upper West Side rental building, for $150 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. [more]

Adelaide Polsinelli and 210 Bowery

Acadia Realty Trust, a developer of the City Point development in Downtown Brooklyn, has closed on a $7.5 million purchase of 210 Bowery, the New York Post reported. The deal sets a record for the street when broken down into its price-per-square-foot component: $815. Unnamed sources said that Acadia, a real estate investment trust, is also eyeing the adjacent four-story property of 212 Bowery. That property is owned by the Markell restaurant equipment company. [more]

Silverstone’s Martin Nussbaum and a walk-up he recently purchased at 162 East 82nd Street (building credit: PropertyShark)

Rising rents are fueling demand for previously overlooked Manhattan walk-up apartment buildings, according to the New York Times. Seventy-one such properties sold in the second quarter of this year, a 115 percent increase from the same period in 2009, Eastern Consolidated research shows. And as prices rise, sales volume has increased even more dramatically: $640 million worth of properties traded hands in the first half of this year, up 205 percent from the same period three years ago.  [more]

Eastern's David Schechtman and the Chatsworth (credit: PropertyShark)

The longtime owners of the Chatsworth, an Upper West Side rental building that dates back to the late 1800s, have put the property on the market. The Wall Street Journal reported the sale could net the grandchildren of Lenore Dean, whose family has owned the building for 67 years, more than $150 million.

The 139-unit apartment building, at 344 West 72nd Street on the corner of Riverside Drive, is about 50 percent rent-stabilized. One-bedrooms rent for an average of approximately $1,600 per month, $1,000 less than the Upper West Side average for such units. [more]

From left: the Jerome and Ronda and Jamie Rogovin

A 39-unit Central Harlem apartment complex that includes five retail spaces has hit the market with an asking price of $16 million, according to a statement released today from Eastern Consolidated, which has been retained to market the building.

The Jerome, a seven-story pre-war rental building, at 213-219 West 116th Street, has 25 rent-stabilized units and is 100 percent occupied. [more]