Joseph Moinian, founder of the Moinian Group, is ready to dust off his plans for a 1 million-square-foot rental tower at 605 West 42nd Street, a 61-story high-rise planned by the company for the northwestern corner of 11th Avenue, he said last night at a panel discussion organized by the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce and attended by former Gov. David Patterson. “We have approved plans and a building permit. We waited three to four-and-a-half years on the stalled site program,” Moinian said of a Bloomberg initiative that allows developers to renew active work permits for up to four years in return for following an in-depth site safety maintenance plan and keeping the site clean. [more]

Developer Edward Minskoff detailed his plans for 51 Astor Place, the former home of Cooper Union’s engineering department and the New York Film Academy Cafe, in a segment on NY1 last week. Minskoff, head of Edward J. Minskoff Equities, purchased the building in 2008 and commissioned famed Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki to design a 13-story office building before inking an anchor tenant. The 183-foot tall building will have a ribbed granite and glass exterior and will boast a different design on each of its four sides. “This building technologically will be the most advanced building built in New York City since the Bank of America headquarters [completed in 2009] on 42nd Street,” Minskoff said. [more]

Law firm Greenberg Traurig, which had the second biggest real estate division among New York City law firms according to The Real Deal’s 2010 ranking, added Peter Miller to its stable of real estate attorneys yesterday, the company said. Miller previously headed the real estate and finance practice group at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Stroock & Stroock & Lavin, where he represented real estate firms in major transactions throughout the city, most notably Silverstein Properties in its acquisition of a leasehold interest in the World Trade Center. Miller went on to represent Silverstein in negotiations for five separate leases covering more than 10 million square feet. Miller also represented Bear Stearns in its acquisition of 383 Madison Avenue, Edward J. Miskoff Equities in five transactions throughout the city and the Gotham Organization in the development of 200 West 72nd Street. TRD [more]

A Long Island City industrial property that was once slated to become a 635-room graduate student dorm may ultimately become a satellite campus for a university instead. According to the Daily News, Alma Realty, which purchased the vacant, 30-30 Northern Boulevard building from Edward J. Minskoff Equities for $21.5 million in January and already has approval from Community Board 1 for a 19-story dormitory there, has decided to spend its money developing residential buildings in Manhattan instead. [more]

Developer Edward J. Minskoff Equities abandoned plans to build a 635-room dormitory in a rapidly-changing section of Long Island City in order to concentrate on larger projects in Manhattan, the company’s president said.

Edward Minskoff, president of the commercial firm, had sought to build the 19-story tower on the property at 30-30 Northern Boulevard in Queens Plaza.

He sold it to Long Island City-based Alma Realty, which paid $21.5 million for the 238,000-square-foot building and the 103,000-square-foot parcel under it on Jan. 27, city property records published last Friday show. The sale went into contract in September 2010. [more]

Just weeks after its leasing assignment was ended at the 2.8-million-square-foot Empire State Building, full service commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis told The Real Deal it has clawed back some of that space by inking a deal to represent 101 Sixth Avenue on the border of Soho and Hudson Square. CBRE picked up the leasing assignment for the 430,000-square-foot building at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Watts Street Oct. 7, said Peter Turchin, executive vice president at CBRE. The 23-story office building is owned by a partnership between the Andalex Group and Edward J. Minskoff Equities, and was built in 1991. The entire building is leased by the influential Service Employees International Union local 32 BJ, whose 20-year lease expires Dec. 31, 2011. [more]