From left: Mary Ann Tighe, CEO of New York region at CBRE, and One Pierrepont Plaza

Mount Sinai Brooklyn Heights Medical Group has signed a lease for 75,060 square feet at One Pierrepont Plaza, the New York Observer reported. The private medical practice will take the 17th and 18th floors at the 19-story tower, at Clinton Street, in Brooklyn Heights. Pricing was not disclosed.

The upper floors of the building are undergoing extensive renovation and are slated to re-open next year, the Observer said. [more]

Empire State Development President Kenneth Adams and Atlantic Yards

Rather than attempt to work out environmental concerns at the Atlantic Yards with the surrounding community, Empire State Development is hoping a third round of litigation proves to be the charm. Crain’s reported that the state agency filed a request to appeal a pair of rulings that it illegally approved changes to Forest City Ratner’s plans for the site without a sufficient environmental review. [more]

Forest City Ratner's Bruce Ratner, Darcy Stacom of CBRE Group and 8 Spruce Street (building credit: Gehry Partners)

Forest City Ratner is looking to cash in on the city’s record-strong residential rental market by selling a stake in Manhattan’s tallest rental building. The Wall Street Journal reported that the developer has commissioned Darcy Stacom, vice chairman of the CBRE Group, to find an investor to take as much as a 49 percent stake in 8 Spruce Street.

The 76-story, 903-unit Frank Gehry-designed building launched last February under the auspices of Citi Habitats and is now 80 percent occupied. Asking rents for the remaining units start at $3,750 per month for one-bedroom apartments and $6,720 per month for two-bedrooms. [more]

A rendering of the residential tower and MaryAnne Gilmartin

Forest City Ratner believes modular construction will grow increasingly common in New York City high rise development and that’s one reason the firm has established a modular factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, GlobeSt.com reported. Speaking yesterday at a Real Estate Lenders Association conference, MaryAnne Gilmartin, an executive vice president at Forest City Ratner, said utilizing modular construction for the 34-story, 340,000-square-foot residential building set to rise in Atlantic Yards could cut the construction time of the project by one-third to just 12 months. Even as costs are reduced, the construction method won’t impact future tenants in the rental building, she said. [more]

Robin Abrams, executive vice president of Lansco, and East River Plaza

The 50,000-square-foot space in East River Plaza that Best Buy is vacating would be perfect for first time entrants into Manhattan’s retail sector, according to brokers who spoke with Real Estate Weekly. Best Buy announced this week the Harlem store would be one of 50 nationwide closings, and the only one in New York City. [more]

Hydraulic parking

Forest City Ratner will do “everything [they] can to avoid” the controversial stacked interim parking at the Barclays Center that may be necessary, the New York Post reported.

Jane Marshall, an executive vice president at Forest City Ratner, told the public her company was working hard to avoid parking that uses hydraulic lifts to stack cars, which would be necessary to provide the 1,100 parking spaces New York State has mandated for the Barclays Center, until permanent parking is built. [more]

From top: Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, Sandy Annabi, Albert Pirro and the Ridge Hill complex

Forest City Ratner carried out “a relentless behind-the-scenes quest” to get approval for a Yonkers mixed-use development, according to trial evidence in a political corruption case cited by the New York Times.

The ongoing federal corruption case charges Yonkers City Council member Sandy Annabi with accepting bribes to reverse her stance and give the last needed vote of approval for Forest City Ratner’s 91-acre mall and housing complex known as Ridge Hill. [more]

From left: Former Yonkers Republican Party Chairman Zehy Jereis and Former Yonkers Council member Sandy Annabi

A Forest City Ratner executive testified the firm paid $5,000 per month to then-Yonkers Republican Party Chairman Zehy Jereis because he could swing a key vote to approve a $650 million Westchester mixed-use development, the New York Post reported.

Scott Cantone, the firm’s senior vice president for government affairs, took the stand in a Manhatttan federal court case on political corruption in Yonkers, to discuss accusations that former Yonkers Council member Sandy Annabi accepted more than $160,000 in bribes through Jereis. [more]

Barclays Center

The plan to provide the 1,100 parking spaces New York State mandated for the Barclays Center would require hydraulic lifts for stacked parking, the New York Post reported, which likely means huge parking delays and traffic in the Prospect Heights neighborhood.

The square block designated to be the only on-site event parking area until a permanent lot is erected underneath Atlantic Yards is far too small to accommodate the number of parking spaces required by the state. [more]

From left: Queens Place and Nine Metrotech

Forest City Ratner’s Cleveland-based parent company Forest City Enterprises completed more than $300 million in property financings in the quarter ending Jan. 31, 2012, including two worth a combined $163 million in New York City, it announced today.

The company closed a 10-year, $87 million loan for Queens Place, a 455,000-square-foot, five-level retail center on Queens Boulevard. It also purchased the existing $75 million loan at Nine Metrotech, a 317,000-square-foot office building in the MetroTech Center office campus in downtown Brooklyn, and then closed a new 10-year, $63 million loan for the same property. [more]