Travel and automotive agency AAA doesn’t want bridge and tunnel fare hikes to fund the World Trade Center development, the Associated Press reported.

The agency is pleading with the U.S. Department of Transportation to block the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s plans to increase toll fees by up to 50 percent on the grounds that they violate a 1987 federal law requiring bridge tolls to be “just and reasonable.”

But the agency wants to block the costly hikes because it feels transportation revenue should be used to improve transportation. [more]

Frank Recine, a principal with Newmark Knight Frank, and Teaneck, N.J.-based Glenpointe Centre

Manhattan-based commercial brokerage Newmark Knight Frank is in discussions with several potential New York-area tenants looking to relocate to the 650,000-square-foot Glenpointe Centre, a Teaneck, N.J.-based office complex that recently gained approval for a major expansion. Glenpointe developer Alfred Sanzari Enterprises recently completed a deal to refinance $25 million in loans, plus spent more than $12 million to renovate the office complex, widely considered one of the top corporate centers in New Jersey. “It’s a true Class A complex that caters to creditworthy small and mid-sized tenants,” said Frank Recine, principal at Newmark’s Rutherford, N.J. office. “We have the capability to build a new 230,000-square-foot complex, which will connect to the existing facilities.” The property, located at Frank W. Burr Boulevard, at the intersection of I-80 and the New Jersey Turnpike, includes the 240,000-square-foot Glenpointe Centre East building at 300 Frank W. Burr Boulevard; the 330,000-square-foot Glenpointe Centre West building at 500 Frank W. Burr Boulevard; an 80,000-square-foot atrium; and the Teaneck Marriott at Glenpointe, a 350-room hotel and conference Centre at 100 Frank W. Burr Boulevard. The proposed new building would be called Glenpointe Centre South and would be leased to a single-purpose tenant or a tenant agreeing to lease at least 180,000 square feet.  More

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It may have Manhattan’s highest natural point (265 feet, in Bennett Park), but Washington Heights did not see the steep peaks in activity and prices that so many Manhattan neighborhoods experienced in the past few years.

As a result, the neighborhood — which stretches from the Hudson to the East rivers and from 155th to Dyckman streets — has avoided the complete and utter cratering that many other Manhattan neighborhoods have seen in the last couple months.

This month, as part of a monthly feature looking at what kinds of deals are closing in different neighborhoods, The Real Deal found that Washington Heights saw a 76 percent drop in closings in the past year. While that may seem steep, pricing held up far better than other, more upscale areas.
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