Andrew Scandalios of HFF and 33-00 Northern Boulevard

Brooklyn-based Hampshire Properties is hoping to generate $90 million for a Long Island City office building that was once an assembling plant for Ford’s Model T cars, Crain’s reported. The 500,000-square-foot building, at 33-00 Northern Boulevard, hit the market earlier this month and has already garnered interest from 100 potential buyers, according to Andrew Scandalios, a senior managing director at Holliday Fenoglio Fowler that’s marketing the property. [more]

Helen Hwang, an executive vice president at Cushman & Wakefield, Aaron Jungreis, president at Rosewood Realty Group, James Nelson, a partner at Massey Knakal Realty Services, David Schechtman, senior director at Eastern Consolidated

Compiled by Adam Pincus
Brokers broadly expect next year to be an improvement over 2011 in New York City’s investment sales market, although concerns about the global economy and financial services layoffs create uncertainty, and that puts a drag on activity. This year, total investment sales are expected to end up at about $25 billion, far ahead of the $14.5 billion in 2010. The Real Deal talked to a series of brokers about what they expect for the new year…. [more]

[Updated at 5 p.m. with comments from HFF broker] A 37,500-square-foot Williamsburg church has sold for $13.7 million, according to MNS, which brokered the deal on behalf of the buyer, a private investor who may choose to preserve the property.

The three-story historic church of St. Vincent de Paul, on North 6th Street between Bedford and Driggs avenues, was designed by architect Patrick Keely in 1869 and comprises a total 37,500 square feet, with up to 75,000 square permitted, according to the FAR. -- Katherine Clarke… [more]

From left: Sam Zell of Equity Residential, Bob Toll of Toll Brothers, Will Silverman, Woody Heller, both of Studley, and 400 Park Avenue South

In the most expensive development site deal of the year so far, home builder Toll Brothers and real estate investment trust Equity Residential partnered in reportedly paying $134 million for a large development site at 400 Park Avenue South.

The joint venture plans to build a 40-story condominium and rental apartment tower at the Park Avenue South and 28th Street site, which has 400,000 square feet of development rights, the companies said in a statement.

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential will own and operate the lower 22 floors with 265 rental apartments and retail, while Toll Brothers will build and sell about 100 condo units on the upper floors, the Wall Street Journal reported. … [more]

From left: Daniel D’Aniello, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development, and developer Donald Trump

Two Trump Place development sites, one on the southwest corner of 61st Street and West End Avenue and the other at the northwest corner of 59th Street and West End Avenue, have been placed on the market, the New York Post reported, by a joint venture between the Carlyle Group and Extell Development, as the two companies seek to reduce their holdings. Sources said the sites could fetch a combined price of upwards of $400 million. Together the parcels have approval for up to 1,200 apartments, the Post said, and are currently in use as parking lots. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler is marketing the two lots on behalf of the partnership. [Post]

Commercial real estate brokerage Holliday Fenoglio Fowler has closed a $98.25 million loan sale secured by the leasehold interest of 1140 Sixth Avenue to affiliates of investment firm the Blackstone Group, they announced today.

Earlier this year, Blackstone beat out 30 other bidders to grab the building, at that point owned by Stellar Management and Rockpoint Group, at auction. The approximately 191,000-square-foot building has a value of around $523 per square foot, The Real Deal reported in March. TRD… [more]

Invesco closed on the purchase of the Elektra, a 32-story, 166-unit apartment building at 290 Third Avenue near 23rd Street with 5,200 square feet of ground-floor retail space, the company announced today. In March, The Real Deal reported that Invesco and its operating partner, Adellco, were in contract to buy the building for $125 million from a partnership comprised of JPMorgan and Adellco. The closing price was undisclosed. Sources told The Real Deal that the deal was closed largely between Invesco and Adellco, without much assistance from Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, the brokerage that marketed the property. TRD… [more]

Atlanta-based global investment firm Invesco and its operating partner, Adellco, signed a contract to buy Gramercy Park residential building the Elektra for $125 million, two industry sources said.

Invesco and Adellco agreed in January to buy the 32-story high-rise from a partnership that also includes Adellco and is led by a J.P. Morgan Investment Management fund, the sources said. J.P. Morgan bought the building in 2006 for $92.5 million. This past December, investment sales firm Holliday Fenoglio Fowler began marketing the 166-unit building located at 290 Third Avenue, between 22nd and 23rd streets, which it said was 97 percent occupied, an article from commercial trade publication Real Estate Alert said…. [more]

1140 Sixth Avenue and Laurence Gluck

It’s a good day for investors looking to pick up commercial property debt: in addition to the $75 million senior mortgage at 80 Broad Street that just came on the market, Crain’s reported that a $116 million senior loan at 1140 Sixth Avenue is also about to hit the block. The 22-story building, owned by Laurence Gluck’s Stellar Management and Rockpoint Group, sits on the corner of West 44th Street and according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s Scott Latham, it is likely to draw “tons of interest” and as much as $600 per square foot…. [more]

Zamir principal Asher Zamir and the Setai Wall Street lobby

An investor in the troubled Setai Wall Street condominium project in the Financial District filed a lawsuit against the developer and its lenders, including Anglo Irish Bank, to try and block the transfer of the deed which is being offered as part of a sale of the defaulted $150 million note.

Manhattan-based real estate firm Delshah Group filed suit in New York State Supreme Court, seeking a court order to block the transfer of a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure for Zamir Equities’ Setai Wall Street, at 40 Broad Street. The deed transfer would follow the sale of the defaulted note. The note has not yet sold, court records indicate.

Delshah filed the lawsuit Dec. 20, its third lawsuit at the property, claiming it is the largest member of the entity that controls the deed and does not consent to a deed-in-lieu. … [more]