From left: Howard Michaels and the Lipstick Building
SL Green Realty is selling the land beneath the Lipstick Building in Midtown, the New York Post reported. The commercial landlord has tapped the Carlton Group’s Howard Michaels to handle the marketing.
The land could attract a record-breaking price, as investors are now seeking stable investments in New York City, the Post said. [more]
From left: 354 East 91st Street and Keller Williams CEO Eric Barron
Newcomer brokerage Portman Realty has been absorbed by Keller Williams NYC — and at its new home will be called the Portman Group at Keller Williams NYC. All 16 Portman agents will join Keller Williams, executives from Portman told The Real Deal.
The deal, which was effective as of today, will provide Portman — the brokerage that last month sold the Electra, at 354 East 91st Street, for $95 million — access to Keller Williams’ national and international networks of clients and contacts, executives said. [more]
From left: Steven Witkoff, 701 Seventh Avenue (credit: PropertyShark) and Howard Michaels
A venture between Steven Witkoff and Michael Ashner has purchased 701 Seventh Avenue in Times Square, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Howard Michaels, chairman of the Carlton Group, who represented Witkoff in the acquisition, said the value of the transaction is approximately $2 billion, in a statement provided to The Real Deal. [more]
From left: Howard Michaels, CEO of the Carlton Group and the interior of 151 East 85th Street
Howard Michaels, chairman and CEO of international real estate investment banking firm the Carlton Group, has sold his 5,210-square-foot, seven-bedroom spread at the Lucida for $10.45 million, according to public records filed with the city this week. Michaels, who previously told The Real Deal that he splits his time Manhattan and Old Westbury with his wife, longtime Chuck Schumer fundraiser Jennifer Bayer Michaels, bought the apartment in 2010 for $9.37 million, records show. [more]
Howard Michaels‘ Carlton Group has reached the number one spot among New York City office investment sales brokerages for the first time thanks to demand for recapitalizations, the New York Post reported.
Carlton ranked number six nationally for the first half of the year based on $1.1 billion in total volume of debt and equity financings. Eastdil Secured came in at number one with over $4 billion.
Carlton’s New York figures are due to three local recaps valued at $1.1 billion — at 1 Park Avenue, 1180 Sixth Avenue and 450 West 33rd Street, according to the Post.
“Typically, recaps haven’t been recognized as investment sales, but they’re the exact same art,” Michaels said. With $850 billion in commercial mortgages due to mature by the end of the year, according to CoStar Group, Michaels anticipates even more demand for recaps, “due to the widening out of spreads in the CMBS market, which is lowering loan levels, and the sluggish economy.” … [more]
Developer Harry Macklowe closed this afternoon on the $70 million acquisition of a 34-unit rental apartment building at 150 East 72nd Street that his Macklowe
Properties expects to convert to condominiums.
Macklowe financed the Lenox Hill purchase and anticipated rehabilitation of the
72,000-square-foot, pre-war building through a total of $120 million in equity
and debt, according to a statement from Macklowe’s exclusive advisor on the
transaction, Howard Michaels, chairman of investment banking firm Carlton
Group…. [more]
Manhattan-based real estate investment bank the Carlton Group is expanding into Europe in an effort to become a bigger player overseas, according to Crain’s. The expansion has already begun with the firm opening a London office in April. Howard Michaels, chairman and chief executive, says Russia will be next, potentially opening by the end of 2011. Michaels is attempting to cash in on changed attitudes amongst foreign investors. “Everyone always said overseas investors have an increased appetite in Manhattan. Today that has never been more true,” he said. … [more]
From left: 1180 Sixth Ave., Norman Sturner, president of Murray Hill Properties, and Howard Michaels of the Carlton GroupHoward Michaels has saved the day at 1180 Sixth Avenue, bringing in an anonymous Chinese investor to bail out the owners before a planned foreclosure auction by mezzanine debt holder Shorenstein Properties, according to the Post. Norman Sturner’s Murray Hill Properties and the Carlyle Group had defaulted on their mortgage payments in January after buying the 23-story property, between 46th and 47th streets, for $300 million at the height of the market. Shorenstein filed to foreclose late last month…. [more]
Radio psychologist Dr. Joy Browne has two things in common with the fictional Frasier Crane. One, she answers callers’ on-air questions about life and love. And two, she has a fabulous apartment. Now Browne’s 2,600-square-foot riverfront duplex at the Regatta condominium in Battery Park City is on the market with L.G. Fairmont Group’s Derek Lee for $3.4 million, or $18,000 per month to rent. In addition, Howard Michaels, the chairman and CEO of international real estate investment banking firm the Carlton Group, last week put his 5,200-square-foot Lucida spread on the market with Corcoran’s Carrie Chiang for $11 million, along with his Stanhope apartment, which is priced at $11.5 million. Also, a 6,000-square-foot apartment is up for grabs at the San Remo, the iconic twin-towered co-op which Bono, Rita Hayworth and Steven Spielberg have called home. Unit #6E6F at 146 Central Park West hit the market over this past weekend for $24.75 million with Bellmarc’s Dan Fishman. Click here for more.
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Real estate investment bank the Carlton Group has launched a mobile platform that allows users to bid on properties from their phones, according to Howard Michaels, the company’s chairman. The platform works in conjunction with the company’s auction Web site, Carlton Exchange, which underwent a revamp late last year. The software is the first of its kind in the industry, said Michaels, who hopes that the program will streamline the buying process. “It makes the buying of distressed assets [easier] for the investor,” Michaels said. “It’s a trading platform for investors to meet motivated sellers.” The national mobile system will allow users to not only bid 24 hours a day, but also to access its database of loans and properties. And with billions of real estate loans reaching maturity, Michaels said it’s a good time to make the buying process easier. “We’re the busiest we’ve ever been,” Michaels said…. [more]
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