83 Spring Street

Two floors of retail space in a Soho condominium have sold for $11.4 million, according to records filed today with the city. Newcomer firm Keystone Properties sold the 5,200-square-foot space, at 83 Spring Street, because they received a strong offer and wanted to free up capital for other projects, a source told The Real Deal.

Keystone, an acquisitions and development firm helmed by Erez Itzhaki, who previously ran Itzhaki Properties, acquired 391 Broadway, in Tribeca, earlier this month. The firm plans to build boutique condominiums on that site. [more]

391 Broadway

Erez Itzhaki’s Keystone Group is in contract on an office building at 391 Broadway in Tribeca. The firm plans to add a rooftop addition to the five-story property and convert it into a luxury, boutique condominium, a company spokesperson, Daniel Martin, said.

Itzhaki, who recently handed control of his eponymous brokerage firm Itzhaki Properties to a new partner to focus solely on his acquisitions and development firm, paid $8.5 million for the property, Martin said. The building is currently home to several design firms and to Infinity Shoes, which leases the ground floor. While the retail will remain on the ground floor, all of the building’s other leases are set to expire within the next 18 months. [more]

Barry Farchi and the firm's headquarters at 40 Exchange Place

In the wake of real estate executive Erez Itzhaki’s announcement that he had handed over control of his eponymous brokerage to a new partner, three Itzhaki graduates have announced the formation of a new brokerage and management firm, they told The Real Deal today.

Former Itzhaki brokers Andrew Feldman, Barry Farchi and Mansour Tabibnia, who all left the firm in the last two months, have established commercial brokerage firm Azad Property Group and management house R.O.I Management, they said. The trio opened its first office, a 1,500-square-foot space at 40 Exchange Place in the Financial District for both companies, last week. [more]

From left: Erez Itzhaki and Isaac Glasman

Erez Itzhaki, founder of Itzhaki Properties, has handed control of his eponymous firm to a new partner to focus solely on his acquisitions and development firm, the Keystone Group NY, he told The Real Deal. Real estate executive Isaac Glasman, a former broker and auctioneer, has taken over management of Itzhaki Properties, the 11-year-old Soho-based investment sales firm, as the company’s CEO, Itzhaki said. Both parties declined to comment on Glasman’s financial investment in the company. [more]

Itzhaki Properties agent Ami Efrati and 96-02 37th Avenue (building credit: PropertyShark)

Long Island-based Benedict Realty Group closed on one of the largest building transactions in Queens this year last week, purchasing a mixed-use building in Jackson Heights for $14 million, according to Ami Efrati of Itzhaki Properties, who represented the buyer in the deal. Itzhaki’s Leonid Mizukovski represented the seller.

The 79,336-square-foot building at 96-02 37th Avenue on the corner of Junction Boulevard has 76 residential units, nine retail spaces and one office space within one block of the Junction Boulevard stop on the 7 subway train.

“The location is crucial — people pay more to live closer to transportation,” Efrati said. “It’s also a very stable neighborhood; Jackson Heights is very working class.”… [more]

One of Manhattan’s leading mid-market commercial brokers, Ivan Hakimian, is opening his own firm after six years in the industry, he told The Real Deal.

This week, Hakimian launched the investment sales company Hakimian Properties, to be known as HPNY. While it will handle the sale of all types of assets, in the past he has specialized in off-market sales of retail and residential multi-family properties.

The announcement comes two months after he brokered the $72 million sale of 1414 Sixth Avenue, at the corner of 58th Street, to Starwood Capital Group…. [more]

30-30 Northern Boulevard and Edward Minskoff

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]

A mostly-gutted, two-building structure at 133-137 East 73rd Street, at Lexington Avenue, is now on the market for $35 million and has the potential to be one of the city’s most luxurious private mansions. The 27,500-square-foot property has been used as medical offices and ground-floor retail space for the past 30 years, but it was once residential, and owner BLDG Management has received approval to bring the five-story, elevator building back to its roots. In addition to transforming the building into a private residence, BLDG also has permission to build a 2,500-square-foot duplex addition above it. The property, which has an alternate entrance at 1024 Lexington Avenue, first hit the market last year for $40 million before the latest price reduction. Ivan Hakimian of Itzhaki Properties has the listing. [Post, 4th item]

Paramount’s Paolo Zampolli (l) and Paul Massey of Massey Knakal

The Italian-born founder of model agency ID Model Management and a regular in the
Post’s Page Six column, Paolo Zampolli, filed suit in New York State
Supreme Court today claiming he was cheated out of more than $200,000
in commissions after he introduced a buyer for the property at 31 Bond
Street in Noho and was not listed as a broker on the sale. Zampolli, a licensed salesperson with Paramount Realty Group of
America, claims in the suit that he was the procuring broker that
brought his client, an Italian named Cristina Calori, to buy the
property at 31 Bond. The seller, a Japanese corporation called Heian
Bunka Center, which owns the six-story mixed-use building, was
represented by Massey Knakal Realty Services. Calori ended up going into contract on the property, with an asking
price of $8.5 million, but not listing Zampolli as the broker. The sale
is expected to close soon, the suit says. Zampolli, through Paramount, is suing Calori; her company Monster Real
Estate; Massy Knakal; and the Japanese firm Heian Bunka Center for a
total of $212,500, which represents half of a 5 percent commission, on
allegations including breach of contract and interfering with
contracts. Zampolli rejected the assessment by several brokers that he needed a
written contract with Calori — which he did not have — to prevail. “That is nonsense. [Brokers holding such a view] are amateurs. We will
have a judge rule on the legality of this case. That is why we went to
Supreme Court,” he said…. [more]

From left, Nicholas Schorsch, CEO of American Realty Capital, and David Fick, managing director of Stifel Nicolaus

A handful of new “blank check” real estate investment trusts seeking to raise billions of dollars from investors in the public markets starting in early 2010 are targeting New York City properties, according to their recent filings. Six public REITs filed prospectuses with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the last two months to raise nearly $4 billion for the acquisition of different types of real estate in limited regions including New York. They are expected to begin the offerings in early 2010. What makes this batch of public REITs unusual from traditional public offerings, experts said, is that they are so-called “blank check” or “blind pool” entities, meaning the new company does not yet own any assets, but instead is seeking to raise capital based on the reputation of the managers and the offering plan. David Fick, managing director of equity research at St. Louis investment firm Stifel Nicolaus, estimated there were about 20 blind pool REITs nationally, which were evidence of a completely new trend. … [more]