From left: Douglas Harmon, Joseph Chetrit and the Falchi Building (credit: CoStar)

The owner of the Chelsea Market, Jamestown Properties, is in contract to pay more than $80 million for a massive, industrial-style office building in Long Island City, sources familiar with the deal said.

The five-story property — which served as a warehouse for the famed department store Gimbel Brothers until it was converted to an office building in the 1980s — sits at 31-00 47th Avenue and covers an entire city block. The Falchi Building, as it’s called, is jointly owned by the Chetrit Group, headed by Joseph Chetrit, and principals of the Queens-based commercial brokerage Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates, city records show. [more]

Crown's Haim Chera and a rendering of the retail space at 530 Fifth Avenue

The new owners of 530 Fifth Avenue are looking to bring prime Fifth Avenue rental rates to the traditionally overlooked stretch of the avenue below 49th Street. According to the Wall Street Journal, the partnership of Jamestown Properties, Rockwood Capital, Crown Acquisition and Murray Hill Properties that bought the property from Joseph Moinian and the Chetrit Group last September for a total of $420 million has a plan to charge $1,500 per square foot for the nearly 50,000-square-foot retail space. [more]

325 Hudson Street (credit: PropertyShark)

Jamestown Properties, whose portfolio includes Chelsea Market and One Times Square, has purchased 325 Hudson Street, a West Village building used primarily for office space, Crain’s reported. Published reports that the publication cites indicate that brokers expected the price to be $500 per square foot, or around $120 million total. [more]

From left: Andrew Berman, executive director of Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and the Chelsea Market

A coalition of neighborhood preservationists and other community groups are stepping up the fight against a plan to expand the Chelsea Market retail and office complex with a petition.

Jamestown Properties, the owners of Chelsea Market, have proposed adding a hotel and separate nine-story office tower on top of the existing land marked building at 75 Ninth Avenue, one of the largest and most successful retail and commercial complexes in New York. [more]

In its bid to gain community favor for its 300,000-square-foot addition to the Chelsea Market, Jamestown Properties plans to attend a community board meeting tonight where locals are slated to sound off on the proposal, GlobeSt.com reported.

Jamestown bought out its partners, Angelo, Gordon & Co., Belvedere Capital and Irwin Cohen, in the mixed-use building for $225 million in February, and immediately embarked on a campaign to expand the market. The glass addition to the brick structure, at 75 Ninth Avenue, would have hotel and office space.

The addition is not expected to be approved without at least some resistance. [more]

Clockwise from top left: Rockwood Capital CEO Edmond Kavounas, Crown Acquisitions CEO Stanley Chera, 530 Fifth Avenue, Murray Hill Properties CEO Norman Sturner and Jamestown Properties managing director Matt BronfmanA partnership of Jamestown Properties and Rockwood Capital is providing equity to Murray Hill Properties and Crown Acquisitions for their previously reported $390 million purchase of 530 Fifth Avenue. The Wall Street Journal reported Jamestown and Rockwood will be the controlling equity holders.

The four firms are putting about $200 million in equity into the purchase and taking out about $220 million in debt. Crown is slated to manage leasing the retail space in the building, which is occupied by Fossil Store and LensCrafters, and will soon be home to a Syms. [more]

Aside from some sushi and a few much-deserved drinks, it was almost exclusively business last night at the Young Jewish Professionals’ real estate summit, where eager young brokers and other real estate pros gathered to hear New York’s top property dogs talk about the reliably inconsistent market (see photos above).

Vantage Properties CEO Neil Rubler, Extell Development President Gary Barnett, Jamestown Properties President Matt Bronfman and Angelo Gordon & Co.’s Adam Schwartz sat on the panel, fielding questions from the evening’s moderator Bruce Cybul, a partner at the law firm of Schulte Roth & Zabel.

It all turned strangely philosophical at points, as the team of property moguls doled out advice to young pups in the audience trying to make it in the business. “When the going gets good,” Barnett exclaimed, “get going. When the going gets very good, get out!” Others, such as Rubler, pointed to the importance of surrounding oneself with the right kinds of people. – Katherine Clarke [more]

Well-leased commercial buildings in major markets may not be as profitable as
many commercial real estate investors believe they are, the Wall Street Journal
reported. According to an analysis by Costar Group, many leases in top
markets such as New York City, San Francisco and other areas are set
to expire next year. And because of the weak economy, tenants might be
demanding significantly lower rents than they otherwise would. In
Manhattan, Costar found that despite recent gains,
current office rents are still nearly 28 percent below their peak prices in
2008. The Real Deal recently found that office leasing in Manhattan was tightening [more]

Jamestown founder Christoph Kahl and the Chelsea Market

[Updated Aug. 16 at 10.30 p.m.] Having closed on its acquisition of the remaining stakes in the Chelsea Market building at 75 Ninth Avenue, Georgia-based real estate firm Jamestown Properties now owns the entire property, valued at $795 million, according to public records filed with the city today.
Jamestown, an investor in the property since 2003, recently bought out Angelo Gordon & Co., Belvedere Capital Real Estate Partners and Chelsea Market developer Irwin Cohen (note: see correction appended) for $225 million and aims to add a 300,000-square-foot tower to the building, to be used either for additional office space and a hotel.
The 1.183 million-square-foot building takes up the entire block between 15th and 16 streets and Ninth and 10th avenues and is 99 percent leased, to tenants like the Food Network, NY1, Time Warner, EMI and Google, as well as the retail and food court on the first floor. [more]

Downtown Brooklyn condominium building be@schermerhorn is now
100 percent sold, Curbed reported, after numerous construction delays, drama and two rounds of price cuts. German-backed Jamestown
Properties had resumed construction on the 246 unit building at 189 Schermerhorn Street in December of
2009 and put 34 units on the market
with prices ranging from $345,000 to $1.1 million.
Listings on Streeteasy.com show that most of the recent sales that brought
the building to its sold-out state were below their asking price, such as one apartment that closed at $355,000, 11 percent off its asking price. The
building was the city’s top seller in 2010. In May 2010, Michael
Phillips, marketing director at Jamestown Properties, told The Real
Deal the hope was for the building to be sold out in 30 months. [Curbed]