Fiona Kelly has joined Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson‘s real
estate practice as a corporate partner, the company announced in a
statement today. She will be responsible for expanding Fried Frank’s
offerings across its global real estate network, and advising
multinational financial institutions, investment funds, sovereign
wealth funds, developers and investors on joint ventures, acquisitions
and disposals of interests in private and public companies. – Miranda Neubauer [more]

From left: Peter Hauspurg, Jonathan Mechanic, Steven Durels, David Greenbaum and moderator Jahn Brodwin

Steven Durels, an executive vice president with SL Green Realty, said that the number of larger deals (those between 100,000 square feet and 200,000 square feet) that his firm has seen in 2010 “dwarfs last year.” Still, Durels noted that [more]

The Real Deal had a contingent of reporters and editors at the New York Hilton for the Real Estate Board of New York’s annual banquet and awards ceremony (click here to see an article on the event). The Real Deal’s Web editor Lauren Elkies interviewed a slew of real estate bigwigs from Bill Rudin of Rudin Management — who said Jonathan Mechanic of Fried, Frank (who The Real Deal also spoke to) is “the real deal” — to Bruce Mosler of Cushman & Wakefield — who said he loves The Real Deal, to Frederick Peters of Warburg Realty — who said “Virtual Office Web sites,” or VOWS, “will ultimately be insignificant.” [more]

In the wake of a citywide push to make green upgrades on existing properties, more New York City landlords and property owners are wondering how they’ll afford the energy-efficient changes. Sean Neil, founder of year-old economic consultancy firm Cycle-7, said that large commercial landlords need to begin drafting new leases that take into consideration the costs — and benefits — of regular green building maintenance. His firm plans to help landlords and tenants share the financial burdens and rewards of green building enhancements through proper lease construction. One real estate attorney, Jonathan Mechanic of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, told the New York Times that the strategy could be beneficial to landlords making environmentally conscience upgrades, particularly in the weak economy. “The way existing documents work, you probably would not in many cases have savings going to the guy who owns the more efficient equipment,” Mechanic said.

While several of the city’s top brokers said the leasing market is approaching a floor for the current down cycle, potential office building buyers are preparing for years of further rent declines, real estate experts said at a forum this morning. “This is a unique city. It is at the bottom or close to [it],” Bruce Mosler, president and CEO of Cushman & Wakefield, said of office leasing in Manhattan. He was on a panel organized by business publisher Bisnow at Cooper Union. But just half an hour earlier at the same event, Michael Fascitelli, president and CEO of landlord Vornado Realty Trust, said potential buyers of office buildings were not predicting rents to increase for several years. He said that expected annual rent increases during the boom years, which were as high as 15 percent, are now at zero. And they could remain at zero for years. He added that to buy a building, a purchaser has to forecast a rent increase at some future time. [more]