A group of leasing executives from Jones Lang LaSalle filed a lawsuit against their former firm, Cushman & Wakefield, on Wednesday for $8 million over alleged unpaid compensation, the New York Observer reported. The executives are Mitch Konsker, Paul Glickman, Matt Astrachan, Alex Chudnoff and Mitti Liebersohn. [more]

From left: Michael Berne and Richard Donohue, now of Lee & Associates

Newcomer brokerage Lee & Associates has added two brokers, Michael Berne and Richard Donohue, both formerly of Jones Lang LaSalle, to head its new senior housing and healthcare services group, according to a statement from Lee slated for release today. ”We thought that the size of Lee, being 47 offices and a private company, allowed for a more entrepreneurial approach,” Berne told The Real Deal. “It’s a quicker decision making process and, as opposed to a public company, we have fewer conflicts if we take an ownership position also.” [more]

111 Eighth Avenue, which is owned by Google

The much-hyped ascendance of the technology sector in New York City, and especially in Midtown South, has officially arrived, as the New York Post reported. Top-shelf companies such as Facebook, Amazon and IBM are shopping for space in Chelsea, the Meatpacking District and the Flatiron area, the paper said. [more]

From left: Beacon Capital Chairman Alan Leventhal, L&L Holding Chairman David Levinson and the exterior of 222 Broadway

Bank of America has struck an accord to sell a Lower Manhattan office building to Beacon Capital Partners and L&L Holding for about $230 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. [more]

Jones Lang LaSalle has hired the Newmark Knight Frank team of Paul Berkman, Craig Slosberg, Davie Berke and Justin Haber, according to a statement from JLL today. The team will head JLL’s expansion of its tenant representation practice in the retail sector. [more]

John Sikaitis of Jones Lang LaSalle

Thanks to poor performances in some of its largest cities, the United States office leasing market had a slow first quarter, according to a national office market report released today by Jones Lang LaSalle.

Just about 1 million square feet of office space was absorbed nationwide in the first quarter, well below the 8.6 million square feet averaged over the previous six quarters. Net absorption fell by 2.2 million square feet in New York, Chicago and Washington D.C., with the latter recording 1.47 million square feet of negative absorption. Further, leasing activity in New York and Washington D.C. fell 43 percent quarter-over-quarter, the report says. [more]

(source: Jones Lang LaSalle)

Buoyed by the city’s growing technology sector, Midtown South was the strong point in a Manhattan office market that stagnated in February, according to a report released today by Jones Lang LaSalle.

After a brief respite from tightening conditions last month, the vacancy rate in Midtown South fell to 6.6 percent from 6.9 percent, as Class B space was in particular demand, with just 6.4 percent of the 48.6 million square feet of inventory. [more]

Capital flying into the U.S.

Investors in the U.K. are increasingly eyeing U.S. properties amid the uncertainty across the pond, the Wall Street Journal reported.

As a rule, European investors left the U.S. market after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holding Company. However, in 2011 European investors spent $1.6 billion, up from $700 million in 2010. [more]

From left: Frank Zuckerbrot, president of Sholom & Zuckerbrot, Peter Hennessy, former JLL executive and current president of Cassidy Turley's tri-state region, and 470 Vanderbilt Avenue

Global services firm Jones Lang LaSalle is embroiled in a $2 million office leasing commission dispute with a top outer-borough brokerage, Sholom & Zuckerbrot Realty, over the largest lease deal struck in Brooklyn last year, court records show.

The city’s Human Resources Administration, represented by former JLL executive Peter Hennessy, inked the 400,000-square-foot lease at 470 Vanderbilt Avenue in October 2011 as part of a citywide initiative to consolidate space. [more]

Paul Glickman (top) and Frank Doyle, vice chairmen of JLL, and 1177 Sixth Avenue

Silverstein Properties and California State Teachers’ Retirement System are undertaking a renovation of 1177 Sixth Avenue and chose Jones Lang LaSalle to market the office property’s vacant space.

The 1 million-square-foot Class A office building, between 45th and 46th streets, has approximately 248,500 available square feet across three blocks of space. [more]