More than 50 percent of recent global investment in commercial property has been allocated within just 30 cities worldwide, Reuters reported, including New York, Hong Kong, London and Paris.
But the restriction of investments to key global urban centers may not continue for long, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, which said emerging markets such as Mexico City, Delhi, Houston and Istanbul were likely to become contenders for investment dollars in the near future. [more]
Clockwise from left: Richard Baxter, Ron Cohen, Scott Latham and Jon Caplan of Jones Lang LaSalle; 428 West 14th Street
Blackrock Realty Advisors has closed on the sale of an office and retail building at 428 West 14th Street in the Meatpacking District for $65 million, according to public records filed with the city today.
The five-story, 47,3000-square-foot building, which is currently 100 percent occupied by retail and office tenants such as Scoop, Alexander McQueen and Hogs & Heifers, sold to a Los Angeles-based private investment fund called the Yucaipa Companies, the records show. The deal, which closed Dec. 29, was made for “portfolio considerations” on Blackrock’s behalf, a source with knowledge of the deal told The Real Deal, saying the company was rearranging some of its assets. [more]
Steven Pozycki of SJP Properties and 11 Times Square
The developer of the half-empty speculative office tower 11 Times Square has filed documents related to dividing the sleek 40-story tower into two condominium units, records on the city’s Department of Buildings website show.
Developer Steven Pozycki’s New Jersey-based firm SJP Properties built the 1.1 million-square-foot tower between 41st and 42nd streets at 640 Eighth Avenue, which officially opened one year ago this month. [more]
During the warmer months, the 35 New York City hotels with rooftop bars generate up to $120 in revenue per square foot for the space, according to a report released today by Jones Lang LaSalle extolling the virtues of rooftop bars.
The move toward rooftop bars has gained steam over the last decade, as 49 percent of the room count in hotels with rooftop bars were added since 2000. International chains have entered the market, too, now representing one-third of the total number of rooms with rooftop bars. [more]
Deutsche Bank, the Frankfurt-based investment and financial services institution, will take 50,000 square feet of space at 4 MetroTech Center in Downtown Brooklyn, the New York Observer reported.
The bank will house its operations and other less-than-vital staff at the building, owned by JPMorgan Chase, which was chosen for its proximity to Deutsche’s Financial District office, at 60 Wall Street.
Deutsche’s offices in Manhattan are at 120 West 45th Street, 1251 Sixth Avenue, 345 Park Avenue, 622 Broadway and 885 Third Avenue, the Observer said.
[more]
Clockwise from top left: Cassidy Turley New York Tri-State’s Peter Hennessy, 330 Madison Avenue and Frank Doyle of JLLFinancial firm Guggenheim Partners has agreed to lease 186,000 square feet at 330 Madison Avenue for a rent in the $70s per square foot, the New York Observer reported. Guggenheim will move into the space when the lease for its approximately 140,000 square feet at 135 East 57th Street expires in 2013.
Vornado Realty Trust is the landlord at the 850,000-square-foot Madison Avenue tower, between 42nd and 43rd streets, and is spending more than $100 million to upgrade the building and secure a LEED Silver certification. [more]
From the December issue: Now that the light bulbs have been changed and the solar power panels have been harnessed, real estate firms in New York are gearing up for Sustainability 2.0.
In fact, just about every big New York firm has some sort of sustainability department or point person: Jones Lang LaSalle, Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE Group, Vornado, Silverstein Properties, the Durst Organization, Malkin Holdings, the Related Companies and SL Green, to name just a few.
And there’s good reason for that. Gone are the days of merely hanging out a sustainability shingle that touts a building owner for being concerned about the environment.
In recent years, investors have started paying closer attention to how green an asset is before deciding whether to pump their own greenbacks into the property. [more]
Jonathan Fanuzzi, who had been a senior managing director at Newmark Knight Frank, has joined Jones Lang LaSalle as executive vice president. He will focus on expanding JLL’s agency leasing practice, which specializes in landlord representation, and will work closely with Vice Chairmans Mitchell Konsker and Paul Glickman, a statement from Jones Lang LaSalle today said.
This follows the departure of Amira Yunis, previously an executive vice president and principal at Newmark, who has brokered several high-profile deals, such as Trader Joe’s Union Square lease. The retail broker left for CBRE last month. – Guelda Voien [more]
From left: Edward Minskoff and 101 Sixth Avenue (building credit: PropertyShark)Edward Minskoff has bought out partner Andalex Group at 101 Sixth Avenue for an undisclosed price, the New York Post reported. Minskoff had owned at 32 percent stake in the building before the purchase, and now takes complete control of the 425,000-square-foot tower, which will be vacant once SEIU Local 32BJ moves out (it’s moving to 620 Sixth Avenue).
The building, between Watts and Grand streets in Soho, is undergoing a gut renovation in hopes of attracting entertainment, media and technology companies. [more]
In Midtown Manhattan, Class A office vacancy decreased in November to 11.1 percent, its lowest level since 2008, according to a monthly Manhattan office report from commercial brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle, released today. But despite the decline in vacancy rates, momentum seems to have generally slowed since the first half of the year, the report shows; Class A average asking rents increased marginally for the month to $70.36 per square foot from $70.28 per square foot a month earlier.
In Midtown South however, Class A vacancy rose to 6.3 percent from 4.6 percent last month largely due to the addition of a large block of space at 101 Sixth Avenue at Hudson Square. – Katherine Clarke [more]
