Faith Hope Consolo, a chairman with Prudential Douglas Elliman, and Joseph Sitt, chairman and CEO of Thor, at today’s panel

Are American com [more]

One of the few unlandmarked buildings in Fifth Avenue’s key retail
corridor could see a major revamp in the coming months, according to
the Wall Street Journal. After buying the Takashimaya building for $142 million in June,
Thor Equities plans to transform the building, which sits between 54th
and 55th streets, into an eight-floor retail hub. The real estate
developer is set to expand 693 Fifth Avenue’s retail space to 6,300
square feet, from its current level of 3,500 square feet, while also
completely revamping the building’s facade — a renovation that Thor
wouldn’t have been able to begin had the building been landmarked.
Japanese retailer Takashimaya first announced
that commercial real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle would
represent the sale of the property in April. While there is no word yet
which tenants Thor may be courting for the space, industry experts say
that the company will likely attract tenants willing to pay upwards of
$2,500 per square foot. [WSJ]

[more]

The 106-year-old development firm struggles with one of the largest projects in NYC, but draws on its expertise in surviving recessions

Joshua Muss, president of Muss Development

From the May issue: It’s hard enough to sell an apartment these days in Manhattan. Try selling 448 of them in Queens — while trying to lease out 800,000 square feet of virgin retail space at the same time. That’s the challenge facing Muss Development, the 106-year-old, family-owned real estate company that usually does its own building, sales and management. Sky View Parc, the developer’s $1 billion, three-tower project in Flushing, has the dubious distinction of being one of the city’s largest mixed-used projects under construction during one of the worst real estate climates in generations. Located a couple blocks west of downtown Flushing’s epicenter on a 14-acre plot Muss purchased from Con Edison in 1983, the 3.3 million-square-foot venture seemed ambitious even back in the heady pre-crash days of early 2007. But with 421-a and other tax abatements as well as a city rezoning of the area, the groundbreaking seemed propitiously timed. And it provided Muss with a signature project that would transform the neighborhood.

[more]

On Coney Island, “this summer is going to be about the demolition,” according to a spokesperson for Thor Equities, the development firm owned by Joseph Sitt, who’s clearing out historic buildings to make way for newer attractions, according to the Brooklyn Paper. Numerous turn-of-the-century buildings are set to be cleared out, including the Surf Hotel, the Grashorn Building, and Henderson Music Hall, where Harpo Marx first performed. [more]

Despite neighborhood outrage, Coney Island developer Joseph Sitt of Thor Equities has no plans to clear out tattered tents and garbage in the empty lots on Stillwell Avenue, according to the New York Daily News. While community advocates call the stretch of Coney Island “dark and dingy,” insiders say that Sitt has no plans to put any attractions there in the near future. [more]

Among the top 10 individual donors to members of the House and Senate from New York are some of the city’s biggest names in real estate, according to an analysis of campaign finance records by the New York Times and the Center for Responsive Politics. Coming in second on the list was hotel magnate George Tsunis, managing director of Chartwell Hotels, and his wife, Olga. The pair gave a total of $49,200 last year to federal lawmakers from New York like representatives Nita Lowey, Gary Ackerman and Carolyn Maloney. Developer Joseph Sitt and his wife Betty gave $36,100 to New York politicians last year, ranking fifth. Also on the list was William Rudin, the Rudin Management CEO who gave $32,500 with his wife, Ophelia, putting them in the No. 8 spot. Rudin Management’s Manhattan portfolio includes 16 office and 20 apartment buildings. Together the top 10 individual donors gave more than $381,000 in 2009. [NYT]

Jeans retailer Levi Strauss & Co. has inked a deal for 2,616 feet on the ground floor and the 2,000-foot lower level of the fully rehabilitated 414 West 14th Street retail and office building near the High Line. The six-story property, owned by Sitt Asset Management and the Carlyle Group, was completed in February but stands vacant. As The Real Deal first reported in December, the Meatpacking District space will be the San Francisco-based company’s fifth Manhattan location, adding to spots in Soho, and the Union Square area. A Levi’s spokesperson said then that the company was looking to be “opportunistic during the economic downturn,” by expanding globally. Levi’s new store is expected to open this fall, and the lease is for 10 years with a five-year option. The asking rent on the ground floor space was $400 per square foot, though brokers had said in December that they expected Levi’s to score a significant discount. [Post]

The Coney Island property at 1001 Boardwalk West

Developer Joseph Sitt’s sale of 6.9 acres of Coney Island property proved the largest commercial sale to close in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to data compiled by PropertyShark.com for The Real Deal. The Coney Island sale closed at $95.6 million, handily trumping the second place deal, which had a closing price of $84.35 million. The sales include all commercial properties. See the accompanying chart for the top five deals in the fourth quarter.
TRD

[more]

The year 2009 was a trying time to be a real estate broker, developer or investor, but it never lacked for news. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the industry watched in awe — and sometimes horror — as residential sales ground to a virtual halt, condo projects stopped in their tracks, office rents shrank and retail stores disappeared. Buyers at buildings like 22 Renwick sued to get out of their contracts, and some were granted the opportunity to back out of their contracts. Meanwhile, an amazing cast of characters — from Kent Swig to Harry Macklowe to Lev Leviev — publicly fought for survival. There were also glimmers of hope, from the opening of the High Line in June to the expansion of Halstead Property into Connecticut to the sale of Former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld’s sale 16-room co-op apartment at 640 Park Avenue for $25.87 million, almost $5 million more than he bought it for two years ago. Click here to see The Real Deal staff’s picks for the stories that most altered the New York City real estate landscape in 2009. [more]

The city and Thor Equities have officially closed the deal on 6.9 acres in the Coney Island amusement district, the company announced today. Thor sold the parcel, where the city plans to develop an outdoor amusement park, for $95.6 million, according to public records. Thor will retain six acres on Coney Island, which it plans to use for hotels and retail projects. “In the end, we all wanted the same thing: to return Coney Island to its historic grandeur and prosperous past,” Joseph Sitt, Thor’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. TRD