From the March issue: Although they may be just beguiling mirages that will fade upon approach, there are some submarkets where asking rents have jumped in the past months, a trend that runs counter to the dour predictions from Manhattan leasing brokers that taking rents won’t rise for more than a year.

In the Meatpacking District, for example, Charles Blaichman’s CB Developers High Line building that remains under construction at 450 West 14th Street has asking rents above $100 per square foot. The space was added to the availability list in January, driving up average rates in the district, the most recent figures from commercial firm Jones Lang LaSalle show.

And in the Union Square submarket, the average asking rent rose by 14 percent with the addition of space at 300 Park Avenue South, commercial firm CB Richard Ellis’ latest report said.
[more]

JPMorgan Chase is in contract to sell 4 New York Plaza for $108.9
million, or $99 per square foot, the Post reported. The buyers of the
23-story, 1.1 million-square-foot building are Harbor Group
International, a real estate company based in Norfolk, Va., and Josh
Zamir’s Capstone Equities, which owns and operates more than 8 million
square feet, including 14 Wall Street and 156 William Street. An e-mail
written by Zamir and obtained by the Post revealed that JPMorgan, which
had also been previously looking to sell One Chase Manhattan Plaza,
would lease back 75 percent of the building at Broad and Water streets
for 15 years. The bank is hoping to collect $1 billion total on the
sale of a portfolio of 23 office buildings in eight states. [Post]