From left: Lever House and its courtyardOccupy Wall Street protesters are only about 3,500 days away from being able to claim Zuccotti Park as their own under “adverse possession.” According to the New York Times, for that reason, the popular Lever House office tower’s courtyard at 390 Park Avenue will be closed by owner RFR Realty this Sunday.

“Adverse possession” is an ancient concept that essentially allows someone who uses another person’s property for a long period of time to claim possession if the rightful owner never challenges it. The concept was more widely practiced with farm land. Today, the claim can only be made on property that goes unchallenged for at least 10 years. [more]

Adding to a portfolio that includes the Seagram Building and Lever House, developer Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding has bought the Paramount Hotel for $275 million from Walton Street Capital and Highgate Holdings, according to the Wall Street Journal. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011.
RFR had an incentive to buy, the Journal said, taking advantage of a tax law by reinvesting proceeds from a recent sale to defer a capital-gains payment. [more]

From left: Lever House, the Seagram Building

Despite two of the most expensive leasing deals of the year closing in
recent weeks, the Manhattan office market has still not turned the
corner, said Robert Sammons, managing [more]

A 500,000-square-foot office tower at 757 Third Avenue, owned by Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’ RFR Realty, has seen its $126 million loan go to a special servicer, according to the New York Post. While the loan on the office tower on the corner of 48th Street, had been facing “imminent default,” according to a remittance report filed earlier this month, RFR did not indicate that the situation was that dire. The company, whose portfolio includes several high-profile properties, including the Seagram Building and the Lever House, had sent the loan “into special servicing so it could be restructured,” according to a spokesperson. The building’s debt is part of a large securitization package that includes 108 different properties, with Bank of America serving as the trustee. Although it was not immediately clear how much vacant space remains in the building, reports indicate that the property is largely leased-out. [Post, 1st item]

[more]

A 500,000-square-foot office tower at 757 Third Avenue, owned by Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’ RFR Realty, has seen its $126 million loan go to a special servicer, according to the New York Post. While the loan on the office tower on the corner of 48th Street, had been facing “imminent default,” according to a remittance report filed earlier this month, RFR did not indicate that the situation was that dire. The company, whose portfolio includes several high-profile properties, including the Seagram Building and the Lever House, had sent the loan “into special servicing so it could be restructured,” according to a spokesperson. The building’s debt is part of a large securitization package that includes 108 different properties, with Bank of America serving as the trustee. Although it was not immediately clear how much vacant space remains in the building, reports indicate that the property is largely leased-out. [Post, 1st item]

[more]

Jones Lang LaSalle just launched a New York City index which will track the 21 buildings “favored by hedge funds, investment management firms and other related financial services companies,” Crain’s reported. Among those on the list are 350 Park Avenue and the Lever House at 390 Park Avenue. The list includes buildings which are either on or east of Fifth Avenue, except for one at 888 Seventh Avenue. Two of the buildings are full, and nine of the 19 remaining buildings are asking rent prices exceeding $100 per square foot. [Crain's]

[more]

Asking rents are on the rise at some of the city’s most sought-after office buildings, in a move by landlords that tests the waters of the nascent rebound in leasing activity, up 84 percent in the first quarter from one year ago, according to Cushman & Wakefield. One month ago, SL Green Realty, the largest landlord in the city, increased rents by 5 to 7 percent on its most high-end offerings, including the tower floors at 100 Park Avenue. At the Seagram Building and the Lever House on Park Avenue, asking rents are up about 5 percent. Other buildings that have seen upticks include 712 Fifth Avenue, 540 Madison Avenue and the upper floors of 1 Grand Central Plaza. The trend is confined to the very top-tier of the market, however. Office vacancies are still on the rise in Manhattan, and rents in the overall office market are declining further still, down to $55.38 per square foot — the lowest level in three years — in the first quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield. [Crain’s]

From the February issue: The high volume of leasing in recent months, fueled in part by tenants signing early renewals at sharply reduced prices, could come back to bite the market next year, some industry experts said. Tenants with two and three years remaining on their leases — and sometimes even four years — are signing renewals early, said Bruce Mosler, CEO and co-chairman of commercial services firm Cushman & Wakefield. “We are seeing, I think, a push to market … to take advantage of the capitulations in rents,” he said. “Which I think is creating demand in this market, and I think it will [reduce] demand in ’11 … unless we see some job growth again.” However, some brokers did not expect the same elevated levels this year. “I don’t think January will continue at the same level,” Howard Rosen, regional managing director at commercial firm Grubb & Ellis New York, said in an interview. “As far as I am concerned, the jury is out, and I don’t see job creation in Manhattan.” [more]

Serena Boardman (Photo credit: Patrick McMullan)

From the December issue: It’s 2005, and golden-haired socialite
Serena Boardman is sunning herself on a yacht near the coast of
Sardinia in Italy. Nearby, her friend Dori Cooperman — now best known
for befriending actress Lindsay Lohan in rehab — is on the phone with
a reporter from W Magazine, chronicling the addictive qualities of
photo Web site PatrickMcMullan.com. Boardman interjects with her
opinion of the site, which documents the social lives of New York
City’s glitterati. “Tell him it captures a moment,” she shouts. Until
recently, the scene was typical for the 39-year-old Boardman, the
jet-setting heiress to a banking fortune whose stepmother is a European
princess. Along with society pals like Alexandra von Fürstenberg and Blaine Trump, Boardman spent her 20s being photographed in couture gowns at galas and benefits all over New York and Palm Beach, often with her equally glamorous sister, Samantha. Magazines chronicled her taste in clothes (Roberto Cavalli ruffled cocktail dresses) and jewelry (Verdura). She held jobs at the Web site Luxuryfinder.com and in the jewelry department at Sotheby’s. But to the media they were a postscript to Boardman’s glamorous social life. So it comes as a surprise to those who know Boardman that only a few years later, she’s morphed into one of the most successful real estate brokers in the business. [more]

From the August issue: In both real estate and art circles Aby Rosen’s reputation precedes
him. The 48-year-old, silver-haired Rosen is a legendary art collector
and boldfaced name who has successfully parlayed his flashy style and
social status into a hefty real estate portfolio anchored by the iconic
Lever House and Seagram Building — both on Park Avenue.
Until recently, Rosen has methodically placed smart bets, buying
low and then upgrading his buildings and turning them into some of the
most exclusive properties in New York.
Over the years, Rosen’s vast art collection has figured prominently
in his commercial office buildings — at Lever House he’s displayed
works by provocative British artist Damien Hirst — and in his emergence
as a hotel and residential developer. [more]