Brooklyn Municipal Building and SL Green CEO Marc Holliday

Brooklyn’s most powerful landlords, including SL Green Realty, Louis Greco and the Treeline Companies, are campaigning against a city plan to landmark nearly two dozen tall buildings in Downtown and Brooklyn Heights, the Brooklyn Paper reported. They are arguing that the so-called “Skyscraper Historic District” plan, which would affect the Municipal Building and a group of early-1900s structures along Court Street, would prevent owners from taking advantage of the demand for retail.
“It makes little sense to move forward on a designation that will impede Downtown Brooklyn’s ability to attract high-quality … retail tenants,” opponents said in a letter to Landmarks Preservation Commission Chairman Robert Tierney earlier this month. [more]

From left: Joseph Sitt, CEO of Thor Equities, Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing at Prudential Douglas Elliman, Louis Greco, principal at SDS Procida, and Paula Del Nunzio, senior vice president at Brown Harris Stevens

Impending doom or exaggeration by media spin doctors? While economists remain divided over the long-term implications of the Standard & Poor’s treasury bond downgrade for U.S. residential and commercial real estate, New York City’s real estate pros are keeping upbeat. The Big Apple, they said, is the best place to weather the storm.
S&P downgraded the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+ Aug. 5, after much debate in Congress over raising the nation’s debt ceiling. The downgrading of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac soon followed.
The Real Deal talked to some of the city’s most well-known brokers and developers in the wake of these events to find out whether they were shocked by the downgrade and what effect they expect it to have on their livelihoods.
While they disagreed on the immediate impact the downgrade might have on market activity and whether or not we’re headed for full-scale economic Armageddon, they all agreed there wasn’t a better city than New York in which to watch the action unfold. Click here to see what they had to say. [more]

Developer SDS Procida couldn’t have asked for better weather to show off the last three penthouses at the Richard Meier-designed On Prospect Park.

Brilliant sunshine and cooling breezes greeted visitors last night to the glass and steel tower at 1 Grand Army Plaza (though the wind did cause quite a few cocktail napkins to disappear). Brokers and potential buyers wandered through three newly unveiled penthouses — all pure white in typical Meier fashion — with floor-to-ceiling windows and private terraces. (See party pics above.)
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Richard Meier and On Prospect ParkThe On Prospect Park condominium has sold 52 of its 96 units, more than half of the 15-story building, according to city records, the Wall Street Journal reported. Developer Mario Procida puts the number sold at the Richard Meier-designed glass and steel tower at more than 60 percent, which means at least six more sales have yet to be recorded with the city’s Department of Finance. Construction on the condo began in 2005, and sales began in 2006. Now, after four years of sales and steep price discounts, more than a third of the building remains unsold. [more]

Matt Bronfman, COO of Jamestown Properties and be@Schermerhorn

Jamestown Properties has purchased the mortgage for be@Schermerhorn at 189 Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The asset management company, which has headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. and Germany, said that it was in a unique position to invest in the 246-unit condominium, developed by SDS Procida and scheduled to be completed early next year. The building, which is between Smith and Hoyt streets, will definitely be going condo, not rental, according to the spokesperson, despite speculation otherwise. The Real Deal reported in its November issue that the condo’s sales figures were lagging, while other media outlets reported this month that the development was 90 percent vacant. “We are committed to the Brooklyn market,” Matt Bronfman, COO of Jamestown Properties, said in a statement released today. “We believe our ability as a highly liquid investment company, coupled with the seasoned market knowledge of SDS Procida, will deliver a successful project.” [more]