From left: Michael Fascitelli, CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, and Sherri White, senior vice president at Vornado, at the Marquee Nightclub at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel

It’s become a cliche to say much of the deal making at the annual International Council of Shopping Centers’ retail bash RECon in Las Vegas takes place at the parties surrounding the convention, even if it’s true. To get a closer look, The Real Deal visited a handful of those gabfests. Click here to see the photos and more.

Steiner Studios Chairman Douglas Steiner and 204 Huntington Street

Steiner Studios paid $24.5 million in cash to land a 60-unit Carroll Gardens rental building, Crain’s reported. The building, at 204 Huntington Street, was sold by an investment team led by Area Property Partners, which acquired it along with an adjacent building at 505 Court Street, that has since been converted into a 124-unit condominium, for $50.5 million. [more]

From left: the site at 117-119 West 21st Street, Robert Knakal, chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services, and David Schechtman, principal at Eastern Consolidated

A prime Chelsea development site has hit the market with Eastern Consolidated’s David Schechtman, Alan Miller and Paul Nigido, but only after a listing skirmish that pitted two of the city’s most active investment sales brokerages against one another.

The parcel, currently home to a four-story gallery, is being sold out of bankruptcy with an asking price of $15.5 million. But the unsecured lenders for the site, at 117-119 West 21st Street, opposed Eastern Consolidated’s representation of the seller, the Arc Building LP, court documents show. [more]

From left: 134 Haven Avenue and 11 86th Street (credits: PropertyShark)

A multi-family apartment building in Upper Manhattan purchased this year at a record price per unit by an affiliate of Manhattan-based Atias Enterprises was acquired with allegedly illegal funds and federal prosecutors want that property and a smaller one in Brooklyn turned over to the government. [more]

A rendering of the approved project at 313 Gold Street and the vacant lot (credit: Massey Knakal)

The vacant Fort Greene lot slated for a high-rise companion to the Oro condominium is for sale, Brownstoner reported.

The site, at 313 Gold Street, was planned to be built to 35 stories and 214 units and to be called Oro 2 by the same developers behind its predecessor, the 40-story Oro at 306 Gold Street.  [more]

From left: Massey Knakal Chairman Robert Knakal and 421 Kent Avenue

The lender of a foreclosed Williamsburg property that acquired it from an auction last week has put the plot on the market for $52.5 million, Crain’s reported.

The site is 421 Kent Avenue, located two blocks away from the Williamsburg Bridge. Just over 2 acres in size and with the potential to house a 443,000-square-foot structure, the first developers, Isaac Hager and the late Chaim Lax, reportedly defaulted on their $17 million loan in 2008. The previous year, they had paid $42.6 million for the land. [more]

The development site at 360 10th Avenue (credit: PropertyShark), which Sherwood Equities bought from Barclays Capital

Sales of large development sites in prime areas of Manhattan grew five-fold between 2009 and 2011, according to Massey Knakal Realty Services data cited by Crain’s, but market conditions still remain vastly different from the pre-crash era.

There were 51 sales of sites larger than 10,000 square feet south of Harlem in 2011, and 142 sales of development parcels in the four boroughs outside of Staten Island. [more]

Dollar volume and number of properties sold (source: Massey Knakal Realty Services)

Manhattan investment sales last year declined as the year wore on as sellers decided not to place properties on the market, even as the total amount sold far outpaced 2010, executives at investment firm Massey Knakal Realty Services said.

There were $21.7 million in investment property trades in 2011, up 87 percent from the $12 billion in 2010. But investment sales in the fourth quarter were just $5 billion, down from the $6.1 billion in the third quarter and $8 billion in the second quarter, the firm reported at a year-end market briefing this morning. [more]

Helen Hwang, an executive vice president at Cushman & Wakefield, Aaron Jungreis, president at Rosewood Realty Group, James Nelson, a partner at Massey Knakal Realty Services, David Schechtman, senior director at Eastern Consolidated

Compiled by Adam Pincus
Brokers broadly expect next year to be an improvement over 2011 in New York City’s investment sales market, although concerns about the global economy and financial services layoffs create uncertainty, and that puts a drag on activity. This year, total investment sales are expected to end up at about $25 billion, far ahead of the $14.5 billion in 2010. The Real Deal talked to a series of brokers about what they expect for the new year. [more]

Barbara Fox, president and founder of Fox Residential Group, threw open the doors to her East 79th Street co-op last night (or, rather, the elevator that opened onto the apartment), welcoming 200 colleagues, friends and industry players to celebrate the holiday season. With barely room to move between a book-lined den (which housed the bar) and the living room (where a three-piece band played Christmas carols), some guests took refuge on a balcony that wrapped nearly all the way around Fox’s penthouse. Others sampled h’ors d’oeuvres like pigs in a blanket. Noted revelers included Robert Knakal, chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services, and Michele Kleier, president of Gumley Haft Kleier and a star of “Selling New York.” -- Leigh Kamping-Carder