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The Real Deal’s May edition is now live. This month, we take our annual look at Manhattan’s largest residential brokerage firms and find some surprising newcomers scattered among the old stalwarts. We also cover developers looking to sell condominium units they leased out during the worst parts of the downturn and boutique firms that have parlayed reality TV gigs into big profit gains. Finally, in this month’s edition of The Closing, construction mogul Dan Tishman relays his father’s reaction to the destruction of the World Trade Center towers he built, says he doesn’t mind the confusion between his firm and Tishman Speyer and tells stories of the predicted demise of Tishman Realty & Construction back in the 1950s. To see the complete issue online, click here.

From the May issue: Even A-list starchitects are on a tight allowance these days. Case in
point is the Cassa hotel and condominium tower rising at 70 West 45th
Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues with a design influenced by the
economic downturn. Architect Nancy Ruddy, co-principal of Cetra/Ruddy architects, who
designed the skyscraper with Ten Arquitectos, led by legendary Mexican
architect Enrique Norton, points out, “The success of this building
will be that it will be built very economically, both on the interior
and the exterior.”  more
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