45 East 53rd Street

A Midtown office building owned by the Spanish banking giant Santander has traded hands for $120 million, according to public records filed with the city today.

Santander began shopping the 113,000-square-foot building, at 45 East 53rd Street, to potential buyers in March, it was previously reported. Despite its institutional status, it was said to be marketing the building in house as opposed to bringing on a brokerage firm. [more]

Robert Sammons

Sublet availability in October rose to 9.8 million square feet, Robert Sammons, vice president of research at Cassidy Turley, wrote in the New York Observer. And even though a number of Downtown firms were forced to relocate to Midtown sublet space as a result of Hurricane Sandy, “it likely will not make much of a dent in the figure,” Sammons said.

The reason for this, he said, is that tenants with multiple office locations are devising ways to share desks at other offices. Also, firms are letting some employees work from home. [more]