The CEO of DDG Partners, Joe McMillan, at 41 Bond Street, which is under construction.

From the January issue: A development team on Bond Street is placing a $34 million bet on the market.
The savvy new investment partnership is making the risky gamble
that by the time they are ready to sell, the condo units they are
building at 41 Bond Street will fetch at least around what comparable
apartments did at the top of the market in 2007. In one of the few high-profile land acquisitions of the downturn,
in September, DDG Partners bought the vacant land on which the firm is
now erecting a nine-story condo, for just over $9 million. The firm is
planning to spend approximately $25 million more on construction,
according to Joe McMillan, the CEO of DDG.
The project will add to the string of boutique buildings already
lining the street, including its most high-profile condo, 40 Bond
Street by Ian Schrager, along with the Deborah Berke-designed 48 Bond
and the stone-and-glass 25 Bond. more

[more]

From left: 20-acre Ohrbach Lake at Camp Pouch (Photo credit: Emily Schnure) and a rough outline of the property

The New York office of the Boy Scouts of America wants commercial services firm Jones Lang LaSalle to help negotiate the sale of the development rights — or the entire 120-acre property — composed of mostly undeveloped land in the tree-filled Greenbelt of Staten Island, a spokesperson for the non-profit organization told The Real Deal.

The Greater New York Councils, Boys Scouts of America, picked JLL to represent it in negotiations, but the brokerage has not yet signed a contract with the non-profit, he said.

The Boy Scouts is considering selling the development rights to William H. Pouch Camp — either a portion of the site or the whole parcel — as a way to raise much needed funds for the financially strapped organization, Boy Scouts spokesperson William Kelly said. If the property is put on the market, it will likely be the largest
listing in New York City today in terms of square feet, brokers said. The Boy Scouts began conversations with the national conservation-focused non-profit Trust for Public Land about two weeks ago to arrange some kind of sale of the Pouch Camp land, Kelly said.  More

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From the October issue: Brooklyn’s official motto may be “Fuggedaboutit,” but the borough’s
real estate industry is not having an easy time shaking thoughts of
double-digit price drops and troubled residential projects. Overall,
the median closed sales price in Brooklyn has already fallen back to
2005 levels, dropping 19 percent over the past two years, according to
StreetEasy. Rental listing prices dropped 12 percent over the past
year, not including all of the concessions landlords are throwing in
these days. Meanwhile, a city tally early last month found that
Brooklyn had more stalled construction sites than any other borough
with 214 — a stunning 47 percent of all 448 projects citywide. What’s worse, most experts agree that the market has yet to reach bottom.

With few comparable building sales to price Midtown trophy properties,
an appraisal of the 1.8 million-square-foot 787 Seventh Avenue at $611
per square foot provides the market with one more data point. Or does it? AXA Equitable Life Insurance filed a deed with the city June 17 valuing
the 51-story office tower it owns on Seventh Avenue between 51st and
52nd streets at $1.1 billion, or about $611 per square foot, property
records posted yesterday show. [more]