Favorable deal terms helped Joseph Cayre land law firm Baker & McKenzie as a new tenant for the building at 452 Fifth Avenue he acquired last year, according to AM Law Daily, even as most law firms this year have chosen to renew rather than relocate.

Studley CEO Mitchell Steir worked as Baker & McKenzie’s broker and said that although the company wasn’t sure it wanted to leave its former office at 1114 Sixth Avenue, it eventually made the move because of the good deal and the opportunity to downsize, which is becoming a trend among law firms. [more]

From left: Douglas Durst, Jody Durst, Andrew Cuomo, Marc Holliday and Andrew Mathias

What do Douglas and Jody Durst, heads of the Durst Organization, Marc Holliday and Andrew Mathias of SL Green and Governor Andrew Cuomo have in common? They topped the Observer’s annual list of the 100 most powerful people in New York real estate. Carlos Slim, believed by some to be the world’s richest person, Sam Zell and Gary Barnett headline the notable newcomers to the list, while old money like Peter and Anthony Malkin and Bill Rudin also place in the top quarter of the list. Finally, the newest presidential candidate, Donald Trump, jumped two places to 14th on the list from last year, and and Mitchell Steir and Michael Colacino are the highest ranking working brokers, both at No. 33. [NYO] [more]

Law firm Winston & Strawn has inked a deal to renew and expand its New York City offices at 200 Park Avenue, Tishman Speyer’s MetLife Building. According to the Post, the 280,000-square-foot lease is likely the second-largest for a law firm this year, behind Proskauer Rose’s 400,000-square-foot lease at 11 Times Square. Winston & Strawn, whose clients include Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Ernst & Young, has been located in the building since the mid-1990s, and this deal represents one of several expansions for the firm since then. Comments

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From left: 399 Park Avenue, the site of Studley’s soon-to-be headquarters, and Michael Colacino and Mitch Steir

As it prepares to move to its new Midtown headquarters next month,
tenant representative advisory firm Studley is kicking tires at
approximately six companies to see which ones would make for a good
acquisition or joint venture partnership that could be worked out
before the end of the year, the firm’s top executives said. “We have about a half a dozen different companies we are looking at
right now about doing some sort of deal. Not all are acquisitions,”
company president Michael Colacino told The Real Deal in an exclusive interview last week. The company is looking to grow in the areas of brokerage, project
management and real estate investment banking and is eyeing companies
with a presence in New York City, Colacino said. In the interview with The Real Deal, Colacino and company
chairman and CEO Mitchell Steir discussed the various paths of growth
the firm is considering. The company is scheduled to move its
headquarters April 23 to 399 Park Avenue from 300 Park Avenue where it
will have the floor capacity to grow by approximately 60 percent from
the 136 professionals now. While they were not specific about their plans, some form of agreement is likely to be completed by the end of 2010. [more]

Larry Silverstein, CEO of Silverstein Properties, and Mitchell Steir, CEO of Studley

Real estate development group Silverstein Properties and commercial real estate services firm Studley ranked 22nd and 26th on a list of the top 40 best companies to work for in New York City. The second annual list, compiled by Crain’s, also included Rand Engineering & Architecture and Skanska, which took the number 8 and number 36 spots, respectively. Environmental design consultant and building engineer Atelier Ten nabbed the top spot. The rankings were determined through a statistical review of employee survey responses and company benefits. Even so, three-quarters of the businesses that made the list either laid off employees or froze salaries within the past year, Crain’s reported.

The government of Canada is reportedly looking for as much as 100,000 square feet of office space in Manhattan, and it’s hired Studley CEO and Chairman Mitchell Steir and executive vice president David Goldstein for the job. The government currently has two other large leases in the city, one at 1251 Sixth Avenue, used for its Consulate General offices, and the second at One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at 885 Second Avenue near 48th Street, where the Mission of Canada to the United Nations operates.

Mitchell Steir, CEO of tenant representation firm Studley, sat down with the New York Times last week to discuss the commercial market, tenant advocacy and what it’s like to be on his side of things in a down market. “If we had to choose a sector of the real estate market to be in, I would choose the one that we’re in,” Steir said. “We’re in a profitable end of the business, and our services always seem to be in demand.”