Manhattan office leasing activity hit its highest level since 2000, with tenants signing new deals for more than 30 million square feet, executives at commercial firm Cushman & Wakefield said this morning at the company’s quarterly media briefing in Midtown.

Only four months ago, as the velocity of office leasing slowed in the third quarter, there were “warning signs,” that the market, while healthy, might weaken, said  Joseph Harbert, COO of Cushman’s New York metro region, during the third-quarter market briefing. But instead, it improved in the fourth quarter. [more]

From left: 230 Park Avenue, 299 Park Avenue and Park Avenue Plaza

Last year saw a number of notable commercial transactions, as the rising demand for Manhattan trophy office properties, coupled with a large amount of low-interest capital available to credit-worthy borrowers, propelled the total deal volume in the five boroughs. In 2011 quarters one through three, New York City commercial sales amounted to $19.1 billion — up 111 percent from the same period in 2010, according to a report from Massey Knakal Realty Services. And the 10 largest transactions of 2011 accounted for $5.76 billion in volume alone, according to a list from PropertyShark.com of the top 10 biggest deals by price prepared for The Real Deal (see chart after the jump). [more]

From left: Stanley Chera, founder of Crown Acquisitions, Ben Ashkenazy, chairman and CEO of Ashkenazy Acquisition, Neil Bluhm, a co-founder of Walton Street, and the Knickerbocker Hotel building

A joint venture that includes Crown Acquisitions and Ashkenazy Acquisition has segmented the landmarked, 282,000-square-foot Knickerbocker Hotel building near Times Square into three commercial condominiums.

The ownership split the 15-story Beaux-Arts structure at 1466 Broadway on the corner of 42nd Street, into one hotel condo and two retail condos, city property records filed Monday show. The state Attorney General’s office, which regulates condominiums, approved the conversion plan Nov. 10, the papers show.

Chicago-based investor Walton Street Capital partnered with Texas-based hotel owner Highgate Holdings, and Midtown-based Crown and Ashkenazy to purchase the building for $180.5 million in July 2010.
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88 Leonard Street
Chicago-based real estate investment firm Waterton Associates closed on the first part of its purchase of 88 Leonard Street from Africa Israel USA this evening, the firm’s managing member and co-founder, David Schwartz, confirmed.
Waterton closed on a 49 percent stake of the 352-unit rental building near Broadway in Tribeca for $37 million. Schwartz, whose firm was represented by Steven Vegh of Multi Investment, said the transfer of Africa Israel’s remaining stake, the senior mortgage and the mezzanine loan would close sometime in the first half of 2012. The prices for those components were $17 million, $132 million and $24 million, respectively, according to a previous report by Bloomberg News, for a total cost of about $210 million. The deal is being closed in two stages for accounting purposes, according to Schwartz.
The purchase was funded by the $500 million Waterton Residential Investment Fund 11 and marks the firm’s second purchase in New York City. It also bought the notes on the Addison Brooklyn at 221 Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn last December. Schwartz said the firm has more New York City transactions pending as it looks to build its presence in the area, but declined to discuss the deals until they close. [more]

Kent Swig

Savanna Investment Fund has purchased the senior mortgage loan on Kent Swig’s troubled 80 Broad Street office tower at a discount and is likely to begin foreclosing on the property within the week. Sources told the Post that Savanna received a 12 percent discount off of the $75 million face value of the loan, which has been in special servicing with J.E. Robert Companies since last winter. Swig led a partnership that purchased the 410,000-square-foot building for $70 million in 2004, but by 2010, the property was appraised for just $67 million and entered into “covenant default” even though Swig was still making mortgage payments at the time. [more]

Costas Kondylis’ 88 Leonard Street, the 352-unit Tribeca rental building developed in 2007 by Africa Israel and former partner Shaya Boymelgreen, could garner as much as $200 million in a sale, according to the Post. The 21-story building, which contains11,365 square feet of retail space and sits above a 249-space parking garage, is being marketed by the Cushman & Wakefield capital markets group of Helen Hwang, Nat Rockett, Karen Wiedenmann and Steven Kohn. Comments

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Fifth Avenue’s Takashimaya building, which hit the market last month, is reportedly drawing a slew of high-profile bidders, and several have already been selected to submit second-round offers by the end of the month. According to the Post, Vornado Realty Trust, a group led by David Werner, a team of Jeff Sutton and SL Green Realty and an unidentified luxury retailer are among those prepping their second bids for the 693 Fifth Avenue spot. [more]

Japanese retailer Takashimaya has tapped Nat Rockett, a managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle, to sell the building that houses the department store, 693 Fifth Avenue between 54th and 55th streets. The store is set to close in June. The 100,000-square-foot, 20-floor building, in which Takashimaya occupies eight floors for its retail operation and offices, offers retail and office space. Formal marketing of the site hasn’t been launched.