Gonzalez Y Gonzalez before it closed

A GreenwichVillage Mexican restaurant will be allowed to begin doing business in its old space, at 625 Broadway, again, but with one odd provision: it can’t sell tacos or burritos. Gonzalez y Gonzalez closed its restaurant, between Bleecker and Houston streets, in January when a Chipotle took over the space, DNAinfo reported. But now, it will return to about half of its former space under the condition it not sell anything that the massive Mexican chain also sells. [more]

Jones Lang LaSalle has hired the Newmark Knight Frank team of Paul Berkman, Craig Slosberg, Davie Berke and Justin Haber, according to a statement from JLL today. The team will head JLL’s expansion of its tenant representation practice in the retail sector. [more]

BGC CEO Howard Lutnick

BGC Partners CEO Howard Lutnick and top executives at Newmark Knight Frank sought to allay fears of Grubb & Ellis brokers during a brief conference call this morning with company employees.

Lutnick spoke with energy about the anticipated merger of Grubb with Newmark and BGC that is slated to happen once a judge from the U.S Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan approves a sale of Grubb assets.

[more]

From left: a rendering of 1World Trade Center and Moshe Sukenik, EVP at Newmark Knight Frank

The carefully monitored negotiations that would have put massive law firm Chadbourne & Parke into office space at 1 World Trade Center fell apart abruptly yesterday, the New York Post reported.

A source tells the Post that the firm informed 1 World Trade owners, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and the Durst Organization, that negotiations were dead. “As in dead, not a negotiating posture,” the source said.  This came as a surprise because Chadbourne must relocate from its 300,000 feet at 30 Rockefeller Plaza by 2014. [more]

From left: One Liberty Plaza & Neil Goldmacher, vice chairman at Newmark Knight Frank

When Investment Technology Group, the global market research firm that inked the largest lease of the year last week at One Liberty Plaza, began its search for new office space, the company knew that time was of the essence, but was still unwilling to compromise on certain things, the New York Observer reported.

ITG’s current space at 380 Madison, at 46th Street, is going to either be fully renovated or completely torn down, the paper said, making its departure fairly urgent in the world of commercial real estate. On top of that, ITG insisted on a column-free space, which can be difficult to find in quantity. [more]

From left: Howard Lutnick, CEO of BCG Partners, and Scott Markowitz of Tarter Krinsky & Drogin

A federal bankruptcy court judge in Manhattan responded yesterday to a group of creditors frustrated over the speed of the potential BGC Partners acquisition of Grubb & Ellis, and postponed a hearing scheduled for today until next Monday, court records show.

The creditors complain that Howard Lutnick’s Midtown-based brokerage BGC Partners is forcing through a sale of nearly all of Grubb & Ellis’ assets at an accelerated pace so that BGC will be the sole bidder. [more]

From left: Howard Lutnick, Chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald and Barry Gosin, CEO of Newmark Knight Frank

Midtown-based commercial services firm Newmark Knight Frank took in revenues of $54.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, its publicly traded parent company BGC Partners reported this morning.

This was the first public reporting of earnings for Newmark Knight Frank, which BGC purchased in October 2011. Prior to that it was a closely held private company. It was also the first call since BGC announced this week that it had agreed to acquire most of the assets of national commercial firm Grubb & Ellis, which filed for bankruptcy Monday night. [more]

From left: Howard Kesseler, managing director at Newmark Knight Frank, and 625 Broadway

A Noho office building that had fallen into receivership has experienced an unlikely revival, Real Estate Weekly reported.

The 12-story office tower at 625 Broadway, at Houston Street, has seen an uptick in leasing since Howard Kesseler, a managing director at Newmark Knight Frank, and his associate Jordan Gosin, an associate director, started focusing on creative tenants, REW said. [more]

From left: 425 Park Avenue, Ilan Bracha, chairman at Keller Williams NYC (note: correction appended) and Jeffrey Rosenblatt, senior managing director at Newmark Knight Frank

[Updated at 3:12 p.m. with comment from Newmark Knight Frank] More details have emerged regarding Keller Williams NYC’s new 25,000-square-foot space down the street from its existing offices.

The residential brokerage got a “great deal” on their sublease at 425 Park Avenue last month, according to Jeffrey Rosenblatt, senior managing director at Newmark Knight Frank, who represented both Keller Williams and the sublandlord, Lebhar Friedman, in the transaction. The firm also has an option to take another 10,000 square feet in the space in the event of further expansion, a spokesperson for Keller Williams said. [more]

902 BroadwayThe Rosen Group awarded Newmark Knight Frank leasing and management responsibilities for a portfolio of 19 Manhattan office buildings, Commercial Property Executive reported, including 902 Broadway in the Flatiron district.

In total, the 2 million-square-foot portfolio is 95 percent leased. NKF will work to reposition and renovate the properties in what will likely be a profitable venture for NKF, CPE speculated, as the office market is heating up. [more]