Now that Hurricane Irene has come and gone, commercial real estate firms across the city have been assessing the damage to their portfolio, and according to Crain’s, most have come away relatively unscathed.
For example, the city’s largest commercial landlord, SL Green, said there were only minor leaks across some of its 36 buildings. “We had nothing that even rises to the level of an insurance claim,” said Elizabeth Majkowski, senior vice president of operations at the firm. [more]

From left: Cushman & Wakefield President and CEO Glenn Rufrano, Vice Chairmen John Cefaly and Tara Stacom, Worldwide Plaza and a rendering of One World Trade Center

[Updated at 11:20 a.m. with comment from Cushman & Wakefield President and CEO Glenn Rufrano] Midtown-based global commercial services firm Cushman & Wakefield lost $22.4
million in the first six months of 2011 even as revenues rose sharply compared to the same period last year, the brokerage firm’s parent
company, Italy-based Exor, reported on its website today.

The loss is in contrast with the firm’s two main global competitors, the world’s
largest commercial firm CB Richard Ellis, and another large player, Jones Lang
LaSalle, which each posted profits over the same time period.

Cushman lost $22.4 million through June, compared with a loss of $22.8 million
in the same six-month period in 2010, the company said, using generally
accepted accounting standards for the United States. [more]

Stuart ElliottFrom the June issue: It’s that time of year again — time to escape the city and head to the beach. Time to trade your pumps and wingtips for flip-flops and sandals. Time to trade fluorescent office lighting for the sun beating down on your back. Time to reserve lunch tables for lobster roll shacks, get pieces of corn stuck between your teeth, and wash it all down with a beer.
With summer season in the Hamptons kicking into gear, we thought, “What better time to take a look at the biggest firms and priciest deals on the East End?”
Unlike those caught up in the migration from Manhattan, it hasn’t been vacation time for top agents out there on Long Island. In an improving market, they’ve been listing and closing deals with big seven- and eight-figure price tags. [more]

Douglas Durst, chairman of the Durst Organization, said he has no current plans to acquire any more buildings in Manhattan because prices are not corresponding with value. “During the recent recession… prices just never came down to a level that we were comfortable with,” Durst said in an interview in the Wall Street Journal. “And now they’re rising again.” As for his recent investment in 1 World Trade Center, Durst said his firm was wanted on the project to manage the building once completed because the project’s developer, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, has a poor reputation with office towers. He said in addition to the 1.2 million square feet being leased by Conde Nast and the Chine Center, the government agency General Services Administration is in talks to lease 600,000 square feet. [more]

1. U.S. developers appeal to “echo-boomers,“ people born in the 1980s and 1990s
[WSJ]
2. One WTC must be one of the safest buildings in the city: architect David Childs
[Crain's]
3. Park Slope tenants team up with public advocate Bill de Blasio to force building repairs
[NYDN]
4. Senator Catharine Young’s bill could mean the death of rent protection for high-income city residents
[NYDN]
5. U.S. developers appeal to “echo-boomers,“ people born in the 1980s and 1990s
[WSJ]
6. Living the farm lifestyle on Park Avenue
[WSJ]
7. Trump tower apartment finally sells for $1.8 million over the asking price
[Curbed]
8. More demolition related scaffolding for 35 Cooper Square
[Ev Grieve]
9. Northern Bridgehampton gets $7.995 million treehouse
[Curbed]
10. Concern mounts that Garment District is doomed as a fashion hub after departure of Oscar de la Renta and Phillip Lim
[Crain's]
11. Comptroller aims to explain rocketing co-op assessments
[Post]
[more]

Publishing giant Conde Nast is likely to finalize its 1 million-square-foot lease at One World Trade Center by March, developer Douglas Durst told Crain’s today. The Durst Organization has a deal with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey to buy a $100 million stake in the tower, and scored a major coup last year when the magazine behemoth agreed to relocate from 4 Times Square, which Durst also owns. The only tenant to actually sign a lease at the 2.6 million-square-foot project thus far is China’s Vantone Industrial, but Durst said two government agencies are also in negotiations to lease a combined 1 million square feet. [more]

For New York City real estate, 2010 in many ways marked a return to normalcy after the tumultuous aftermath of the financial crisis. As the ubiquitous real estate appraiser and Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller put it: “it was a year of a sense of relief.” City home prices stopped their freefall and sales activity improved considerably from the post-Lehman doldrums. Stalled condominium projects like the Sheffield and 1 Rector Park re-started sales. Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim bought Tamir Sapir’s Fifth Avenue townhouse, the Duke Semans mansion, for $44 million. As the unspoken taboo on ostentatious spending faded, a number of high-end residential properties changed hands at the end of the year, including Brooke Astor’s 14-room duplex at 778 Park Avenue, which finally sold after two years on the market (albeit for a significant discount from its original asking price). Japanese retailer Uniqlo snagged 89,000 square feet at 666 Fifth Avenue’s former Brooks Brothers space for a record $300 million, demonstrating that retail is still thriving along the posh shopping corridor.
But the economic downturn continued to make its presence felt. The office market remained uneven and troubled lender iStar Financial fought to stave off bankruptcy amid lingering fears of a double-dip recession.
Here are The Real Deal staff’s picks for the stories that most altered the New York City real estate landscape in 2010, in alphabetical order. [more]

2010 was a milestone year for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. Steel for the $3.2 billion One World Trade Center reached the halfway point at 52 stories, while a preliminary deal with Conde Nast brought the building its first tenant. Developer Larry Silverstein’s Church Street towers are also progressing, with Tower 4 rising above street level. At the eight-acre memorial, more than 120 trees have been planted and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has started to test the waterfalls that will flow there. The memorial is set to open next Sept. 11, on the 10-year anniversary of the attacks. [DNAinfo]

1 World Trade Center (source: Port Authority of New York & New Jersey)

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has hit the halfway point on the construction of 1 World Trade Center, the 3 million-square-foot skyscraper being erected on the former site of the Twin Towers. Currently rising 52 stories, the 1,776-foot, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill-designed tower will eventually be New York City’s tallest. TRD [more]

1 World Trade Center, Robert Futterman

Robert Futterman, founder and chief executive of the Robert K. Futterman & Associates retail brokerage, has gone full speed ahead on his new advisory role for the World Trade Center project, according to the New York Times. Futterman said his firm is helping the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey determine what kind of retail mix would work best for the site. So far, no retailers have committed, and Futterman said he’s still exploring options with the Port Authority. “We’re working under confidentiality in terms of names,” Futterman said. “But you can imagine, if it’s a half-a-million-square-foot regional shopping center, it’s all the household names. You’ll probably have something hipper than any shopping mall.” Also on Futterman’s plate: the vacant retail space at 11 Times Square. [NYT]

[more]