Peter Hauspurg
of Eastern Consolidated

Property prices are reaching record highs as developers make wild bids to claim available land, Crain’s reported. Eastern Consolidated, for example, had a client that lost out on a West 77th Street site when a competitor bid nearly 50 percent over the original price, insiders said.

“There is a scarcity of good development land in Manhattan,” Peter Hauspurg, Eastern Consolidated’s chief executive, told Crain’s. “Pricing has almost now doubled from the peak of 2007.” [more]

Peter Hauspurg

One would expect that in a down market, when property values are on the decline, the city’s collection of corresponding taxes would fall as well. However, a report from Eastern Consolidated shows that the volume of real property taxes in New York City increased every year from 2005 to 2012, regardless of market conditions, Real Estate Weekly reported. For example, property tax collections increased 17 percent between 2009 and 2011, even as the market value for citywide properties fell, the report says.

Eastern Consolidated pegged this development to an expansion of the tax base, as the city added new properties, among other reasons. [more]

Equity Residential Chairman Sam Zell and the Beatrice

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential is in contract to purchase the 301-unit Beatrice apartment complex on Sixth Avenue for nearly $250 million, according to Crain’s. The transaction will mark the latest in a series of big apartment deals struck in recent months for record-high prices.

The Beatrice, completed two years ago by J.D. Carlisle Development, is composed of 28 floors of rental units that sit above the 25-story Eventi Hotel at 835 Sixth Avenue near West 29th Street. The deal comes on the heels of a record quarter for Manhattan apartment trades. [more]

From left: Robert Knakal, chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services, Peter Hauspurg, chairman and CEO at Eastern Consolidated, Timour Shafran, managing partner at Citicore, Adelaide Polsinelli, associate vice presidenta at Marcus & Millichap, and Timothy King, principal at CPEX Real Estate

Commercial real estate brokers such as Robert Knakal, Peter Hauspurg and Adelaide Polsinelli, are keeping a watchful eye on the U.S. Supreme Court as it considers whether it will hear a case that could overturn rent regulation in New York City.

So The Real Deal asked commercial brokers what they expected would happen to multi-family properties and their values if the laws were overturned. They were asked under the assumption that there will be no catastrophic eviction of the million rent-regulated apartments, and that the city or state would create some replacement law that would provide housing for needy residents. Compiled by Adam Pincus… [more]

Marion Jones (l) & David Schechtman of Eastern Consolidated and 310 East 55th Street

In a strange twist, a Queens development site comes with a free gift — 75 sponsor units in a Manhattan residential co-op, Crain’s reported.

The buyer of the defaulted loan for a 3.7-acre development site in Flushing, Queens, near Citi Field, will also get 75 apartments at 310 East 55th Street, because the apartments were used as collateral for the loan. U.S. Bank National Association made the loan to ABS Flushing Development in 2006, Crain’s said. Crain’s didn’t know the size or value of the apartments at press time. [more]

Midtown West office building sales rose by more than 100 percent year-over-year in 2011, to $5.7 billion from $1.8 billion in 2010, according to Eastern Consolidated’s MetroGrid Report for Midtown West, released today, which defines Midtown West as the area that extends from 30th to 59th streets, and Fifth Avenue to the Hudson River.

The concentration of overall new development in Midtown West has been unparalleled elsewhere in the city, the report shows, resulting in 35 new residential buildings, 14 new office buildings, 30 new hotels and 10 new retail buildings in the past year.

“Few would have believed that this area would be as viable as it has become,” said Peter Hauspurg, chairman and CEO of Eastern Consolidated. “To see the plethora of residential developments, office, hotels and restaurants is remarkable given that so many avoided this neighborhood 10 years ago.” – Katherine Clarke
… [more]

The volume of Manhattan office property sales has more than doubled in the second quarter to $5.5 billion, after lagging the rest of the commercial property sales market in the first quarter of 2011 and all of 2010, according to Eastern Consolidated’s office property mid-year report for 2011 released today. After stalling for more than nine quarters, the office sales market surged in the second quarter with 14 sales of $100 million or more, the report shows. Those included Paramount Group’s purchase of a minority interest in 1633 Broadway for $980 million and Monday Properties’ $760 million recapitalization of 230 Park Avenue through Invesco. These preliminary second-quarter results mark a large increase over the fourth quarter of 2010, when Google purchased 111 Eighth Avenue for $1.77 billion. That deal marked 46 percent of the $3.85 billion volume that quarter. – Miranda Neubauer … [more]

From left: David Noonan, Jennifer Schwartzman, Robert Eisenberg, Barry Gosin, Mark Weiss and Steven Spinola

Newmark Knight Frank brokers David Noonan and Jennifer Schwartzman took home the top prize last night at the Real Estate Board of New York’s Most Ingenious Deal of the Year Awards. The ceremony honored the most creative commercial deals made in the last year, as judged by a panel that includes brokers and property owners, according to REBNY President Steven Spinola.

Taking home second place were Robert Eisenberg, Barry Gosin and Mark Weiss, also from Newmark, while CB Richard Ellis’ Darcy Stacom and William Shanahan nabbed third place…. [more]

Sales prices for Manhattan development sites rebounded in 2010 to their levels from the height of the real estate boom, according to a new report from Eastern Consolidated (see the full report after the jump). Transaction volume was up modestly over the course of the year, but the average price per buildable square foot, and the average transaction size, soared to unexpected highs, the brokerage said. Land sale prices, which had plummeted to below $200 per square foot at the end of 2009, rose sharply during 2010 to an average of $330 per square foot. The previous high was seen during the first quarter of 2008, when prices were at $321 per buildable square foot. TRD… [more]

The Real Deal went party hopping last night. First, we chatted up the guests at the Friends of the Israeli Defense Force Real Estate Division Reception at Gotham Hall honoring Ofer Yardeni, managing partner and co-founder of Stonehenge Partners. Then, we dropped by the Setai Hotel and Residences at 400 Fifth Avenue, where three separate 58th-floor units were decorated in honor of classic films: “Six Degrees of Separation,” “Something’s Gotta Give” and “Wall Street” (see photo gallery above)…. [more]