Manhattan Beep Scott Stringer

Now that support for the Upper West Side retail rezoning has moved beyond local advocates and to the borough president’s office, other communities are beginning to consider similar legislation.

Crain’s reported that community boards in Tribeca, the East Village and Upper East Side are weighing restricting storefronts in order to preserve mom-and-pop shops and encourage a particular set of retail tenants. The Tribeca and East Village-Lower East Side advocates are focusing on the loss of local businesses and the saturation of night life in the areas. [more]

Last month, a Manhattan appellate court reversed an earlier decision and linked building mold with serious illnesses, sending waves of fear through property owners as lawsuits could increase, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The reversal comes four years after an earlier ruling, in a case involving an East 52nd Street co-op, that the scientific evidence of a mold-illness relationship was weak. Meanwhile, since 2007 there has been a 19 percent increase in the number of mold-related housing violations in the city, climaxing at 15,942 such violations last year, and a 67 percent increase in the number of violations categorized as “immediately hazardous.” [more]

In an unusual twist, home prices in the outer boroughs held up better than those in Manhattan in an overall dreadful fourth quarter, according to the latest figures from the Real Estate Board of New York cited by the Wall Street Journal.

While the median price in Manhattan tumbled 8.5 from the prior year quarter to $750,000, prices actually inched up by 2.9 percent in the Bronx to $350,00 and 1.4 percent in Brooklyn to $473,000. [more]

The American division of the famed Swiss watch company Rolex claims that data technology firm RealPlus is infringing on its trademark by using the name R.O.L.E.X. for its residential property listing system, a new lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan says.

The R.O.L.E.X. technology, an abbreviation of RealPlus Online Listings Exchange, is used by the Real Estate Board of New York as the backbone of its multiple listing service known as NY1Residential.

Midtown-based Rolex Watch U.S.A. claims RealPlus and its managing director Eric Gordon are infringing on the timepiece maker’s trademark, the suit, filed Tuesday, says.

“[RealPlus] use of this confusing and identical mark is likely to bring to mind [Rolex's] famous Rolex trademark… and dilute the distinctiveness of the Rolex trademark,” the complaint says. [more]

REBNY head Stephen Spinola

From the December issue: The more than 12,000 members of the Real Estate Board of New York will soon be reaching for their checkbooks to send their annual dues to the influential trade group. And there’s no doubt many will be engaging in a yearly cost-benefit analysis of the nonprofit’s value.

Members pay more than $6 million per year in dues — which are supposed to be in on Jan. 1 — and the group takes in several million more through its annual gala and other income that make up its approximately $9 million annual budget.

The 115-year-old organization is the undisputed top real estate organization in the city, and presents a powerful and unified public front. But there are rumblings of discontent, partly because it operates with a lopsided distribution of power. For example, building owners and residential firms are contributing roughly the same amount of money to the organization, but owners outnumber residential brokers on the board 10 to 1. 

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The Real Estate Board of New York has increased the annual membership dues by as much as 17 percent in what will be the first fee increase for the influential group since 2008.

The city’s leading real estate trade organization will be sending out renewal notices in the coming weeks to its more than 12,000 members. The payments are due Jan. 1, the group says.

The percentage hikes are somewhat higher than the last time there was an increase, four years ago.

For commercial associate brokers the fee rises 11 percent to $550 from $495, and for commercial salespersons, it increases 17 percent to $375 from $320. [more]

From left: Jeffrey Roseman, executive vice president at Newmark Knight Frank, Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, and Madison Avenue

At least 60 new retailers have opened on Madison Avenue’s northern strip since January 2010, including high-end stores like Bottega Veneta with its $30,000 purses, the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District told the Wall Street Journal. An additional 10 new stores are under construction. Fifth Avenue also makes positive strides, as demand increases.

It’s a notable comeback for the avenue, which lost multiple high-profile tenants in the recession, including Christian Dior and Yves St. Laurent, driving the vacancy rate up to 15 percent at the worst of the market. Rents, which had soared to $1,500 a foot during the boom, also collapsed. [more]

Supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement have now begun targeting the Real Estate Board of New York on social media and then in turn by phone, following news reports that REBNY seeks to submit a proposal to the city limiting the public access hours of privately owned public parks. In response to an opinion article in today’s New York Times by Jerold Kayden, a professor of urban planning at Harvard University, on the legal gray area of such privately owned public spaces, and the news reports of REBNY’s plans, a Twitter user called @OccupyMyCat this morning posted, “Announcement! It’s time to Occupy REBNY, the Real Estate Board of New York!”

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The Real Estate Board of New York held its 23rd annual Residential Deal of the Year Awards and Charity Gala last night at Pier 60 at Chelsea Piers. The top prizes went to Sharon Baum, senior vice president and director of the exclusive properties division of the Corcoran Group, who received the Henry Forster Award for Lifetime Achievement, and Norman Horowitz, executive vice president at Halstead Property, who won the first prize Residential Deal of the Year Award in  sales. The Rookie Salesperson of the Year Award was given to Sarah Williams, an agent with Halstead Property, for what REBNY called “her impressive entry into New York City’s residential sales market.” – Miranda Neubauer [more]

While the wave of residential market reports issued by brokerages earlier this month found Manhattan home prices to be stable, the Real Estate Board of New York found prices to be increasing.

The average Manhattan home price in the third quarter increased 5 percent compared to the prior year quarter to $1.39 million, according to the REBNY report released today. Citywide, REBNY found home prices increased 8 percent to $780,000. Chelsea/Flatiron saw the biggest price increase over the last 12 months, as homes averaged $2.08 million, 16 percent more than they cost in the third quarter of 2010. – Adam Fusfeld [more]