757 Third Avenue

Sister recruiting and staffing companies Aerotek and TEKsystems have inked 10-year expansion deals with a combined value of over $16 million at 757 Third Avenue in Midtown, the New York Observer reported. Aerotek will take 13,551 square feet on the eighth floor and TEKsystems will occupy 15,115 square feet on the 12th, with asking rents at the building coming between the low $50s and low $60s per square foot.

The two companies have been tenants at the 26-story property since 1997, and were previously located on the second floor. The current landlord, RFR Realty, acquired the 500,000-square-foot building in 1999. [more]

Aby Rosen, Michael Fuchs and the Seagram Building

RFR Realty has arranged a roughly $1 billion loan for its 38-story Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue, Crain’s reported. The financing came from Citibank and Deutsche Bank, according to Crain’s sources, which will be split and sold to investors as commercial mortgage-backed securities. [more]

From left: Aby Rosen and 350 Madison Avenue

Aby Rosen’s RFR Realty has closed on 350 Madison Avenue for $261.5 million, following reports that the firm had been weighing a $350 million purchase, the New York Observer confirmed.

The deal with Kenisco Properties, run by Nabil and Fouad Chartouni, includes an adjacent retail property, at 10 East 45th Street. RFR, however, declined to comment further to the Observer. Kenisco purchased the building for $194.5 million in 2005 from Monday Properties and Landis Group. [more]

90 Fifth Avenue

The publisher Forbes’ departure from its office space at 90 Fifth Avenue could yield an auction sale of the property for over $100 million, Crain’s reported. A Richard Baxter-led Jones Lang LaSalle team is in charge of marketing the 11-story, 140,000-square-foot building, and sources told Crain’s that the building could go residential or be maintained for commercial use.

RFR Realty owns the building, located between 14th and 15th streets. As The Real Deal reported this morning, it is one of Manhattan’s 10 most distressed properties. [more]

From left: Aby Rosen and 980 Madison Avenue

RFR Realty has listed its block-long commercial property at 980 Madison Avenue, Crain’s reported. The sale could possibly fetch $100 million or greater, due to high amounts paid for spaces along busy city strips, brokers told Crain’s. [more]

Jamestown CEO Matt Bronfman

Jamestown Properties may abandon a deal to buy a Fifth Avenue office building after the tenant, a unit of financial publisher Forbes Media, repeatedly failed to pay rent, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the situation.

Jamestown, the Atlanta-based developer that is also seeking to expand the Chelsea Market, was set to pay $115 million for the 11-story property. But shortly after the company struck a deal with the building’s owner, RFR Realty, in July, the Forbes unit stopped paying rent, sources told the Journal. [more]

Aby Rosen and 285 Madison Avenue (credit; PropertyShark)

Aby Rosen’s RFR Realty is buying a much-maligned Midtown office building with an eye on converting it into hotel rooms. The firm has entered contract to purchase 285 Madison Avenue for $190 million, according to Crain’s, just more than a month after reports emerged that Rosen is considering acquiring 350 Madison Avenue for $350 million.

The 550,000-square-foot building at 285 Madison Avenue, between East 40th and East 41st streets, is owned by ad agency Y&R and was the site of a well-documented elevator accident last year that resulted in the death of one of its employees. The agency put the building on the market with CBRE Group’s Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan in July in advance of its planned move to an office condominium at 3 Columbus Circle, owned by SL Green Realty and Joseph Moinian. [more]

RFR Realty's Aby Rosen and 980 Madison Avenue

Three downtown clothing boutiques have signed retail leases in RFR Realty’s 980 Madison Avenue, DNAinfo reported, following an increasingly common pattern. Paris-based Sandro signed for 2,037 square feet in the building, marking its third New York City store after West Village and Nolita locations. New Zealand designer Rebecca Taylor took 4,338 square feet for a flagship boutique to compliment locations in the Meatpacking District and Nolita. And denim and cashmere brand Vince, which also maintains stores in Nolita and the Meatpacking District, inked 3,770 square feet. The deals were brokered by RKF Associates. [more]

300 East 64th Street and RFR Realty's Aby Rosen (credit: PropertyShark)

RFR Realty is selling a 16-year-old, 27-story apartment building in Lenox Hill, Crain’s reported. An unnamed source told Crain’s that the building, a rental property at 300 East 64th Street and Second Avenue, could yield $100 million from the sale, equaling $715 per square foot.

According to Robert Knakal, chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services who is marketing the property, the company is selling the building to meet investors’ interest in residential properties. He told Crain’s that whoever buys the building could convert it into a condominium or continue to operate it as a rental building. Knakal declined to tell Crain’s how much the property would sell for. It is also currently not listed on Massey Knakal’s website. [more]

From left: Lever House and its courtyardOccupy Wall Street protesters are only about 3,500 days away from being able to claim Zuccotti Park as their own under “adverse possession.” According to the New York Times, for that reason, the popular Lever House office tower’s courtyard at 390 Park Avenue will be closed by owner RFR Realty this Sunday.

“Adverse possession” is an ancient concept that essentially allows someone who uses another person’s property for a long period of time to claim possession if the rightful owner never challenges it. The concept was more widely practiced with farm land. Today, the claim can only be made on property that goes unchallenged for at least 10 years…. [more]