Robert Sammons

The head of research for the Tri-State area at Cassidy Turley is moving to Newmark Grubb Knight Frank to head the larger Midtown-based firm’s local research division. Robert Sammons, a well-known analyst popular with the local real estate press, is leaving the mid-size commercial brokerage after more than 12 years on the job, several sources familiar with the move, said. His new title at NGKF, where he will start in several weeks, was not immediately known. Sammons, who has a regular column with the Commercial Observer, worked for three years in the mid-1990s for Cushman & Wakefield…. [more]

Edward Minskoff and a rendering of 51 Astor Place

Edward Minskoff’s Minskoff Equities has closed on a construction loan valued at between $165 and $200 million with Bank of America for 51 Astor Place, the real estate company’s new office development near Cooper Union, the New York Observer reported.

Minskoff is confident in the success of the 400,000-square-foot property, which is slated to be completed by 2013, he said, despite not having signed any tenants so far.

“It will surpass the Bank of America building [at One Bryant Park] in some ways,” he said. To some brokers, rents at 51 Astor Place, which will range from about $88 to $115 per square foot, the Observer said, seem a little high. … [more]

As the vacancy rate for Manhattan Class A office space continues to drop, landlords are trying to see how far they can push up asking rents, according to Crain’s. They are holding back on their most sought-after properties in order to achieve higher rents.

According to recent data from Cassidy Turley, the Class A vacancy rate dropped to 10.8 percent for June, down a full percentage point from the same period last year. Yet, the number of buildings with zero vacancies dropped — from 48 to 42. Only 23 Midtown office buildings are now fully occupied, Crain’s said.
… [more]

Nearly a month after Condé Nast formally agreed to lease about 1 million square feet in 1 World Trade Center, brokerage firms are mulling over what impact the publisher’s move from Midtown will have on the Downtown market.

One commercial brokerage firm, Cassidy Turley, is taking a close look at which companies have a tight relationship with the media giant to see if they might transfer their offices to Lower Manhattan to remain close by, and hire Cassidy Turley to assist them.

The impact from Condé Nast’s move downtown “can’t be overestimated,” Robert Sammons, Cassidy Turley’s vice president of research, said. … [more]

Midtown’s smaller and older Class B buildings have vacancy rates rising and asking rents
declining, bucking the overall positive trend in Manhattan’s largest market, a monthly
report from commercial services firm Cassidy Turley shows.

“I would say that a concern today is the Class B market in Midtown as it is lagging in the
recovery,” said Robert Sammons, vice president of research at Cassidy Turley.

The 70 million square feet of Class B office space in Midtown had a vacancy rate of 15.3
percent in April, up from 14.2 percent in April one year ago…. [more]

Source: Cassidy Turley

The Manhattan office vacancy rate ticked up in the first quarter of 2011 even as employment in the professional sector rose at the fastest clip since 2000, Robert Sammons, vice president of research for commercial real estate services firm Cassidy Turley, said.

Companies in the city brought on 11,500 new office workers in the first three months of this year, the most in any first quarter since 2000, when 15,700 jobs were created, he said.

The first-quarter vacancy rate rose even as employment moved up because of several factors, including large blocks of space being added to the market from tenants who signed relocation deals last year, and because many firms have excess space for their new hires, according to Sammons. He said he did not believe the rate rose because of any further erosion in the market. … [more]

New York City’s office subleasing marketing is drying up, and landlords are readying for rent hikes in its wake, Crain’s reported. Data from Cassidy Turley shows that in November, the amount of available New York sublease space — usually 30 to 40 percent cheaper than space available for direct leasing — hit 10.9 million square feet. That’s the city’s lowest level since October 2008, when the market crashed and subleases began flooding the market as tenants with pricey Park Avenue office space snapped into consolidation mode. … [more]

When the office leasing market began to collapse more than two years ago, Midtown
Class A landlords fearful of putting out the wrong price in the volatile market pulled back
from listing their asking rents. Now with the leasing market returning to approximately normal volumes spurred by
sharply reduced prices, more Class A property owners in Midtown are confident enough
to list their asking rents, Robert Sammons, vice president for research at commercial
services firm Cassidy Turley, said. The firm’s December office report released Monday shows why they are getting more
self-assured. The vacancy rate for Midtown Class A space fell to 10.9 percent in
December, down from 13.9 percent one year earlier, and asking rents were $65.29 per
square foot, up from a recent low of $63.87 per foot in September. (See the full report
after the jump.)… [more]

The office leasing market in Manhattan was mixed last month with a decline in overall vacancy rates that pointed to an improvement but at the same time average asking rents continued to slide lower revealing continued weakness, a new report rele… [more]

Swiss bank UBS is said to be on the hunt for some 800,000 square feet of New York-area office space, making it the largest tenant in the market, Bloomberg reported. UBS already has roughly 5 million square feet in the tri-state area, including offices at 299 Park Avenue and 1285 Avenue of the Americas, Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken, N.J. and a trading complex in Stamford, Conn. Some of the bank’s existing leases are expiring in 2013, though it is unclear which ones, and as such, the bank is beginning to search for offices in new and existing buildings in Manhattan and its outlying areas, according to Kris Kagel, a UBS spokesperson. Sources said UBS had already requested proposals from landlords, but Kagel said a decision likely wouldn’t come for several months. “It would definitely be a boon to the landlord that lands them,” said Robert Sammons, research director for Colliers ABR. “Manhattan rents are at or near their low point. It remains an ideal market for the tenant.” [Bloomberg]