With two weeks left to avert a strike, 32BJ, the service employees union which represents office maintenance workers in many New York City commercial buildings, plans to march down Sixth Avenue at rush hour tomorrow, according to spokespeople for the union.
The office cleaners’ group expects between 5,000 and 6,000 people to march up Sixth Avenue from 41st Street to 48th Street in solidarity with workers, union spokesperson Matt Nerzig told The Real Deal.
– Guelda Voien [more]
Local 32BJ, the union representing more than 22,000 commercial
building workers in New York City, voted Thursday to authorize their
bargaining committee to call a strike if necessary, the union said in
a statement.
The union has been in contract talks with the Realty Advisory Board on
Labor Relations, an industry association representing most building
owners, since November 15th. The union opposes the
landlords’ proposal to establish a different wage and benefit
structure for new hires, which they claim will create a two-tier
system designed to push out workers with seniority.
If negotiations fail by 12:01 am on Jan. 1, 2012, the union could
strike at such high-profile buildings as Rockefeller Center, the Met
Life Building and the Empire State Building. Workers’ contracts expire
on Dec. 31, 2011, according to today’s announcement. – Guelda Voien [more]
Clothier Michael Kors has inked a 10-year lease for a 4,500-square-foot storefront at Rockefeller Center, according to the New York Post. The location, at 610 Fifth Avenue on the corner of 49th Street, once housed a Kenneth Cole location and includes 3,000 square feet of underground storage and office space. Although it was not immediately clear what Michael Kors will pay for the space, a recent retail report from the Real Estate Board of New York show asking rents in the area range from $2,100 to $2,500 per square foot. [more]
New Yorkers will be able to enjoy a variety of burgers in 2010 with the opening of a number of burger restaurants in Manhattan.
Elevation Burger, the Virginia-based chain specializing in an organic, grass-fed, free-range burger, has signed a lease for its first location at 103 West 14th Street in Union Square. The 1,900-square-foot restaurant will seat 50 to 60 guests. The restaurant, which will also have an outdoor café, is scheduled to open in May.
Also in May, Stephen Hanson and B. R. Guest Restaurants’, Bill’s Bar & Burger is scheduled to open in Rockefeller Center. The company has signed a lease for 10,000 square feet of space on the street and concourse levels at 50th and 51st streets, between Fifth and Sixth avenues. The first Bill’s Bar & Burger opened in October 2009 in the Meatpacking District, as The Real Deal reported in “Burger Joints Supersizing“ in that month’s issue. [more]
From the February issue: On a winter afternoon last month, sunshine streamed through the windows on the 33rd story of 30 Lincoln Plaza, illuminating the cleaning supplies and paint cans that occupy the high-ceilinged space. Innocuous though it may seem, this out-of-the-way spot is at the center of a bitter dispute now raging between the building”s tenants and the developer, the Milstein real estate family. In their quest to prevent the Milsteins from converting the rental building into condos, tenants have filed a lawsuit claiming that when 30 Lincoln Plaza was constructed three decades ago, the developer ignored city permits and added an illegal extra floor — the 33rd. Litigation is nothing new for the Milsteins. They are one of the city’s oldest and most successful real estate families, but also among the most controversial. [more]
Hachette Filipacchi, the publisher that recently lost out to beauty giant Avon in talks to take over several open floors at the William Kaufman Organization’s 777 Third Avenue, is reportedly closing in on a deal at the 48-story Time-Life Building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in Rockefeller Center. The contract would be for 132,000 square feet of space previously occupied by Lehman Brothers, which had subleased the three floors from Time Inc. Hachette would be downsizing significantly from its current 263,010 square feet at 1633 Broadway, which is owned by Paramount. Deloitte is also expected to vacate 1633 Broadway soon, in a move that could leave the door open for television network A&E. Currently located at 235 East 45th Street, A&E is in the market for 350,000 square feet of space and is rumored to have looked at the Empire State Building and Worldwide Plaza in addition to Paramount’s building. [Post]
The New York Observer looked at how the values of New York City’s 10
priciest office towers have shifted since spring 2007. At that time,
real estate professionals surveyed agreed that the GM Building at 767
Fifth Avenue was worth at least $4 billion. Today, based on its
reported income, the building is worth between $1.9 billion and $2.6
billion. Overall, the value of trophy office buildings, including 9
West 57th Street, Rockefeller Center, 200 Park Avenue and One Bryant
Park, has fallen between 25 and 60 percent. [more]
