From left: Gregory Rechler, Mitchell Rechler and Rechler Equity's new headquarters

In a reflection of its growth on Long Island and its relatively new business model, longtime Brooklyn and Long Island developer Rechler Equity has opened a brand new headquarters in Plainview, according to the New York Times. The firm, founded by William Rechler, spent $8 million remaking an industrial building it purchased in 1961 into a new headquarters. The redevelopment was led by William’s grandsons, cousins Gregory and Mitchell Rechler, who wanted to establish the firm’s brand following a split from Gregory’s brother Scott Rechler, who now oversees RXR Realty. [more]

620 Sixth Avenue

Another technology firm is looking to ink a lease in the red hot Midtown South market, the New York Observer reported. Spotify, the online music service, is looking at about 73,000 feet at 620 Sixth Avenue, between 18th and 19th streets, sources told the Observer.

“We thought we were going to have to build a marketing center in the space to convey to tenants our vision but [they] instantly got it,” Bill Elder, leasing director for the landlord, RXR Realty, told Observer. “We have several interested parties for the floor.” [more]

Biggest building purchases of 2011

Three out of the five biggest building buys in 2011, by price, were Manhattan office towers, according to figures from The Real Deal‘s 2012 Data Book, which is now available for purchase online. The biggest transaction of 2011 was the purchase of the Starrett-Lehigh Building, at 601 West 26th Street, by Scott Rechler’s RXR Realty for $920 million, as The Real Deal previously reported in our story about last year’s biggest commercial transactions. The 2.3 million-square-foot property, between 11th and 12th avenues, was previously owned by Shorenstein Properties, one of the nation’s largest landlords. A package comprised of 55 East 42nd Street — also called Park Avenue Plaza — and 49 East 52nd Street traded hands for $569 million last year, coming in at number two. The third-largest deal was for 401 East 34th Street, a 703-unit apartment building, which was purchased for $443 million by the real estate investment trust UDR. (See a chart of the16 top building purchases after the jump.) [more]

Greg Taubin, senior managing director at Studley, and the Starrett-Lehigh building

RXR restructured leases for four tenants in a complicated series of maneuvers at its recently acquired Starrett-Lehigh building, GlobeSt.com reported.

The maneuvering was led by music management firm Harry Fox Agency, which terminated its 47,144-square-foot sublease from Tommy Hilfiger USA at Starrett-Lehigh and fled to 36,921 square feet at the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street. Harry Fox was represented by Studley. [more]

From left: 620 Sixth Avenue, developer Yair Levy and Scott Rechler, chairman and CEO of RXR Realty

An investor group that included developer Yair Levy has officially closed on the $500 million sale of an office and retail complex 620 Sixth Avenue to RXR Realty on Tuesday, and the troubled investor deposited $8.1 million in proceeds into an escrow fund to repay his former Rector Square condominium. [more]

Scott RechlerFrom the November issue: Scott Rechler is the CEO and chairman of RXR Realty, a multibillion-dollar private real estate company with roughly 20 million square feet of Class A office and industrial space. The firm — which is headquartered in Long Island and develops and owns property in the New York Tri-State area — recently completed the purchase of the 2.3 million-square-foot Starrett-Lehigh Building for $920 million. Rechler previously served as CEO and chairman of Reckson Associates Realty, which he sold to SL Green Realty in January 2007 for roughly $6 billion (including the assumption of $2 billion in debt) in one of the largest public real estate management buyouts in REIT history. In September, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed Rechler vice chairman of the board of commissioners of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. [more]

The Starrett-Lehigh Building

From the October issue: In December 2007, less than a year before the fall of Lehman Brothers and as the vise of the credit crunch was tightening, SL Green Realty closed on one of the biggest deals of the decade: $1.575 billion for 388 and 390 Greenwich Street, the 2.6 million-square-foot office complex then occupied largely by Citigroup.

But SL Green, New York’s biggest commercial landlord, did not act alone in the $598-a-square-foot purchase. It had a little help from some loonies, or Canadian dollars. The REIT’s minority partner on the deal, taking a 49.4 percent stake, was SITQ, the real estate investment wing of Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, a Montreal-based pension fund. (SITQ has since merged with Caisse’s other real estate subsidiary, and now goes by the name Ivanhoe Cambridge.) [more]

Scott Rechler, CEO and chairman of RXR Realty, has been appointed vice chairman of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s board of commissioners, the Port Authority announced today. Rechler also will serve as vice chairman of the board’s construction committee and as a member of its capital programs and agency planning committees.

Rechler was appointed to the board in June by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and will succeed Stanley Grayson as chairman, who resigned earlier this week.

“Commissioner Rechler’s extensive experience in private-sector management and financial issues will be a tremendous asset to the board as we continue to review our financial circumstances and our capital plan,” said David Samson, chairman of the Port Authority.
– Katherine Clarke [more]

From left: Scott Rechler, CEO of RXR Realty and Alex Klatskin, partner at
Forsgate Industrial Partners

Economic uncertainty is not stopping commercial real estate industry heads from finding deals nationally, top executives at the International Council of Shopping Centers’ and NAIOP’s 2011 Real Estate Capital Marketplace Conference at Chelsea Piers agreed yesterday, GlobeSt.com reported. There are still key development opportunities to be found in hot gateway markets, they said.

Scott Rechler, CEO of RXR Realty, is focusing primarily on Class A assets, he told the audience. RXR recently acquired the Starrett-Lehigh Building at 601 West 26th Street and is in contract to purchase a controlling share of 620 Sixth Avenue. [more]

RXR Realty CEO Scott Rechler and 620 Sixth Avenue

RXR Realty will take control of 620 Sixth Avenue from a partnership of Joseph Chetrit, Yair Levy and Charles Dayan in a deal that values the building at about $500 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The partnership paid $290 million for it in late 2005, and will retain a minority stake. Douglas Harmon of Eastdil Secured marketed the property for the owners.

The seven-story, 700,000-square-foot, 114-year-old building at 19th Street is 80 percent occupied and home to big-box retailers TJ Maxx and Bed Bath & Beyond. RXR CEO Scott Rechler said the building will generate enough income to cover debt payments beginning next year. Rechler said he was attracted to the building because of its unique appearance and its “Silicon Alley” location — home to the city’s growing tech sector. [more]