From left: Equity International Chairman Sam Zell, Toll Brothers Chairman Bob Toll and 400 Park Avenue South

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential and Toll Brothers are closing in on the acquisition of 400 Park Avenue South, according to Crain’s, with plans to build a residential tower with condominium units above rentals.

The site, at 28th Street is currently a 20,000-square-foot parking lot owned by A&R Kalimian Realty. A&R obtained approval for a 40-story, 435-unit rental building, but it put the site on the sales market in May with brokerage Studley. The price Equity Residential and Toll Brothers plan to pay for the site was not revealed, but previous reports said it could draw $400 for each of its 420,000 buildable square feet. [more]

Equity International Chairman Sam Zell and 170 Amsterdam Avenue (building credit: PropertyShark)

For all his talk of investments in emerging markets, Sam Zell hasn’t completely abandoned his home country. According to the New York Post, his Chicago-based Equity Residential firm just grabbed an Upper West Side development site for $76.5 million.

The firm picked up a 99-year leasehold on the 20,700-square-foot site at 170 Amsterdam Avenue between 66th and 67th streets with intentions to build a new structure with 230 apartments and 8,500 square feet of retail. [more]

Equity International Chairman Sam Zell

Sam Zell, chairman of Equity International, said he is entering real estate markets in Colombia and India over the next two weeks, starting with a $75 million investment in Bogota, Colombia-based Terranum Development, Bloomberg News reported. Terranum is developing a 2 million-square-foot mixed-use complex near Bogota’s El Dorado International airport.

Since co-founding Equity International in 1999, Zell has invested largely in Brazil, China and Mexico. [more]

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential has poached a top member of Toll Brothers’ executive team to head up its hunt for new development sites in the New York metropolitan area. According to Crain’s, George Kruse, the former managing director of Toll Brothers Realty Trust, joined Zell’s company last month and will be looking for building opportunities as well as overseeing the construction of TEN23, Equity Residential’s new 111-unit rental building on the High Line, which is slated to kick off leasing efforts this fall. [more]

TEN23, the Equity Residential-developed, 100-unit rental building going up at 500 West 23rd Street near the High Line, is in its final phases of construction and will kick off its leasing efforts in the fourth quarter of this year, Tom Lebling, a senior vice president at the real estate investment trust, told the New York Times. Lebling said rents for studios will begin in the low $3,000s per month, while one-bedrooms will be asking in the $4,000s and two-bedrooms will range from the high $5,000s to low $6,000s. Pricey? Maybe. But according to Lebling, “once you see the finish product the demand will be there.” He expects move-ins to begin during the first quarter of 2012. [more]

Sam Zell and a rendering of 500 West 23rd Street

From the June issue: Since the 2008 financial meltdown, the pace of new residential construction in Manhattan has been limited by tight capital markets, rising labor and material costs, and weak demand for new housing. But a new luxury West Chelsea rental project from billionaire Sam Zell is being closely watched as an indicator of where new development is headed in the near future.

Already, the project at 500 West 23rd Street has been a focal point for union protests. Certainly, with 23 union contracts set to expire this month in New York, the kerfuffle is indicative of the deteriorating relationship between big developers and organized labor in the city. Still, the developers have high hopes for the High Line-adjacent building, as the rental market recovers in one of the city’s busiest areas for new development. [more]

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the Friends of the High Line co-founders, and actor and High Line board member and advocate Edward Norton gathered on the iconic steel trestle this morning for the official opening of the slightly narrower Section 2 of the High Line, running between 20th and 30th streets on the west side of Manhattan (see photos above).

The city took control of the 1.45 mile-long elevated High Line from CSX Transportation in 2005, previously a freight rail structure. The first section opened almost exactly two years ago and marked its 2 millionth visitor in April 2010, according to city data.

“Just as the transformation of the High Line is ongoing… so too is the transformation of the area around it,” Bloomberg said at the dedication ceremony. “Since work on the High Line began, we’ve seen the development of or planning for more than $2 billion in private investment, adding thousands of new residential units, thousands of new jobs, 1,000 new hotel rooms, and new restaurants, galleries and shops.” [more]

Sam Zell, a rendering of his 500 West 23rd Street project, Alf Naman and a rendering of his 515 West 23rd Street project

The High Line has been responsible for $2 billion of private investment, 12,000 new jobs and 29 development projects since opening in June 2009, show city figures cited by the New York Post. In 2010 alone, almost 2 million people visited the park, which opened its second section, between West 20th and 30th streets on Wednesday. “This is something I don’t think anyone expected,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “I don’t think anyone expected this economic impact.” As reported in the June issue of the The Real Deal famed developer Sam Zell and Alf Naman are among those parlaying the success of the High Line into new developments with forthcoming condominiums at 500 West 23rd Street and 515 West 23rd Street, respectively. [more]

The near completion of the second section of Chelsea’s High Line park has brought a wave of new residential developments, and new developers, to the West 20s. As the Wall Street Journal noted, one of the developers making its first foray into Manhattan construction is actually a familiar name: Equity Residential, the company chaired by real estate mogul Sam Zell. Though Zell first entered New York City in 2004, and the New York-Metro area now accounts for 13 percent of his company’s income, a 111-unit rental is the first ground-up project his firm has undertaken. [more]

From left: Douglas Durst, Jody Durst, Andrew Cuomo, Marc Holliday and Andrew Mathias

What do Douglas and Jody Durst, heads of the Durst Organization, Marc Holliday and Andrew Mathias of SL Green and Governor Andrew Cuomo have in common? They topped the Observer’s annual list of the 100 most powerful people in New York real estate. Carlos Slim, believed by some to be the world’s richest person, Sam Zell and Gary Barnett headline the notable newcomers to the list, while old money like Peter and Anthony Malkin and Bill Rudin also place in the top quarter of the list. Finally, the newest presidential candidate, Donald Trump, jumped two places to 14th on the list from last year, and and Mitchell Steir and Michael Colacino are the highest ranking working brokers, both at No. 33. [NYO] [more]