Joel Herskowitz, the new COO of Lee & Associates NYC

Joel Herskowitz, the former president and CEO of Grubb & Ellis, has joined the newly formed New York City arm of commercial brokerage Lee & Associates, taking the title of COO, Lee & Associates announced today.

“Joel is a legend in this city and his knowledge and experience will be crucial as we move forward in developing this office,” said James Wacht, president of Lee & Associates NYC. “The transactions will be there, but what we need to do now is find those brokers with the experience, knowledge and attitude to mold this office into a top brokerage firm. That’s what Joel will provide –a strategy for recruitment and retention.” – Katherine Clarke [more]

From left: James Wacht, principal of Sierra Realty and co-founder Lee & Assoicates NYC, Edward Indvik, vice chairman of the Lee & Associates investment group, and 12 East 46th Street (building credit: PropertyShark)

Los Angeles-based real estate brokerage firm Lee & Associates, which reported
$4.4 billion in transactions nationally last year, but has been off the radar in New
York City, opens its first office here today, company executives told The Real
Deal.

James Wacht and Peter Braus, principals of commercial brokerage Sierra Realty,
formed the new entity that will operate as Lee & Associates NYC, based in
Midtown and operating in Manhattan. The new company now has 14 brokers and
agents (brought over from Sierra Realty), but by the end of next year they expect
it to have 10 new hires in office, retail and multi-family leasing, Wacht said.
Wacht and Edward Indvik, vice chairman of the Lee & Associates investment
services group, spoke with The Real Deal yesterday.

“What we are going after are brokers who have a pretty good track record,
probably in excess of half a million dollars in gross commissions on an annual
basis,” Wacht said. [more]

A lack of daytime foot-traffic and rising rents are stunting the retail growth of the once-emerging Lower East Side, Crain’s reported. Annie Havlicek, In God We Trust, Bag and Convent are among the fashion boutiques that have fled the Lower East Side, which is exceedingly nightlife-driven, since February. “The neighborhood is definitely a destination for restaurants and bars, but it’s more local traffic during the day and not so much an apparel destination,” said Peter Levitan, a managing director at Sierra Realty. Nevertheless, rents are quickly climbing. Crain’s reported that on prime streets rent is as high as $150 a square foot, and $65 a foot on secondary streets. [more]

An international pretzel maker is opening an outpost in Times Square. Swissmaker, a European purveyor of soft pretzels and nuts, is slated to open a 1,700-square-foot store at 732 Seventh Avenue between 48th and 49th streets, according to Square Foot Realty, which represented landlord Farmore Realty. The nearly 30-year-old Swissmaker, which refers to itself as the “original Swiss soft pretzel” signed a 10-year lease, with a reported asking rent of $25,000 a month. Sierra Realty Group represented the tenant in the transaction. TRD

From left: Sierra’s Peter Braus, Kent Swig, 140 William Street (building photo source: PropertyShark)

A seven-story, roughly 40,000-square-foot vacant commercial building at 140 William Street once owned by real estate developer Kent Swig has begun seeking tenants for the first time since it changed hands, after sitting vacant for “several years,” according to Sierra Realty, the exclusive leasing brokerage for the Financial District property. The building, which Swig sold at a 53 percent loss in July when investor Chris Soukas snapped it up for $11.35 million, according to public records. [more]

From left: Gene Spiegelman of Cushman & Wakefield, Peter Braus of landlord Sierra Realty

The Real Estate Board of New York is in its 10th year of publishing a bi-annual retail report covering Manhattan, and commercial firm Cushman & Wakefield has been putting out its own comprehensive report for years, yet the industry remains far less transparent than its commercial twin, office leasing, insiders say.

REBNY is expected to release its survey of 16 retail corridors and seven neighborhoods in Manhattan next week, a report first published in the fall of 2000 to combat what it considered inaccuracies in market data in news stories.

Last month, Cushman came out with its first-quarter 2010 detailed report on seven Manhattan corridors, and other firms such as CB Richard Ellis and CoStar Group, put out their own quarterly data.

While these reports provide general asking rent data, they pale in comparison to office reports which provide figures on effective rents, leasing volume and other details. [more]

From left: Pret A Manger is moving in on the corner of 29th Street and Seventh Avenue and Fresh & Co. is a recent addition to the neighborhood on the corner of 30th Street and Seventh Avenue

Once thought of as a transit hub for travelers moving in and out of Penn Station, a strip of Seventh Avenue is slowly gaining retailer clout. Brokers say the stretch of retail from 29th to 34th streets is improving because of shifting real estate values, large development projects on the horizon and the influence of one property owner: Vornado Realty Trust. In the last few months, the quality of retailers in the area appears to have shifted. Fresh & Co., an upscale — primarily lunch — eatery, opened several months ago at the corner of 30th Street and Seventh Avenue. Pret A Manger, meanwhile, has plywood up on the corner of West 29th Street. And, within a couple of months after Supermac macaroni and cheese joint’s closing last November, a new vegan sit-down restaurant opened in the location on Seventh Avenue between 29th and 30th streets. And, as these high-end eateries crop up, some retail experts say that the neighborhood is turning a corner. [more]

In hindsight, an early nickname for the Empire State Building seems more like an omen. The building earned the moniker “Empty State Building” in the 1930s, when the city’s real estate market crashed after a boom decade. Built in 1931, it was one of several newer buildings that contributed to the city’s 92 percent increase in inventory during the Great Depression. Though the market cycled through ups and downs after that, the “empty” epithet has continued to haunt the Empire State Building. Even amid the boom, in 2006, the landmarked building’s vacancy rate reportedly stood at 18 percent. Today, the building, at 350 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street, has a vacancy rate of 22 percent, according to Fred Posniak, senior vice president at W & H Properties, the building’s manager. About 45 percent of the current vacancy is intentional, with space
being held off the market for renovation, Posniak said. That translates
to about 270,000 or 280,000 of the building’s 600,000 vacant square
feet. The rest of the vacant space, about 320,000 square feet, is on
the market. More

[more]