From left: Eastdil’s Doug Harmon, CB Richard Ellis’ Darcy Stacom, Steve Siegel, Bill Shanahan and the building at 111 Eighth Avenue (building photo source: PropertyShark)

Google is reportedly shelling out $1.77 billion in cash for its new office at 111 Eighth Avenue, which was reported as sold earlier this month, according to the New York Post. Google will occupy 550,000 square feet in the 2.9 million-square-foot Chelsea building, located between 15th and 16th streets. Douglas Harmon of Eastdil Securities marketed the building, which reportedly had numerous competing buyers. But, according to Dan Fasulo of commercial real estate tracking firm Real Capital Analytics, Google’s ability to pay cash helped it succeed in the purchase. [more]

Google signed a contract yesterday to buy its 111 Eighth Avenue New York City home for $1.8 billion in the largest commercial real estate purchase by a tenant in U.S. history, according to the Post. The company put down “serious money,” though not a full 10 percent deposit, accordng to sources. Google currently has 500,000 square feet of the 3 million-square-foot property between 15th and 16th streets, where Nike WebMD and Sprint also reside, but is said to be planning to “gobble up the [other current tenants'] space like Pac-Man,” when their leases are up, as one source put it. 1 Comment

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25 Shaw Road and Stephen Siegel

Stephen Siegel has purchased a $13.7 million seven-bedroom, 7.5-bath home with 200 feet of private beachfront in Sag Harbor, a spokesperson confirmed to Newsday. The sale of the 25 Shaw Road home, raised eyebrows last month when it ranked the highest selling one-family home in the town, the seller’s broker Tara Newman of Saunders & Associates told The Real Deal at the time. The buyer’s identity was not immediately available at the time. The property was on the market for two years before Siegel nabbed it from Charles Ray Langston, a Miami-based hedge fund manager. The property has a 50-foot heated swimming pool, theater and croquet court. Just last month Siegel purchased a Manhattan property, a $1.75 million two-bedroom apartment at the Fairchild condo at 55 Vestry Street. [more]

Real estate bigwigs brought their “A” game to David Moore’s “Funny Business” comedy show for charity at Caroline’s comedy club in Times Square last Thursday night (see highlights in the video below). Stephen Siegel, chairman of global brokerage at CB Richard Ellis, told jokes about the down real estate market, the bad job market and at least one that was not family friendly. The show also featured schtick by Jonathan Tisch, chief executive of Loews Hotels, who sang a rendition of the Frank Sinatra song “It was a very good year.” He started out: “When I was 53 — it was a very good year — it was a very good year for hotel chains and travel. The money flowed free. It was before AIG. It was 2006.” And Stew Leonard, president and CEO of popular grocery chain Stew Leonard, told a Madoff joke. The charity comedy show was hosted by David Moore, CEO of Register.com and vice chairman of private jet company Marquis Jet. TRD
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