Clockwise from top left: The View condominium, Modern Spaces CEO Eric Benaim, Scott Walsh, director of market research for TF Cornerstone and the view from Penthouse 9 at sunset

Brokers and potential buyers gathered last night at TF Cornerstone’s Long Island
City condominium the View to check out the staged penthouses, and, quite
frankly, the views.

The Real Deal arrived just in time to see the sun set over the Manhattan skyline
directly across the river from the condo. The sight was breathtaking, even for
Scott Walsh, TF Cornerstone’s director of market research, who sees it every
day from his ground-floor apartment in the building.


Walsh said he eschewed the penthouses — which have been on the market since 2009 and range from $1.485 million
for a 1,495-square-foot two-bedroom unit to $1.785 for a 1,763-square-foot
three-bedroom after recent price cuts — for his unit because of his private large outdoor
garden. 1 Comment

• Tweet

Walt “Clyde” Frazier and 505 West 37th Street

New York Knicks’ Hall of Famer Walt “Clyde” Frazier is opening a restaurant and sports bar in Midtown West, The Real Deal has learned. The establishment will likely be named “Clyde’s” and will be located in a 10,530-square-foot retail space on the ground floor of TF Cornerstone’s residential rental complex 505 West 37th Street at 10th Avenue. Frazier, who currently provides color-commentary on Knicks telecasts, was nicknamed “Clyde” for a fashion sense that resembles the title character in the 1967 film “Bonnie and Clyde.”
The restaurant will be a partnership with Ark Restaurants, which as the New York Post reported in March, signed a lease in the space with a target opening date of Dec. 1. [more]

TF Cornerstone showed off the 15,705 square feet of ground-floor retail space at its Meatpacking District rental building, dubbed West Coast, with a party for brokers and other real estate professionals late last month (see photos above). The retail space, underneath the 325-unit building at 95 Horatio Street, has two separate addresses, 90 Gansevoort Street and 810 Washington Street, and is located across the street from a High Line entrance and the forthcoming Whitney Museum. The celebration took place at 810 Washington Street, where a pair of clothing stores have already signed for space — Intermix, for 2,725 square feet and Vanita Rosa, for 825 square feet. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

TF Cornerstone has reached out to the Water Club restaurant at 500 East 30th Street as a refuge for nearby Plaza East residents who will be without a rooftop sun deck until building renovations are completed in late summer, Cornerstone announced. Starting Tuesday, the partnership will give the rental residents a club card special to residents which they can present at the Water Club’s rooftop Crow’s Nest bar in exchange for a residents-only customized menu and complimentary light bites.
“We are continuously looking for ways to let our residents know that we are always thinking of them,” said Sofia Estevez, executive vice president of TF Cornerstone, whose colleague Irene Malatesta, confirmed that the building’s facade was being renovated, affecting the roof. The Water Club was chosen as a collaborator because of its proximity, she said. [more]

Susan Hewitt of the Cheshire Group, previous owner Mark Terk and 1327-1329 Lexington Avenue

A low-key residential property company based in Greenwich Village paid $105 million for a 99-unit apartment building in Carnegie Hill whose fate had been uncertain following the death of the heir to the property three years ago.

The Cheshire Group, which owns and operates market-rate and rent-regulated properties in the New York metro area, closed on Tuesday on the purchase of 1327-1329 Lexington Avenue, between 88th and 89th streets, in an all cash transaction, the firm’s president, Susan Hewitt, told The Real Deal.

The ownership of Rhinelander Properties was thrown into confusion with the death of the property’s heir Mark Terk at the age of 54 in May 2008.
Comments

• Tweet

New residential developments are slowly turning a stretch of Hell’s Kitchen from one of the largest patches of undeveloped land in Manhattan into a vibrant enclave, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In the last three years, MiMA, a rental and condo building by Related on 42nd Street and 10th Avenue, Emerald Green, a 569-unit development on West 38th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues and 455W37 and 505W37, TF Cornerstone projects on West 37th Street near 10th Avenue, have all come to the neighborhood. Construction is underway on more projects, the Journal said, including a rental building by Glenwood Management at 330 West 39th Street. [more]

From left: Modern Spaces CEO Eric Benaim, the View and Nest Seekers CEO Eddie Shapiro

TF Cornerstone has tapped Modern Spaces to replace Nest Seekers and exclusively sell the approximately 70 condominium units remaining at the View on 4630 Center Boulevard in Long Island City. The 18-story, 184-unit condo surpassed the 50 percent sold mark in early February, and reported closing approximately 11 units per month. Based on the 60 percent figure the View now reports, Nest Seekers had not veered far from that pace in the last two months. TF Cornerstone declined to comment on the switch and Nest Seekers did not immediately return calls for comment. TRD [more]

A growing number of New York City-based real estate firms are purchasing office buildings in the nation’s capital, according to Crain’s. The vacancy rate in Washington, D.C. is 11.2 percent — besting the national central business district average of 14.4 percent, and approaching Manhattan’s 10.5 percent rate. Meanwhile, leasing activity in Washington jumped 30 percent last year. As a result, Tishman Speyer, the Rockefeller Group, TF Cornerstone and TIAA-CREF have purchased office towers in Washington in recent months, and last month Rockrose Development Corp. spent $43 million for a 180,000-square-foot building at 1150 18th Street N.W. [more]

TF Cornerstone signed a 15-year lease to bring Potbelly Sandwich Shop, a Chicago culinary institution, to 2 Gold Street in the Financial District, the chain restaurant’s first New York location. Potbelly’s snapped up the last available retail space in the building, joining Pret-A-Manger, Goodburger, and Hot Clay Oven. Carl Wunderlich and Mike Stone of Cushman and Wakefield represented the landlord while Jeff Roseman, Marc Frankel and Ben Birnbaum of Newmark Knight Frank, represented the tenant in the transaction. TRD [more]

TF Cornerstone has arranged a 10-year, 800-square-foot lease with Crank
Cycling Studio at the View condominium at 4630 Center Boulevard in Long
Island City. According to TF Cornerstone, the studio, expected to launch
in the spring, will be on the ground floor of the waterfront
residential building and will features 26 Schwinn spin cycles and L.E.D.
lighting. It will be open seven days a week. The landlord was
represented by Winick Realty’s Steven Baker and Josh Singer. Modern
Spaces’ Ted Kokkoris represented the tenant. (note: correction appended) TRD
[more]