From the December issue: Now that the light bulbs have been changed and the solar power panels have been harnessed, real estate firms in New York are gearing up for Sustainability 2.0.

In fact, just about every big New York firm has some sort of sustainability department or point person: Jones Lang LaSalle, Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE Group, Vornado, Silverstein Properties, the Durst Organization, Malkin Holdings, the Related Companies and SL Green, to name just a few.

And there’s good reason for that. Gone are the days of merely hanging out a sustainability shingle that touts a building owner for being concerned about the environment.

In recent years, investors have started paying closer attention to how green an asset is before deciding whether to pump their own greenbacks into the property. [more]

Over 2,000 people attended the Real Estate Board of New York’s annual banquet last Thursday night (see a story on the affair here). The Real Deal milled around the event, held at the New York Hilton, and chatted with real estate pros and politicians — from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to Mary Ann Tighe, chairman of REBNY & CEO of CBRE’s tri-state region, to Bruce Mosler, chairman of global brokerage at Cushman & Wakefield, to developers Joseph Moinian and Douglas Durst among others — about what they are seeing going on in the marketplace (see video above). The Real Deal also captured some protesters that were on the scene. 
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From left: Former Winick Realty President Cory Zelnik, former Duane Reade location at 4 Times Square, and current location at 225 Broadway (building photo source: PropertyShark)

In his second day on the witness stand, former Winick Realty Group President Cory Zelnik described additional allegedly fraudulent leasing transactions with drug store chain Duane Reade, this time at various city locations including one on lower Broadway damaged in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and another at the site of the Durst Organization’s One Bryant Park in Midtown.

Zelnik took the stand for his second day of testimony yesterday in a case brought by the United States Attorney in Manhattan against two former executives of drug store chain Duane Reade, who are accused of multiple crimes including securities fraud, which involved allegedly bogus real estate deals. Zelnik is not charged in the case, but is testifying under a grant of immunity from prosecution for his participation in the allegedly fraudulent deals. The defendants Anthony Cuti, former Duane Reade CEO, and William Tennant, a former CFO and senior vice president, who later served as an outside consultant for the drug store chain, are accused of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, filing false quarterly and annual reports, and other charges. They each face up to 20 years in prison. [more]

While Douglas Durst had been a long-time opponent of the Freedom Tower — alleging that the planned tower had “an overly expensive design to be occupied by government agencies at overly expensive rents” — the developer has changed his mind, according to the Observer. Today, the Durst Organization is one of four bidders, along with Boston Properties, Related Companies and Hines Interests, angling for a stake in the Downtown building from the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. All four have reportedly made $100 million offers for a non-traditional equity stake in the tower. “The building is going to go ahead no matter what anybody says,” Durst said, explaining his decision. “Similarly with the Times Square redevelopment project, we bitterly opposed that, but once the decision was made to go forward, we were a part of it.” That’s not to say that Durst is on board with the boom-time mindset that, according to him, still pervades the commercial real estate industry. When asked what he thinks the industry has learned from the recession, he replied, simply, “nothing.” [NYO] and [NYO]

From left: Gary Jacob, executive vice president of Glenwood Management, Gary Barnett of Extell and Douglas Durst of the Durst Organization have legally used LLCs to contribute to Paterson, Cuomo

More real estate developers are finding loopholes in gubernatorial campaign finance laws by donating under LLCs. While individual persons can’t donate more than $50,000 to candidates for governor, LLCs associated with companies like the Durst Organization and Extell Development have given big bucks to the campaigns of Governor David Paterson and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, respectively, according to the New York Daily News. Durst-affiliated LLCs doled out $90,000 to the current governor while Extell handed over at least $47,000 to his challenger. Curiously, some companies gave money to both the candidates, reports show. LLCs linked to Manhattan-based luxury apartment owner Glenwood Management gave $300,000 to Paterson and $150,000 to Cuomo. In total, Paterson has received a total of $1.8 million in LLC-based donations, while Cuomo has taken in $2 million. New York City actually banned candidates from accepting donations from LLCs in 2008, but the practice is still legal for candidates running for office on the state level. State Senator Daniel Squadron has taken the practice to task, and is reportedly trying to push through legislation.
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Six different high-profile property owners are angling for a stake in 1 World Trade Center, formerly called Freedom Tower, including Related Companies, Vornado Realty Trust, Boston Properties, the Durst Organization, Brookfield Properties and Hines Interests, according to the Observer. A stake in the 1,776-foot tower being constructed by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey would require a $100 million commitment — at least — from the interested parties. The Port Authority is eager to draw interest from non-governmental agencies, according to Stephen Sigmund, a spokesperson for the agency. “We’re pleased with the private sector’s strong interest,” Sigmund said. [more]

From left to right: Justin Elghanayan, Jed Walentas, Andrew Sciame, Samantha Rudin, Raphael De Niro and Benjamin Levine

From the January issue: Signs of improvement appeared at the end of the year, but 2009 will be remembered for its epic real estate downturn. In response to the maelstrom of hard times, many longtime industry veterans took the opportunity to scale back their activities rather than tackling what promise to be several more difficult years. For example, Brown Harris Stevens announced plans to take over the 28-year-old Upper East Side boutique firm started by Edward Lee Cave, a fixture of the high-end brokerage scene. And Douglas Durst stepped down as co-president of the Durst Organization, after describing his day-to-day duties as “exhausting.” (He’ll remain chairman). But as some industry leaders recede, new opportunities are being created for young players, new ideas, new buyers and innovative business models. This month, The Real Deal looked at the next generation of New York City real estate, from the people poised to reshape the industry to the strategies that will help them do it. We looked at how the offspring of some of the city’s most established real estate families — including Ivanka Trump, Jed Walentas, Justin Elghanayan and Jamie and Harrison LeFrak — are handling the downturn. Because many old real estate families were conservative during the boom and avoided overleveraging, observers say their sons and daughters are uniquely positioned to profit from distressed opportunities.  More

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From left: Vishaan Chakrabarti, Helena Durst and Jared Seligman

As a new decade arrives, so does the latest crop of boat-rockers, according to the Observer, which released its list of “insurgents” yesterday. The list contains the 50-plus “punks who will make this city hum again,” the Observer said, including several real estate bigwigs. Helena Durst, assistant vice president for the Durst Organization, Prudential Douglas Elliman’s 23-year-old whiz kid Jared Seligman, Veronica Mainetti, head of investment management firm Sorgente Group’s U.S. activities; Vishaan Chakrabarti, director of the real estate development program at Columbia University as well as president of the Moynihan Station venture; and Jonathan Butler, the Brooklyn real estate blogger who founded Brownstoner, were among the real estate players named on the list. “The ‘insurgents’ may not know it yet, but they’re about to remake this town in ways many of us can’t even fathom,” the Observer editors wrote. “Meet the people who are going to make the [next decade] worth watching.” Other listees include Jonathan Gray, senior managing director of the Blackstone Group, and Andrew Ross Sorkin, reporter and author of “Too Big to Fail.” [NYO]

510 Madison Avenue and Harry Macklowe

Harry Macklowe is angling to buy back the mortgage on his 30-story 510 Madison Avenue, despite bids from other investors, including Douglas Durst, co-president of the Durst Organizaton, the Observer reported today, based on rumors confirmed by several unnamed sources. Union Labor Life Insurance Company, the first mortgage holder, has given the building’s debt a $150 million price tag, down $100 million from its original value. The Midtown building, which sits on the corner of 53rd Street, currently counts just one retailer as a tenant — the rest of the building is vacant.

Jonathan “Jody” Durst, co-president of the Durst Organization, sat down with the New York Times to talk about sustainable development, new projects and the latest shakeup at Durst: Jonathan’s cousin, Douglas, co-president and current chairman, announced that he would be leaving the co-president post and stepping down from day-to-day operations at the organization, while remaining chairman. Beyond leadership changes, Durst said his company is holding up well in the market. His latest project, the 55-story Bank of America building, is back on track after nabbing an extended $1.3 billion in loans. Today, the tower is nearly 99 percent complete and 98 percent occupied, Durst said, but securing the proper financing wasno easy task: “It took the expertise of many consultants and lawyers just to keep everybody together and focused. The economy and the financial atmosphere were constantly changing over those 12 months, and so all the participants were wondering whether they should stay at it.”