The Pointe

Several Staten Island projects abandoned by developer Leib Puretz after the credit bust are gearing up for a revival, giving hope to locals that the borough is set for a resurgence of its own.

According to Staten Island Advance, the lender who took control of the View, a 95 percent complete 40-unit condominium at the corner of Richmond Terrace and Nicholas Avenue on the North Shore planned by Puretz, has finally hit the market with Massey Knakal Realty Services, meaning it could soon be on the road to completion. [more]

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

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CEO Eric Beniam’s new space on Vernon Boulevard

Eric Benaim’s Long Island City-based brokerage Modern Spaces is moving to new office space. The privately-owned company is relocating its Vernon Boulevard office to a larger 2,100-square-foot space at 47-42 Vernon Boulevard, just four doors down. The current office, at 47-34 Vernon Boulevard, was the firm’s first; Modern Spaces opened it in August 2008. The firm also has offices at 10-63 Jackson Avenue, in LIC, which it opened last August. In the new Vernon Boulevard space, “we will have double the amount of agents — 15 desks, plus conference room, plus workstations,” Benaim said. “We currently have 25 agents spread between two offices.” [more]

From left: The View, Solarium and 10-50 Jackson Avenue

Spring has arrived and new businesses are sprouting up, especially in Long Island City. Local businesses are in flux as new restaurants open, old tenants relocate, and residential buildings find commercial tenants.

The ground-floor retail space at the condominium View along the Queens West waterfront is about to become a gym called Crank, LiqCity.com reported, while the retail space in the bottom of condo 10-50 Jackson Avenue at the corner of 49th Avenue is rumored to be getting a bakery and beauty salon, and Uncle Louie G’s Italian Ices is coming to the remaining retail space at the Solarium, at 5-43 48th Avenue. [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]

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]

The View at 4630 Center Boulevard and unit 304 in the building

The View, TF Cornerstone’s Long Island City waterfront condominium, has passed the 50 percent sold mark. Since last summer, the condo has seen up to 11 closings per month. Nest Seekers International is the exclusive sales and marketing agent for the 184-unit condo, located at 4630 Center Boulevard. The 18-story condo features one-, two- and three-bedroom units up to 1,879 square feet, with prices starting at $616,000. Each unit offers floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the water, white oak flooring, Viking and Sub Zero appliances, washer-dryers and private balconies or terraces. TRD [more]

From left: Nest Seekers CEO Eddie Shapiro and new hire Caroline Grane

Boutique brokerage Nest Seekers International is planning a hiring spree on the heels of what it says was its “most profitable year ever” in 2010, CEO Eddie Shapiro announced today.

The New York City-based company — whose exclusive new development marketing contracts include the Residences at 36 Gramercy Park East, 99 John Deco Lofts and the View in Long Island City — has already hired some 15 new brokers over the past few months and is planning to take on 20 more in the months to come. TRD [more]

From the May issue: A year ago this month, New York’s real estate community experienced one of the darker moments of the recession when Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy — one of the city’s largest and most established firms — announced it would close. However, CBHK turned out to be the only major firm that disappeared. Business, meanwhile, has steadily improved for months. “New York has had a very good rebound,” said Pamela Liebman, CEO of the Corcoran Group. [more]

From left: Twins Andrew and Kenneth Herzberg of Sirius

The depressed market for new condominium apartments is driving the creation of new incentives to facilitate the sale of distressed units. To that end, developers have been trying mortgage payment guarantees and buyback guarantees, with little indication of success. Toll Brothers, developer of Northside Piers in Williamsburg, offered a mortgage protection plan at the condo, but scrapped it last summer. And a little over a year ago, in December 2008, condo developer Rockrose Development, which has split into Rockrose and TF Cornerstone, said it would give 20 buyers at the View in Long Island City the right to sell their unit back in five years to the developer at the original sales price. It was not clear if that had any impact. Now a new financial firm based in Manhattan is setting its sights on a national price protection program, but some industry experts are uncertain about its chances for success in New York City. The company, Sirius Value Protection, headed by identical twins Andrew and Kenneth Herzberg, is talking with developers about its program that offers a qualified price guarantee to buyers, Andrew, a co-managing partner, told The Real Deal. [more]