Kuwaiti investment firm Fosterlane Management, the former owner of the Lipstick Building and 350 Park Avenue, is getting back into the New York City real estate game with the purchase of Hines Interests’ 750 Seventh Avenue for $485 million, or roughly $808 per square foot, the Post reported. Earlier this week, the Observer reported that the 600,000-square-foot tower near 49th Street tower was in contract to sell to an anonymous offshore investor. Hines purchased the 36-story tower, half of which is occupied by Morgan Stanley, for $150 million in 2000 through a partnership with General Motors. [more]

From left: Dan Fasulo, Jahn Brodwin, Simon Ziff and Daniel Alpert

From the April issue: While those in the industry have been relieved to see the New York City commercial real estate market bounce back over the past year, the resulting price increases have prompted many investors and developers to look elsewhere for deals.

Instead of searching for properties to buy in the Big Apple, they are, in many cases, turning to other markets — from prime locations like San Francisco and Los Angeles to secondary markets like Austin, Tex.

“People need to realize that the number of assets truly available for a sales price that makes sense is very few in New York City,” said Daniel Alpert, managing partner of Westwood Capital, a Manhattan-based real estate investment bank. [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]

Stuyvesant Town

From the March issue: Tishman Speyer Properties may have suffered one of the biggest debacles of the downturn with Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village, but the firm appears to be getting its footing back. Over the past year, the 33-year-old Manhattan-based company has gone on a spree of buying, selling, developing and leasing buildings, as well as restructuring some of its debt. Last year, the firm bought around $1.06 billion of property around the world, up from $99 million in 2009, according to the Wall Street Journal. It wasn’t just a purchaser, though: The firm sold about $1.9 billion worth of property in 2010, up from $500 million a year earlier. [more]

NBC Universal has signed a 10-year lease for 1.4 million square feet of space at Rockefeller Center in the wake of its acquisition by Comcast, according to the Post. The space, which NBC parent company General Electric bought for $440 million in 1996 after the Rockefeller Center bankruptcy bailout, consists of full-floor office condominiums in 30 Rockefeller Center (where the lease includes 75,602 square feet), the studio building at 49 West 49th Street (where NBC leased 475,110 square feet) and 1250 Sixth Avenue (where NBC leased 187,065 square feet). As part of the deal, brokered by Scott Panzer of Jones Lang LaSalle, NBC will have first dibs on the condos if GE ever decides to sell them. [more]

New York City-based interior construction firm Lehr Construction has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing difficult economic conditions and an ongoing investigation into corruption in the industry, according to Crain’s. Lehr, which has been around for 32 years, has completed projects for some of the city’s biggest real estate developers, including SL Green Realty and Tishman Speyer. [more]

The attorney to a group of tenants at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village has withdrawn a motion to block the complex’s landlords from raising rents on lease renewals beyond the 2.25 percent and 4.5 percent agreements outlined by the Rent Guidelines Board, following a court order soliciting an outside agency to advise on the legal rent-setting formula for the 110-building residential complex.

The State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the agency that administers the Rent Stabilization Law, is set to “give the judge an advisory opinion on the proper legal formula by April 1,” according to Alexander Schmidt, a partner with Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, the firm representing Stuy Town’s tenants in Roberts v. Tishman Speyer Properties. TRD [more]

Top: Protesters at the REBNY event; bottom, from left: Mary Ann Tighe, Douglas Durst and Rob Speyer

The Real Estate Board of New York’s annual banquet — the most high-profile event of the year for the industry — last night was marred by the shouts of protesters.

A group of about 30 people inside the New York Hilton, where the glitzy event was being held, chanted: “Hey you millionaires, pay your fair share!”

Before being escorted off the property by hotel staff, the protesters handed out fliers stating their opposition to the Committee to Save New York, a group of business leaders formed in support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign to oppose tax increases, reduce the size of government and reform Medicaid and pensions for public employees. Donors to the committee include a number of prominent real estate figures, including Tishman Speyer Properties and the Durst Organization. Tishman Speyer’s Rob Speyer is the co-chair of the committee’s board of directors, which also includes REBNY President Steven Spinola and REBNY Chairman Mary Ann Tighe. Tighe, Spinola, Rob Speyer and Douglas Durst all attended the banquet. [more]

Clothier Michael Kors has inked a 10-year lease for a 4,500-square-foot storefront at Rockefeller Center, according to the New York Post. The location, at 610 Fifth Avenue on the corner of 49th Street, once housed a Kenneth Cole location and includes 3,000 square feet of underground storage and office space. Although it was not immediately clear what Michael Kors will pay for the space, a recent retail report from the Real Estate Board of New York show asking rents in the area range from $2,100 to $2,500 per square foot. [more]

Top row, from left: Howard and Steve Rubenstein, Donald Trump, Mort Zuckerman; bottom row, from left: Jerry Speyer, Dottie Herman and Pamela Liebman

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the most powerful man in New York City — so says the New York Observer, which released its annual list of the top 150 most powerful New Yorkers. This year’s ranking included 24 influential real estate players, including real estate PR bigwigs Howard and Steve Rubenstein of Rubenstein Communications (ranked 17th and 78th, respectively), Donald Trump (19th), Boston Properties honcho Mort Zuckerman (20th), Tishman Speyer co-founder Jerry Speyer, Prudential Douglas Elliman CEO Dottie Herman (53rd) and Pamela Liebman, president and CEO of the Corcoran Group (89th). The list included a handful of surprises, as well. TRD [more]