From left: One57 and Extell Development President Gary Barnett; the Touraine and Toll Brothers CEO Bob Toll; and 737 Park Avenue and Harry Macklowe

In an effort to increase control and decrease costs, big condominium developers are increasingly using their own sales teams for new projects rather than hiring outside brokerages to market the units, according to the Wall Street Journal.

For example, Extell Development, which relied on the Corcoran Group to market most of the condos it built throughout the last decade, has hired its own sales staff for its massive One57 development.

“To be frank, there is an awful lot of money in sales commissions and we want to get a piece of that ourselves,” Extell Development President Gary Barnett said. [more]

From left: Starwood Capital CEO Barry Sternlicht, RAL Companies CEO Robert Levine, Two Trees founder David Walentas and Brooklyn Bridge Park

Extell Development, Starwood Capital Group and Toll Brothers are just three of the seven high-profile developers vying to build a waterfront hotel and residential complex on Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park board will select among the three aforementioned proposals and ones submitted by Dumbo-based Two Trees, RAL Companies, SDS Procida and Dermot. The developers can build 170 to 225 hotel rooms and 150 to 180 residential units across two buildings no taller than 110 and 55 feet. [more]

Ron Moelis

From the November issue: In 1998, L+M Development Partners started its first affordable housing project on West 148th Street, between Adam Clayton Powell and Frederick Douglass boulevards. At the time, the vacant block was inhabited solely by boarded-up, graffiti-scrawled buildings, abandoned by their owners in the ’60s and ’70s. In the middle of the block sat P.S. 90, a Collegiate Gothic-style structure built in 1907 by architect Charles Snyder. Unused by schoolchildren for 30 years, the building’s windowpanes were broken or missing, and its stone gargoyles tarnished. Trees sprouted amid overturned desks.

This spring, a buyer paid $1.13 million for a three-bedroom combination apartment in the P.S. 90 building — restored and converted to condos by L+M. [more]

From left: 1450 Washington and Liberty HarborDevelopers that were able to weather the financial storm and secure financing for condominium projects in New Jersey are starting to see a payoff, the New York Times reported.

Buyers in condo strongholds, such as Hoboken, have returned to a market place that has experienced little new construction. So new developments, especially those that are priced for value, are being absorbed quickly.

For example, the Toll Brothers’ latest project, the 156-unit 1450 Washington, has signed contracts for 45 units and deposits for eight more, even though construction isn’t complete and the sales office doesn’t open until next week. [more]

Toll Brothers has obtained final approval for a massive development in Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District, a signal that locals’ efforts to keep the neighborhood an artist’s haven have probably failed, according to the Jersey City Independent.

After four years of political wrangling, the plan for three 30-story towers with 950 units is moving forward despite the developers exceeding zoning codes — by four times the height and twice the density, according to opponents — and eschewing affordable housing for cash payments. Toll Brothers’ plan had languished in court for two years as the Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association sued the city for seemingly granting substantial zoning variances on a whim. [more]

Edge developer Douglaston Development has taken the lead on building a nearby site at 3 Northside Piers in Williamsburg and plans to break ground on a $300 million project in March, the Wall Street Journal reported. Douglaston, led by CEO Jeffrey Levine, intends to build a 40-story rental tower where rents range from $55 to $60 per square-foot.

The tower was originally supposed to be part of a three-building complex developed by Toll Brothers, L&M Development Partners and RD Management, but after sales were slow — even after price cuts — in the first two Northside Piers buildings, Toll Brothers backed out of the project. L&M and RD will help on Douglaston’s version of the tower. [more]

From left: Equity International Chairman Sam Zell, Toll Brothers Chairman Bob Toll and 400 Park Avenue South

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential and Toll Brothers are closing in on the acquisition of 400 Park Avenue South, according to Crain’s, with plans to build a residential tower with condominium units above rentals.

The site, at 28th Street is currently a 20,000-square-foot parking lot owned by A&R Kalimian Realty. A&R obtained approval for a 40-story, 435-unit rental building, but it put the site on the sales market in May with brokerage Studley. The price Equity Residential and Toll Brothers plan to pay for the site was not revealed, but previous reports said it could draw $400 for each of its 420,000 buildable square feet. [more]

From left: One57 and Extell Development President Gary Barnett, the Touraine and Toll Brothers CEO Bob Toll and MiMA and Related Companies CEO Stephen Ross

There’s a scarcity of new development in Manhattan, and developers are licking their chops. According to Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group data cited by the New York Times, by the end of 2011 just 1,111 new units will open in Manhattan south of Harlem. That’s down from 1,767 last year, ad 8,552 in 2007.

That’s good news for developers — such as Extell Development, Related Companies and the Toll Brothers who are delivering One57, MiMA and the Touraine, respectively, to the market — who recognize the scarcity of supply and are raising prices and foregoing concessions. In fact, some developers are even refusing to negotiate with buyers on price. [more]

Three New Jersey artists have created a Trojan horse to protest
development plans by Toll Brothers in the Powerhouse Arts District in
Jersey City, the Wall Street Journal reported. Toll had planned three
residential towers, each about 30 to 35 stories high, and a performing arts
center on a 3-acre site that includes a former kosher food plant.  But residents said that the tall buildings would destroy the
character of the budding arts district, which has cobblestone streets,
low-rise commercial-buildings converted to residences and an
independent coffee shop. [more]

A new Toll Brothers development in Dumbo has a waiting list of 1,100,
the Brooklyn Eagle reported. The property, at  205 Water Street, is still
under construction, and is estimated to be ready for sales and
marketing in September, with closings commencing in spring 2012.
The design, by architecture firm GreenbergFarrow, had the aim of reflecting the project’s
loft-like industrial neighbors. “We have a list of about 1,100 names
of people interested in this project,” Todd Dumaresq, marketing
manager at Toll Brothers City Living, told the Eagle on a tour of 205
Water Street, between Bridge Street and Jay Street, last week. [more]