From left: Vornado Chairman Steven Roth, a rendering of the 15 Penn Plaza skyscraper and Hotel PennsylvaniaVornado Realty Trust has put off constructing a massive skyscraper that would challenge the Empire State Building’s height at 15 Penn Plaza, sources told the New York Post, and might even pour millions into renovating the hotel that currently occupies the site.

With market rents still hovering below the rates necessary to make office development profitable and the financial firms that would make sensible anchors cutting operations instead of expanding, Vornado has decided to hold off on the development. [more]

From left: Stanley Chera, founder of Crown Acquisitions, Joseph Sitt, CEO of Thor Equities, and Mike
Pappagallo, COO of Kimco Realty

Although just a fraction of the size of the largest global retail convention held each year in Las Vegas by the International Council of Shopping Centers, the trade group’s conference taking place in New York City next week is considered the second most important in the country.

One advantage of its smaller size, insiders said, is that the New York show provides for greater concentration on closing deals.

“In Las Vegas, the annual convention has more pageantry,” Mike Pappagallo, COO for the New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based real estate investment trust, Kimco Realty, said. “At New York there is more good old-fashioned blocking and tackling and deal making.” [more]

A publicly-traded real estate investment trust, one-third owned by Vornado Realty Trust, has completed a $275 million refinancing of Rego Park II, a 600,000-square-foot retail complex in Central Queens, GlobeSt.com reported.

The seven-year loan will repay the existing loan on the property, which, as of Dec. 31, 2010, had a balance of $277 million for the $410 million retail development, GlobeSt.com said.

Tenants at the complex include Costco, Century 21 and Kohl’s. [GlobeSt]

From left: Tina Knowles with her daughter Beyonce, the interior of Tina’s former apartment and the exterior of One Beacon Court

Fashion designer Tina Knowles, the mother of pop singer Beyonce, is moving into her daughter’s apartment at One Beacon Court, an inside source told The Real Deal. Knowles, known for designing outfits for her daughter’s former pop group, Destiny’s Child, now heads up Miss Tina by Tina Knowles, a women’s clothing line sold at Walmart. As the New York Post recently reported, Knowles recently signed a contract to sell her Beacon Court condominium unit, at 151 East 58th Street between Third and Lexington avenues, for $5.6 million.

Beyonce owns an apartment on an upper floor of the 105-unit building, developed by Vornado Realty Trust and designed by architect Cesar Pelli, but does not live there, the source said. [more]

From left: Vornado Realty Trust Chairman Steven Roth, Patrick Foye, executive director of Port Authority, and 20 Times SquareVornado Realty Trust has abandoned its plan to build a 40-story tower atop the Port Authority Bus Terminal after its Chinese investment partner chose to invest the $600 million earmarked for the tower in another Midtown property, the New York Times reported.

Vornado had been in talks with Port Authority of New York & New Jersey to build the tower at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue since 1999. The tower would have been designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, and included a garden atop the existing four-story terminal. As part of the agreement, the developer was also on the hook for a $400 million renovation of the bus terminal that would have brought 18 new gates to the bus hub. [more]

Clockwise from top left: Steve Elghanayan, 40 Thompson Street, 387 West Broadway, 25 West 14th Street and 386 West Broadway

Steve Elghanayan, cousin of the Elghanayans that operate TF Cornerstone and Rockrose Development, is about to enter contract to purchase a four-building portfolio from Vornado Realty Trust for about $80 million, Real Estate Weekly reported.

The portfolio is comprised of 386 and 387 West Broadway, 40 Thompson Street and 25 West 14th Street. Vornado tried to unload a 25,000-square-foot retail condominium at 201 East 66th Street, but reneged because the Gap is about to vacate that space, which lowered the offering price. [more]

Beacon Capital may have to rethink the sale of the News Corp. building at 1211 Sixth Avenue, one of the largest Midtown Manhattan office towers to hit the market since the economy turned in 2008, Crain’s reported, after bids came in around 16 percent below the property’s asking price.

Beacon, which purchased the building in 2006 for $1.5 billion, put the 1.9 million-square-foot office tower up for sale in June for a reported $1.9 billion, but may instead look for an equity partner, Crain’s said, though the company wants to retain majority control in any partial sale.

Some high-profile potential buyers were said to have dropped out of the bidding. SL Green Realty and Vornado Realty Trust made offers, sources told Crain’s, but then decided against pursuing the deal. [more]

From left: SL Green CEO Marc Holliday, 280 Park Avenue (building photo source: PropertyShark), and Vornado Chairman Steven Roth

Vornado Realty Trust and SL Green Realty are planning a $60 million to $100 million transformation of the office towers at 280 Park Avenue that the partnership acquired for almost $500 million in April, according to the New York Post.

The group has commissioned architects KPF to oversee facade modifications to the structure, comprised of a 31-story tower and a 48-story tower that are connected by a 17-story middle building near 49th Street, and a complete renovation of the tower’s base and plaza and lobby. [more]

From left: David Schechtman, senior director of Eastern Consolidated’s Turnaround and Distressed Group, Christopher Okada, CEO of Okada & Company, and Adelaide Polsinelli, associate vice president of investments at Marcus & Millichap

Midtown West is quickly becoming a hub of commercial activity, brokers say, in anticipation of the Related Companies’ Hudson Yards development and thanks to new zoning regulations. “Eastern Consolidated, and I personally, have done a tremendous amount of work there,” said David Schechtman, senior director of Eastern Consolidated’s Turnaround and Distressed Group. “There’s a renewed interest in the neighborhood. It’s south of the already established Hell’s Kitchen and the gateway to Hudson Yards. There are big old buildings there that are ready to be repositioned — old, raw material that could be reshaped.”

As The Real Deal previously reported, Midtown West office building sales rose by more than 100 percent year-over-year in 2011, to $5.7 billion from $1.8 billion in 2010, according to Eastern Consolidated’s recent MetroGrid Report for Midtown West, released last week, which defines Midtown West as the area that extends from 30th to 59th streets, and Fifth Avenue to the Hudson River.  [more]

Vornado Realty Trust Chairman Steven Ross and 11 East 68th Street (building credit: PropertyShark)Vornado Realty Trust went into contract to buy an Upper East Side rental building for $170 million, the New York Post reported.

The 11-story, 41-unit apartment building at 11 East 68th Street, with two rental units along Madison Avenue, hit the market in July, with some experts predicting it could fetch as much as $220 million, in part because of its potential for a condominium conversion. Adam Spies and Doug Harmon, senior managing directors at Eastdil Secured, marketed the property. [more]