Honorees of tonight’s REBNY banquet, from left: REBNY President Steve Spinola, Dick Concannon of Rudin Management, Mike Fishman of SEIU, William Montana of Studley, Woody Heller of Studley and Dottie Herman of Douglas Elliman (credit: Zachary Kussin)

Strong activity in the retail sector, and a robust rental and investment sales market seemed to be the tonic buoying the crowd at the 117th annual Real Estate Board of New York banquet. The gathering, held at the New York Hilton Hotel in Midtown, attracted prominent elected leaders, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, as well as thousands of prominent real estate professionals, such as Douglas Durst, Kent Swig, Lawrence Gluck, Larry Silverstein, Ziel Feldman, Paul Massey and James Kuhn. Brokers who attended the gathering were split on how 2013 would shape up. … [more]

Woody Heller and the Madison Belvedere

The Madison Belvedere, a rental property located at 10 East 29th Street between Madison and Fifth avenues, has sold for $300 million, sources told the New York Post.

The property, owned by Rose Associates, was marketed by the Studley team of Woody Heller, Will Silverman, Eric Negrin and Daniel Parker. Invesco purchased the building on behalf of a client. [more]

Robert Knakal (top), Woody Heller (bottom) and 820 Broadway

Families that have for decades owned a mixed-use building in the Village want a recent appraisal by two of the city’s most prominent investment sales brokers, Robert Knakal and Woody Heller, tossed out. The owners are alleging that Knakal was not an impartial party.

Owners of the 133-unit apartment building at 820 Broadway, including members of the Goldstein, Burton and other families, filed a petition yesterday asking a judge to block a price analysis of the 13-story building that valued it on June 25 at $15.6 million. They also hope to block Knakal and Heller from serving as arbitrators in subsequent valuations of the property. [more]

From left: Woody Heller and Will Silverman of Studley and 525 Broadway (credit: PropertyShark)

JPMorgan Chase paid $87.5 million for the eight-story Soho building where one of its most popular bank branches is located, in an effort to protect the valuable location, several industry sources said. A number of real estate investors offered to pay around $68 million for the building, 525 Broadway, industry sources said, while others were well into the $80s. [more]

From left: Christopher Schlank and Nicholas Bienstock, co-managing partners at Savanna, and 40 Mercer Street

The Midtown-based real estate investment firm Savanna is showing a voracious appetite for acquisitions in New York City and now is in contract to buy the retail condominiums at the base of the mixed-use Jean Nouvel-designed building at 40 Mercer Street for about $57.5 million, multiple industry sources said. [more]

From left: Sam Zell of Equity Residential, Bob Toll of Toll Brothers, Will Silverman, Woody Heller, both of Studley, and 400 Park Avenue South

In the most expensive development site deal of the year so far, home builder Toll Brothers and real estate investment trust Equity Residential partnered in reportedly paying $134 million for a large development site at 400 Park Avenue South.

The joint venture plans to build a 40-story condominium and rental apartment tower at the Park Avenue South and 28th Street site, which has 400,000 square feet of development rights, the companies said in a statement.

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential will own and operate the lower 22 floors with 265 rental apartments and retail, while Toll Brothers will build and sell about 100 condo units on the upper floors, the Wall Street Journal reported. … [more]

Studley executive managing director Woody Heller and Knickerbocker Village on the Lower East Side

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by independent broker Chaim Katzap against the former owners of Lower East Side housing development Knickerbocker Village, commercial real estate services firm Studley and Studley executive managing director Woody Heller over a commission relating to the 2007 sale of the complex to Apollo Real Estate Advisors. Katzap was seeking $20 million in fines and damages. The litigation, which has been ongoing since 2007, came to a close Sept. 22 when a judge tossed out the suit by Katzap, who had been hired to find a buyer for Knickerbocker Village, which up two whole city blocks and bounded by Catherine Street, Monroe Street, Market Street and Cherry Street, on a non-exclusive basis by Irene Pletka, partial owner of Cherry Green, a holding company that owns all shares of Knickerbocker. The case was dismissed on the basis that Katzap “never introduced Cherry Green to Apollo, the ultimate purchaser,” and had been acting as a “dual agent” for both the seller and Taconic Investment Partners, a bidder for the property, without fully disclosing his relationship with Taconic to Knickerbocker, according to the decision. … [more]

From left: Adam Spies, Robert Knakal, Woody Heller, Richard Baxter and Harry Krausman

Sources: CoStar Group, PropertyShark.com and The Real Deal.
Footnotes: Sales data is for Manhattan deals published on the city property record site Acris in September and provided by PropertyShark.com. Brokers and additional information is from CoStar Group and The Real Deal.

The top commercial deal to be recorded in city property records in September
was JPMorgan Chase Asset Management closing on the $719 million acquisition of the 14-story office and commercial building
200 Fifth Avenue, (part of the former International Toy Center buildings),
PropertyShark.com data shows. Eastdil Secured’s Adam Spies and Douglas
Harmon brokered the sale (see chart above). The purchase drove much of the
monthly total transfer value, which was $2.9 billion in commercial deals reported
on the city property record site Acris, an analysis of PropertyShark.com figures
show…. [more]

A 20,000-square-foot corner at 400 Park Avenue South at 28th Street, which can support a 420,000-square-foot project, is going on the market via Studley. The site was assembled by developers A & R Kalimian, who were granted approval from the New York City Department of Planning for a “daring” design by French architect Christian de Portzamparc and Handel Architects. It was a favorite project of City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden, according to the New York Post.

After clearing most of the site, the developers have now opted to sell…. [more]

Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding is looking to unload a 49 percent stake in the landmark Seagram Building at more than $2,000 per square foot. According to the Post, the record price per square foot for an office building was set at $1,585 in 2007 with the sale of 450 Park Avenue, and while prices have rebounded somewhat since the real estate crash, such a price is untested in today’s market. “If you want to test the strength of the market, it’s certainly the building with which to do it,” said Woody Heller, head of capital transactions group at Studley, which is not marketing the building. … [more]