After much speculation that they would move to Brookfield Properties’ largely vacant World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan, law firm Milbank Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP may stay at 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, the New York Observer reported. The firm occupies 375,000 square feet on several floors at the property owned by JP Morgan Chase.

Brokers told the Observer that lease negotiations with Brookfield were so advanced that Brookfield was representing an approximately 300,000 square foot space as “spoken for,” in their negotiations with other companies. But sources said that the firm is now in negotiations to renew their existing lease at 1 Chase Manhattan, on the corner of Liberty and William streets in Lower Manhattan. [more]

David Childs (photo by Marc Scrivo)From the September issue: David Childs is chairman emeritus and consulting design partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He’s designed the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, Worldwide Plaza and the New York Mercantile Exchange. He also worked on the National Mall master plan and Constitution Gardens in Washington, D.C. Childs has served as the chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, the federal agency charged with overseeing development projects in the nation’s capital, and as the chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts in Washington, both Presidential appointments. But he is perhaps most known for designing the 1,776-foot-tall One World Trade Center, which is slated to be topped off in 2012. Click here for the complete Q & A. [more]

From left: Cushman & Wakefield President and CEO Glenn Rufrano, Vice Chairmen John Cefaly and Tara Stacom, Worldwide Plaza and a rendering of One World Trade Center

[Updated at 11:20 a.m. with comment from Cushman & Wakefield President and CEO Glenn Rufrano] Midtown-based global commercial services firm Cushman & Wakefield lost $22.4
million in the first six months of 2011 even as revenues rose sharply compared to the same period last year, the brokerage firm’s parent
company, Italy-based Exor, reported on its website today.

The loss is in contrast with the firm’s two main global competitors, the world’s
largest commercial firm CB Richard Ellis, and another large player, Jones Lang
LaSalle, which each posted profits over the same time period.

Cushman lost $22.4 million through June, compared with a loss of $22.8 million
in the same six-month period in 2010, the company said, using generally
accepted accounting standards for the United States. [more]

The U.S. subsidiary of Japan’s Nomura Holdings is departing the World Financial Center to take more than 900,000 square feet at Worldwide Plaza, George Comfort & Sons and RCG Longviews’ 1.8-million-square foot office tower on Eighth Avenue and 50th Street that is now 95% leased, the Wall Street Journal reported. The move is expected in 2013. The tower was valued at $600 million in 2009.
The decision is a letdown for Brookfield Office Properties, which has been trying to lure tenants to the financial center for the more than three million square feet of leases that expire in 2013. [more]

The top 50 biggest Manhattan commercial property purchases last year ranged in price from $10.6 million to $600 million, according to The Real Deal’s 2010 Data Book (see the top 50 biggest commercial buys after the jump). The $600 million deal was the purchase of Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Avenue by an investment group led by George Comfort & Sons and RCG Longview from Deutsche Bank. The $10.6 million deal was the sale of a second-floor office condominium at 415 West 13th Street to luxury menswear designer Canali USA. To purchase the 2010 Data Book, click on the magazine cover, click here or see the link at the top of The Real Deal Web site. [more]

  
From left: 1600 Broadway, Cipriani Club Residences and 555 West 23rd Street

From the March issue:One in every 13 homes is in pre-foreclosure. Half are listed for rent or sale. This predicament isn’t taking place in the outer boroughs. It’s happening in Manhattan at a luxury condo. The building is one of dozens in Manhattan where multiple owners have fallen behind on their mortgages. This month, The Real Deal put together a top 10 list of buildings in Manhattan with the most units that received a pre-foreclosure filing in the last year. [more]

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444 Madison Avenue (source: PropertyShark)

From the January issue: New York City’s top commercial brokerages have jockeyed for market
share over the past few years, but in a surprise upset, Eastdil Secured
has emerged on top. According to an analysis by The Real Deal — which was based
on data provided by Real Capital Analytics for Manhattan commercial
transactions of $5 million and above — the firm had more than $15
billion in sales from the first quarter of 2007 through the third
quarter of 2009. CB Richard Ellis ranked second with more than $12 billion in
building sales, while Cushman & Wakefield ranked third with more
than $10 billion, according to the RCA data.
But Eastdil’s ranking is largely due to a unique set of circumstances:
The firm handled the $7 billion sale of Equity Office Properties’
Midtown portfolio to Macklowe Properties in 2007. Without that deal,
Eastdil would have slid to third place. [more]

Hachette Filipacchi, the publisher that recently lost out to beauty giant Avon in talks to take over several open floors at the William Kaufman Organization’s 777 Third Avenue, is reportedly closing in on a deal at the 48-story Time-Life Building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in Rockefeller Center. The contract would be for 132,000 square feet of space previously occupied by Lehman Brothers, which had subleased the three floors from Time Inc. Hachette would be downsizing significantly from its current 263,010 square feet at 1633 Broadway, which is owned by Paramount. Deloitte is also expected to vacate 1633 Broadway soon, in a move that could leave the door open for television network A&E. Currently located at 235 East 45th Street, A&E is in the market for 350,000 square feet of space and is rumored to have looked at the Empire State Building and Worldwide Plaza in addition to Paramount’s building. [Post]

Ogilvy is a tenant in 636 11th Avenue (Building photo source: PropertyShark)

The much-heralded plan announced two years ago by international advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather to move from Worldwide Plaza to a former candy manufacturing plant at 636 11th Avenue has hit a rough patch, with the new landlord allegedly moving toward kicking the company out. Ogilvy Group, a subsidiary of Dublin-based WPP Group, claims that 636 11th Avenue building owner Hakimian Organization is threatening to terminate the $600 million, 20-year lease, so the ad agency sued the ownership entity Plaza West Associates to block any eviction moves. Ogilvy Group claims in the lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court Jan. 5 that Hakimian has not completed parts of agreed-to tenant improvements, leading the ad firm to claim the landlord owes as much as $50 million in rent abatements and other damages. The ad firm alleges in the court papers that after it sought binding arbitration in October to resolve the dispute, Hakimian sent a notice Dec. 9 giving the agency until this Thursday to cure five alleged non-monetary defaults or the landlord would move to terminate the lease, but Ogilvy says it is not in default. [more]

From left: Leon Charney, owner of L.H. Charney, Peter Duncan, president of George Comfort, and 119 West 40th Street (Building photo source: PropertyShark)

Just weeks after negotiating an agreement to rescue 119 West 40th Street from a mezzanine loan default, George Comfort & Sons and L.H. Charney Associates are facing foreclosure on a $160 million senior mortgage at the site.

CW Capital Asset Management, which is servicing the senior loan on behalf of Bank of America, filed suit in New York State Supreme Court Dec. 14 to foreclose on the property.

George Comfort and Charney originally borrowed $160 million from Wachovia Bank and Greenwich Capital Financial Partners in April 2007, according to the lawsuit, with half coming from each bank. The loan was later sold to GS Mortgage Securities Corp. II, as part of a July 1, 2007, loan purchase deal signed between Greenwich and GS.

In July 2009, Fitch Ratings warned that the 119 West 40th Street loan was performing below expectations. Fitch said the loan was underwritten based on the expectation of resigning below-market leases at higher rents; however, the building fell behind schedule and was transferred to the special servicer in June 2009 with the expectation of imminent default.  More

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