The Real Deal New York

Fashion brands H & M, BCBG join P. Diddy on 5th in low 40s Library lions gaze at new retail row
” class=”read-more-link”>[more]

Foreclosures increase for the comeback kid Q & A: Bronx still on the rise?” class=”read-more-link”>[more]

Stuy Town sale, Starrett bid create shifting climate Government vs. industry face-off” class=”read-more-link”>[more]

In a city where one gasp-inducing sale follows another, it’s tough pinpointing the “best” homes and the “best” blocks. The Real Deal attempted to nail down both by examining top sales in the 12 months from February 2006 to February 2007. Using data from the city and PropertyShark.com, we compiled the year’s 10 priciest sales in each borough, and the top 25 in Manhattan. The priciest blocks in the boroughs” class=”read-more-link”>[more]

The most prolific developers in the most active borough for development Biggest Brooklyn builders” class=”read-more-link”>[more]

Vacancies edge up in Midtown, Midtown South [more]

Gag orders prevent tenants from disparaging controversial development projects in public [more]

In hot city hotel market, owners benefit from eager lenders [more]

Asking rents continue to climb at Midtown ‘country club’ office towers Comments

• Print

Lack of inventory prompts major restaurateurs to open intimate eateries [more]

Westchester and Fairfield suburban markets outperform New Jersey and L.I. [more]

Expected rezoning would add more office space and could push rents higher [more]

Luxury brands turn to basement level, subway stores to get piece of New York [more]

Lisa Silverstein, 40, senior vice president of Silverstein Properties, which is developing the Freedom Tower.

As told to Lauren Elkies

I got into the family business after I became a mother. I ran my ex-husband’s medical office at one time, but this was my first foray into professional life.

It’s my father [Larry, 75, founder and president], my brother [Roger, 43, senior vice president] and me in the business. I also have an older sister, Sharon — she’s 46 — who lives in San Diego and takes care of her two little boys.

My brother is much more involved in the leasing aspect of the business, and I’m much more involved in development, mostly residential and hotel.

My interest is lifestyle: We just acquired this site at 99 Church Street, and we’re planning on doing a very high-end luxury boutique hotel, where there’s zero competition, and a very luxurious condominium above in a high-rise. It’s really selling a lifestyle.

My interest is also expanding outside of the New York metropolitan area.

I deal with my brother very little. We pass each other all the time in the office, and we talk for a moment. We had a fairly normal upbringing. I don’t think that there were any pressures that aren’t there for anyone else: do the best you can, apply yourself, be disciplined. Just strive, that’s all.

I deal with my father every day. We’re in it together because he’s involved in the development aspect. I think my dad and I think alike on several levels. We analyze things in a similar fashion. We usually get to the same place in our opinions.

My father and I each bring something to the table. In terms of experience, he brings a lot more, but there are certain things he doesn’t have his finger on the pulse of — certain age groups and design. When it comes to design, there’s a little bit of yin and yang between us, and it always works out well.

I’m doing a project on the West Side on 42nd Street, now called River Place II. That building is being built for a younger crowd, and there is a little bit of [a] dynamic between my father and myself because he likes more traditional things, and he has to let go at times when everybody in the room is saying, “Hey, you’re appealing to an iPod-wearing crowd between 30 and 40.”

Other times he feels strongly — and he’s right that I have to let go of certain things. But, in general, we basically agree on things because most of it is about efficiency and bottom line, unfortunately.

I think that my father, even though it seems like he’ll never slow down, inevitably will, and it’s not too long off in the future. If he slows down, things will flow downstream. It’s just the natural course of things. Everyone else picks up responsibilities.

Alex Sapir, 27, president of the Sapir Organization, which owns buildings including 11 Madison Avenue and is developing projects including Trump Soho Hotel Condominium New York.

As told to Lauren Elkies

I’ve been working in the family business on and off since I was a little kid. When my father [Tamir, 59, chairman] had an electronics business, I went to work with him on the weekends as well.

Growing up, school was always number one. We always had to get good grades and study hard. As my father became more successful, I think it was assumed that we were going to help him with the family business.

When I was just about to end college, I kind of wanted to do something else, which was, I guess, very upsetting to him. I was trading commodities; I think I just wanted to say that I did something myself.

Eventually I realized I should be in the family business; that’s really when I started taking a 24-7 role in the company.

My job is to make the company more successful, grow, and see how we make our organization better internally, and how we deal with out external relationships better. My father is still there to make sure everything is going all right, lend his hand, advice and experience when necessary.

Trump Soho definitely was a lot more my vision. I would speak to my father about some of the more global things, but I think more of the detail stuff really came from my side and my sister’s [Zina, 32, vice president] side. Because Trump Soho is a younger, Downtown, cool, five-star hotel, it has more of our imprint on it than his. He has more of a traditional, classic, more Midtown, feel.

I don’t get to see my father that often because he lives in Mexico half the year. He spends maybe a month or two in New York. He’s in Europe the remainder of the year.

But I talk to him about 26 times a day. We have the father-son relationship, but we really consider each other best friends.

I see my sister almost every day. I would say she is probably more interested in design and marketing. My interest is really every aspect of the business.

I have another older sister, Ruth [33 years old]. She is living in London raising her daughter. We speak daily. And I speak to my mother a couple of times a day.

There are a lot of people that would say — not just about me but about a lot of kids that step into the family business — “it’s pretty easy to do that, it was handed to them, so of course they’ll be successful.” I disagree, at least in my case.

You have to manage dealing with your family, which is a lot more emotional than dealing with people that don’t have your last name. Then you have the naysayer that says you shouldn’t be in the position that you’re in.

Me and my father used to fight and argue up until about six months ago. It’s just natural for any father and son to have that relationship. In the last six months, though, it’s like we really know what the other one’s thinking before we even have to say it, so there’s a lot less fighting, if any. And even if there is a difference of opinion, it’s not a fight now. It’s just a difference of opinion.

Sotheby’s UES HQ on the market
The building that serves as Sotheby’s world headquarters at 1334 York Avenue is up for sale, the New York Post reported. The 470,000-square-foot building is expected to go for around $500 million. RFR Holdings owns the property, and the auction house has another 16 years left on its lease. Tom Beneville, Nat Rockett and Noble Carpenter of Jones Lang LaSalle will lead the marketing effort.

230 Park Avenue South on the market
The 350,000-square-foot office building at 230 Park Avenue South is on the market and expected to go for more than $250 million, according to the Post. Tenants include PR firm Burson-Marsteller, JP Morgan Chase, Institutional Investor and HIT Entertainment. The owners, Mickey Rabina and a limited partnership of ex-Lazard Freres bankers, have hired Cushman & Wakefield’s Richard Baxter, Ron Cohen, Scott Latham and Jon Caplan to market the property.

Union Square office building for sale
The 11-story, 129,418-square-foot building at 90 Fifth Avenue, on the northwest corner of 14th Street, is on the market for sale and is expected to fetch approximately $100 million, according to the Post. The building is net leased to Forbes on a long-term basis; Forbes subleased part of the top floor to Discover Media last year. Owner RFR Holdings tapped Cushman & Wakefield to market the property.

Price drop for Midtown apartment buildings
Two contiguous prewar elevator apartment buildings at 15-19 West 55th Street, which went on the market at the end of 2005 for $64 million, are now asking $55 million, the New York Sun reported. Of the buildings’ 64 units, 46 are free market or vacant, 15 are rent-stabilized and three are rent-controlled. Massey Knakal and Mark Zborovsky & Company Inc. are the sales agents.

North Chelsea commercial building for sale
The 12-story, 153,900-square-foot commercial building at 229-239 West 28th Street, across the street from the Fashion Institute of Technology, is on the market for sale at an asking price of $52.5 million. Eastern Consolidated, which is handing the sale, is marketing the property as a candidate for repositioning as an upscale office building.

Hudson Square warehouse asking $40M
A six-story, 57,500-square-foot warehouse at 537-545 Greenwich Street in Hudson Square, just north of Tribeca, is on the market for sale at an asking price of $40 million. The building has an additional 42,500 square feet of air rights and can be delivered vacant. Robert Burton and Nancy Guo of Massey Knakal are handling the sale.

West Side and Harlem portfolio on the block
A portfolio of six apartment buildings totaling 133 units on the West Side and in Harlem is on the market for sale at an asking price of $38 million. The buildings are located at 331-337 West 43rd Street and 313-319 East 95th Street. Of the 131 units, 67 are free market and 64 are rent-stabilized. Eastern Consolidated is marketing the properties.

Theater for sale across from Carnegie Hall
The former headquarters of Columbia Artists Management Inc., the CAMI Building at 165 West 57th Street, is on the market, according to the Post. The 20,000-square-foot building, which includes a 240-seat recital hall, is expected to fetch $25 million. Billy Cohen of Newmark Knight Frank is handling the sale.

Sheepshead Bay development site for sale
A development site encompassing 1501 Voorhies Avenue and 1600 Sheepshead Bay Road is on the market at an asking price of $25 million. The site can support 234,911 square feet of residential or 328,681 square feet of commercial development. Robert Knakal, Brian Leary and Brian Hanson of Massey Knakal are the exclusive sales agents.

UWS development site on the block
The development site at 210 West 91st Street is on the market for sale at an asking price of $16 million. Completed plans call for an 18-story, 88,291-square foot residential tower with 45 units to be built above an existing synagogue. Ronald Solarz, Eric Anton, Jared Toothman and Paul Nigido of Eastern Consolidated are the exclusive sales agents.

Mount Sinai selling apartment building
The Mount Sinai Hospital is selling the 15-story, 120,042-square-foot, 76-unit prewar apartment building at 1212 Fifth Avenue, the Sun reported. The hospital is also selling 315,000 square feet of air rights to create a development site that could support a 32-story residential condominium. Newmark Knight Frank is handling the sale.

ounder and CEO of real estate investment and development firm the Witkoff Group, which owns 20 buildings, including the Woolworth Building. [more]

Top of the market particularly tight; new condos still add pockets of availability [more]

Manhattan landlords won’t ride quite as high as markets stabilize [more]

Divisive public Web site will stay optional, group says [more]

Imagine a land of twisting, idyllic streets nestled in greenery, where the maples and oak trees are fiercely protected and even grow through the roofs of houses. [more]

Brooklyn is known for its baseball players and its blinis, but it’s also known for its great blocks, according to real estate brokers who work in the borough. [more]

It was an eye-popping year for real estate on both the East and West sides in 2006, but one block stood out, even in the stratospheric realm of elite properties. [more]

Waterfront properties with boating rights, 1940s Hollywood-style mansions and expansive manicured lawns usually aren’t the first things that spring to mind when Queens is mentioned. But a few of the 2.2 million New Yorkers who live in the borough know better.

Last month, The Real Deal tallied up last year’s 10 most expensive homes in Queens, which ranged from $1.3 million for a house in Douglaston to the top price of $2.75 million for a house in Flushing.

Queens is a different market than other boroughs, lacking high-rise luxury, but also full of shorefront lots with single-family houses that wouldn’t be out of place in pricier suburbs.

Still, the upper end of the Queens market is way below the entry point of the luxury market in Manhattan. According to appraiser Jonathan Miller, high-end Manhattan properties — the top 10 percent of the market — start at $4 million.

Prices also range higher in Brooklyn, where a two-family Brooklyn Heights townhouse at 212 Columbia Heights sold for a record $8.5 million in 2005.

In Queens, the tony enclave of Douglaston was home to five of the 10 largest sales in the borough. Sitting north and east of the end of the subway lines, the neighborhood rests on the peninsula on Little Neck Bay. It’s a picturesque location, and there’s little surprise that area brokers said waterfront areas fetched consistently high prices.

Residents who work in Manhattan also favor Douglaston, which is only a 27-minute commuter train ride to Penn Station by the Long Island Railroad.

Two sales in Douglaston for $2.6 million tied for second on the top 10 list, and other Douglaston sales for $2.18 million, $1.85 million and $1.3 million ranked sixth, seventh and 10th on the list.

Douglaston is comprised of six distinct neighborhoods, including Doug Bay, Douglas Manor and Douglaston Hill, all located north of Northern Boulevard on the peninsula that sits out on Little Neck Bay. The most exclusive area within Douglaston is the historic district of Douglas Manor.

“The most beautiful block is Shore Road [in Douglas Manor], where all the homes face Little Neck Bay,” said real estate broker Lynne Jaffe, of Doug North Realty. “The architecture varies in the area — from brand-new, square Colonial to a 100-year-old Victorian — and there are homes that were designed by [the influential furniture maker] Gustav Stickley.”

There are currently 19 houses for sale in Douglaston, including a restored Victorian home on a 100-by-250-foot lot for sale just outside of Douglas Manor with an asking price of nearly $2.7 million.

“There was a Greek revival home that sold recently for $2.3 million on Centre Drive [off Shore Road]. Last week we sold another home for $2.6 million,” said Jaffe. “This was a custom-built, modern home with high ceilings and water views. It was actually right outside Douglas Manor, but directly on the water with riparian rights.”

Brokers also cited Malba, an elite area just north of the Long Island Expressway in Whitestone. No property sales cracked the 2006 top 10 list, but a deal early this year on Malba Drive hit $4.2 million, well past the top deal last year.

“Malba is a quiet, secluded and exclusive community surrounded by water with remarkable views of the Whitestone Bridge,” said Anthony Testani, a real estate broker with RE/MAX Millennium. “And Malba Drive is one of the ‘best blocks’ in Queens. It’s beautiful, and the homes are some of the most expensive in the borough.”

There are currently no homes for sale on Malba Drive, which has dozens of large, single-family houses, many with swimming pools, lush gardens, elegant terraces and backyards that slope straight down to the water.

“We closed on the $4.2 million home at 117 Malba Drive this February,” said Testani.

“It’s a gorgeous Tudor with a wine cellar, four-car underground garage, seven bedrooms and access to the water in the back of the house — and, of course, boating rights for the homeowners, and it’s on a 120-by-200-foot plot of land.”

Another neighborhood, Bayside Gables, a gated community on the water, is so exclusive it is rumored that some of its residents consider it an offshoot of Bayside instead of part of it. And Bayside itself stacks up pretty well.

“The average price for a home in Queens is $550,000, [but] in Bayside, prices can vary from $700,000 to $1.5 million in a two-block radius,” said Donna Reardon, a broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman. “And then there are luxury homes with water views on the market for $2.5 million.”

Other talked-about Queens locales are Long Island City and Forest Hills. However, the long-awaited vision of Long Island City as New York City’s fourth-biggest commercial district hasn’t yet panned out. But a 2001 rezoning opened the mostly industrial area to residential development like the Gantry on Fifth Street, which came on the market in late 2005 with condo prices starting in the mid-$400,000s.

Smaller properties in the area are appreciating. Annie Siegel, a hypnotherapist who bought a home on Fifth Street a decade ago for $125,000, said a recent appraisal valued the property at about $1 million.

In historic Forest Hills, condominiums appeal to buyers. Dinko Grancaric, the co-owner of Century 21 Benjamin Realty in Forest Hills, told The Real Deal earlier this year that the Windsor condo building is “very successful.”

“There are a few new projects in the planning stages, and there is room for three or four other high-rises because the Windsor project did very well,” he said. Two-bedroom units have sold there for more than $1 million.

Go to chart: Queens’ top sales

When it comes to the priciest blocks of homes, a good rule of thumb is either in the hills or on the water — and Staten Island has plenty of both.

Last month, The Real Deal compiled a list of the top 10 heftiest 2006 home sales on Staten Island, and found prices ranging from $1.8 million for a stately home in the Grymes Hill neighborhood to $3.5 million for both an oceanfront estate in Tottenville and a mansion in Todt Hill.

Waterfront neighborhoods such as Tottenville and South East Annadale, and Grymes Hill and Emerson Hill, both on ridges, all have stunning homes. But a handful of Staten Island brokers agreed the Todt Hill neighborhood has the most stately homes and the priciest blocks.

“The top blocks, I can tell you right here, are Benedict Road and Circle Road in Todt Hill,” said Connie Profaci, an independent broker in business on Staten Island for 28 years who also happens to live in the neighborhood. “They’re appealing because they’re mansions, and some of them are on oversized properties.”

Profaci said most of the homes on these two blocks sell for upward of $3 million. The Todt Hill neighborhood, which sits on a mountain ridge of more than 400 feet, is one of the highest points on the Eastern Seaboard. Many homes have views of the Narrows and Lower New York Bay.

While some of the homes are newly built on 100-by-100-foot lots where older homes have been torn down, Profaci said, there are enough mansions on landscaped parcels to retain the neighborhood’s bucolic suburban flavor.

The neighborhood is a web of small roads winding by the Richmond County Country Club, the Staten Island Academy, a private school, and Staten Island’s Greenbelt public parkland. Older, well-built homes cover large swaths of property in a myriad of architectural styles, including Arts and Crafts, Cape Cods and Georgians.

One such home is at 74 Buttonwood Road, a 12,000-square-foot brick Colonial mansion on a 37,000-square-foot lot that sold for $3.5 million in 2006, according to public records. The mansion has 14 rooms and six fireplaces, and sits on terraced, park-like grounds. Buttonwood Road, which is a little bend near Benedict and Circle roads, could also be a contender for one of the priciest blocks, Profaci said.

“There are some little private streets that come off of the major streets that are just beautiful,” she said. “Also, there’s Copperflagg Estates, which is like an English village. It’s a beautiful area on Todt Hill that many people aren’t aware of.”

Profaci said her company just sold one of the stone cottages, called the Ernest Flagg Palm House, at 63 Flagg Court. The home, a 4,095-square-foot Norman French Tudor, is snuggled onto 10,000 square feet of leafy acreage and sold for about $1.825 million, according to public records.

Generally, Todt Hill homes start at around $1.6 to $1.7 million, said Dennis Semenza, an associate broker at RE/MAX Regal Realty, who’s worked in Staten Island real estate since the 1980s. Yet some are extraordinary, with asking prices as high as $8.3 million, such as one gated estate currently listed for sale, situated on 1.89 acres overlooking the Richmond County Country Club golf course. The 17,000-square-foot brick Colonial mansion has six bedrooms, four full baths, four half baths and three three-quarter baths.

Average prices for Staten Island homes are in the mid-$500,000s for a detached home, mid-$400,000s for a semi-detached home, and $260,000 to $400,000 for a two-bedroom townhouse, according to Maged Girgis, associate broker at RE/MAX Regal Realty.

“The thing about Todt Hill is that it’s a market that may be price-proof, because if the people in that price range want to buy a home, they’re going to buy a home,” Semenza said.

While Todt Hill may have the priciest blocks on Staten Island, there are other neighborhoods contending for the honor. Tottenville, on the southernmost tip of Staten Island, saw a contemporary 7,460-square-foot oceanfront home at 15 Tricia Way sell for $3.5 million in the last year. A neighboring home at 5 Tricia Way, though somewhat smaller at 4,892 square feet, went for $2.2 million.

Unlike other South Shore locales, the neighborhood has its share of historic homes. Many opulent 19th-century estates line roads such as Bentley Street and Amboy Road, brokers said, though some homes have been torn down to make way for townhomes in recent years.

South East Annadale, which had one of the top 10 home sales last year, has its share of attractive homes on the South Shore.

“South East Annadale is probably considered among the top-five pricey neighborhoods on Staten Island, because parts of it sit on the water,” Semenza said. “Hills and water generally attract higher prices.”

Another element of South East Annadale’s appeal is that it is zoned consistently, allowing only single-family homes on lots that are a minimum of 60 by 100 feet, said Mike Diaz, president of Coldwell Banker Village Realty.

“In a lot of Staten Island you’ll find two blocks of custom homes, and then semi-attached homes and then townhouses, so there’s no consistency in a lot of the areas,” he said, which tends to drive down property values. “South East Annadale is an area zoned properly for the South Shore.”

A neighborhood on the North Shore, Grymes Hill — along with Emerson Hill bordering it — also has a slew of choice homes. It is the second-highest point on Staten Island, and has high prices to prove it, with some homes in the $2 million range and some best-block contenders.

“The views are absolutely magnificent,” said Diaz, who suggested that parts of Howard Avenue and Signal Hill Road were the most expensive blocks. “You get New York City, the Verrazano Bridge, Brooklyn — just panoramic views.”

Go to chart: Staten Island’s top sales

Sales drop dramatically in Long Island’s posh suburbs [more]

If you were planning to rent a home for the summer in the Hamptons and didn’t get around to it, you’re probably out of luck, unless you’re willing to consider the other Hamptons. [more]

When New York City real estate insiders are not making deals or putting up buildings, they are reading books about making deals or putting up buildings. [more]

West Chelsea project sells luxury one window at a time [more]

New project borrows West Chelsea’s art vibe [more]

Stalled for years, development proceeds at several sites around the city [more]

Gritty city on the water readies for new residential development [more]

Chelsea
Indigo Condominium
125 West 21st Street
Alchemy Properties topped off the 13-story, 52-unit condominium, the developer’s sixth project in Chelsea, in early March. Designed by FXFowle Architects, the building will have an indigo-colored strip on its zinc façde. Studio to three-bedroom units will range in size from 605 to 1,758 square feet, with prices running from $585,000 to $2.1 million. Completion is scheduled for this fall. Contact: www.indigo-21.com.

Chelsea
200 11th Avenue
Developer Young Woo & Associates is building the 19-story, 16-unit condominium designed by Annabelle Selldorf. The building will have a stainless steel tower rising from a glazed terra cotta base. Amenities include the city’s first en-suite garage, an internal elevator system that delivers residents’ cars to a private 300-square-foot space adjacent to their units. The one- to three-bedroom units range in size from 1,300 to 3,500 square feet; 12 of the units are duplexes. Prices run from $2.5 to $14 million. Occupancy is scheduled for fall 2008. Prudential Douglas Elliman is handling sales and marketing. Contact: www.200eleventh.com.

Harlem
Fifth on the Park
1496 Fifth Avenue
Uptown Partners has launched sales for the 28-story, 160-unit condominium designed by FXFowle Architects. Studio to four-bedroom units range in size from 550 to 2,900 square feet, with prices running from $355,000 to $2.8 million. A 1,800-seat church will occupy the first five floors, and the developer has set aside 47 rental units to be owned by the Bethel Gospel Assembly Church. Occupancy is slated for summer 2008. Griffin Real Estate is handling sales. Contact: www.griffinny.com.

Kensington
Kensington Townhouses
Beverley Road and East 7th Street
The sales office has opened for the newly built 10-townhome development located south of Prospect Park in Brooklyn. The developer is Gracie Developers, a subsidiary of Hidrock Realty. The homes, six of which are duplexes, range in size from 1,000 to 1,650 square feet. Prices run from $450,000 to $675,000. Occupancy was slated to begin last month. The Corcoran Group is the sales agent. Contact: www.corcoran.com.

Lower Manhattan
District
Corner of Ann and William streets
The 163-unit condo project will have units ranging in size from 495 to 2,140 square feet. Leviev Fulton Club LLC is developing the site, Karl Fischer Architects is designing the exterior of the building, and Andr s Escobar is handling the interior. Sixty percent of the units will be priced under $1 million. The sales center is slated to open in late April. JC DeNiro & Associates is the exclusive sales and marketing agent.

Park Slope
Novo
343 Fourth Avenue
Boymelgreen Developers, the Katan Group and Tona Development & Construction are building the 12-story, 113-unit condominium, which will have interiors designed by Andr s Escobar. Studio to three-bedroom units range in size from 415 to 1,595 square feet, with prices starting from approximately $310,000. Amenities include a private landscaped garden. Occupancy is anticipated in summer 2007. The Corcoran Group is the exclusive marketing and sales agent. Contact: www.novoparkslope.com.

Riverdale
Arbor
3260 Henry Hudson Parkway
Hudson Arlington Associates is developing the nine-story, 127-unit condominium in the northwest Bronx. One- to four-bedroom units ranging in size from 790 to 2,000 square feet are priced from $450,000 to $1.45 million; many will have private outdoor space. Occupancy is expected in late 2008. The Marketing Directors Inc. is the marketing and exclusive sales agent. Contact: www.arborcondo.com.

Sheepshead Bay
The Breakers of Sheepshead Bay
3112-3144 Emmons Avenue
Sales have begun at the three-building gated community on the south Brooklyn waterfront. The 75 condominium units are priced from $377,000 to $1.585 million. Architect Elena Kalman designed the project, where amenities include a landscaped common courtyard, indoor and outdoor parking spaces, a seaside boardwalk and private marina slips reserved for residents. Occupancy is slated for December 2007. Brown Harris Stevens is the co-exclusive listing agent. Contact: www.thebreakers-brooklyn.com.

Upper East Side
The Lucida
151 East 85th Street
Extell Development has launched sales for the 18-story, 110-unit green condominium, the first LEED-certified residential building in the neighborhood, according to Extell. Cook + Fox Architects designed the project, where units range in size from 1,445-square-foot two-bedrooms to 3,500-square-foot five-bedrooms, including eight duplex penthouses. S. Russell Groves designed the interiors. Prices start at $1.95 million. Occupancy is slated for late 2008. The Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group is the exclusive marketing and sales agent. Contact: www.thelucida.com.

Upper East Side
Diamond House
170 East 77th Street
Sales have begun at the 11-story condominium conversion of a rental building originally built in 1940. One- to four-bedroom units range in size from 895 to 2,500 square feet and are priced from $895,000 to $5.95 million. Dominion Management plans to convert more rental units in the building as they become available. Spivak Architects is overseeing the renovation and design, which will include a glass canopy and skylight for the lobby. Warburg Marketing Group is the sales agent. Contact: www.170e77.com.

Upper West Side
Harsen House
120 West 72nd Street
The 16-story, 22-unit environmentally friendly condominium is slated to become the neighborhood’s first LEED-certified residential development, according to exclusive marketing and sales agent Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. The building will have a mix of two- and four-bedroom units. The two-bedrooms are priced from $1.85 to $2.65 million; four-bedrooms will go for $4.25 to $5.75 million. Occupancy is scheduled for spring 2008. Contact: www.harsenhouse.com.

Upper West Side
Linden78
230 West 78th Street
Urban Residential is developing the 20-story, 35-unit condominium designed by Handel Architects. The building will have two units per floor, and some of the two- to four-bedrooms and three-bedroom penthouses will have outdoor space. Amenities include a private outdoor garden that opens off the lobby. The Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group is the marketing and sales agent. Contact: www.linden78.com.

Upper West Side
2207 Broadway and
390 West End Avenue
The historic Apthorp building is slated for a condominium conversion following the purchase by Africa Israel Investments of a 50 percent stake in the property. The 445,000-square-foot rental building has 163 units around a central courtyard. One hundred of the units are rent-stabilized, so the owners would probably not be able to generate sales revenue in the short term on the majority of the property without offering buyout packages to its existing tenants. Africa Israel said it plans to expand the building by exploiting unused air rights, but because the building is landmarked any expansion would have to clear the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Africa Israel plans to spend $95 million on renovations.

Construction Update

Flatiron
Chelsea Landmark
55 West 25th Street
The 38-story, 406-unit luxury rental is nearing completion, with occupancy expected in late April. A joint venture of Marine Estates and Rose Associates is developing the project, which will offer studios to three-bedrooms with rents ranging from $2,695 to $7,295 per month. Rose Associates is the exclusive leasing agent for the project. Contact: www.chelsealandmark.com.

Long Island City
EastCoast
Rockrose Development in early March topped off Site 7, the second rental building in the EastCoast complex. The building will have 394 studio to two-bedroom units, which are slated for occupancy later this year.

Lower Manhattan
80 South Street
Gregg Pasquarelli, a partner with SHoP Architects who is also the architect for the city’s planned East River Waterfront, said at a Community Board 1 meeting in late February that the Santiago Calatrava-designed 80 South Street project was “still alive,” Curbed.com reported. The architecturally ambitious — and prohibitively expensive — skyscraper planned for the South Street Seaport area has been discussed for three years. As of December, the project’s marketing company had been fired and no sales had been reported for the tower’s 10 glass townhouses, which are priced at $29 million and up.

Financing

Clinton Hill
4-8 Downing Street
Meridian Capital Group arranged $4 million in financing for the condominium conversion of the Broken Angel building. Owner Arthur Wood has partnered with local developer Shahn Andersen to convert the eccentric building into 17 condominium units.

Soho
209-211 Hester Street
Sonnenblick Goldman arranged a $31 million recapitalization of the 14-unit warehouse-to-condominium conversion. Developer AS Realty Partners plans to begin marketing the residences this month, with completion expected by the end of the year.

Sales Update

Bushwick
The Aventurine Condominiums
18-22 Goodwin Place
Sales have begun for the 24-unit condominium located in northeast Brooklyn. The studios to two-bedrooms range in size from 720 to 1,500 square feet, with prices running from $365,000 to $465,000. Units will have private balconies or backyards. Citi Habitats is the sales agent. Contact: www.citi-habitats.com.

Chelsea
100 West 18th Street
The Brauser Group sold eight of the 10-story condominium’s 41 units within one week of opening the off-site sales office. Prices range from $1 to $6 million. Contact: www.100west18.com.

Downtown Brooklyn
Oro Condominiums
306 Gold Street
By the beginning of March, 56 of the 40-story condominium’s 303 units had been sold, the New York Sun reported. Sales began in February. Prices for available units range from $340,000 for a 453-square-foot studio to $985,000 for a 1,334-square-foot two-bedroom. Prudential Douglas Elliman is handling sales and marketing. Contact: www.orocondos.com.

Greenwich Village
184 Thompson Street
The eight-story, 125-unit condominium was more than 60 percent sold by the end of February; the on-site sales office opened in October 2006. The Developers Group is the exclusive sales and marketing agent. Contact: www.184thompson.com.

Harlem
The Kalahari
40 West 116th Street
Sales are under way at the two-building, 12-story, 129-unit green condominium, where 25 percent of the energy requirements will be met by wind and solar power. One- to three-bedrooms range from 725 to 1,850 square feet, with prices running from the $500,000s to more than $1 million. The Marketing Directors Inc. is the exclusive marketing and sales agent. Contact: www.kalahari-nyc.com.

Harlem
Casa Loma
229 West 116th Street
Sales have opened at the 16-unit condominium developed by Manor Management. One-bedrooms start at $450,800; two-bedrooms start at $550,000; and a 1,660-square-foot duplex is asking $750,000. Warburg Marketing Group is the exclusive sales agent. Contact: www.warburgrealty.com.

Harlem
Rhapsody on Fifth
2056 Fifth Avenue
The off-site sales office opened in February for the seven-story, 22-unit condominium conversion, and several contracts had been signed within a few weeks. Prices start in the mid-$400,000s, and occupancy is expected in September 2007. The Marketing Directors Inc. is the marketing and exclusive sales agent for the project. Contact: www.rhapsodyonfifth.com.

Long Island City
The Echelon
13-11 Jackson Avenue
The 12-story, 54-unit condominium was 80 percent sold as of mid-February, within four months of the start of sales. Contracts have been signed for 43 units. The Developers Group is the exclusive sales and marketing agent. Contact: www.echelonlic.com.

Prospect Heights
171 Prospect Place
Sales are under way at the four-unit conversion of a brownstone. Units range in size from 718-square-foot two-bedrooms to a 1,720-square-foot duplex. Prices run from $553,000 to $1.22 million. The Corcoran Group is the exclusive sales agent for the project. Contact: www.corcoran.com.

Tribeca
88 Leonard Street
Leasing is under way for the 21-story, 352-unit rental developed by Leviev Boymelgreen and designed by the Walker Group and Costas Kondylis & Partners. Unit sizes in the 387,000-square-foot tower range from 410 to 1,825 square feet. Rents for available units run from $2,350 for a studio to $12,000 for a penthouse. Rose Associates is the exclusive leasing and managing agent for the project. Contact: www.88leonard.com.

Upper East Side
The Legacy
157 East 84th Street
Sales began last month for the seven-unit condominium designed by Costas Kondylis, the New York Post reported. The two ground-floor townhouses, three floor-through units and two duplex penthouses, which range from 3,300 to 5,200 square feet in size, are priced from $5.6 to $7.7 million.

Upper East Side
170 East End Avenue
Two-thirds of the condominium’s 92 units had been sold by early March. The remaining 30 units are priced from $1.175 to $2.35 million for one- and two-bedrooms and from $2.75 to $16 million for three- to five-bedrooms. The Sunshine Group is the exclusive marketing and sales agent for the project. Contact: www.170eea.com.

Upper West Side
Sheffield 57
322 West 57th Street
The 50-story, 600-unit condominium conversion was 15 percent sold as of mid-February, with prices averaging $1,500 a square foot, according to the Sun. Prices for available units range from $760,000 for a 585-square-foot junior one-bedroom to $2.775 million for a 1,599-square-foot three-bedroom. Occupancy is scheduled for later this year. Contact: www.sheffield57.com.

Development in Brief

Manhattan (north to south)

300 East 79th Street
A new 40-unit condominium is under construction at the site, the New York Post reported. An 850-square-foot apartment is priced at $1 million, or $1,176 per square foot. The penthouse will go for just under $2,000 a square foot.

460 West 58th Street
Alchemy Properties plans a 60-unit condominium at the site, the New York Sun reported.

Third Avenue between 13th and 14th streets
Milstein Properties is likely to build an eight-story residential building of up to 100,000 square feet on the vacant 20,000-square-foot lot, according to the Sun. Milstein has held the site for two decades without developing it.

25 Park Place
The five-story, 26,705-square-foot building was sold for $10 million and could be converted into condominiums.

99 Church Street
Silverstein Properties plans to build a 60-story hotel and condominium after razing the 11-story office building that currently stands at the site. The tower’s first 20 stories will house a boutique hotel, and a luxury condominium is planned for the upper floors.

New Developments from Previous Month

Michael Overington oversees projects for his former Studio 54 boss [more]

Atlanta

Atlanta is developing the Beltline, the largest urban renewal project in the city’s history. Atlanta Beltline Inc., the development organization behind the project, is planning a 22-mile loop with trails, parks, offices and retail. The estimated cost is $2.7 billion over 25 years. However, much of the money for the project remains on hold because of legal challenges to the special tax district created to fund it, so the city is buying land with other sources of revenue, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Boston

Rising home sales and slowing price declines have many hopeful that Massachusetts’ residential market is on the road to recovery after the state’s worst slump in more than a decade. According to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, the number of single-family homes sold in the state rose almost 13 percent in January compared to a year earlier. Sales were strongest on Boston’s South Shore and on Cape Cod, the Boston Globe reported. The median price of a single-family home was $340,000, 2.4 percent lower than a year ago but virtually unchanged for the past four months. Analysts say the improving affordability of homes in this market has fueled demand. Massachusetts experienced record price appreciation during the state’s housing boom of 2002 through 2005.

Chicago

While office buildings in downtown Chicago have had relatively flat rental rates for several years, new office space is generating higher asking rents and lower vacancy rates, the Chicago Tribune reported. According to a report by Jones Lang LaSalle, the overall average asking rent for the downtown office market at the end of 2006 was $26.83 a square foot, close to the peak of $27.27 a square foot achieved four years earlier. In 51 newer towers, which were built or renovated since 1985, leases are on average 30 percent higher than in older buildings.

Hotel-condos for part-time residents are hitting the market in Chicago. Elysian Worldwide LLC and Donald Trump are among the developers creating these hybrid residences, the Chicago Daily Herald reported. The Trump Tower, set to open in 2008, has sold 76 percent of its units, which range in price from $850,000 to $3 million. Developers for the Elysian say wealthy buyers who want part-time second homes in the city are driving demand for hotel-condos. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group also has hotel-condo projects in the works in the city.

Las Vegas

Despite a glut of luxury condo units in Las Vegas, even more are in the works. Market analysts say approximately 98,400 luxury condo units are in the long-term pipeline for the city. Currently there are 3,900 units of existing housing stock and 11,100 under construction. Meanwhile, 12,600 units have been canceled or are suspended. According to Applied Analysis, this points to a severe glut. Another 3,500 units will be added to the inventory before 2010, for a total of 18,500 units, GlobeSt.com reported.

Los Angeles

Rates for medical office space have spiked by up to 40 percent in Los Angeles over the last five years. Rents for medical office space have hit $5 per square foot for space in West Los Angeles. A lack of new construction has pushed rents to $4 per square foot in other areas of Los Angeles, GlobeSt.com reported. According to Ramsey-Shilling Commercial Real Estate Services, demand for medical space in Los Angeles has driven vacancy to 5 percent or lower in most markets. Analysts say the tight market is a result of growing demand and relatively little new construction.

Philadelphia

Old Philadelphia office buildings are getting makeovers as developers renovate run-down properties. Buildings over 25 years old are now nearly obsolete, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported. Renovating and repositioning an office building in Philadelphia typically costs $145 a square foot, compared with $190 or more a square foot for new construction, the paper reported. In one example, BPG Properties of Philadelphia and Brandywine Realty Trust spent an estimated $28 million redoing 555 Lancaster Avenue in St. David’s, a suburb of Philadelphia.

A Philadelphia developer plans to take the next step beyond Levittown, the suburb created from scratch in the 1940s. Arcadia Land Co. is developing a town called Bryn Eyre on 3,200 acres off the Morgantown exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported. The community, which is Welsh for “Eagle Hill,” would have 12,000 residences and 5 million square feet of commercial space. Bryn Eyre will eventually have a population of 25,000 as the town develops over the course of the next 25 years. Developers plan to sell off portions of the site to other developers or to create joint ventures during the buildout of Bryn Eyre.

Phoenix

Home building activity in Phoenix reached a five-month high in January, a sign the residential market is rebounding. According to RL Brown’s Phoenix Housing Market Letter, permits for single-family houses climbed to 2,876. This marks the highest number of permits issued since August 2006, when builders had more than 3,000 new home permits, the Arizona Republic reported. Analysts say the uptick in housing construction comes as builders are cutting prices on homes and buyers are heading for outlying communities.

Downtown Phoenix is getting its first high-end commercial office tower in eight years. A 26-story office tower is in the works and will fill demand for Class A space in downtown Phoenix, the Arizona Republic reported. Analysts say the $160 million project will increase high-end office space downtown, where vacancy rates are about 5.5 percent. One Central Park East, a 700,000 square foot tower with 475,000 square feet of office space, will open in 2009. Rents for One Central Park East will likely run between $35 and $40 a square foot.

San Francisco

Condo developer Nat Bosa is moving into San Francisco. Bosa Development, which has built 22,000 units on the West Coast over the past 25 years, is beginning work on a group of projects that will bring 1,700 condos and total $1.2 billion in construction. The first residential development, Radiance at Mission Bay, will have 99 units in one tower and another 317 units in a second tower, the San Francisco Business Times reported. Bosa has built high-rises in Vancouver, Hawaii, Calgary and San Diego.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.’s K Street will see several office space expansions and renovations this year. New York City-based ING Clarion is developing 52,000 square feet of office space at 2121 K Street, GlobeSt.com reported. Several other properties on K Street have added space — and boosted asking rents — to meet growing demand. Class B buildings located on K Street are being renovated and repositioned as high-end Class A rental space. Three buildings — 2021 K Street, 2175 K Street and 1129 20th Street — have all announced renovations and added space. Recent changes to zoning laws have made the expansions possible.

Residential price growth in Washington, D.C. has slowed. The Washington, D.C. area has fallen out of the top 10 in a ranking of regional appreciation rates, the Washington Business Journal reported. According to a quarterly report from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, home prices in Maryland were up 9 percent from a year ago last quarter, putting it in 12th place among states for price appreciation. With an appreciation rate of 7.54 percent, D.C. ranked 18th, and Virginia ranked 19th with an appreciation rate of 7.46 percent.

Offering safety in the hurricane zone

One developer is fortifying a new Brickell district development to withstand the increasing number of powerful hurricanes rolling through the South Florida region.

Bunker Brickell, at 1750 SW First Avenue, is a cross between a hotel-condo and a hurricane shelter. It is designed with luxury touches and weatherproof features, such as storm shutters, its own power generator and an emergency satellite phone in the lobby, according to the Miami Herald.

The 14-story, 75-unit project is a response to the 2005 hurricane season, when three powerful storms hit Florida, leaving almost a million homes without power and mountains of shattered glass in high-rise towers.

Units range in size from 500 to 1,200 square feet, with prices running from around $300,000 to $500,000. The project is 60 percent sold, and the developers plan to open it in 18 months.

State expects $1 billion shortfall

For the first time in more than 30 years, Florida expects to collect less tax revenue than in the previous year.

According to the Miami Herald, the budget boom, fueled by reconstruction in the wake of recent hurricanes and skyrocketing property values, is over. Lawmakers may be faced with a $1 billion shortfall when the current budget year ends on June 30. That could require the state to dip into its reserve fund of nearly $3 billion to balance the budget.

The tight budget may derail a plan by statehouse Republicans to make cities and counties roll back property taxes by nearly $6 billion. But lawmakers also have the option of balancing the budget by using growth in housing values, rather than state tax money, to fund school districts.

Big projects planned for Little Havana

Developers are planning projects for Little Havana, a working-class neighborhood with the country’s largest Cuban exile population.

Builders like Wood Partners, which has launched sales for three condominiums in Little Havana and plans a fourth, are betting on the area. That bucks a trend that has other developers scaling back as the housing market declines, according to a report in the Miami Herald. Wood Partners is building the El Colonial at 833 SW 13th Court with 45 units; Aqua Briza, located at 637 NW 1st Street, with 57 residences; and Puerto Nuevo at 1144 NW South River Drive, with 98 residences.

Little Havana hasn’t seen big development until now. In addition to Wood Partners’ projects, Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment fund co-chaired by former NBA star Earvin “Magic” Johnson, took a majority stake in Morrison, a 19-story, two-tower mixed-use building on West Flagler Street.

The neighborhood’s proximity to downtown Miami, demand for low- and middle-income housing and lower land prices make it more attractive to developers than other locales. Condo units at Wood Partners’ projects are expected to cost between $190,000 and $250,000.

Hollywood to spruce up beaches

The City of Hollywood will borrow $60 million to spruce up its beaches. The city plans to spend more than $140 million over the next several years on beach improvements, the Sun-Sentinel reported. The funds will pay for renovations and new public infrastructure and provide incentives to developers. Residents criticized the renovation plans, saying too much of the money is going to developers who want to build garages.

Population loss in South Florida

Broward is losing residents because of the high cost of living there. More people are leaving Broward County for other parts of Florida or around the country than are moving in, the Sun-Sentinel reported. According to Census Bureau figures, from 2005 to 2006, Broward lost 18,459 people to other counties and states. Broward’s population still grew by 5,620 people, partly because 15,227 people came to Broward from outside the United States.

Market insiders say increases in home insurance and property taxes are near the top of the list of reasons for the migration out of Broward. Other factors include the stress and inconvenience of new construction and the damages caused by hurricanes. Real estate agents say residents are mostly relocating to Tennessee, the Carolinas and Georgia.

Market softens in Broward County

Broward County’s housing market is trending downward after a slight increase in December. According to the Florida Association of Realtors, the county had 458 sales of existing homes in January, down 17 percent from 552 a year ago. The median price fell 2 percent to $364,500 from $370,500 a year ago, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Condo sales fell 26 percent, to 556 from 753 units the previous year, according to data from the Orlando-based Realtors’ Group. Condominium prices also declined from the previous year. The median condo price in January declined 6 percent to $199,200 from $211,500 a year ago. Broward’s inventory has increased 24 percent from the previous year to nearly 36,000 homes and condominiums for sale, according to the Keyes Co. of Miami.

Homeowners see premiums cut

Homeowners may see a reduction of as much as 50 percent on insurance premiums. South Florida’s home and condominium owners will have their annual property insurance premiums cut by a minimum of 24 percent by private insurers, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Cuts will depend on where homeowners live and which insurer covers them, according to figures provided by Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation. The Florida State Legislature recently made several changes to Florida’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, which allows customers to see cost savings when private insurance gets reinsured, a method of spreading and diluting risk. The savings will range between 24 percent and 52 percent in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Florida’s largest home insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., will give policyholders separate refunds based on declining rates.

Miami Briefs from Previous Month

Suffering particularly acute compared to rest of U.S.; foreclosures triple [more]

As area near Lincoln Center sees construction boom, existing buildings upgrade to cash in [more]

Developers overcome obstacles in bringing new projects to a Chinatown resistant to change [more]

Waterfront area hasn’t lived up to hype, but new projects may spur interest [more]

Residential high-rises to get some protection under new rules, still less than commercial [more]

Some New York City greens may not be up to par in time for the season [more]

Judge rules for Sheffield’s tenants
A housing court judge last month dealt a blow to developer Kent Swig’s plan to evict 23 market-rate tenants from the Sheffield 57 condo conversion at 322 West 57th Street, the New York Observer reported. If the ruling is upheld, developers will not be able to evict market-rate tenants while a conversion is in progress, even if their leases are up and have not been renewed. Swig will appeal. “The law is black and white. If you don’t have a lease and you are not rent-regulated, then you have no right to occupy,” he said.

Sherman Creek rezoning plan
Upper Manhattan’s Sherman Creek area, among the borough’s largest remaining tracts of undeveloped land, will likely soon be rezoned to allow for residential use, the New York Daily News reported. Developers would have to construct 20 percent affordable housing in their buildings and contribute to building a waterfront esplanade in the area.

AG investigating subprime lenders
New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office has launched an investigation into the practices of subprime lenders, Crain’s reported. Cuomo said at a news conference last month that his office is looking into the subprime mortgage market, but he did not disclose any details of the investigation, according to a spokesman. The move comes as shares of subprime lenders have sunk in the stock market and foreclosures have spiked, especially among homeowners who had taken out subprime loans.

Developers face tighter landmark rules
The City Council will consider a bill introduced last month that could affect builders’ plans for properties the city is considering landmarking, the New York Sun reported. The bill proposes that owners be subject to the standard landmarks review process for altering landmarked properties, even if the property in question was not a landmark when the builder submitted plans for its alteration or demolition. The new law would therefore make it harder for owners to demolish buildings that might have otherwise been granted landmark status.

HPD mulls green building requirements
The department of Housing Preservation and Development is likely to adopt green building standards to govern the construction of all HPD-related residential projects, Crain’s reported. The department is looking to adopt the use of guidelines established by Green Communities, which complements the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED standards that are mostly geared toward commercial buildings.

Flushing rezoning considered
Queens officials say they are conducting a feasibility study to determine whether a 28-acre parcel of land in southwest Flushing should be rezoned for residential use. The land is currently zoned for manufacturing, and officials say that a rezoning could lead to the creation of affordable housing in the area.

Brooklyn Bridge Park shakeup
As questions mount about the costs of the planned Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Empire State Development Corporation fired the person in charge of the controversial project, Wendy Leventer, the New York Post reported last month. The firing also comes at a time when an outside consultant is looking into the ESDC’s spending practices during the Pataki administration.

Audit cites misused ESDC grants
An audit conducted by the state comptroller found that the Empire State Development Corporation provided funds to the Suffolk-Nassau Chamber of Commerce on Long Island that were inappropriately used, as The Real Deal first reported last month. The audit follows questions raised about funding the Chamber of Commerce provided to the nephew of former ESDC chief Charles Gargano. The issue of the audit to the agencies, which seeks restitution of $125,000, was disclosed last month by the office of state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Law would ban mortgages to those lacking Social Security numbers; could affect foreign investors [more]

Federal program sees demand double [more]

St. Barts seeks to block overdevelopment
Although it covers only eight square miles, the ritzy Caribbean island of St. Barts faces population and infrastructure problems from overdevelopment.

Island officials say the tropical playground of the rich and famous can’t support much more than its high-season population of 14,000 people, and the addition of about 1,000 houses over the last two decades has added to the strains besetting the jewel of the French Antilles. Many newcomers are Americans who have bought or built second homes on the island, according to the International Herald Tribune. The mayor of the French territory, Bruno Magras, is fighting to limit development and may soon have more ammunition for his battle. The island is newly independent from the administrative division of French Guadeloupe, and zoning laws will likely be rewritten. Limiting the location and size of developments will keep demand high, say many brokers. Villas on St. Barts rent for $5,000 to $50,000 a week during high season. Pricey purchases on the island include the recent $21.5 million sale of a Rothschild family estate.

Rising office rents in Hong Kong are likely to stall this year
Office rents in Hong Kong have tripled since the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, epidemic depressed the market in 2003, but this year is likely to end weaker than it began. Hong Kong had the largest average increase in asking rents in 2006 out of the top 10 markets in the world, according to CB Richard Ellis, with space in the central district going for an average $101 a square foot. Rents for prime space increased 30 percent, beating gains of more than 20 percent in Madrid, Tokyo and London, and single-digit gains in North American markets. Many companies use Hong Kong, an international finance center, as a base for business with mainland China, but some can not afford the city’s rents. New office space inventory outside the central business district could drive down average rents across the territory. Approximately 4.8 million square feet of space will come onto the market this year. Knight Frank forecasts that average office rents will decline 3 percent during 2007 across Hong Kong.

Retail in India shifting from pushcarts to modern malls
Shopping malls are replacing pushcart vendors in India. By 2012, India may have 14 times as much space allocated to modern-style retail than it did in 2002, according to the International Herald Tribune. Currently convenience stores, shopping malls and supermarkets account for 2 percent of the $300 billion retail industry in India. Mom-and-pop stores, pushcart vendors and bazaar stalls have the largest share of the retail market. Recently, the government allowed global retailers some access to the country’s protected market. Homegrown retailers are also leading the charge. Reliance, India’s biggest private company, opened its first store, a grocery, at the beginning of November. By the end of February, it had 49 stores. According to Wal-Mart Stores, modern retail in India will increase to 35 percent of all retail by 2015. The transformation will be faster than in Brazil, which grew to 38 percent from 5 percent in 15 years. Analysts predict approximately 100 shopping malls will open during the next few years in India’s big cities, including the 3.2-million-square-foot Mall of India near New Delhi.

Paris is top bet among European cities for investment
Paris may be associated with fine food and romance, but the French capital is the top bet for investment in European cities over the next two years, according to a report by the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Although Parisian residential prices have risen 11 percent a year since 2001, prime locations in the city are still affordable, according to a story in the Telegraph, a British national newspaper. Prospects for future price increases are also good because there is little new residential development, owing to a lack of available land and tight planning restrictions. London finished second in the survey because, unlike Paris, it faces the burden of high construction costs on new airport terminals and Olympic venues, which serve to dampen investment prospects, the report said. Rounding out the top 10 major cities in the report were Stockholm, Munich, Lyon, Helsinki, Madrid, Barcelona, Hamburg and Copenhagen.

Four former top Corcoran brokers have found a home at Brown Harris Stevens at 2 Fifth Avenue for their new partnership, BHS Marketing Group.
[more]

After a brief stint covering crime and local politics for Florida newspapers, Charles Urstadt is back in the real estate business.
[more]

Elliman launches new Madison Avenue office
Prudential Douglas Elliman recently celebrated the opening of its new office at 485 Madison Avenue. Business development, relocation and concierge services will also be based out of the 12,000-square-foot location.

Countrywide expands in NYC
As mortgage lenders across the country are beaten down by delinquencies on subprime loans and forced to go out of business, Countrywide Financial Corp. — the nation’s largest home mortgage lender — is expanding its reach in New York City. The company announced last month that it is acquiring Home Mortgage Acceptance Co., a Manhattan-based lender. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Nest Seekers announces LIC office
Residential brokerage Nest Seekers International is opening a high-tech boutique storefront in Long Island City. Nest Seekers will be the first Manhattan-based firm with an office in the neighborhood, according to the company. The new office will open by mid-April and will be located at 47-44 Vernon Boulevard.

Massey Knakal Brooklyn office expands into leasing
The Brooklyn office of Massey Knakal will now offer commercial leasing brokerage services in addition to commercial sales. Senior partner Timothy King is developing the leasing initiative with managing partner Brian Leary.

Blackstone to buy big mortgage unit
Amid the turmoil in the mortgage lending business, the Blackstone Group plans to buy PHH Mortgage, one of the nation’s largest mortgage providers, BusinessWeek reported. Under the terms of the deal, General Electric Co. will first buy PHH Corp. for around $1.8 billion, then sell PHH’s mortgage unit to Blackstone immediately after the acquisition closes, which is expected to be in the third quarter of 2007. PHH was spun off from Cendant in 2005. Blackstone’s recent deals include buying Equity Office Properties Trust in one of the largest buyouts in history.

Second Williamsburg office for aptsandlofts.com
Real estate sales and marketing firm aptsandlofts.com has opened its second office, at 171 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. The 1,200 square-foot location will have desks for 17 sales agents. The company’s first office is located two blocks away, at 496 Driggs Avenue.

GVA Williams absorbs Boston affiliate
GVA Thompson Doyle Hennessey & Stevens of Boston will merge into New York commercial brokerage GVA Williams, the firm announced in February. GVA Williams’ expanded reach will extend from New Jersey through the New England states. GVA Thompson will operate under the GVA Williams name, increasing the size of the firm to more than 225 people in eight offices.

Residential

Charles Rutenberg Realty
Charles An, Alex Bauman, Claire Chan, Lemin Chang, CC Cseh, Andrew Edelson, Ikahn El, Gabrielle Everett, Tracey John, Vlasta Maksimovic, Anka Manitiu, Christopher Moseley and Karen Prager joined as agents.

City Connections Realty
Joanne Wong joined the firm. She was formerly a broker with Citi Habitats.

JC DeNiro & Associates
Steven Kopstein was promoted to vice president from associate broker.

Prudential Douglas Elliman
Ilan Bracha was promoted to managing director from executive vice president.

Triumph Property Group
Rodney Mackay joined as a sales associate. He was previously at the Corcoran Group.

Commercial

CB Richard Ellis
Tom Nelson was promoted to northeast regional project management director. He will also continue to serve as project management leader for the New York tri-state region.

Eastern Consolidated
Ann Zeller joined as chief marketing officer. Maurice Hallivis joined as a director focusing on the Bronx and the Lower East Side. He was previously director of sales for the South Bronx at Massey Knakal. Jason Correa joined as a research analyst. He was previously a research analyst in the retail services department at CB Richard Ellis.

Itzhaki Properties
Katrina Dellinger joined as an associate. She was previously a residential real estate sales agent with Manhattan Apartments.

Jones Lang LaSalle
Jeremy Sheldon joined the New York office as head of international business for the New York tri-state region. He was previously based in the company’s Hong Kong office.

The Lansco Corp.
M. Ronald Ruskin joined as managing director in the retail services group. He was previously president of Batus Retail Group.

Massey Knakal
Waleed Cope and Landon McGaw were promoted to the post of sales director in the Brooklyn office. Both had been associates. David Boyajian joined an associate in the Brooklyn office. Tommy Lin was promoted to sales director from associate in the Queens office. Payman Ray Tadjbakhsh joined as an associate in the Queens office.

Robert K. Futterman & Associates
Ariel Schuster was promoted to senior managing director from managing director. Diana Chace was promoted to senior director from director.

Studley
David Goldstein was promoted to executive vice president. Kurt Handschumacher was promoted to executive managing director.

Tishman Speyer
Joe Russo was appointed managing director in the equity capital markets group.

Vornado Realty Trust
Glen Weiss and Daniel North were promoted to the level of senior vice president.

Marketing for condo buildings is becoming explicitly geared toward buyers’ sexual orientation. [more]

Several condo sales offices are branding sweets to sell their suites.

Sales agents for 200 Chambers Street recently handed out custom-designed M & M’s with “200 Chambers” and “Love Life” engraved on the candy shell. But they are not the only ones who are sweet-talking potential buyers.

For 48 Bond Street, a boutique building in Noho, the sales center offers imported Belgian chocolate with “48 Bond” on the wrapper.

“Chocolate makes you feel good, and it’s something that people would actually use,” said Romy Goldman, one of the developers for 48 Bond Street.

Condo developments including the Echelon in Long Island City and the Zinc in Tribeca are also targeting a buyer’s sweet tooth.

“Chocolate puts everyone in a good mood,” said David Behin, executive vice president for the Developers Group, which is handing sales and marketing for the Echelon. “You can’t buy real estate without a nice piece of chocolate.”

The Real Deal takes a look back at some of the big stories in New York City over the past century.
[more]

A story in the March issue, “Madison Avenue retail gets younger,” misstated a figure provided by broker Robin Abrams for the average retail rent along Madison Avenue in the 70s. It is $300 to $500 a square foot.

A story in the March issue, “Ben Fox to build another retail brokerage,” misstated the name of an executive who left Newmark Knight Frank to join Robert K. Futterman & Associates. He is Gary Alterman.

A story in the March issue, “Rooting out fake ads,” misstated the fee charged to New York City brokers for posting ads on the Web site Craigslist. It is $10. The story also incorrectly referred to how long ads are stored on Craigslist. They are stored indefinitely, according to Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.