A combination of flattening condominium prices along with rising construction costs and interest rates has created a bitter pill for some residential developers, who, in an attempt to avoid swallowing it, may be trying to sell out. Real estate brokers who handle land and building sales said they’re seeing some developers, especially those who are less experienced, put undeveloped residential sites back on the market. Even sites that already have state approval are going back… [more]
June 2006
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In a trend that recalls the heady days before September 11, the number of Class A Manhattan office buildings at 100 percent occupancy is at its highest level in the last five years. More than 20 percent of Manhattan’s Class A office buildings were fully occupied at the end of the first quarter, according to data from brokerage Colliers ABR. The group includes such marquee properties as the General Motors Building, which has among the… [more]
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The housing market is cooling in New York. It’s also leveling off and going sideways. And ebbing. In fact, the market may be simmering, swooning, and trending downward as well. But it could simply be normalizing, too. It depends on whom you ask or read. Or overhear on the sidewalk. The Real Deal this month examined changing market conditions from a number of vantages, including the growing amount of properties sitting on the market, hiring… [more]
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Times Square sees retail rent spike">
Landlords at the bottom of the crossroads of the world are seeing persistence pay off. Retail rents at the south end of Times Square, on 42nd Street between Eights and Sixth avenues, saw the largest average increase in the entire city in March, hitting $290 a square foot, a nearly 86 percent jump from last year. That gain was far ahead of average ground-floor retail rents along Manhattan’s major retail corridors, which climbed a more… [more]
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Rates for Manhattan’s priciest hotels shot up nearly 20 percent in March compared to the year before, even while occupancy declined. The rise points to the strength of rooms priced over $300 a night — a once select group of hotels that now includes everything from the Westin Times Square and Marriott Marquis to super luxury properties such as the Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental. Occupancy for hotels with average rack rates of more than… [more]
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As the residential development market bids the boom times in Manhattan goodbye, lenders are tightening their pocketbooks. Gone are the days when a developer could typically bank on a lender to provide more than 80 percent of a condo project’s cost. With construction costs rising, lenders are also getting concerned about overruns. Many lenders, in fact, are now turning their attention to the red-hot hotel market — a market where climbing room rates have meant… [more]
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Smaller deals drove the Manhattan commercial market in April as office tenants leased space before asking rents go any higher. Already at record highs, rents in the borough went up more by May, according to brokerage Colliers ABR. The average asking rent for Manhattan went from $44.23 a square foot in March to $44.73 by the end of April. The biggest lease inked in April — for 85,000 square feet — was the Capital Group’s… [more]
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Top executives of the biggest publicly-traded real estate companies operating in New York were bullish during recent investor conference calls as they reflected on the first quarter of 2006 and the market realities to come. From talk about Cendant spinning off a new publicly-traded real estate company, to Boston Properties execs like Mort Zuckerman talking off-the-cuff about the $100-per-square-foot rents achieved for the first time in their Midtown buildings, The Real Deal heard a lot… [more]
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Development at New Jersey ports gets boost from government">
Increased shipping from Asia, rising gas prices and a government push to rehabilitate abandoned industrial sites are fueling revived development in New Jersey’s unloved but commercially vital ports. The Port of Newark and Port of Elizabeth have been the prime beneficiaries of the increased volume of exports from China and other Asian nations. Shipping that has clogged up California ports has led importers to send goods to the East Coast instead — specifically to New… [more]
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Midtown office tower on the block Jamestown is selling the 45-story, 1.95-million-square-foot office tower at 1211 Sixth Avenue. Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies of Eastdil Secured were set to begin marketing the property in late May. There is no set asking price, but Jamestown acquired the building in April 2000 for approximately $590 million, GlobeSt.com reported. West Side full-block site on the market The Related Companies and its CalPERS partner are selling 450 West 42nd… [more]
