In August, art-world heavyweight Larry Gagosian paid $36.5 million for the Harkness Mansion, the Upper East Side spread that financier J. Christopher Flowers had bought for a record-breaking $53 million in 2006. To some observers, the fate of the property illustrated the gulf between today’s residential market and the pre-crash boom. However, the art mogul’s purchase could also be a symbol for a longer-term trend affecting residential real estate: the gradual loosening of Wall Street’s grip on the city’s economy — and the growing number of New Yorkers working in education, health care, business services and creative fields. [more]
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If hindsight is 20/20, forecasting the future might be 20/200. Yes, there have been some right-on-target predictions in the last few years — among them, mathematician Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s warnings that a meltdown of the world’s financial systems was imminent in the mid-2000s. But nailing down with certainty what tomorrow’s economy may bring, experts say, is at best a crapshoot. The difficulty of crystal-ball gazing was, in fact, the heart of Taleb’s 2007 book, “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable,” in which he says that knowing with certainty when the next big calamity will hit is as tough as finding an actual black swan. [more] -
Howard Michaels in his office at 560 Lexington Avenue last month.Thirty-four years ago, Howard Michaels was knocking on doors in the 2.3 million-square-foot Starrett-Lehigh office building, hawking copy machines for the 3M Company. “I was making bupkis,” Michaels recalled. Those days are undoubtedly over. In 2004, he arranged a $219 million recapitalization of that same building, earning a seven-figure commission for his company, a real estate investment advisory firm known as the Carlton Group. [more]
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Timour Shafran of Capin & Associates in front of the Hamilton Heights building where he has a syndication deal pendingIt’s a deal that blends the American Dream with a touch of globalization, and hints of a bubbling trend.Fifty-three Chinese-Americans pooled $160,000 each to buy a corner at Delancey and Pitt streets on the Lower East Side for $8.5 million this summer. They each plan to contribute $240,000 more to fund the construction of a 53-unit condo to replace the auto shop that is there now, said seller Anthony Marano, a principal at Ozymandius Realty. [more] -
To tweet or not to tweet — for New York City real estate professionals, that is the question. When using social media for business, some worry about exposing their personal lives, or putting their foot in their (digital) mouths.But a select group of agents and executives have overcome this dilemma and emerged as the industry’s top tweeters, racking up thousands of followers at a time when the average New York City real estate broker has only around 100. [more] -
Benjamin Lambert (left), founder and chairman of Eastdil Secured, and companyCEO Roy March in the firm’s Midtown headquartersgGoogle’s record $1.8 billion purchase of 111 Eighth Avenue late last year momentarily put the name Eastdil Secured on the lips of everyone in New York’s real estate industry. But the low-profile real estate investment banking firm, which managed the sale, doesn’t have the street-level cachet that many of its rivals have. While Manhattan’s building-sales brokers and financiers (those who focus on large institutional deals, often over $100 million) know the firm as a powerhouse, many others in real estate still have no idea who Eastdil is. And many are unaware that in addition to investment sales, the firm does highly sophisticated equity and debt placement. [more]
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David Childs (photo by Marc Scrivo)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. [more] -
Maybe the question for Wall Street these days shouldn’t be “When will things get back to normal?” Instead, it should be “Will they ever get back to normal?” That’s one of the ideas we explore in our cover package this month, which looks at the impact of a diminished financial sector on the real estate market in New York. [more] -
Last month reminded New Yorkers of two dark days: the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, now a decade past, and the third anniversary of Lehman Brothers’ slide into bankruptcy. In addition, the failings of the financial system jumped to front of mind as protestors camped out in Lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park to “Occupy Wall Street.” But while many New Yorkers were preoccupied with the past, real estate professionals looked to the future, hoping the third-quarter residential market reports would bring positive news. [more] -
It’s conventional wisdom that low interest rates stimulate home sales, but in today’s roller-coaster economy, conventional wisdom does not seem to apply. Despite the optimism of real estate and mortgage brokers, analysts say low rates, as a symptom of wider economic malaise, may actually hinder home sales in New York. [more] -
After a strong first half of the year, Manhattan leasing activity declined in the third quarter. But despite the slowdown, which stemmed from a dearth of mega deals, the availability rate and asking rents for the overall market continued to strengthen. Manhattan leasing volume fell from nearly 10.6 million square feet in the second quarter to 6.7 million square feet in the third quarter, preliminary figures from commercial firm Cassidy Turley showed late last month. Comments
Anglo Irish Bank protestThe auction of Anglo Irish Bank’s troubled $9.5 billion U.S. loan portfolio has surprised some industry observers — and spread fear among some borrowers, who worry about having new lenders take over their troubled projects. Ben Thypin, a senior market analyst at Real Capital Analytics, said the fact that three lenders divvied up Anglo Irish’s portfolio was” not particularly unexpected.” [more]
In 21st-century New York, watching a movie no longer requires leaving the apartment. Thanks to the likes of Netflix and On Demand, a seemingly inexhaustible supply of films and TV shows now appears at the touch of a button. But what about those who want to pick out a movie at an actual video store? These days, that’s becoming more and more difficult. The number of video rental shops fell 17 percent in the city from 885 in 2002 to 731 in 2007, according to the most recent U.S. Census data. [more]
A view of the Financial District from the W New York Downtown hotel on Washington Street
The scenario is now vexingly familiar to Tali Berzak, a vice president at NestSeekers International: Potential buyers at 99 John Street, a Downtown condo conversion where she is the project manager, come to the sales office believing the Financial District is depressed, and make lowball offers accordingly. [more]
Remember the proposed requirement from six federal agencies that homebuyers make minimum 20 percent down payments if they want the lowest interest rates? Remember the controversy that erupted over the plan last spring, when labor unions joined with bankers, civil rights groups, mortgage companies, realty agents and consumer advocates to get it changed? A bipartisan group of 39 senators and more than 250 Democrats and Republicans in the House even signed letters demanding that the agencies ditch the proposal on the grounds that it would be deeply harmful to a housing market mired in deep trouble. [more]
The Waldorf AstoriaWaldorf Astoria to get face-liftWaldorf Astoria to get face-liftThe city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission last month approved changes to the famed Waldorf Astoria hotel at 301 Park Avenue. The commission okayed an overall face-lift for the building, including a new marquee for the hotel, along with restoration of the automobile court. The plans, designed by architecture firm BBG-BBGM, call for a new glass and silver canopy to stretch across the hotel’s three primary entrances on Park Avenue. [more]
British OccupationTropical Storm Irene left New York City mostly unscathed, but the city hasn’t always been so lucky. Manhattan has weathered its fair share of natural and man-made disasters, often with long-lasting effects for the real estate market. This month, The Real Deal looked back at the worst disasters in the city’s history, real estate-wise. [more]
In the last few weeks, as many of the city’s big banks have been besieged by bad news, and the stock market has seesawed sharply in a short span of time, the question on many analysts’ minds is: Could a new round of pain on Wall Street trickle down to New York’s already vulnerable commercial and residential real estate markets? Indeed, the thinking goes, the financial services industry and its numerous offices keep commercial occupancy rates high in Manhattan, while its well-paid executives buoy the high-end residential market. [more]Wall Street is a place, but it’s also a state of mind. And that’s true now more than ever, as the headquarters of New York’s most powerful banks are no longer clustered on one particular Financial District thoroughfare. Likewise, the homes belonging to the bosses of Wall Street’s biggest firms aren’t concentrated in any one place either. While there’s still some historic bias toward Uptown over Downtown, not every Wall Street titan gravitates toward the most exclusive white-glove co-ops. In addition, the success that these high-finance wizards have had with their NYC residential real estate investments is also all over the map. What follows is The Real Deal’s rundown of who, where, and how they’ve done. [more]
Source: Information from Cassidy Turley, CBRE, and news sources. Numbers are for portions of building, not entire towers.Three years ago, with the country in the midst of a financial crisis, major global banks looked to cut costs by subletting their unneeded office space to other companies. Just weeks after Lehman Brothers Holdings filed for bankruptcy, financial institutions like MetLife, Citigroup and Bank of America dumped more than 1 million square feet of this so-called sublease space on the market. As the downturn dragged into 2009, the total amount of sublease space peaked, with Manhattan financial services firms listing at least 4.4 million square feet by the middle of the year. Today, news of Wall Street’s financial losses has pushed banks to take out the knife once again, looking for ways to cut back on expenses. And some real estate insiders expect those boardroom decisions to lead to another increase in sublease space in the Manhattan market. [more]
Susan Tsang had already seen dozens of apartments by the time she finally convinced a landlord to rent her the $1,950-a-month Upper West Side studio where she lives today. A doctoral biology student who grew up in Queens, Tsang earns a modest stipend. However, her family lives in Hong Kong, where she was born. And her roommate, who works as a receptionist and teacher, was back from a two-year stint in Japan, and had yet to earn a U.S. paycheck when the longtime friends began apartment-hunting. This unique collection of circumstances combined to turn their hunt into a three-month marathon. It wasn’t until the Brodsky Organization took the rare step of allowing Tsang’s father to act as an international guarantor that she was able to sign the lease, she said. [more]
Trammell Crow1983: The $400 million Times Square project that never was.1958: Rockefeller outlines $1 billion downtown face-lift.
1929: World’s tallest tower planned at 150 stories. [more]
The new addition to John Jay College on 11th AvenueBigness is back. By “bigness,” I do not mean height — rather, I refer to a kind of hulking squatness, an unapologetic, as-of-right occupancy of a plot of land — without any namby-pamby purchase of “air rights,” or any rising up in a zigguratted setback to heights made possible by the construction of some cynically insufficient, “privately owned public space.” Two recent and conspicuous examples of this new bigness are the Lucida and the Brompton, which occupy the southeast corners of 86th Street at Lexington and Third Avenues, respectively. These structures hark back to the days before the 1916 legislation that mandated how high a building could rise in New York relative to its footprint. [more]
In a city where so many strangers share cramped quarters, is discrimination ever justified in hunting for a roommate? That’s the question before a federal appeals court in Pasadena, Calif., and real estate insiders say the court’s decision could affect how roommate listings operate here. Comments
The Starrett-Lehigh BuildingIn December 2007, less than a year before the fall of Lehman Brothers and as the vise of the credit crunch was tightening, SL Green Realty closed on one of the biggest deals of the decade: $1.575 billion for 388 and 390 Greenwich Street, the 2.6 million-square-foot office complex then occupied largely by Citigroup. But SL Green, New York’s biggest commercial landlord, did not act alone in the $598-a-square-foot purchase. It had a little help from some loonies, or Canadian dollars. The REIT’s minority partner on the deal, taking a 49.4 percent stake, was SITQ, the real estate investment wing of Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, a Montreal-based pension fund. (SITQ has since merged with Caisse’s other real estate subsidiary, and now goes by the name Ivanhoe Cambridge.) [more]
From left: Thor Equities CEO Joseph Sitt; Brian Hanson, director of sales, Massey Knakal; Juan Rivero, spokesman, Save Coney Island; Timothy King, managing partner, CPEX Real Estate; Albert Wilk, owner/broker, Wilk Real Estate; Sofia Song, vice president, research, StreetEasyThe last two years have, of course, brought Coney Island back from the dead with its first new amusement parks in a half-century — Luna Park and the Scream Zone. So what’s the status of the rest of the redevelopment of Coney Island? Is it on the same Cyclone-style roller coaster as the rest of the city’s real estate market? [more]
FEMA aids Irene victims
Federal officials last month approved disaster relief for more than 2,000 residents of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties who suffered property damage during Tropical Storm Irene, according to the Journal News. [more]
The Los Angeles skylinePop icon Christina Aguilera has sold her four-bedroom California mansion at a loss of more than $300,000, according to the blog RealEstalker. The Grammy winner and “The Voice” judge purchased the Hollywood Hills home for $5 million in 2003 and renovated it. She put it back on the market in April 2008 with a listing price of $7.9 million, but sold it last month for just $4.65 million. [more]
2 West 46th StreetA 17-story office and retail building at 2 West 46th Street is listed for sale with an asking price of $80 million. Located in Manhattan’s Diamond District, the prewar, 144,000-square-foot property is 92 percent occupied. About 70 percent of tenants have been in the building for the last decade or longer. The building, which was recently upgraded, has 7,529 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 5,435 square feet of lower-level retail space. The property also has about 20,000 square feet of unused air rights for future development. David Schechtman, Lipa Lieberman, Marion Jones and Scott Ellard of Eastern Consolidated are marketing the building. [more]Sales update
Chelsea
The Cammeyer
650 Sixth Avenue
The CammeyerThe 67-unit condo conversion, developed by Kumkang Housing Co., is now 75 percent sold, with just 11 units remaining. One- and two-bedroom apartments have sold out, but studio lofts, ranging in size from 701 to 802 square feet, are still available, with prices starting at $895,000. CommentsMiMA
450 West 42nd Street
450 West 42nd Street1-bedroom, 1-bath, 600 sf rental at the newly constructed building; 24-hour concierge; unit has river views, walk-in closet, eat-in kitchen with dishwasher and microwave; building has health club, pool, indoor basketball and volleyball courts, and movie screening room; asking rent: $3,475. (Brokers: Michael Chadwick, Bond New York; Danielle Higgins, Related/ MiMA) [more]
Ronald Solarz (left) and Eric AntonLongtime Eastern Consolidated brokers Eric Anton and Ronald Solarz left the investment sales firm last month to take positions as managing partners at investment banking firm Brookfield Financial. Anton said the pair would be running property brokerage nationally for the firm, from its office in Manhattan. [more]
Marc Lawrence at the first Real Estate Insiders Network eventOn a Tuesday last month, more than 100 real estate professionals gathered to celebrate the launch of a new company called Real Estate Insiders Network, or REIN. With help from an open bar, brokers and developers schmoozed with lawyers, lenders and designers. “Real estate is still a business of relationships and face-to-face connections,” said REIN cofounder Marc Lawrence. As senior managing director at the title insurance agency American Land Services, he’s gone to hundreds of industry events during his 20 years in real estate. He’s even organized them himself. [more]
Gea ElikaIn one of several recent changes aimed at setting the firm apart from its competition, Elika Associates last month launched a private brokerage service for buyers seeking Manhattan homes priced above $5 million. [more]Residential
Bond New YorkThe firm hired Mary Lou Currier and Kianna Choi, both from A.C. Lawrence & Co. Sophia DeGraffenreidt joined the firm from Halstead Property, and Amy Merrero was hired from CitySites New York. [more]
Rob TaubRob Taub is a comedian, writer and TV personality. But his latest gig is at Keller Williams Realty New York City. Taub, who regularly appears as a political pundit on Fox News, joined Keller Williams last month as a broker and director of new media. [more]
A model apartment at the Yard, wih art and furniture for saleNew York City home-seekers are used to model apartments staged with generic, if tasteful, furniture. Not so at Long Island City’s the Yard, a new 83-unit condo. Potential buyers who visit the building’s model apartments find galleries full of eclectic pieces like Amy Ruppel’s oval portraits of extinct birds, which have words like “moron” scrawled across them. [more]
Late last month, real estate pros came out in force to support brokers Michele Kleier, Samantha Kleier Forbes and Sabrina Kleier Morgenstern as they signed copies of their first novel, “Hot Property.” In the penthouse suite at the London Hotel NYC, the Kleier women — brokers at family business Gumley Haft Kleier and stars of the HGTV reality show “Selling New York”– chatted with industry big shots like Halstead Property president Diane Ramirez. [more]
