The Lower East Side building that has housed the Eisner Brothers Store for the past 30 years is on the market for $18 million. The building at 75 Essex Street, listed by Lisa Bornstein of Bond New York, is being marketed as a potential condo conversion, "akin to Nolita's Candle Building," or for use as an office building, hotel, or museum. It will be delivered vacant with 19,300 square feet of air rights. Still, Eisner has some ideas of his own. In an interview with Bowery Boogie, he said the contract for whoever ends up taking the property off his hands will require the new owner to leave the exterior "as is." He envisions the property as a "single-family home for a famous person…someone like Madonna." Eisner also noted that it has the "potential for a swimming pool in the rear yard." [Bowery Boogie]Tags:75 essex streetbond new yorkcandle buildingeisner brothers storelisa bornsteinmadonna
From left: Best Yet opens in Harlem, Question Mark Cafe closes in the East Village
In Harlem, the Best Yet supermarket has opened at 118th Street and Eighth Avenue, according to a press release sent yesterday. On the Upper East Side, Bistro Vendome has opened at 405 East 58th Street between First Avenue and Sutton Place. For Midtowners with a sweet tooth, a new pop-up bake shop, CookieBar, has opened inside a hair salon called Mizu at 505 Park Avenue between 59th and 60th streets, but plans to only stay open through Saturday. In Chelsea, Ovest Pizzoteca by Luzzo, which will feature a wood- and gas-burning pizza cooker, is planning an imminent opening at 513 West 27th Street near 10th Avenue. In the East Village, the V-Bar St. Marks has opened on the corner of St. Marks Place and First Avenue.
MoreTags:closingsopeningsrestaurantsretail
Fashion designer Zac Posen, 29, answered a few questions from The Real Deal as he prepares to unveil his interior design handiwork at new boutique condo development 16 West 21st Street. Sales at the F&T Group-developed project, headed up by Prudential Douglas Elliman's Hagay Azoulay, will begin in early next month, Posen's camp said, but a red carpet event March 18 will mark the official opening. Posen remained mum about the furniture line he was reported to be launching this year, and a spokesperson said he's put the project on hold.
Tags:16 west 21st street20 pine485 fifth avenueaesthetearmanif&t grouphagay azoulaypeter somprudential douglas ellimanzac posen
Impresario David Casey and his partners have abandoned plans to reopen the former Roxy nightclub space at 515 West 18th Street, citing staunch neighborhood opposition. An attorney for the group, Eden Ballroom, which owns nightclubs including Taj Lounge, announced the decision to withdraw its controversial liquor license application at a committee meeting of the local Community Board 4 last night, sparking cheers from a cadre of would-be protesters in the audience. "The only way that we can be successful in applying for a liquor license, as well as maintaining a liquor license, is through a harmonious relationship with the neighbors," the group's lawyer said. "It doesn't appear as though there's going to be one. Toward that end, we're willing to walk away from this project." He added that the would-be leaseholders were "actively looking at other locations" where the community might be more welcoming, prompting one panel member to quip, "Where there's no residents?"
MoreTags:515 west 18th streetcommunity board 4 last nightdavid caseyeden ballroomkatraleopard loungeroller discoroxysemantic realtytaj lounge
Rental and retail project fills up, but faces stiff competitionFebruary 09, 2010 10:30AMBy C. J. Hughes
Kathy Rudney, a broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman, is handling rentals at Columbus Square
From the February issue:
It's away from the heart of the Upper West Side. Its rents are up to 30 percent higher than the competition's. And its shops more closely resemble strip-mall offerings than what's typically found on city blocks. But Columbus Square, a mega mixed-use complex that spans six blocks from West 97th to 100th streets between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues, is posting enviable rental and retail numbers in a down market, according to brokers familiar with the project and the neighborhood. Since May, the project has leased 290 of 454 apartments in two buildings at the site, where five buildings are planned, for a rental rate of 64 percent. One-bedrooms there list for about $3,400, which dwarfs the $2,300 average that postwar equivalents in the neighborhood usually command, brokers said. Once complete, Columbus Square will have 710 apartments. Of course, with the housing market still weak, tenants are receiving generous extras from the co-developers, Stellar Management and the Chetrit Group. Those incentives include up to three months of free rent, plus coverage of the broker's fee, for signing a 14-month lease, according to Kathy Rudney, the Prudential Douglas Elliman broker handling rentals. But the base rents, she noted, are firm. [more]
Despite an anticipated $120 billion in commercial real estate losses between 2008 and 2011, lenders are ready to get back to business. In a Jones Lang LaSalle survey of 60 banks and other financial institutions at the annual Mortgage Bankers Association conference last week, 24 lenders each said they would make between $2 billion and $4 billion worth of commercial real estate loans in 2010. More than half of those surveyed said they were willing to lend $50 million or more toward a single property purchase, up from the $25 million most were willing to lend for a single asset last year. Some lenders were even open to the idea of $150 to $500 million loans, said David Hendrickson, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle. While banks are still facing substantial losses, most have already set aside reserves or marked down their portfolios to reflect them, and market experts say the opportunity to pick up commercial real estate assets at discounts of 44 to 55 percent off of 2007's peak prices, as estimated by Moody's Investors Service, is luring lenders back into the game. [Dow Jones via WSJ]
Tags:david hendricksonjlljones lang lasallembamoody's investors servicemortgage bankers association
New York City homeowners facing foreclosure will be temporarily relieved of their overdue water and sewer bills under a new city initiative announced yesterday. Roughly 2,000 homeowners will be eligible for the program, which will allow those who have owed $1,000 or more for at least one year to freeze penalties and unpaid interest on their water debt, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. Once the property is sold, transferred or refinanced, owners will be required to repay the water debt as well as all future water bills. "We're offering a financial lifeline to many homeowners that need help now more than ever," Bloomberg said. "We're taking the immediate pressure off one front in their struggle and in many cases that will then help them get back on their feet and stay in their homes." TRDTags:Bloombergmayor bloombergmichael bloombergmike bloombergwater debt assistance program
Following the news that Morgan Stanley upgraded Home Depot stocks, CNBC sat down with two hardline retail experts to discuss what potential gains in home improvement stocks say about the housing market recovery. According to Stephen Chick, managing director of hardline retail at FBR Capital Markets, lumber prices are beginning to rebound -- having seen price increases over the last two to four months not matched since 2004, and that could be a positive, though often-underestimated indicator for housing. Michael Lasser, vice president and senior research analyst of hardline retail at Barclays Capital, pointed to an increased demand for appliances. Lasser said it's too soon to tell whether indicators from stores like Lowe's and Home Depot mean a full-fledged recovery, but retailers are certainly benefiting from higher transactional volume, stemming from more people moving to new homes and doing improvements and repairs.
Tags:stephen chickmichael lasserfbr capital marketsbarclays capitalMorgan Stanleylowe'shome depot
1. Fashionistas flocking to a revitalized MePa as Bryant Park alternative this week [Crain's] 2.Wall Streeters return to the luxury market with confidence, not cash [NYT] 3. Special servicer CW Capital likely to bid to keep Gluck's Riverton Houses until the market improves [Crain's] 4. Future uncertain for nearly-complete "White Castle" apartments in the Bronx after permits lapse [Post] 5.Jon Corzine: Out of office and back into his Hoboken apartment overlooking the Hudson [The Jersey Journal] 6. Q & A with recent RHYS Commercial founder Cory Gubner [NYT] 7. Star-studded cast of 1 WTC bidders includes Durst, Vornado, Brookfield, Hines and Boston [NYO] 8.Fannie Mae to incentivize use of mortgages for energy efficient home upgrades [NYT] 9. How did Katie Lee, the ex-Mrs. Billy Joel, double her investment at 23 Perry Street in just three years? [Rented Spaces] 10. Rumor: New school construction beginning at site of Bay Bridge's former Green Church[Bay Ridge Journal] 11. A chicken coop lands in a Brooklyn apartment [Rented Spaces] 12.Geithner says risk of double-dip in recession is unlikely but recovery will be slow [Reuters via CNBC] 13.Retail loan volume rises in fourth-quarter 2009 [Retail Traffic Mag]
The final unit left available at Palazzo Chupi, the condominium developed by artist Julian Schnabel, has sold, according to Curbed. The eighth- and ninth-floor, 4,000-square-foot duplex sold for $12 million in December, down $20 million from the original asking price of $32 million, to a buyer known as "Magellan 360 LLC." The development, where Richard Gere owns a unit, has endured repeated price cuts, as it's struggled to attract buyers for its few remaining units. The second to last unit to sell closed in September 2009, prior to which Schnabel sold off a late period Picasso to pay off Chupi-related debt.
[Curbed]Tags:360 west 11th streetjulian schnabelpalazzo chupirichard gere
Judi Desidiero, CEO and President of Town & Country, and an aerial view of 120 Meadow Lane, the priciest Hamptons sale in 2009
Pricey homes in the Hamptons "took a hiatus from the market this year," according to Town & Country Real Estate's 2009 list of the top 10 most expensive sales (see full report after jump). The top sale, a Southampton Village home at 120 Meadow Lane, which went for $25.99 million, would have ranked fifth on the 2008 list and would have just barely cracked the top 10 of the priciest 2007 sales, according to the Town & Country rankings, which takes its findings from all closings on the East End.
Judi Desidiero, CEO and President of Town & Country, said that the sales figures came as little surprise, particularly with the first half of the year showing an anemic level of activity on the East End.
"[The top 10 ranking] always reaffirms what you see in the pit," Desidiero said. "It was an eye-opener. The high end was really taking a break."
MoreTags:East Hamptonjudi desidierosagaponacktown & countrytown & country real estate
Slowly, Manhattan's residential real estate market is coming back to
life. When the city's major brokerages released their fourth-quarter
market reports last month, they revealed a clear jump in activity. The
number of sales in the fourth quarter grew 8 percent from the same
period in 2008 and almost 11 percent from the previous quarter,
according to Prudential Douglas Elliman's report.
But thanks to the lingering grip of the credit crunch, the vast
majority of those sales were resales in established buildings, not new
developments. More
Howard Milstein is the head of Milstein Properties
On a winter afternoon last month, sunshine streamed through the windows
on the 33rd story of 30 Lincoln Plaza, illuminating the cleaning
supplies and paint cans that occupy the high-ceilinged space. Innocuous
though it may seem, this out-of-the-way spot is at the center of a
bitter dispute now raging between the building"s tenants and the
developer, the Milstein real estate family. They are one of the city's oldest and most successful
real estate families, but also among the most controversial. More
Hundreds of dormant construction sites still dot the city, but a
handful of these beleaguered projects are finally seeing new life --
even if it's not what was once dreamed of for the location. Those that
have seen some type of resolution were able to do so by selling off
their debt at steep discounts, slimming their construction costs or
setting their sights way lower.
This month, The Real Deal tracked down 20 stalled projects
that have seen some type of resolution within the past several months. More
Major residential brokerages may still snub their noses at the listings, but a growing number of firms, particularly in the outer boroughs, are fighting for a share of the foreclosed homes market. Lenders took back thousands of homes in New York State last year and thousands more face foreclosure this year. More
Prices for Miami real estate have dropped as much as 43 percent from the 2006 peak
For some Manhattan renters, buying a second home is coming before buying a first. While New York real estate has seen severe discounts, some New Yorkers are going to real estate markets like Miami or the Hamptons that have been burned by even deeper discounts. In Miami they have dropped as much as 43 percent, compared to the city's historic high in 2006, according to Peter Zalewski, a broker with the Bal Harbour-based Condo Vultures Realty. "You can literally buy five condos in Miami for the price of one in New York," said Ron Shuffield, president of EWM Realtors in Miami. More
At the ripe old age of 24, Kevin Ellerton is managing to become one of
the most powerful players in the Lower Manhattan rental game. To hear
his competitors talk, he's also one of the most loathed.
Ellerton is the CEO of Blackstone Properties, a company he started
less than two years ago with a high school friend, David Yomtobian. More
Mary Ann Tighe, CEO of the New York Tri-State Region of CB Richard Ellis
Mary Ann Tighe is the CEO of the New York Tri-State Region of CB Richard Ellis. She has been involved in over 74.5 million square feet of commercial transactions, including Condé Nast's move to 4 Times Square and the relocation of the New York Times to its new building on Eighth Avenue. She's the first woman to chair the Real Estate Board of New York. After her mother and sister died of lung cancer, she and her family founded a nonprofit called Joan's Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer, which has raised $6.5 million since 2001. More
75 Essex Street (Source: PropertyShark)
