This Week in Comments

What’s the Trump name worth?
Market studies revealed that the Trump name adds approximately 15 percent to a buildings’ value.

Eventi projects neon spectacle onto Sixth Ave.
I’m one of the neighbors and I didn’t count on a light show, multilevel bars with terraces and a 60-foot video screen shining into my place. Yes, this is New York, but it shouldn’t be Las Vegas and I didn’t sign on to live in Times Square.

Rushmore developers set to challenge AG ruling in rescission case
1. I agree with Richard Cohen that Extell will have a hard time overturning the AG’s decision. Furthermore, Extell’s defense that it mistakenly made a material misstatement in its offering plan might well amount to an admission of liability for fraud under the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act, which does not require intent on the part of the sponsor or reliance on the part of the purchasers, but does provide for awarding attorneys’ fees to the prevailing purchasers.
2. Yikes. Now Extell is taking the AG’s office to court. They must be really desperate to basically litigate against the New York state attorney general who oversees them. You need to have your head examined if you are considering buying into the Rushmore or any other Extell development in light of this.

Closings to begin at Trump Soho following Friday hotel opening
Trump is number one in marketing, [the] Sapir [Organization] is number one in property development and [the] Bayrock [Group] is number one is prospecting. [It’s] a winning team. Batter up.

What are the pros and cons of a developer handing their sales or rentals in-house?
PROS: 1. You pay yourself for the management job; 2. Most control over buyer/tenant selection process; 3. You naturally become more in tune with the market situation and can react more quickly to changes in the industry; 4. For an established building, this is the best way to run your building since it generally provides the best service; 5. Best done with a small to mid-level portfolio or building size
CONS: 1. If the property is a new development, you absolutely want to use an outside sales and marketing team because a developer wants to cash out or get its permanent mortgage as fast as possible. Handling sales in-house has a large learning curve and may take a longer period of time; 2. If the in-house operation is not efficient, [the project] can come across as inefficient and unprofessional; 3. [An] in-house team may not have the list of client contacts that a professional sales and marketing team may have