The Real Deal May 2012 by The Real Deal

NYC’s red light rentals

Blossoming of Boerum Hill

Brokers on boards: Pros and con(flicts)

NYU expansion a boon to the Village

112

Single real estate moms

THEREALDEAL

www.TheRealDeal.com

Who’s hiring?

NYC real estate jobs on rise, especially in private equity

BY SARAH EVELYN HARVEY While there are still more applicants than open jobs, real estate ﬁrms are starting to hire. The real estate programs at Columbia and NYU both report an uptick in companies—especially private equity ﬁrms— scouting for talent.

N EW YO R K R E A L E S TAT E N E W S

Vol. 10 No. 5 May 2012 $3.00

Burkle’s billions Business tycoon Ron Burkle ramps up NYC real estate buys

Inventory shrinks as homebuyers multiply

Breaking down the monthly nut

While NYC brokers have bemoaned the scarcity of quality listings for a while, worries have now reached a fever pitch. Compounding the situation, buyers are getting hungrier to make purchases. See page 16.

A price analysis on renting vs. owning in Manhattan

BY LEIGH KAMPING-CARDER It’s the question New Yorkers love to mull: to buy or not to buy? But the choice is becoming blurrier as SPECIAL REPORT NYC rents skyrocket while interest rates remain at historic lows. This month, TRD examined the “monthly nut,” looking at a cross section of Manhattan neighborhoods and unit types to determine whether it costs more per month to rent or to own.

Drought breaks in NYC ofﬁce leasing Two big new ofﬁce deals — one by Viacom, another by Morgan Stanley — have provided a lift to NYC’s leasing market. But small deals still make up the bulk of activity. See page 24.

See story on page 40

Hospitality’s strength creates new barriers for NYC buyers

BY JAKE MOONEY The window for New York hotel investment may be closing. The strength of the sector is now making it prohibitive for new investors to get in on the action. See story on page 18

See page 114.

Does reality TV pay?

Billionaire Ron Burkle has been deploying some of his fortune in NYC real estate lately.

BY GUELDA VOIEN purchase of the Meatpacking District building ocRon Burkle is known for many things — the billions cupied by Soho House and another nearby prophe made in the grocery business and his relationship erty, which he’s attempting to flip. That’s on top of with President Bill Clinton among them. last month’s opening of his NoMad Hotel. FEATURE STORY One source said he’s now “one of the first But until recently, NYC real estate wasn’t on that list. Lately, however, Burkle has made some calls people make” when looking for capital. high-profile Manhattan investments, including his See story on page 46

NYC’s retail royals

Danny Meyer dishes on fast-food rivals

Vacation homebuyers are back. Hamptons sales shot up 18% in the ﬁrst quarter from a year ago and prices increased. See page 20.

AT A GLANCE

See story on page 48

Hotel investors cool their heels

FACT

Reality shows like “Selling New York” and “Million Dollar Listing New York” revel in showing off NYC’s swankiest apartments. A look at if the exposure translates into higher prices and more sales activity for those units. See page 30.

Stribling: the next generation

TRD pinpoints Manhattan’s top brokerages and those dominating the busiest leasing corridors

Firm aims to shed ‘stuffy’ image with brand overhaul

BY ADAM PINCUS Manhattan retail ﬁrms While Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue with the most and Times Square still hold the mantle deals in past year for the city’s most expensive retail spots, brokers are headed Downtown because Newmark 560,017 sf that’s where the deals are. This month, RKF & Assoc. 511,183 sf TRD conducted an analysis of Manhat- Cushman 498,446 sf tan retail deals in the past year, cover- Source note: See page 60. ing 3 million square feet of activity. The ranking not only looked at which ﬁrms did the most business, but also who dominated in the city’s most-active retail areas — including Soho and, surprisingly, the Lower East Side. See story on page 60

BY KATHERINE CLARKE Elizabeth Stribling, founder of the eponymous high-end residential ﬁrm, made headlines in 2009 when she moved from the Upper East Side to Brooklyn. Now her ﬁrm, Stribling & Associates, is following suit, revamping its buttoned-up image and targeting clients outside its traditional base. Is it working? See story on page 33

Fredrik Eklund of “Million Dollar Listing New York”

Dying for cash More NYC homeowners are tapping their life insurance to help reﬁnance mortgages. Find out why. See page 28.

www.TheRealDeal.com

BURKLE PHOTOGRAPH BY BRAD TRENT; MEYER PHOTOGRAPH BY MARC SCRIVO

The Privacy You Desire The Conveniences You Need 62 Bethune Street – Superior Living in the West Village This exceptional home is the last Superior Ink townhouse available for sale. Designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP and developed by Related Companies, 62 Bethune Street enjoys all the amenities of the renowned Superior Ink Condominium.

Townhouse Features & Amenities: • 4,865

square feet of grand living space- architect/decorator ready square feet of outdoor space – private backyard garden and rooftop terrace • 7 bedrooms, 6 full baths and powder room • Wood burning fireplaces, Interior elevators • Interior access to Superior Ink Garage and all amenities • Pre-wired infrastructure for “Smart Home” and video answering service provided by Superior Ink concierge • 1,642

priced at $14 million. For more information or to schedule a viewing, call 212.488.0012 or visit somethingsuperior.com. Superior Ink Condominium

Sponsor: Bethune West Associates, L.L.C., c/o The Related Companies, L.P., 60 Columbus Circle, New York, New York 10023. The complete offering terms are in an Offering Plan available from Sponsor. File No. CD07-0293.

celebrating 20 years as new york’s premier mortgage specialist

SPECIALIZING IN SUPER JUMBO HOME LOANS IMPECCABLE SERVICE AND THE BEST RATES AVAILABLE NYC’s co-op and condo financing experts specializing in “hard-to-finance” buildings please call 212.688.9500, ext. 223 or visit www.guardhill.com 140 east 45th street, 31 st fl, new york, ny 10017

we make it happen! NEW YORK, NY • NEW CANAAN, CT • CHARLOTTE, NC GuardHill Financial Corp. NMLS #1609. Licensed by the Dept. of Corporations under the CA Residential Mortgage Lending Act • Licensed Lender CT Banking Dept. • Licensed Correspondent Mortgage Lender - FL Banking Dept. • Georgia Residential Mortgage Licensee #11534 • Illinois Residential Mortgage Licensee # MB.0006038 • MA Licensed Mortgage Banker and Mortgage Broker License #MC4037 • Licensed by the New Hampshire Banking Dept. • Licensed by the NJ Dept. of Banking and Insurance • Registered Mortgage Broker and Licensed Mortgage Banker – NYS Banking Dept. • Pennsylvania Licensed by the Department of Banking License #3206970 • Rhode Island Licensed Lender and Loan Broker • Virginia State Corporation Commission License #MC-1868 • GuardHill Financial Corp. is also Licensed to offer mortgage loans in Colorado, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, Texas and Vermont.

GuardHill 20859 REAL DEAL V6.indd 1

3/30/12 10:02 AM

IHOP is aggressively seeking additional sites in

Manhattan and the Outer Boroughs Current location:

235 East 14th Street

For potential sites please contact Manhattan

Michael Ashkenazy Michael@trihopmanagement.com 646-214-0283

Outer Boroughs

Sam Genet Sam@trihopmanagement.com 646-214-0256

Please contact AJ Levine for details 646.214.0245 alevine@aacrealty.com

Waterfront Condominiums From $1,275,000 to $35,000,000

250 WEST STREET TRIBECA

C O N D O M I NI U M S

250WESTSTREET.COM 212-343-2509

SALES OFFICE ENTRANCE ON WASHINGTON STREET BETWEEN HUBERT AND LAIGHT EXCLUSIVE SALES AND MARKETING BY CANTOR PECORELLA INC

Sponsor makes no representations or warranties except as set forth in the Offering Plan. The complete offeringterms are in an Offering Plan available from Sponsor El-Ad 250 West LLC, 575 Madison Ave, 23rd Floor New York, NY 10022. File NO CD11-0015

Tribeca

Waterfront Condominiums From $1,275,000 to $35,000,000

250 WEST STREET TRIBECA

C O N D O M I NI U M S

250WESTSTREET.COM 212-343-2509

SALES OFFICE ENTRANCE ON WASHINGTON STREET BETWEEN HUBERT AND LAIGHT EXCLUSIVE SALES AND MARKETING BY CANTOR PECORELLA INC

Tribeca

SPACE LIFT

Highlights M AY 2 0 1 2

Needle in a haystack?

Hotel investors cool their heels

Hamptons market heats up

Lack of inventory dampens start of open house season in New York.

Hospitality sector’s strength creates new barriers of entry for NYC buyers. East End sales are up, rentals are going strong and celebs are out in force.

Matt Lauer recently bought 40 acres near his Water Mill home.

Howard’s headquarters

Since its construction in 1982, the Jacob K. Javits Center has been one of the world’s leading examples of spaceframe design. But the I.M. Pei & Partners-designed exhibit space needed updating to put its best face forward for the 3.5 million visitors it receives each year. So owners engaged Epstein Global and FXFowle Architects, who developed the recladding program that is dramatically increasing the building’s transparency and energy efficiency. Targeting LEED Silver with a glazing system that will enable the building to exceed energy code requirements by 25 percent, the new face of Javits proves that being old doesn’t have to mean retiring.

Transforming design into reality For help achieving the goals of your next project, contact the Ornamental Metal Institute of New York.

Prudential Douglas Elliman chairman Howard Lorber breeds dogs and raises money for presidential candidates — that is, when he’s not running one of his many companies.

Howard Lorber in his ofﬁce.

words... 26 InThistheir month’s funniest and most

insightful real estate comments.

for cash 28 “Dying” More NYC homeowners tap life insurance to help reﬁnance loans.

reality TV pay? 30 Does A look at how small-screen exposure impacts the sales prospects and prices of featured properties.

Broker Fredrik Eklund on “Million Dollar Listing New York.”

The next generation 33 Stribling: The 32-year-old ﬁrm looks to shed its

“stuffy” image with a new website and a branding overhaul.

Publisher of Metals in Construction 211 E 43 ST | NY, NY 10017 | 212-697-5554 | www.ominy.org

rejects 36 Mortgage Many of the borrowers who’ve been denied loans recently were once considered acceptable credit risks.

foreclosed homes 36 Renting The Federal Reserve makes it Elizabeth Stribling in her Brooklyn Heights home. Architect: Epstein Global, FXFowle Architects Photographer: Enclos

easier for banks to ﬁll distressed homes with tenants.

sale: Staten Island prison 36 For Cash-strapped state wants highest

bidder for shuttered NYC jail.

of two markets 38 ANYCtaledevelopers pick sides, building either supersized apartments or tiny pieds-à-terre with compact features. 8 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

A cell at Arthur Kill Correctional facility

W E â&#x20AC;&#x2122; V E S AV E D t h e B E ST f o r L A S T An incredible high-floor two bedroom plus study residence at 845 West End Avenue has now been made available. This grand prewar condominium in the heart of the Upper West Side features gracious entry foyers, central air conditioning, radiant heated floors, new double pane windows and a washer/dryer in every home.

212.784.9845

845wea.com

EXCLUSIVE MARKETING AND SALES AGENT THE CORCORAN GROUP

R e sidence 16d

S T U DY W

DI NI NG ROOM

BEDROOM

L I V I NG ROOM

BEDROOM

T he complete o ffering terms are in an o ffering plan availa b le from S ponsor . File N o. C D 0 8 - 0 6 47

RES I D EN C E E K I TCH EN

E q ual H ousing O pportunit y

A rchitecture / interior design By cetraruddy

D E veloped By

Highlights ts continued monthly nut 40 The A price breakdown on renting

��

versus owning in Manhattan — by neighborhood.

red-light rentals 44 Manhattan’s Headline-grabbing prostitution cases highlight a common headache for NYC landlords.

Burkle buys low Billionaire investor gets into the New York real estate game via boutique hotels. Business tycoon Ron Burkle

Where the real estate jobs are in NYC

Where real estate meets politics

Conditions are improving on the employment front for new grads.

The ex–City Hall politicos who now wield inﬂuence in the industry.

retail ﬁrms 60 Reigning An analysis pinpoints the top retail ��

��

leasing ﬁrms — and those dominating the most active shopping corridors.

Checking in with brokers to take the pulse of the apartment market.

Commercial Market Report Tracking rents and vacancy figures in Manhattan’s three office districts. Christopher Owles of Sinvin Real Estate, which did more Soho deals than any other firm.

their powers for good? 64 Using The pros and con(ﬂicts) of brokers serving on co-op and condo boards.

68 Critic James Gardner says it’s time The Village Vanguard

for opponents to step aside and let NYU’s expansion go forward.

Going it alone

��Metals in Construction ��

Africa Israel’s Laurie Golub and her daughter Jayda

10 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Residential Market Report

112

��

Some highpowered female real estate execs opt to start parenthood without partners.

Danny Meyer 114 Decoding Restaurateur and Shake Shack founder on which mega fast food chain he’d eat at — if forced to.

National Market Report Reports from around the country on signiﬁcant developments and trends.

The Deal Sheet A roundup of ofﬁce and retail leases, building buys and ﬁnancing.

100

Calendar of Events Check out this month’s activities.

106

Developments Updates An update of the construction and sales status of projects around the city.

110

Comings & Goings The stories behind the latest job moves and company announcements.

112

We Heard A lighter look at industry buzz.

$175,000,000 in Recent Transactions Since 2005, we have invested $900 million in the origination and acquisition of commercial mortgage loans collateralized by multifamily, retail, office and light industrial properties throughout the United States.

$5,400,000

$3,750,000

$3,850,000

Distressed Note Acquisition Mixed-Use Building Brooklyn, NY February 2012

Note Financing Flex/Industrial Building Long Island City, NY February 2012

Bridge Loan Retail/Office Brooklyn, NY February 2012

$28,700,000

$6,500,000

$5,320,000

Distressed Loan Pool Acquisition Multifamily/Retail Portfolio Brooklyn & Manhattan, NY December 2011

Distressed Loan Pool Acquisition Multifamily/Retail Portfolio Brooklyn, NY December 2011

Multifamily/Retail Portfolio Mixed-Use Building Brooklyn & Manhattan, NY December 2011

$14,500,000

$22,615,000

$7,830,000

DPO Financing / Rehab Loan Multifamily Queens, NY November 2011

Distressed Loan Pool Acquisition Multifamily/Retail Portfolio Brooklyn, Bronx & Manhattan, NY September 2011

Distressed Note Acquisition Mixed-Use Building Brooklyn, NY September 2011

$5,900,000

$7,950,000

$14,000,000

Distressed Loan Pool Acquisition Multifamily/Retail Portfolio Northern New Jersey September 2011

Distressed Loan Pool Acquisition Multifamily/Retail Portfolio Brooklyn & Manhattan, NY August 2011

Distressed Note Acquisition Multifamily Portfolio Upper West Side, Manhattan, NY June 2011

$6,000,000

$22,500,000

$18,100,000

DPO Financing Residential Condominiums Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY April 2011

DPO Financing/Rehab Loan Residential Condominiums Rego Park, Queens, NY March 2011

Distressed Loan Pool Acquisition Multifamily/Retail Portfolio Brooklyn & Manhattan December 2010

(646) 472-1900 • 825 Third Avenue • 37th Floor • New York, NY 10022 • www.madisonrealtycapital.com *Includes deals closed by Sullivan Realty Capital, LLC, an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission doing business as Madison Realty Capital, and its affiliates. Except where indicated, deals are held in portfolios managed by Madison Realty Capital. Holdings held in portfolios managed by Madison Realty Capital represent all recommendations by Madison Realty Capital since January 1, 2011. Past performance does not guarantee future results. It should not be assumed that the recommendations made in the future will be profitable or will equal the performance of the securities listed. Holdings are subject to change. **Deals are held in portfolios managed by affiliates of Madison Realty Capital.

THE REAL DEAL N E W YO R K R E A L E S T A T E N E W S PUBLISHER Amir Korangy EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Stuart W. Elliott MANAGING EDITOR Jill Noonan DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR Candace Taylor WEB EDITOR Lauren Elkies ART DIRECTORS Ronald Gross, Derek Zahedi SENIOR REPORTER Adam Pincus REPORTERS Leigh Kamping-Carder, Katherine Clarke WRITERS Melissa Dehncke-McGill, C.J. Hughes, David Jones, Adam Piore PRODUCTION MANAGER & RESEARCHER Linden Lim EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Adam Fusfeld, Guelda Voien, Zachary Kussin ILLUSTRATORS David Cole, Yishai Minkin PHOTOGRAPHERS Max Dworkin, Michael Toolan, Marc Scrivo DIRECTOR OF MARKETING OPERATIONS Yoav Barilan ASSOCIATE SALES DIRECTOR Ross Fox ADVERTISING SALES Eran Evron, Abi Laoshe, Joseph Paci, Robert Stearns WEBMASTER Nima Negahban ACCOUNT COORDINATOR Andrea Moreno ADMINISTRATOR Junaid Zahid CIRCULATION Paul Destanko DISTRIBUTION Mitchell Newman, Michael Presto VIDEOGRAPHER Toni Comas ATTORNEY Barry J. Friedberg Trachtenberg Rodes & Friedberg ACCOUNTANTS William T. McCallum, CPA, P.C., Christine Wang The Real Deal is a registered trademark of Korangy Publishing Inc. Copyright © 2012. Call 212-2601332 or e-mail news@therealdeal.com. Warning: It is illegal to photocopy or reproduce any part of The Real Deal without express written consent. For reprints and duplication rights, call 212-260-1332. Principal ofﬁce: 158 West 29th St., New York, NY 10001. The Real Deal is published monthly. Annual subscriptions cost $95. Send check or money order to 158 West 29th St., New York, NY 10001.

12 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

MD_RD_may_2012_v4_Layout 1 4/26/12 4:41 PM Page 1

R E I N V E N T I N G

R E A L

E S T A T E

You have a residential development with enormous potential and you are looking for game-changing marketing ideas and a proven sales or leasing team. Both agendas are best served by partnering with The Marketing Directors. Our differentiator is broader bandwidth. We bring more brainpower, more talent, more knowledge, more experience, more success – to the table than you will find anywhere. We’re problem-solvers and innovators that get complex, ambitious developments done brilliantly and profitably. We’re also experts in casting the widest net possible – in worlds both real and digital – to attract qualified prospects and close sales.

Broader Bandwidth. Wider Net.

Our 29 year history, $29 billion in residential sales, and long list of enduring relationships with leading developers should convince you that, no matter what the business climate, we always get the job done. To bring more bandwidth to your process and predictability to your bottom line, please visit our website

Powerful Sales Engine | TheMarketingDirectorsInc.com

and call Adrienne Albert or Jackie Urgo for a meeting.

750 LEXINGTON AVE | 18TH FL | NYC | 212.826.8822

4.25.12 • TMD • Real Deal • magazine trim: 10.5 x 14.5 • mechanical size: 10.75 x 14.75 • Issue: May 2012

EDITOR’S NOTE

NYC’s diverse monied class

usiness in New York makes strange bedfellows. There are many paths to riches in the Big Apple, as you can see by looking at our cover this month. Indeed, not only does New York City have one of the most diverse populations on the planet (just ride the No. 7 subway if you haven’t already figured that out), but there’s also serious variety in the kinds of wealthy people who live here, including real estate players. Billionaire investor Ron Burkle, who we profile in a story starting on page 46, represents one particular breed of wealth. I like to call this style of tycoon the “Entourage” mogul. (Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and billionaire record executive David Geffen, for example, would also fall into this camp.) The California supermarket tycoon — who was once dubbed the “billionaire party boy” — owns a professional sports team, is reportedly godfather to P. Diddy’s children, and even started a venture capital fund with actor Ashton Kutcher. It’s a decidedly West Coast approach, which is now coming east to invest in real estate. Burkle has been shopping for and developing hip boutique hotels in the city — he’s already snapped up Soho House New York and provided backing for the NoMad Hotel in the Garment District, which opened last month. “He is probably one of the first calls that people make in this sector [right now for investing],” one broker told us. Incidentally, the billionaire was mentioned in my favorite Page Six item of all time: He was sighted breaking bread with Bill Clinton (his one-time close friend before an apparent fallout), Bono and Jay-Z for dinner at the Spotted Pig in the West Village. Talk about a power foursome. A more East Coast approach (about as East Coast as you can get, actually) is embodied by Elizabeth Stribling, head of the high-end brokerage Stribling & Associates, who we profile on page 33. Stribling, who epitomizes the Upper East Side, and once might have seemed

A look at real estate wealth, from “Entourage” moguls to Upper East Side doyennes

GROW WITH

Call for a Confidential Interview 718.797.2222 � � � � � � � � � �

Exclusive Agents First Program Advancement Opportunities Management Positions Available No Marketing or Desk Fees Daily Leads Members REBNY, BNYMLS & National Association of Realtors Advanced Integrated Technology Elegantly Appointed Offices in Company Owned Properties Mentor Program Retirement Options

718-797-2222 MadisonEstates.com facebook.com/madisonestatesnyc 53 Douglass Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231

likely to burst into flames if she crossed south of 42nd Street, has been in the process of broadening her firm’s reach beyond just that neighborhood, as well as jettisoning the brokerage’s “stuffy” image. The firm is undergoing a rebranding, and Stribling — who made headlines in 2009 when she moved from the Upper East Side to a $6 million Brooklyn Heights condo that the firm was then marketing — claims she can run with the “blue-jean set.” (She admitted, however, that she still buys all her groceries on the Upper East Side.) It’s an issue that other white-shoe Upper East Side firms have had to tackle in trying to appeal to a bigger market. Brokerage firms Gumley Haft Kleier and Warburg Realty, for instance, chose to reach a wider demographic by signing on to appear in reality TV shows about real estate. That’s something that probably would have once been frowned upon by many in the Upper East Side set — in addition to their aversion to dungarees. Finally, our ranking of Manhattan’s top retail firms, on page 60, shows a different path to success, and a different way money spreads its wings in the pursuit of more money, through new partnerships and mergers. The first-place finisher on our retail brokerage list, the newly renamed Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, brokered more than half-a-million square feet of store leases in Manhattan in 145 deals in the past year. Local New York guys Jeffrey Gural and Barry Gosin have built the firm up over the past several decades from its humble beginnings. But lately, they’ve been involved in a flurry of corporate deal-making that’s resulted in the firm’s ever-expanding name, including the sale of the company to Howard Lutnick’s BGC Partners last year and a merger with bankrupt brokerage Grubb & Ellis last month. Here’s to coming up with a new name if they merge with anyone else. Finally, if you don’t already know about it, check out the premiere of The Real Deal’s documentary, “Building Stories — New York Through the Eyes of an Architect,” on PBS this month. It’s the story of Manhattan’s most prolific architect, Costas Kondylis, and the battle between art and commerce in how the skyline gets shaped. That battle gets played out between architects and developers — in our film, between Kondylis and Donald Trump — who often make strange bedfellows. The documentary — which was directed by Toni Comas, produced by TRD publisher Amir Korangy and written by me — premieres on Wednesday, May 2, at 7 p.m. on WLIW21 and Sunday, May 6, at 7 p.m. on Thirteen. Enjoy the documentary, and enjoy the issue.

Stuart Elliott 14 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Delivery 2013 Exceptional Views. Premier Location. Innovative Design. Exclusive Services. Approximately 292,000 sq. ft. of Class A office available for lease. • 22,500 sq. ft. column-free floor plates • 10-foot finished ceiling heights • Floor-to-Ceiling windows • Panoramic views

• Exclusive building branding opportunity • Centrally located in Midtown • Private health club • Secure on-site valet parking

Visit us at www.55W46.com or Contact Us: Franklin Speyer 212-841-5050 Franklin.Speyer@cushwake.com

Stuart I. Romanoff 212-841-5005 Stuart.Romanoff@cushwake.com

Frank P. Liantonio 212-841-7887 Frank.Liantonio@cushwake.com

Alan Wildes 212-841-5925 Alan.Wildes@cushwake.com

Amy L. Fox 212-841-5971 Amy.Fox@cushwake.com

Mikael Nahmias 212-841-5058 Mikael.Nahmias@cushwake.com

RE S I D E N T I A L MA R K E T

BY LEIGH KAMPING-CARDER f you’re in the market for a 30room spread at the rareﬁed 740 Park Avenue, you may be out of luck. Last month, Courtney Sale Ross, the widow of Time Warner chairman Steven Ross, found a buyer for her pair of linked coops at the exclusive building. The duplex property boasts eight bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, six terraces and two libraries, and the report-

Needle in a haystack? Lack of inventory dampens start of NYC open house season

ed $52 million price tag would be the highest ever for a New York City co-op if the deal closes for that amount. But even buyers looking for something less exceptional may be reminded of the proverbial needle-in-a-haystack search when they start hitting open houses this season. “You can see everything in any given price range in a day, two maybe,” said Nathaniel Whelton,

a senior agent at Bond New York. While brokers have bemoaned the scarcity of quality listings — that is, homes that are in good repair, priced right and lacking any serious ﬂaws — for a long while, worries about the lack of product have reached a fever pitch in the last few weeks. As of late last month, inventory in Manhattan was down about 12 percent from the same period last year, to 6,980 active listings from

“You can see everything in any given price range in a day, two maybe.” NATHANIEL WHELTON, BOND NEW YORK 7,834, according to real estate data provider Urban Digs. Compounding the urgency of the situation, brokers said, buyers are hungrier to purchase this spring than they were last spring.

“Last year, during April and May, people were hopeful about the market, but were very cautious,” said Virginia Hildebrandt, a sales associate at DJK Residential. “Now, it seems that buyers are making moves to ﬁnally purchase.” Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group’s Melissa Ziweslin, who manages sales at the Rushmore condominium at 80 Riverside Boulevard, echoed this refrain. “We hear buyers complain that there isn’t much product available, and they are ready to purchase now and take advantage of low interest rates,” she said. The lack of listings has had an effect on the spring open house season, brokers said. For one thing, apartment hunters can take stock of the market in less than a weekend, as Bond’s Whelton noted. “With sales clients, it’s been getting them to understand how quickly things are moving again, especially when the apartment is priced properly,” Whelton said, describing one of last month’s difﬁculties in getting deals done. “If you see a unit you like, there’s not much time for shopping around afterward.” Leslie Hirsch and Howard Morrel, who work together at Brown Harris Stevens, said the substantial portion of their clients looking in the roughly $3-to$4 million range around Columbus Circle — who hope to get an apartment in good condition with a view — can survey all the available units in an afternoon. Additionally, brokers unaccompanied by clients are turning up at open houses, Morrel said, scoping out the pros and cons of the properties to be “1,000 percent sure” they are worth showing to a client. For example, Morrel and Hirsch held an open house for a three-bedroom co-op at 1185 Park Avenue, listed at $6.3 million, and were surprised to see about a dozen brokers stop by in an hour and a half. Continued on page 96

16 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

 



                                 



       

EQUAL HOUSING

OPPORTUNITY

18 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com



Hotel investors cool their heels

Hospitality sector’s strength creates new barriers of entry for NYC buyers

BY JAKE MOONEY meltdown, bottoming in 2009. But it began hose who have invested in New York recovering in early 2010. “I think 2011 was very much a summaCity hospitality in the last few years are likely sitting pretty with revenue tion of the pent-up demand from the recesper room, hotel occupancy and room rates sion, and everyone had been building up all up. But with that improvement has come their war chests,” said Bernard Schwartz, a higher barrier of entry for new investors. managing director of hotels and lodging asAs a result, analysts say, the enthusets at Steven Kamali Hospitality. siasm to invest in hotels has cooled, as potential buyers recognize that the Today, revenue steepest performance gains may now and room rates are be in the past. climbing and occu“Last year people were buying, aspancy is high, even as suming that there was going to be more the number of hotel recovery coming into those numbers,” rooms in the city has said Marc Magazine, managing direcgrown steadily. Mantor for hospitality at the global comhattan hotel occumercial real estate firm Savills. pancy rates jumped to Now, however, the velocity of hos86.6 percent in 2011’s fourth quarter, up 3.7 pitality transactions is lower than it was at the same time last year, Magapercent from the same zine said. In the first quarter of 2012, period of the previous year, according three hotels sold in Manhattan for a total of $338.4 million — a 51 percent to data from Pricewadecline in dollar volume over the first terhouseCoopers. In quarter of 2011, according to data from 2012’s first quarter — traditionally a slower Real Capital Analytics. The average price per room has leveled off, too, at time of year — occu$402,355 — or 8 percent lower than pancy was 71.7 percent in Manhattan, 2011’s first-quarter average (although quarter-over-quarter comparisons can according to the city’s sometimes be skewed by one or two big Economic Development Corporation. sales). Industry experts said the hotel marThat’s a 7 percent inket is now taking a breather, after a fecrease over the same verish recovery. period of the previous “There are probably fewer people year. chasing hospitality than there were a Plus, the sustained year ago,” John Wilcox, also a managhigh occupancy rate ing director at Savills, told The Real has allowed Manhattan hotels to increase Deal. However, Dan Fasulo, RCA’s mantheir nightly room aging director, noted that while sales rates. Between 2010’s are down from last year, the yearlong From top: Extell Developand 2011’s fourth period ending in the first quarter of ment’s Hyatt Times Square is quarter, according to slated to open in 2013; the 2012 was at or close to boom-time lev- Jumeirah Essex House, on PricewaterhouseCCentral Park South, is on the els of activity. Sales volume in Manhatoopers, average daily tan during that period was $3.6 billion market. rates rose by 2.4 per— 85 percent higher than in the prior 12- cent to $315.73. month period. While that improvement is welcome news for investors who have already There are now few bargains available for hotel buyers, he added. snapped up hotels, it’s created an additional “The days of 50 cents on the dollar or even barrier of entry for those thinking about less — they’re over in Manhattan,” he said. jumping in now. The main problem for new “You’re paying full price at this point.” investors is that those high rates are already Then again, “Investors always complain factored into a hotel’s values, so the chances about something,” he noted. “Half of them of even more gains are less likely. are still probably upset they didn’t buy in In 2010 and 2011, hotel investors saw ’09.” historically low capitalization rates, which measure the rate of return on a real estate investment, said Savills’s Wilcox. “ONCE-IN-A-CYCLE” The hotel industry plummeted in the imIn other words, buyers were willing to mediate aftermath of the 2008 financial Continued on page 95

www.TheRealDeal.com March 2010

DISCOVER STUYVESANT TOWN DYNAMIC EAST VILLAGE LOCATION | NO-FEE | 1 MONTH FREE* One Bedrooms from $2,800 | Two Bedrooms from $3,675

(888) 318-3915

stuytown.com

Leasing Office: 252 First Avenue @ 15th Street

* On select residences. Net effective rents shown.

ONE MONTH OP O N SEL EC T R ESI DEN C ES

THIS IS PETER COOPER VILLAGE STEPS FROM GRAMERCY PARK | NO-FEE | 1 MONTH FREE* One Bedrooms from $3,335 | Two Bedrooms from $4,660

(888) 306-9140

petercoopernyc.com

Leasing Office: 252 First Avenue @ 15th Street

* On select residences. Net effective rents shown.

The Bulletin Board

Hamptons market heats up Compiled by Russell Steinberg

Hamptons’ sales bounce Renters’ early start With the economy steadily improving, vacation-home buyers have returned to Long Island’s East End. According to Town & Country, sales in the Hamptons during 2012’s first quarter were up 18 percent from a year ago, and the median sales price increased to $817,500 from $775,000.

The rental record

Back in 2010, developer Joe Farrell made headlines when he rented his Sandcastle estate for two weeks for nearly $500,000. That’s roughly $35,000 per night. At the time, the Bridgehampton estate was also listed for sale at $49.5 million. It’s currently on the market for $43.5 million.

The Hamptons rental season also got off to an early start. The Corcoran Group’s Bridgehampton office said it rented 58 PERCENT more properties in December 2011 than in December 2010, and 49 PERCENT more in January 2012 than January 2011. Meanwhile, Town & Country had rented out half of its available homes by Presidents’ Day. (NY Post)

No Parking

East Hampton officials have sold out their 2,900 nonresident beach parking permits in record time this year, with the last pass being issued in late March. Race car driver Jeff Gordon, actress Gwyneth Paltrow and singer Jimmy Buffett were all lucky enough to reserve a $325 parking sticker. (New York Post)

More jaw-droppers

The Sandcastle estate isn’t the only blockbuster rental. This year, Sotheby’s International Realty has a listing for a seven-bedroom Southampton home for a whopping $1 million from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The oceanfront estate has a pool and tennis court, according to the listing.

Shrinking inventory

The number of homes listed by seven top East End brokerages dropped by almost 3 PERCENT during the last week of March. That included an almost 5 percent drop by Corcoran, which rented 77 properties in that one week. (Curbed)

20 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

A cheaper option

The North Fork is, of course, a cheaper alternative to the Hamptons. The New York Post reported that high-end summer rentals there generally go for $30,000 to $65,000 for the summer, while a cheaper rental can be found for around $12,000 to $15,000 for July and August.

Celebrity sightings

The Hamptons, of course, has never had a shortage of star power. Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Kidd recently closed on a $5 million home in Water Mill, while “Today” show host Matt Lauer bought 40 acres near his Water Mill estate to build a horse farm. (Reuters)

BE LISTED IN BROOKLYN

THE BEST BROOKLYN PROPERTIES ARE ON THE BNYMLS BNYMLS.com is the Brooklyn New York Multiple Listing Service and home to over 3500 agents in 350 offices with over 4000 active listings in Brooklyn. This fully integrated online listing system and member database makes listing simple and brings you buyers. Join now and get listed.

BE SEEN • BE LISTED • BE EVERYWHERE

CONTACT BNYMLS TODAY! 718.253.8815 | 28 VILLAGE ROAD NORTH, BROOKLYN, NY 11223

22 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

PHOTOGRAPH FOR THE REAL DEAL BY MAX DWORKIN

the

Desk

o f : h o wA r D

Stacks of papers are easier to navigate than filing cabinets, Lorber notes: “I can pick out anything because I know where everything is.” He also owns two iPhones, a BlackBerry and a cell phone, which he occasionally carries all at once.

Lorber is a holder of New York Knicks courtside season tickets, though he also regularly attends the Miami Heat’s games in Florida, where he has a home. When they play each other, “I root for the Knicks, generally speaking,” he says.

A paperweight made of parts of various wristwatches, to honor Lorber’s own 100-piece wristwatch collection. He wears a watch by luxury designer Patek Philippe on a daily basis.

oward Lorber, 63, may be best known in the industry as the chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman, but he wears many other business hats. He’s also the CEO of the Vector Group, a holding company that owns the tobacco company Liggett Group as well as a major stake in Elliman. And he’s executive chairman of Nathan’s Famous, the famed hot dog chain. He’s also the CEO of real estate firm and Vector subsidiary New Valley, which has investments in Manhattan condo projects like the Toy Building, the Jean Nouvel tower at 100 Eleventh Avenue and HFZ Capital’s 11 East 68th Street. But the job that occupies most of his time, he says, is Elliman, which he and Dottie Herman purchased in 2003 for $72 million. The firm, which sold $11.1 billion in homes last year, is the city’s largest residential brokerage with 3,600 agents in 62 offices, including Long Island, Westchester and Florida. Lorber’s office, on the top floor of 712 Fifth Avenue, includes a view of his Manhattan apartment at the Sherry-Netherland hotel, but also encapsulates his varied business interests. B y C. J. H ugHes

Lorber

Though Lorber would support Ray Kelly if he ran for mayor in 2013, he thinks Donald Trump “would be fantastic.” Presidentially, Lorber is a Mitt Romney supporter and has already raised money for him.

Madam, a springer spaniel who’s won 50 best-inshow awards over a twoyear period. Lorber breeds dogs on Long Island and has a few as pets at his Southampton home.

Lorber usually has the TV in his office turned to CNBC, but it’s recently been showing “Million Dollar Listing New York,” the new Bravo series that features his son Michael Lorber, an Elliman broker.

A 1968 fraternity composite from Alpha Epsilon Pi at C.W. Post/Long Island University. Lorber, then a junior, served as a second-in-command lieutenant master, but became president the following year.

A mini version of the flagship Nathan’s restaurant on Coney Island. Explaining his investment in the company, which now has about 400 franchises worldwide, Lorber says, “What I like are great brand names with lousy management.”

TOWER RESIDENCES ON FLOORS 32 TO 40 FROM $1,620,000

MORE LIVING PER SQUARE FOOT 56’ INDOOR POOL | HALF-ACRE PRIVATE PARK | ICONIC VIEWS ELEMENTS SPA | LIFESTYLE WELLNESS PROGRAMS | FITNESS CENTER JODI’S GYM | ON-SITE PARKING IMMEDIATE OCCUPANCY | OPEN HOUSE SUNDAYS 1 – 3PM Exclusive marketing and sales agent: Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group | ON-SITE SALES CENTER OPEN DAILY The complete offering terms are in an offering plan from the sponsor: River Terrace Apartments LLC. File No. CD05-0596.

120426_515_Real_deal_V2.indd 1

888.461.7407 www.515E72.com

4/27/12 2:18:53 PM

Heart disease is the #1 killer. Chest Discomfort? Short of Breath? Fatigue or Irregular Heart Beat? These are the Warning Signs of Heart Attack or Stroke. The good news is that heart disease can be managed. Heart attacks and strokes can even be prevented if detected early. Get evaluated by Dr. Robert R. Segal. Same Day Appointments Available.

“The best personal care.”

211 E. 51st St. btw 2nd and 3rd ave Call 212.906.7798 or visit www.manhattancardio.com 24 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

COMMERCIAL MA R K E T

Office leasing drought breaks Two big Manhattan leases end slow stretch, but smaller deals — including one by Bain Capital — drive market BY ADAM PINCUS wo big office deals — each for more than 1 million square feet — provided a statistical lift that ended an extremely slow three-month leasing stretch in Manhattan. Indeed, last month saw 4.9 million square feet of Manhattan office space leased, compared to 6.1 million square feet for all of January, February and March combined. Contributing to the uptick was media giant Viacom, which signed a 15-year renewal and lease expansion last month that runs through 2031. The move will ultimately give the company the entire 1.6 millionsquare-foot office portion of SL Green Realty’s 1515 Broadway. Also last month, Morgan Stanley signed a renewal-and-expansion lease at Brookfield Office Properties’ 1 New York Plaza in lower Manhattan — for 1.1 million square feet. Other than those two mega deals, it was the small leases that provided the bulk of activity in the market, said Steven Durels, executive vice president at SL Green, on his company’s first-quarter earnings call late last month. He said demand is weak for midsize tenants, looking for between 25,000 and 45,000 square feet. “But counter that with the small spaces — 5,000 to 6,000 square feet,” he said. “If nicely built, that stuff seems to be in very high demand.” Overall, asking rents for Manhattan rose to $53.24 per square foot in April — a $0.17 per foot increase from the previous month, data from commercial firm Cassidy Turley shows. During the same period, the availability rate (measuring spaces that are vacant now or available over the next 12 months) tightened modestly by 0.1 points to 10.5 percent, the firm’s figures show. “The market is flat right now,” said Greg Kraut, a principal at the Canadian-based firm Avison Young, which last month made headlines when its New York office hired veteran broker Arthur Mirante away from Cushman & Wakefield, where he once served as CEO. Kraut said the overall leasing volume is lower this year because of the uncertainty of government policy prior to the presidential election in the fall.

Midtown At the very top of the Midtown ofﬁce leasing market, companies continue to push rents up. “What is really buoying [Midtown] is the top of the market,” Kraut said. The investment ﬁrm Icahn Enterprises

Manhattan ofﬁce stats AVAILABILITY RATE

AVG. ASKING RENT

Apr ’12 Mar ’12

Manhattan 10.5% 10.6%

$53.24 $53.07

Apr ’12 Mar ’12

Midtown 11.1% 11.1%

$61.01 $60.85

Apr ’12 Mar ’12

Midtown South 8.6% $44.23 9.0% $43.69 Downtown 10.8% 11.0%

$38.08 $38.79

Source: Cassidy Turley

completed a 27,808-square-foot deal at the General Motors Building at 767 Fifth Avenue that had the most expensive starting rent since 2008, according to a little-noticed survey released last month by commercial firm Jones Lang LaSalle. The deal was signed in the first quarter for $178 per square foot, the JLL survey found. That topped 2011’s high watermark: a $175-per-square-foot lease signed by home builder Hovnanian Companies in the same building. Meanwhile, the Carlyle Group, the global asset management group, signed the fifth-priciest lease in 2012’s first quarter, according to the JLL survey. The company took 23,411 square feet at 520 Madison Avenue, with a rent starting at $122 per square foot. But even as blocks of space have been spoken for in Midtown in the last few months — by Viacom, Icahn and the Carlyle Group — other spaces have been put back on the market. Building owner Vornado Realty Trust listed two entire floors last month, totaling 188,814 square feet, at 100 West 33rd Street. The space was formerly occupied by Bank of America, a spokesperson for the lender said. There was no asking rent provided. Overall, asking rents in Midtown ticked up by $0.16 per square foot to $61.01 per foot last month, while the availability rate remained flat at 11.1 percent, Cassidy Turley statistics show.

Midtown South Even as large ﬁnance ﬁrms like Bank of America were moving out of buildings in Continued on page 92

1OO% INTEGRITY

IOO% COMMISSION IOO% YOU

Level Group is a different kind of brokerage company â&#x20AC;&#x201C; where agents come first. Offering 100% commission payout, lifestyle flexibility and innovative, virtual platforms, Level Group is perfect for independent, entrepreneurial agents. Unique in its integrity, honesty and values, Level Group rises above. Move up today.

levelgroup.com/ join

In their words...

The month’s funniest and most insightful comments from real estate pros

“I’m not really friendly with too many real estate people. ... Brokers lie, cheat and steal — those are not qualities you want in a friend.” Broker Jed Garfield of boutique firm Leslie J. Garfield. (Crain’s)

“I buy things with the best of intentions of living in them, and then life intercedes.” Musician Moby, on listing his 7 Bond Street apartment for $6.5 million. (Wall Street Journal)

“I’ll sit and I’ll look at hardware for hours. Literal-ly, for hours. … I mean, it’s your home, it has to be your own.” “Our biggest challenge is to get people to come to Roosevelt Island. I have friends who say to me, ‘How’s that project going on Randall’s Island, I mean Rikers Island, I mean Governors Island?’ ” David Kramer, principal of the Hudson Companies, the developer of Riverwalk on Roosevelt Island. (New York Times)

“That neighborhood is loaded with self-made Masters of the Universe with no taste and trophy wives.” Barbara Corcoran, on whether “Modern Family” character Jay Pritchett and his younger wife would actually live in the Brentwood, Los Angeles, house where the show is filmed. (Vanity Fair) 26 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Pop star Justin Timberlake, on his new HomeMint collection of home goods and art. (Elle Decor)

“This new house is much bigger and better . … The other house is just too small for my wife and I — it is only 11,000 square feet.”

“Rich Russians [are] driving up the prices, so it’s not the best time to buy.” Moscow native and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, when asked if he’s planning to buy an apartment in Brooklyn. (Daily News)

“That’s not the clientele we want. … We hate weddings, we hate bat mitzvahs.” Hotelier Andre Balazs, explaining to area residents why the remodeled Standard East Village hotel won’t disrupt the neighborhood with loud parties. (The Local East Village)

Fertilizer tycoon Alex Rovt, regarding his $34 million purchase of the Sloane mansion. His family’s former dwelling, a townhouse at 232 East 63rd Street, is on the market for $27 million. (New York Times)

“When I was growing up and other people I knew were getting into trouble, I was somewhere in a deer stand or going to bed early so I could be up before dawn to hunt turkeys. My love of the outdoors kept me solid.” Donald Trump Jr., in response to media criticism of his recent hunting trip to Africa. (Forbes)

“In terms of velocity, our industry is extraordinarily constipated.” Equity Group Investments chairman Sam Zell, speaking at the New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate REIT Symposium.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Last year I closed 14 deals that would not have happened without Insurent. Talk about a competitive edge.â&#x20AC;? JOSEPH HADDAD R E S I D E N T I A L R E N TA L B R O K E R & S V P C A L I B E R A S S O C I AT E S

With Insurent, brokers improve their closing ratio with fewer hassles and increase their income. The Insurent Lease Guaranty Program enables brokers to close leases for foreigners, students, self-employed, retirees, the well-off non-employed, and others with inadequate income but good credit or no credit. Insurent is accepted by over 1,100 buildings representing over 150,000 apartments. Call 646-843-1712 or visit www.insurent.com

TheRealDeal-Insurent1.indd 1

4/30/12 6:26 PM

“Dying”for cash

An increasing number of NYC homeowners tap life insurance to help reﬁnance mortgages

BY PETER KIEFER growing number of New York City–area homeowners are finding cash in an unexpected place: their life insurance policies. In order to take advantage of historically low interest rates, more and more borrowers are dipping into cash reserves from their life insurance to help refinance their mortgages, industry insiders said. It’s a strategy some view as controversial, since it involves borrowing funds intended for survivors after the policy holder dies. But a number of mortgage and finance experts say it can be a smart move under certain circumstances, especially for a borrower with no dependents. Josh Fox, a Manhattan-based financial advisor with the wealth management firm Strategies for Wealth, said dozens of his clients over the past two years have used the so-called cash value of their life insurance polices to help pay down their mortgage principal. Reducing that mortgage debt —

which is referred to as a “cash-in reﬁnancing” — allows them to qualify for reduced mortgage interest rates, which in some instances are as low as 3 percent. “Essentially, what you’re doing is spending the death beneﬁt while you’re alive,” Fox

Some view the strategy as controversial, since it involves borrowing funds intended for survivors after the policy holder dies. explained. These days, Fox said, rarely a week goes by without someone asking him (or his colleagues) about how to tap the cash value of their life insurance policy. That’s a marked increase from even a year ago, due in part to growing awareness of this option. “Most consumers don’t even understand

that this is possible,” he said. “They’re pretty excited to find out that there’s another way to help them refinance.” Last month, interest rates returned to record lows, spurring a 13.5 percent rise in applications for mortgage refinances for the week ending on April 13, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. But to take advantage of these rates,

many borrowers looking to refinance need some type of cash infusion, allowing them to pay down the mortgage principal so they can meet the higher debt-to-income ratios that banks now require. “The reason it is more popular now is because the loan-to-value restrictions have gone down,” said Rolan Shnayder, director of new development lending at mortgage bank H.O.M.E. “You used to be able to borrow 100 percent of a [mortgage].” Nationally, some 49 percent of homeowners who refinanced their mortgages in 2011’s fourth quarter paid additional money to lower their principal balance, according to Freddie Mac. That is the highest percentage in the 26 years the entity has been recording such transactions. A cash-in refi also comes in handy when the appraised value of a home has fallen due to changing market conditions. In that scenario, banks often won’t allow homeowners to refinance unless they put in cash to bring the amount they owe in line with how much the house is worth. Pulling cash out of a life insurance policy is tantamount to taking out a loan; when the borrower replaces the money, an interest rate of 4 to 6 percent per year will be levied on whatever they borrowed. But unlike borrowing from a 401k retirement account, using a life-insurance cash reserve does not result in onerous fees Continued on page 92

We’re Flushing Bank, your lending and banking specialist.

Multi-Family and Mixed-Use Mortgages1 �� Apartment Buildings �� Underlying Co-ops �� Competitive Rates

Business Checking Plus Interest

% .00

APY2

On balances of $100,000 or more

Cash Management Services �� Remote Deposit �� Cash Manager Direct �� Lockbox Services

At Flushing Bank, we’re small enough to know you and large enough to provide you with the competitive lending and banking solutions you need. For more information visit your local Flushing Bank branch, call 800.581.2889 or go to www.FlushingBank.com. 1 All mortgages, loans and lines of credit are subject to approval. Certain fees and restrictions may apply. Flushing Bank is a portfolio lender with wide range of loan programs offering various rates and terms. All loan rates and offers are subject to change and termination without any prior notice. 2 New accounts with new money only. A new business checking account is defined as any new business checking account that does not have any authorized signatures in common with any other existing Flushing Bank business checking account(s). An existing checking customer is defined as anyone who currently has or has had a Flushing Bank checking account within the last 24 months. New money is defined as money not currently on deposit with Flushing Bank. The annual percentage yield (APY) for the Business Checking Plus Interest is .75% for daily account balances of $15,000–$99,999 and 1.00% for daily account balances of $100,000 and greater. This rate will remain in effect for 90 days after account opening. At the end of this 90-day Guarantee Rate Period the rate will revert to the standard tier pricing for the account. The APY is effective May 1, 2012. You must maintain a daily balance of $15,000 or greater for the statement cycle to receive the disclosed yields. You must deposit a minimum of $100 to open this account. No minimum balance is required to avoid a monthly maintenance fee. The rate and offer are subject to change and early termination without prior notice at any time. Other fees and restrictions may apply. Speak with a Flushing Bank Business Banker for more details and information. Flushing Bank is a trade name of Flushing Savings Bank, FSB.

2012-04-17 Flushing RE Ad for the Real Deal REV.indd 1

28 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

4/17/2012 12:35:16 PM

Edward J. Minskoff Equities New York, NY

$165,000,000 November 2011 Office Construction Financing Administrative Agent, Sole Bookrunner & Sole Lead Arranger

Achieving landmark success with trusted advice and client commitment. One of New York’s most innovative office buildings is now more than a bold development plan. With a combination of commercial real estate expertise and client commitment, our banking teams provided guidance and a full range of financial solutions to take 51 Astor Place from an original concept to a high-tech home for tomorrow’s businesses.

Learn more at bankofamerica.com/CommercialRE

“ Bank of America Merrill Lynch” is the marketing name for the global banking and global markets businesses of Bank of America Corporation. Lending, derivatives, and other commercial banking activities are performed globally by banking affiliates of Bank of America Corporation, including Bank of America, N.A., member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender . Securities, strategic advisory, and other investment banking activities are performed globally by investment banking affiliates of Bank of America Corporation (“Investment Banking Affiliates”), including, in the United States, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp., both of which are registered broker-dealers and members of FINRA and SIPC, and, in other jurisdictions, by locally registered entities. Investment products offered by Investment Banking Affiliates: Are Not FDIC Insured  May Lose Value  Are Not Bank Guaranteed. ©2012 Bank of America Corporation ARI1F3Y4

Does reality TV pay? A look at how small-screen exposure impacts the sales prospects and prices of featured properties

Fredrik Eklund (right) with developer Zach Vella at 471 Washington Street, on “Million Dollar Listing New York.”

on the market. Listings that have lingered for months or years can suddenly gain traction after appearing on TV, brokers said. And television exposure can also speed up sales at a new condo or even spur interest in buildings by a particular developer, brokers said. “A seller can get to 2.5 million people in one 30-minute show, which is more exposure than most listings will get in a lifetime,” said Sabrina Kleier Morgenstern of Gumley Haft Kleier, a regular on “Selling New York.” That said, while reality shows may lead to more activity, they don’t seem to significantly impact a unit’s final sales price, brokers said. And sometimes the strategy can backfire: There’s always a chance that producers might emphasize an apartment’s less-than-stellar features, deterring potential buyers. “Anytime you go on TV, it’s a doubleedged sword,” said Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Victoria Shtainer. “You never know what you’re going to get.”

SPEEDING UP SALES

A listing at the Urban Glass House, camera-ready for an appearance on “Selling New York.”

Core’s Shaun Osher and Emily Beare tour the rooftop terrace of 812 Fifth Avenue on “Selling New York.”

30 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

BY KATHERINE CLARKE iti Habitats agent Jason Saft famously appeared on Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New York” in 2010, while looking for an apartment for cast member LuAnn de Lesseps, a.k.a. Countess LuAnn. The Countess didn’t end up renting an apartment from Saft, but the episode was far from a waste of his time. While on camera, he showed her an apartment at 1 Seventh Avenue South, where he had several listings. In the weeks after the show aired, he said, he saw an enormous uptick in interest in the Greenwich Village building. One $7,500-per-month apartment, which became available a week after the show aired, found a tenant within two days, he said. Most of the interested parties referenced “Real Housewives.” “It was the fastest turnaround we’d had of any apartment in the building,” Saft said. The TV appearance “added a certain cachet,” he added. A bevy of reality TV shows — like HGTV’s “Selling New York” and Bravo’s new show “Million Dollar Listing New York” — now feature New York City real estate, and seem to revel in showing off Manhattan’s luxurious, multimillion-dollar apartments. But how does all this exposure actually impact prices and sales activity? As Saft discovered, a reality show appearance can boost activity for a property

Morgenstern recently represented a buyer at 50 Gramercy Park North, an apartment building attached to the Gramercy Park Hotel. Due in part to high maintenance fees, Morgenstern said, the unit had been sitting on the market for more than a year. Then it appeared on “Selling New York” with listing broker Kirk Rundhaug of Core. Activity picked up, with several potential buyers touring the property. “The exposure on any kind of national TV show helps tremendously just because it reaches such a large audience,” Rundhaug said. Morgenstern’s client heard about the unit through the show, she said. He was interested in seeing it because he owned a condo in a hotel in Boston, Morgenstern said, and wanted something similar in New York. Within a few weeks, he’d signed a contract to buy the apartment. The very act of filming inside a unit helps get attention within the brokerage community, often spurring deals before the footage even airs, Rundhaug said. At a penthouse unit Rundhaug listed a few years ago at 433 East 74th Street, he said, he received an offer on the day of filming, he said. Leslie Modell, an associate broker at Warburg Realty and a “Selling New York” regular, said the very promise that an apartment will be featured on TV is enough to give prospective buyers a shove in the right direction. “They think, ‘We better wrap this up before it airs,’ ” she said. When Modell listed a unit at 301 East 78th Street earlier this year, the unit had spent 287 days on the market without finding a buyer, she said. Then, when the owner agreed to have the apartment featured on the show, “I started marketing it in print as featured on the hit show ‘Selling New York,’” she recalled. “I also told all buyers that it was going to be on Continued on page 95 “SELLING NEW YORK” PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF HGTV

OCEAN AT ONE WEST STREET 492 UNIT MULTIFAMILY PROPERTY

NEW YORK, NY

$135,647,000 FREDDIE MAC LOAN PROVIDED BY

BERKADIA CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TRANSACTION TEAM THE MOINIAN GROUP KIMBERLY CAFARO HARRY DREIZEN DAVID LERER STEVE BEDERMAN NATASHA VARDI BERKADIA ERIK STORZ STEWART CAMPBELL TOM TOLAND FREDDIE MAC THOMAS HAMILL MATT AMATO MATT ANDALARO TROUTMAN SANDERS LLP BERNICE CILLEY, ESQ. GOLDBERG WEPRIN FINKEL GOLDSTEIN LLP ELIZABETH SMITH, ESQ.

$135,647,000

T HEOL RDAT APL AT F ORM I ST HEMOS TWI DE L YUS E D L I S T I NGSRE S OURCEF ORRE S I DE NT I ALBROKE RAGEF I RMSI NNY C.

WWW. OL R. COM |212. 571. 4112|WWW. OL RDI GI T AL . COM |WWW. OL R. COM/ MOBI L E

PR O F I L E

Stribling,the next generation The 32-year-old ﬁrm looks to shed its “stuffy” image with new website, branding

BY KATHERINE CLARKE n a Thursday morning, Elizabeth Stribling is leaﬁng through an array of photos spread out on her kitchen counter. The pictures show Stribling, founder of the eponymous high-end residential brokerage, posing in a white Valentino cocktail dress at New York’s French Consulate on Fifth Avenue. At an event the night before, the self-described Francophile had

tered Upper East Side has, perhaps not surprisingly, coincided with her ﬁrm’s recent efforts to revamp its buttoned-up image and target clients outside its traditional base of well-heeled Manhattanites. A few months ago, Stribling & Associates completed the sellout of the residences at the storied Plaza Hotel — a project that also seems to mirror the founder’s goals for her ﬁrm. The Plaza’s developer, the Elad Group,

QUICK COMPANY FACTS NAME: Stribling & Associates FOUNDER: Elizabeth Stribling HEADQUARTERS: 924 Madison Avenue NUMBER OF OFFICES: 3 NUMBER OF AGENTS: 250 YEAR FOUNDED: 1980

Elizabeth Stribling in her Brooklyn Heights apartment

been honored for her work as chairman of the French Heritage Society. “I searched all over Paris and all over New York for that dress,” Stribling beams as her daughter, Elizabeth Ann Kivlan, looks on. The scene — which takes place in an oversize kitchen with imported wooden floors and 18th-century French doors — could easily be occurring on the Upper East Side. But in fact, Stribling lives in Brooklyn Heights, in the 12th-floor unit at One Brooklyn Bridge Park she bought in 2009. Her $6.32 million purchase in the waterfront condo conversion — which her firm was marketing at the time — provided much fodder for the real estate press. “No one could believe I was moving to Brooklyn,” recalled Stribling, a member of the Junior League and the Central Park Conservancy who lived for years on East 84th Street. Stribling’s departure from the clois-

PHOTOGRAPH FOR THE REAL DEAL BY MAX DWORKIN

“When the public looks at me, they see an Upper East Side member of the Junior League. But anyone who knows me well has seen me with a hard-hat, on a roof, going across pipes and scaffolding with the best of the blue-jean set.” ELIZABETH STRIBLING, STRIBLING & ASSOCIATES “succeeded in doing what Stribling is trying to do: keeping the best of the Plaza image, but bringing it right up to date,” she said. “They introduced new infrastructure that put the beauty of a former era into modern perspective.”

Altered aesthetics In February, Stribling & Associates launched a branding overhaul aimed at modernizing the 32-year-old ﬁrm’s somewhat “stuffy” image, according to Chris-

topher Wilson, the company’s director of operations. The company has already unveiled a new website designed by Canvas, a New York–based digital agency that’s worked for companies like Credit Suisse and Estée Lauder. The sleek design prominently features the company’s new logo — which is based on Stribling’s signature — and emphasizes listing photos rather than text. The company is also working on new stationery, business cards and signage, as

well as redesigning the firm’s offices. The changes haven’t gone unnoticed: Stribling was nominated last month for Best Real Estate Website in the 16th-Annual Webby Awards, one of the Internet’s mainstays of celebrated web design. The winners will be selected this month. Clients appear to be responding to the new design: The average amount of time visitors spend on the Stribling website has shot up 44 percent since the new version debuted, Wilson said, and time spent on listing pages has more than tripled. Traffic from mobile devices, meanwhile, has doubled. The firm also said it has been getting more exclusive listings. In the first quarter of 2012, the firm had 57 percent more sales listings than during the same period of last year, Wilson said, while total new listings, including rentals, were up by 33 percent. That jump is likely due, at least partially, to economic fluctuations, which influence when sellers decide to put their homes on the market. Still, Wilson said, “I have to wonder if this uptick in new exclusives could be a function, at least in part, of our new corporate identity, brand campaign and website.” Stribling is not the only brokerage to rethink its online image; rival Brown Harris Stevens rolled out its own new website design last year. But the Stribling redesign is part of a larger image overhaul. The revamp is partially the brainchild of Stribling’s daughter, who joined the firm in the early aughts as a broker and has gradually amassed more influence over the direction the company is taking. Kivlan, now the firm’s director of marketing and business development, said she and her mother make a good team when it comes to business. “One of the reasons it works so well,” Kivlan said, “is we have very different perspectives on things. I want to make sure that we can be well-connected and as websticky as possible.”

The “connected class” Elizabeth Stribling was born in Georgia, but her father, a textile consultant, moved

www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 33

PR O F I L E the family to New York when she was a young child. She spent summers visiting her grandmother in Atlanta, where she had plenty of time to polish her Southern charm. “I learned the Southern ways,” said the impeccably dressed Stribling, who rarely seems to have a hair out of place. “You’d always have people come calling, so I’d always have to look perfect to serve the cheese straws and the Coca-Cola.” Known as “Libba” to friends, Stribling attended the Hewitt School, an elite girls school on East 75th Street, then studied English literature at Vassar College and Cambridge University in England. She got

ception is as an Upper East Side company,” said Frederick Peters, president of Warburg Realty Partnership. “I can definitely see why they would want to refresh the brand to be younger and hipper.” In recent years, however, the brokerage has made strides toward expanding its client base and shedding its elitist image, without sacrificing its high-end cachet. The current rebranding is more a reflection of an evolution that has already occurred than changes the firm is hoping to make, Wilson said. “If you’ve got an excellent reputation for quality,” Stribling said, “you don’t want to tamper with that. You do, however, want to

also reflect its efforts at diversification. In the 1990s, Stribling started marketing new-construction developments — mostly in Tribeca and Soho — in addition to resales and rentals. Steven Rutter now heads the division, called Stribling Marketing & Associates. Stribling Marketing recently signed on to sell a 45-unit condo developed by the Wilf family at 200 East 79th Street — one of the biggest projects coming to the Upper East Side. The firm is also marketing a new 24-unit condo at 20 Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights. The development, which hit the market in February, is now 50 percent sold at prices of roughly around

From left: Elizabeth Stribling with her daughter, Elizabeth Ann Kivlan

her start in real estate at the now-defunct brokerage Whitbread-Nolan, where she worked for 14 years. She founded her own brokerage on the Upper East Side in 1980, with just eight brokers. Back then, “listings were still on little cards, systems of co-brokering didn’t exist, and the residential division of the Real Estate Board of New York had not yet been founded,” she recalled. Today, her firm has more than 250 agents and offices in Chelsea and Tribeca, in addition to the Madison Avenue flagship. And the firm is considering another office, Stribling said, though she declined to provide further details until plans are finalized. Due in part to its Upper East Side origins, the company has long had a reputation for catering primarily to well-heeled, Park Avenue types. For much of the firm’s existence, one employee joked, “People thought all we did was sit around with white gloves on pouring tea.” “In spite of the fact they’ve done work in a lot of other parts of the city, their per-

34 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

reach out to a broader constituency called ‘the connected class’ — successful, young professionals in industries like communications and media who are the tastemakers of today. They may be more at home in an open-necked shirt than in a threepiece suit.” Changes in the city’s moneyed class have, indeed, played a key role in the firm’s new focus on expanding its client base. “The brokerage world used to be much more compartmentalized,” said Alexa Lambert, one of Stribling’s top-producing brokers. “Now, someone who lives on Park Avenue could much more easily want to [move to] Tribeca. Brooklyn has also become much more attached to Manhattan. People think of it now the same way they would have thought about moving to the Village or the West Side a few years ago.” As the demographics and economy of the city have changed, wealth is no longer confined to a narrow slice of New York high society, Wilson noted, adding: “It’s quite possible that the 24-year-old kid who comes into your office on a skateboard has a high net worth.” The firm’s new development projects

$1,000 per square foot, Rutter said. While Manhattan projects still make up the majority of the firm’s new development listings — about 85 percent — Stribling is gaining more of a foothold in Brooklyn, Rutter said, and the new development arm has more of a “downtown feel” than the rest of the company. But despite the changes its making, Stribling does not seem to have lost ground on its traditional bread-and-butter: high-end co-ops. Stribling brokers Kirk Henckels and Margaret Furniss sold the late Brooke Astor’s apartment at 778 Park Avenue for $21 million last year, for example. In 2010, Stribling formed a relationship with London-based residential firm Savills in order to capitalize on European interest in U.S. properties. That relationship has helped yield plenty of international clientele, brokers said. Hall Willkie, president of Brown Harris Stevens, said melding the old and the new is crucial for traditional firms. “Many years ago, the high-end was really the Upper East Side, but the city has changed,” he said. “It’s good [for firms] to

change in line with the city.”

A new guard While Elizabeth Stribling is still the heart and soul of the company, her daughter has been a driving force behind the rebranding, introducing more technology into the company’s day-to-day operations, Wilson said. Kivlan has pushed Stribling brokers to use Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools to reach younger, web-savvy clients. Some have embraced the new tools of the trade, Rutter said, while others are saying, “I don’t know about all of this.” Kivlan — whose father was Stribling’s late husband William Kivlan — was less than a year old when her mother cut the ribbon on her first office in 1980, and grew up listening to real estate stories at the dinner table. “My mother sold an apartment on the way to have me,” Kivlan said, recounting a famous family story, “and we spent Saturdays at open houses. I always thought I’d do something different.” But she fell into the profession to make money while attending culinary school in San Francisco, and almost immediately, “I knew it was for me,” said Kivlan. “You’re putting a person together with a home.” She worked for two years at the California real estate brokerage Pacific Union before returning to New York to work for her mother’s firm in 2003. Stribling remains a hands-on owneroperator, but “it’s certainly interesting to watch her allow her daughter an increasing amount of responsibility,” Wilson said. “She really listens to Elizabeth Ann.” The two women are very different — Kivlan is never far from her smart phone, and prefers slacks to her mother’s Chanel suits. “She’s very at home on any handheld device,” Stribling said of her daughter, noting that the younger woman is comfortable with technology “that I have never heard of.” Still, the two have more in common than you might think. When it comes to finding new Brooklyn restaurants and stores, for example, Stribling is “like a kid in a candy shop,” Kivlan said. “My mom took me to Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg recently. She has a way of finding all the hipster spots.” Stribling, who regularly checks out Brooklyn blogs to find the best restaurants and activities, said she’s somewhat misunderstood. “When the public looks at me, they see an Upper East Side member of the Junior League,” she said. “But anyone who knows me well has seen me with a hard-hat, on a roof, going across pipes and scaffolding with the best of the blue-jean set.” Still, some things don’t change. “I still shop on the Upper East Side,” Stribling admitted. “I put my groceries in the trunk of the car, and then drive right back.” TRD

www.TheRealDeal.com 2012 49 PHOTOGRAPH FOR THE REAL DEALMay BY MAX DWORKIN

Amenity Appreciation. The Sheffield Sky Club delivers a unique blend of resort style amenities. An impressive 58 floors above the cityscape, the private landscaped roof deck offers 360° panoramic views for outdoor relaxation and entertaining. Luxuries range from the glistening glass-enclosed pool to a full menu of rejuvenating spa treatments. ‘Complete Body and Spa’ offers an inspirational fitness center, yoga, Pilates and spin classes. Spectacular social lounges and, for kids, a vibrant playroom to spark creativity and imagination. Uniformed door attendants, a professional concierge team, and a valet garage are also available. One never needs to leave home in search of relaxation and recreation.

offering 4% commission Visit our model residences and on-site sales center Call (888) 433-8136 or visit TheSheffield.com Stylish Studios to Sprawling Four Bedroom Condominiums from $820,000 Limited Penthouse Collection from $4,695,000 Immediate Occupancy • Pre-Approved for Favorable Financing 322 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019

We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, sexual orientation or national origin. The complete offering terms are in an offering plan available from the Sponsor. File #CD05-0285. Fixtures, finishes and furnishings subject to change. Marketing And Exclusive Sales Agent

Sheffield 20344 RD 10.5x14.5.indd 1

4/30/12 2:48 PM

��

Are today’s mortgage standards tougher than ever before? Average borrower proﬁles now “pretty pristine”

BY KENNETH HARNEY ow do your clients stack up as potential mortgage candidates in this year’s increasingly tough underwriting environment? Do they have the right stuff — credit score, debtto-income ratio, equity or down payment — to get through the minefield? A new statistical analysis, based on a large sample of all mortgage applications approved and denied in recent months, offers valuable benchmarks for anyone thinking about financing a home purchase or refinancing an existing loan. The study taps into data from the loan processing software used for roughly onefifth of all new mortgage applications nationwide, supplied by the technology firm Ellie Mae. To fit the profile of just the average successful applicant for a conventional home purchase mortgage in February, the latest month

for which data are available, here’s what you would have needed: • A FICO credit score of 764. Not only is this higher than the average score for approved loans as recently as November, it’s far beyond the 620-640 FICOs that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac once considered the minimum for a conventional prime mortgage. It’s

mum of 20 percent proposed last year by Obama administration ﬁnancial regulatory ofﬁcials who were seeking a standard for “safe” loans offering the lowest available rates and best terms. • Debt-to-income ratios of 21 percent for housing expenses, 34 percent for total household monthly debt.

Even those rejected for loans appear to have what used to be considered solid and acceptable credit risk proﬁles. also well above the median FICO score nationwide, which is currently 711, according to a spokesman for Fair Isaac Corporation, developer of the score. • A loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 78 percent, signifying a down payment of 22 percent. This is higher than even the controversial mini-

How about the proﬁles of people who applied for conventional loans to buy a house, but were rejected or didn’t get to closing? By historical standards, they were a fairly impressive group on average as well, with 732 FICO scores, 19 percent down payments and debtContinued on page 94

�� Willets Point project clears major hurdle The Federal Highway Administration ruled last month that proposed ramps for the Van Wyck Expressway would not significantly impact traffic and businesses in Willets Point, clearing the path for a massive redevelopment project in the Queens neighborhood, Crain’s reported. The decision came despite opposition from neighborThe proposed Willets Point project hood groups, who were concerned the ramps would create “intolerable” traffic. The city now expects to move forward on the project’s 20-acre first phase, which will include some 680,000 square feet of retail space and 400 units of mixedincome housing. Before construction begins, however, a developer must be selected from several firms vying for the job, including the Related Companies and Silverstein Properties.

New York Aquarium renovation gets teeth New Yorkers will soon have a chance to have a “360-degree shark experience” as part of a $150 million renovation of the New York Aquarium, according to the Daily News. Set to break ground this fall, the project will include a 55,000square-foot, three-story addition with space for a 500,000-gallon shark tank, as well as an outdoor café and roof deck with a view of Coney Island’s iconic boardwalk. “We’re breaking down the wall that now encloses the aquarium New York Aquarium and opening us not only to the boardwalk, but to the beach and the ocean,” aquarium director Jon Forrest Dohlin told the Daily News. The aquarium, which is managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society, hopes to raise $30 million over the next 10 years to cover the cost of the project, and hopes the city will foot the remainder of the bill. The “Ocean Wonders: Sharks!” exhibit will be the centerpiece of the renovation, with schools of native ﬁsh and 35 local sharks.

Fed to allow banks to rent out foreclosed homes Citing “extraordinary market conditions,” the Federal Reserve last month approved new policies making it easier for banks to rent out foreclosed homes rather than trying to sell them, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a six-page report, the Fed stated that lenders can now lease out properties “without having to demonstrate continuous active marketing of the property, provided that suitable policies and procedures are followed.” The Fed’s report encouraged lenders to dispose of foreclosed properties as quickly as possible, and said the rental option should help facilitate that. With home prices falling and rents rising, the change in policy makes sense, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said earlier this year.

For sale: Staten Island prison The 69-acre Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island closed last year as part of cost-cutting measures by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and now it’s for sale to the highest bidder. The facility is one of many items available for sale at NYSStore.com, a new website launched last month to earn extra revenue for the state by selling unneeded property. “This is the ﬁrst Arthur Kill Correctional Facility step in a public and competitive process through which the state will engage private businesses to get the most productive use out of the facility,” said Austin Shafran, a spokesperson for Empire State Development, the state’s chief economic development agency. The former prison consists of 45 buildings totaling 345,000 square feet. Brooklyn’s Marcy Avenue Armory is also available for sale on the site, along with more than 450 state-owned cars and trucks, a bulldozer and a communications tower. Compiled by Russell Steinberg

36 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

T:10.5”

Commercial Banking Group Commercial Real Estate

T:14.5”

Capital One Bank® helps real estate companies take their businesses to the next level. As a top-10 U.S. bank, our dedicated Commercial Real Estate specialists deliver custom solutions, from streamlined cash flow to project-based financing. For real results in real estate, count on the experts at Capital One Bank. Visit capitalonebank.com/commercial to learn more.

JOB: CAP121001NY DOCUMENT NAME: CAP121001NY_RE_1_r1.indd DESCRIPTION: Commercial Banking Ads

Real Estate Ads BLEED: None TRIM: 10.5” x 14.5” SAFETY: None GUTTER: None PUBLICATION: The Real Deal Full Page ART DIRECTOR: Stephen Leps COPYWRITER: None ACCT. MGR.: Maddie Rottman ART PRODUCER: None PRINT PROD.: David Niblick PROJ. MNGR.: None This advertisement prepared by TAXI NYC.

CAP121001NY_RE_1_r1.indd CLIENT: Taxi DOCUMENT NAME: CAP121001NY_RE_1_r1.indd STUDIO ARTIST: bh 6-9908

TMG #: 2C68763 HANDLE #: 3 PAGE COUNT: 1 of 1 LAST SAVE DATE: 3-22-2012 11:18 AM

JOB #: CAP121001NY PRINT SCALE: 100% CREATOR: houseb

DOCUMENT PATH: TMG:Volumes:TMG:Clients:Taxi:Taxi:Jobs:2012:2C:2C68763_TMP-TMP-Q25335:Mechanicals:CAP121001NY_RE_1_r1.indd FONT FAMILY: Trade Gothic (Medium, Light, Bold), Minion Pro (Regular) LINK NAME: 51662B-BUILDING-14.tif, New_FDIC_logo_white.ai, C1_Bank_G_H_rev_CMYK_yr.eps, CRE tomstones_white_1r1.ai INK NAME: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black

BILLING#: TMP-TMP-Q25335 INDESIGN VERSION: CS5 CREATION DATE: 3-20-2012 4:39 PM

A tale of two markets In an increasingly divergent development market, some NYC apartments turn into mini-McMansions, while others have specialized pied-à-terre features

BY JAKE MOONEY n a still-difﬁcult economy, developers are increasingly tailoring buildings to suit the needs of serious buyers. That means targeting two very active groups of purchasers at opposite ends of the spectrum: out-of-town buyers looking for small pieds-à-terre and families raising children in the city. Empty-nesters, pied-à-terre purchasers or just people looking to avoid a jumbo mortgage often want small but comfortable apartments in full-service buildings, and many new developments are now aimed at this demographic. At the other extreme are homebuyers — many of them families forsaking the suburbs — seeking multithousand-square-foot apartments with several bedrooms and features like private laundry rooms. Sales of both these types of units surged in the ﬁrst quarter of this year. Studios and onebedroom apartments made up 48 percent of all condo sales, jumping up from 39 percent

in the same period of 2011, according to market data from Prudential Douglas Elliman. At the same time, three-bedroom market share nearly doubled to 20 percent. As developers aim their buildings at one group or the other, two sectors of the market are emerging and, increasingly, diverging. Walker Tower, a new condo under construction at 212 West 18th Street, is intended to satisfy the increasing demand for larger units, with units averaging 3,000 square feet and three bedrooms, according to developer Michael Stern of JDS Development. By contrast, another JDS project — a midtown tower with Central Park views that Stern said he could not yet name — has smaller units more in line with the tastes of foreign buyers. This kind of specialization means developers “take a little bit more risk,” Stern said. But overall, it’s “good for the market, and leads to more diversity of product.” Below is a look at these two increasingly different types of dwellings.

SUPERSIZE IT

PIED-À-TERRE

L A R G E R S PA C E S any buyers in the current New York marketplace are looking for “grown-up apartments,” with spacious rooms and many of the same conveniences they might ﬁnd

in suburban houses, said Dan Kaplan, a senior partner at FXFOWLE Architects. When completed, Extell Development’s under-construction One57 will be the tallest residential tower in Manhattan. Three-bedrooms there are reportedly around 3,200 square feet — what might be a ﬁve-bedroom in another building. At Walker Tower, Stern said, all 53 units — there were origi-

The Abingdon

nally 55, but two buyers have combined apartments — have two or more bedrooms and at least three bathrooms. Most also have a home ofﬁce.

SMALL BUT NOT TOO SMALL

y contrast, some buildings are speciﬁcally aimed at buyers who don’t need or want as much space. Blesso Properties’ 421 West 22nd Street, for example, features

all studio apartments with custom-made Murphy beds and hidden Bosch washer-dryers, while William Beaver House in the Financial District has “Murphy offices” concealed behind sliding closet doors. Still, as more wealthy international buyers flock to Manhattan, the definition of piedà-terre has expanded beyond simple “foot-on-the-ground” crash pads, said Cetra of Cetra/Ruddy architects. Pieds-à-terre these days tend to be between 850 and 1,100 square feet — room enough for a small two-bedroom, or a one-bedroom with flexible extra space for a

Tim Crowley, managing director for development at the

guest.

architecture and development ﬁrm Flank, said his ﬁrm’s new

At new Tribeca condo Reade57, which the building’s website describes as “perfect

condo project, the Abingdon in the West Village, consists of six

for year-round living or pieds-à-terre,” one-, two- and three-bedroom units range from 713

apartments, two penthouses and two multiﬂoor “mansions.”

square feet to 1,863 square feet.

The smallest apartments are 3,200-square-foot, three-bedroom units. The “mansions” will be 5,900 and 10,000 square feet. Buyers for these types of apartments “want to see an apartment that looks like a home,” Crowley said.

C O M PA C T K I T C H E N A P P L I A N C E S

uildings like 20 Pine and William Beaver House have “targeted their marketing to bachelors and pied-à-terre buyers,” explained

StreetEasy’s Soﬁa Song. As a result, “their kitchens

SUBURBAN-STYLE KITCHENS uch like suburban houses, many new multibedroom apartments now feature spa-

[aren’t] suitable for a family, but rather for those who liked to order in.”

cious kitchens. Many, like One57 and 77 Reade in Tribeca, have center islands.

At William Beaver, Tsao & McKown Architects de-

Whereas a traditional New York kitchen might measure 60 or 80 square feet, kitchens in

signed compact “Murphy kitchens” that are smaller

buildings like Walker Tower can cover 250 square feet. But while size has changed, design

than the units’ bathrooms, the New York Times reported.

has changed even more to make kitchens ﬂow more smoothly into surrounding rooms, said John Cetra of the architecture ﬁrm Cetra/Ruddy, which is designing Walker Tower as well as the unnamed JDS building in midtown. In large prewar apartments, he said, “they would have big kitchens, but they weren’t as inviting because the way they were set up was for people with servants.” A kitchen at One57

A studio at 421 West 22nd Street

And at new condo 200 Eleventh Avenue on 25th Street, an Elliman ad for one unit describes the kitchen as “discreet” and “concealed by folding teak doors.” “Sometimes it’s not worth it to have a really large kitchen, because if you’re just going to have breakfast there, or you’re just going to keep chilled champagne in the refrigerator, you’re not going to need it,” Cetra said.

Rather than being tucked-away service spaces,

Still, maintaining resale value means kitchens can’t be discarded completely, even

today’s large-apartment kitchens are designed to be

when residents eat most of their meals out, said Eran Chen, design director at ODA Archi-

“showpieces,” as well as the center of family life, ac-

tecture. So the developers of these apartments often use smaller dishwashers, ovens

cording to Vishaan Chakrabarti, a partner at SHoP Ar-

and refrigerators to conserve space.

chitects. Kitchens in the Abingdon’s three-bedroom units measure 15 square feet — large in their own right — but they are linked by double-width pocket doors to adjacent dens, Crowley said. When the doors are open, the resulting space is

Gerner of Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel said at pied-à–terre units his ﬁrm has worked on, appliances are “small and fabulous” rather than “large and fabulous.” “We might use Gaggenau appliances,” he said; while fully functional, they are often “more seen than used.”

15 by 30 feet.

P R I VAT E L A U N D RY A N D S T O R A G E S PA C E S

uildings with supersized apartments tend to place less of an emphasis on elaborate common spaces, but have more in-apartment features.

MORE BUILDING AMENITIES

uildings with smaller apartments, Cetra said, tend to have more common amenities,

to give residents an outlet from their tighter spaces. The A Building at 425 East 13th

Street, which Cetra Ruddy designed, has a rooftop pool — a ﬁrst for the ﬁrm, he said.

In family-style buildings, “people have bigger and better video screens in their apart-

William Beaver has a 40-seat screening room, a lap pool, a basketball court and a

ments than they have in the public amenities space,” said Randy Gerner, a principal at the

landscaped dog run. Reade 57 has a landscaped common terrace, ﬁtness center and

Continued on page 94

38 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Continued on page 94

NOW Over 50% Sold!

The Perfect home. only at azure.

Azureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exclusive 4 bedroom residences feature sundrenched living rooms, eat-in-kitchens, elegant dining rooms, and walls-of-windows that showcase breathtaking river and city views. Unsurpassed amenities, including a roofdeck, fitness center, residentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lounge and concierge, complement your perfect home.

4 Bedroom Residences Available from $3,710,000 Penthouse Residences Starting from $5,686,000

4% Broker Commission

(888) 568-1878

A z u r eN Y.c om

333 E a s t 91s t St r e et at Fi r s t Ave nu e O N - S I T E S a l e s & D e s i g n C e nt e r O p e n H ou s e S at & S u n 11a m - 4p m

ANOTHER FINE DEVELOPMENT BY

The complete offering terms are available in an offering plan available from Sponsor. File No. CD07-0002. Sponsor: 1765 First Associates, LLC, 820 Elmont Rd., Elmont, NY 11003. We are pledged to the letter and the spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the nation.

The DeMatteis Organizations

RENTAL MARKET

Breaking down the monthly nut A price breakdown — by neighborhood — on renting versus owning in Manhattan

Co-ops in Manhattan: Cost of owning vs. renting NEIGHBORHOOD / UNIT SIZE

MEDIAN PRICE

MONTHLY OWNERSHIP

MONTHLY RENTAL

OWN VS. RENT SPREAD

Manhattan studio Manhattan one-bedroom Manhattan two-bedroom Manhattan three-bedroom Manhattan four-bedroom+

$350,000 $575,000 $1,149,000 $2,200,000 $4,950,000

$2,167 $3,449 $6,497 $11,688 $24,943

$2,390 $3,200 $4,900 $8,495 $18,000

($223) $249 $1,597 $3,193 $6,943

Midtown studio Midtown one-bedroom Midtown two-bedroom

$369,500 $555,000 $1,075,000

$2,372 $3,467 $6,570

$2,550 $3,698 $6,800

($178) ($231)

Midtown three-bedroom Midtown four-bedroom+

$1,920,000 $3,739,000

$10,639 $20,415

$11,500 $30,000

($230) ($861) ($9,585)

Soho studio Soho one-bedroom Soho two-bedroom Soho three-bedroom Soho four-bedroom+

$382,000 $727,000 $1,985,000 $3,995,000 NA

$2,131 $3,912 $9,499 $18,386 NA

$2,400 $4,000 $8,425 $13,500 NA

($269) ($88) $1,074 $4,886 NA

Upper East Side studio Upper East Side one-bedroom Upper East Side two-bedroom Upper East Side three-bedroom Upper East Side four-bedroom+

$349,500 $575,000 $1,317,500 $2,547,500 $10,850,000

$2,270 $3,508 $7,340 $13,812 $48,525

$1,898 $2,600 $4,125 $15,000 $25,000

$372 $908 $3,215 ($1,188) $23,525

Upper West Side studio Upper West Side one-bedroom Upper West Side two-bedroom Upper West Side three-bedroom Upper West Side four-bedroom+

$350,000 $599,000 $1,000,000 $2,195,000 $4,350,000

$1,892 $3,499 $5,680 $11,160 $20,674

$2,035 $2,800 $4,500 $8,000 $15,500

($143) $699 $1,180 $3,160 $5,174

West Village studio West Village one-bedroom West Village two-bedroom West Village three-bedroom West Village four-bedroom+

$499,000 $695,000 $1,675,000 $2,595,000 NA

$2,642 $3,527 $8,344 $11,641 NA

$2,795 $3,700 $4,495 $5,395 NA

($153) ($173) $3,849 $6,246 NA

Source: Data provided by StreetEasy. Data for these selected Manhattan neighborhoods includes condo and rental listings in Manhattan, below 96th Street, collected in late April. Monthly ownership costs are based on median taxes, median common charges and a monthly mortgage payment based on a 30-year ﬁxed-rate loan with a 20 percent down payment and 4 percent interest rate. Maintenance fees include real estate taxes. Battery Park City not included because there are no co-ops in the neighborhood.

40 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

BY LEIGH KAMPING-CARDER o buy or not to buy: That is the question for many New York apartment hunters, particularly as the gap between the monthly cost of owning and renting a home in Manhattan has narrowed. While mortgage rates remain at historic lows, rents continue to rise: the median Manhattan rent hit $3,100 in the first quarter of this year, or 7.1 percent higher than during the same period last year, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel. In some cases, rents are breaking records set before the financial crisis. That has some New Yorkers taking a closer look at the calculus of purchasing a home, observers said. “If you have consistent increases in rent, at some point, those who have the down payment say, ‘Hey, I really need to start considering buying again,’ ” said Yuval Greenblatt, an executive vice president and manager at Prudential Douglas Elliman. Naturally, the decision to rent or own rests on countless personal and financial considerations. For some, qualifying for a mortgage is an insurmountable barrier these days, when stellar credit and a 20 percent down payment are standard requirements. For others, the chance to invest in a saleable asset, combined with the tax advantages of homeownership, are unequivocal reasons to leave the rental world — as flexible and as liquid as it is — behind. But for a sizeable portion of Manhattan apartment hunters who can afford to take either route, an important factor is the difference in fixed monthly costs — that is, the rent compared to the combined expense of mortgage payments, real estate taxes and maintenance fees or common charges for co-ops and con-

www.TheRealDeal.com January 2011 25

RENTAL MARKET dos, respectively. This month, The Real Deal examined the “monthly nut” in multiple Manhattan neighborhoods, using data compiled and crunched by listings provider StreetEasy, in order to get a better idea of how this slippery metric works. (See the accompanying charts.) Based on co-op, condo and rental listings available in late April, StreetEasy found the median asking price in each neighborhood. Then the listings provider determined the median monthly taxes, the median monthly maintenance or common charges, and a typical monthly mortgage payment, assuming a 30-year ﬁxed-rate loan with a 20 percent down payment and a 4 percent interest rate.

Next, The Real Deal compared those totals to the median asking rent in each neighborhood, also provided by StreetEasy, to come up with the difference between owning and renting. We found that in Manhattan below 96th Street, the median asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $3,200 per month. The monthly cost of owning a one-bedroom condo was $4,247, and was $3,449 for a one-bedroom co-op. By far the biggest expense for monthly ownership was the mortgage payment, which itself is closely tied to the purchase price. That’s why the monthly ownership costs for co-ops — which tend to be less expensive than condos — were lower than the median rent in several areas of

“If you have consistent increases in rent, at some point, those that have the down payment say, ‘Hey, I really need to start considering buying again.’ ” YUVAL GREENBLATT, PRUDENTIAL DOUGLAS ELLIMAN Manhattan, including the East Village/ Lower East Side, Midtown and much of Chelsea. By contrast, that was true of only a few speciﬁc unit types in a few condo submarkets: West Village studios ($2,569 per month to own versus $2,795 to rent), Upper East Side three-bedrooms ($13,874

Condos in Manhattan: Cost of owning vs. renting NEIGHBORHOOD / UNIT SIZE

MEDIAN PRICE

MONTHLY OWNERSHIP

MONTHLY RENTAL

OWN VS. RENT SPREAD

Manhattan studio Manhattan one-bedroom Manhattan two-bedroom Manhattan three-bedroom Manhattan four-bedroom+

$595,000 $895,000 $1,811,000 $3,200,000 $6,157,500

$2,818 $4,247 $8,278 $13,925 $27,474

$2,390 $3,200 $4,900 $8,495 $18,000

$428 $1,047 $3,378 $5,430 $9,474

Battery Park City studio Battery Park City one-bedroom Battery Park City two-bedroom Battery Park City three-bedroom Battery Park City four-bedroom+

$512,500 $557,000 $1,429,000 $2,330,000 $2,062,000

$2,620 $3,289 $6,971 $11,028 $10,232

$2,650 $3,195 $4,900 $9,998 $15,250

($30) $94 $2,071 $1,030 ($5,018)

Midtown studio Midtown one-bedroom Midtown two-bedroom Midtown three-bedroom Midtown four-bedroom+

$797,500 $997,000 $2,450,000 $6,495,000 $12,436,750

$3,760 $4,769 $11,477 $28,110 $51,831

$2,550 $3,698 $6,800 $11,500 $30,000

$1,210 $1,071 $4,677 $16,610 $21,831

Soho studio Soho one-bedroom Soho two-bedroom Soho three-bedroom Soho four-bedroom+

$1,183,000 $1,450,000 $3,100,000 $4,950,000 $9,725,000

$7,595 $6,084 $13,524 $20,359 $41,081

$2,400 $4,000 $8,425 $13,500 $27,500

$5,195 $2,084 $5,099 $6,859 $13,581

Upper East Side studio Upper East Side one-bedroom Upper East Side two-bedroom Upper East Side three-bedroom Upper East Side four-bedroom+

$450,000 $795,000 $1,973,000 $3,154,000 $6,115,000

$2,393 $3,778 $8,965 $13,874 $27,391

$1,898 $2,600 $4,125 $15,000 $25,000

$495 $1,178 $4,840 ($1,126) $2,391

Upper West Side studio Upper West Side one-bedroom Upper West Side two-bedroom Upper West Side three-bedroom Upper West Side four-bedroom+

$525,000 $750,000 $1,395,000 $2,295,000 $8,295,000

$2,455 $3,655 $6,770 $9,789 $36,324

$2,035 $2,800 $4,500 $8,000 $15,500

$420 $855 $2,270 $1,789 $20,824

West Village studio West Village one-bedroom West Village two-bedroom West Village three-bedroom West Village four-bedroom+

$584,000 $1,125,038 $3,200,000 $6,132,500 $14,500,000

$2,569 $4,890 $14,243 $26,016 $63,569

$2,795 $3,700 $4,495 $5,395 $25,000

($226) $1,190 $9,748 $20,621 $38,569

per month to own versus $15,000 to rent) and four-plus-bedrooms in both Battery Park City ($10,232 to own versus $15,250 to rent) and Midtown West/ Clinton ($18,580 to own versus $20,500 to rent). Studios in Murray Hill/Kips Bay and Battery Park City also made this short list, but the difference between the cost of renting and the cost of ownership was nominal. “The rent versus buy clearly favors coops right now,” when it comes to owning, said Miller Samuel president Jonathan Miller, who reviewed the data. New construction tax breaks, such as 421a tax abatements, may have a drastic effect on the monthly costs of individual condo buildings, but with only so many across a neighborhood (and mortgage costs factored in), that effect is watered down, the data show. Likewise, maintenance fees and common charges depend more on a property’s service levels and upkeep than location. Additionally, entry-level apartments — particularly co-ops or homes in less expensive areas like the East Village/Lower East Side — are cheaper to buy than to rent, in contrast to a year ago, Miller said. “The spread between rising rents and falling ﬁnancing costs, tight credit markets aside, is changing the balance of affordability, tipping it on the buy side of the entry-level part of the market,” he said. Put another way, on a monthly basis, units with more bedrooms are cheaper to rent than to own, especially when measured against smaller apartments in the same area. This is partly a function of the scarcity of larger for-sale apartments, which can push up the price of available listings. For example, the median rent for a Murray Hill/Kips Bay studio is $2,300, or about the same as the monthly cost of owning a studio-size condo. However, the median rent for a three-bedroom in the neighborhood is $5,895, while a similar condo costs $10,524 per month to carry — a difference of about 44 percent. “The multiple between what you can rent [a three-bedroom] for and the price they are selling it for is much higher than what the multiple would be for studios and one-bedrooms, simply because [bigger apartments] are much more in demand [to buy],” said Barak Dunayer, founder of Manhattan brokerage Barak Realty. Continued on page 92

www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 41

RENTAL MARKET

The art of advertising A closer look at how real estate marketers draw in customers, through the lens of the New York by Gehry campaign

BY LEIGH KAMPING-CARDER ith so many luxury rentals on the market in New York, advertising plays a key role in persuading tenants to pick one building over another. This month, The Real Deal dissected an advertisement to fi nd out how marketers of new rental buildings convince potential tenants to click on a website, check out an apartment and (hopefully) sign a lease. This ad, called “Declare your independence,” is part of the much buzzedabout campaign for New York by Gehry, the 76-story FiDi rental tower at 8 Spruce Street that hit the market in February 2011, and is now almost 80 percent leased. To rent all 903 units, developer Forest City Ratner enlisted dbox, the London- and New York–based branding firm, and marketing consultant Nancy Packes to craft a campaign that would cast the Frank Gehry–designed tower as a destination address. While the building is taller than any other residential tower in the city, its most unique selling point is its undulating silver façade. The team also wanted to make sure the campaign felt different from other real estate ads. “It was really important for us to avoid the cliché of a couple on the terrace with a glass of wine, looking at the beautiful view,” explained dbox associate director Brian Lindvall. To do that, the team drew inspiration from photographer Julius Shulman’s 1960 shot of a glass-walled Los Angeles bungalow, as well as the film “Lost in Translation,” which evokes “the idea of overlooking a massive city from incredible heights, in total silence,” Lindvall said. To launch the upper floors of the tower, dbox created two ads. “Declare your independence” first ran in newspapers, websites and magazines over July 4 weekend last year. A second version, still in circulation, has a new tagline —“Take it from the top” — and no fireworks. Both ads lack the floor plans and full exterior shots common in real estate advertising, but they do highlight the building’s location and view, noted Michel Mein, a partner at Seventh Art, a New York branding firm that focuses on real estate. “It works,” he said of the campaign. “It absolutely works.” TRD

42 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

ne of the more challenging aspects of marketing 8 Spruce was settling on a name, and the team considered simply using the address itself, Packes said. Though news reports initially called the project the Beekman Tower, the team nixed that idea before formal marketing talks got underway. The name would have been confusing, given that other buildings and a part of the Upper East Side are also called Beekman, Packes said. The “New York by Gehry” moniker is designed to evoke the tower’s stamp on the Manhattan skyline; the team assumed that people would use the famous architect’s name as shorthand for the building anyway, she said.

hile the slim, suit-clad ﬁ gure at the heart of “Independence” conveys the privileged lifestyle presumably on offer at New York by Gehry, his rock star impersonation is meant to evoke the iconoclastic nature of the architecture. The model is actually the founder of dbox, Matthew Bannister, playing his own vintage guitar. This playful approach works because 8 Spruce is a rental, not a condo. “With a rental, you’re essentially renting a lifestyle,” Lindvall said. When it comes to condos, however, both buyers and marketers are more likely to play it safe. “Owning a property people see as more of an investment,” he said, “which can result in a more conservative attitude.”

n a composition nearly devoid of copy, this text serves the essential function of notifying consumers that units are for rent, not for sale — an easy enough mistake, since luxury towers and their accompanying splashy ad campaigns are usually condos. But references to pricing are conspicuously absent. Packes said the team believed that details on pricing would be better left to the website, particularly since the building offers myriad combinations of unit types, layouts and ﬂoors.

he compelling imagery and minimal copy of this ad serve one speciﬁ c goal: to persuade consumers to reach out to the building, either by calling the phone number or, more likely, visiting the website, according to Packes and Lindvall. The lack of information on pricing, unit types or amenities is a clever strategy, Mein said, since extra text would detract from the dramatic image. “Most real estate ads actually contain way too much information, and people never take the time to read it,” he said. “Here, they [are] able to concentrate on what matters.” In fact, Lindvall said, when this campaign started running, trafﬁc at the New York by Gehry website shot up. That translates to more interest from renters, and more leases signed.

RENTAL MARKET

This 1960 photo by Julius Shulman inspired the Gehry campaign, which features multiple ads.

This model was photographed in a studio, and her image was added digitally to the photo.

The campaign was also partially inspired by the ﬁlm “Lost in Translation.”

An alternate version of the “Declare your independence” ad.

ll the elements of the “Independence” ad were photographed live on the 52nd story of 8 Spruce, using a nearby terrace to hold the crew and equipment for the photo shoot. The exception is the fireworks, which were added in post-production. For the other print ads in the campaign, the agency used the same photos but added digital images of models photographed in a Meatpacking District studio, and computer-generated elements, like a three-dimensional rendering of the not-yet-completed 1 World Trade Center. Neither Packes nor Lindvall would comment on the cost of the campaign.

he team added extra shine to the statue atop City Hall, Lindvall said, to “play up” the interplay between the ﬁ gure and the guitar player, underscoring the rental tower’s height. The presence of City Hall links the building to the greater downtown area, but the ad doesn’t show the streetscape directly outside the building. That was likely a conscious choice, Mein said, since the building’s Financial District location is not a primary selling point for the building. Instead, the campaign emphasizes the architectural provenance; the ads are intended as “a celebration of Frank Gehry’s ﬁrst skyscraper, and its impact on New York’s skyline,” Lindvall said. By contrast, if the ad had been for a “cute little West Village building,” Mein said, the designers likely would have chosen to showcase a picturesque tree-lined street.

he “Declare your independence” tagline effectively conveys that New York by Gehry is not your typical New York apartment building, said Mein, who was not involved in the campaign. More subtly, it puts a positive spin on the location, inviting potential tenants to embrace living in a neighborhood — the Financial District — that is not necessarily the most coveted in the city, he said. The building’s marketers said the tagline was not a reference to the neighborhood, but instead was meant to conjure up the July 4 holiday and the “sense of freedom” of living in New York by Gehry.

ather than focusing on the interiors or amenities, the campaign for New York by Gehry largely dwells on the building’s exterior, almost fetishizing its façade. “What that has done is to capitalize on the primary value, which really is the skin of the building,” Packes said. The rippling skin is characteristic Gehry, echoing the billowing metallic sheets the architect created for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and the curvilinear IAC headquarters in West Chelsea. “Even just the tiny glimpse you get from each ad is an effective shorthand for Gehry’s design,” Lindvall said of the façade, which also shows reﬂections of the city lights.

www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 43

RENTAL MARKET

RED LIGHT RENTALS T

Headline-grabbing prostitution cases highlight common headache for NYC landlords BY LEIGH KAMPING-CARDER he case of Anna Gristina, the mother of four who allegedly ran a brothel out of her Upper East Side walk-up, may represent an extreme example of a Manhattan home being used for prostitution. But the business practices of the so-called Soccer Mom Madam, who is currently awaiting trial at Rikers Island, are not as rare as you might think. In 2006, a Brazilian woman was arrested (and later convicted) for running an escort ring out of her midtown condo. And last month, the Shefﬁeld condo board settled a case involving an alleged male escort who was renting an apartment in the building from an Italian couple, as The

of the streets and into the ‘indoors,’ ” Venkatesh and his colleague, Alexandra Murphy, wrote in a 2006 research paper. “At the same time, the growth of the Internet enabled sex workers to solicit clients from the relative security of their own homes.” These days, the inﬂux of overseas buyers renting out their Manhattan investment properties — as in the Shefﬁeld case — appears to have made it easier for prostitutes to “work” from home, industry insiders say. “In general, what’s more conducive to illegal activity happening in buildings is when a landlord is off-site and the application process for a tenancy is less stringent,” Krauss said. Prostitutes are more likely to rent than

“What usually starts the whole ball rolling is other tenants in the building are complaining because people are pressing their buzzer by mistake at all hours of the night. Sooner or later, the landlord puts two and two together.” ANDREW SPINNELL, LAWYER Real Deal reported. And those are just the ones who got caught. “There clearly are plenty of [buildings] that are involved with prostitution,” said Manhattan real estate attorney Sandor Krauss. It’s difﬁcult, if not impossible, to quantify how many New York City apartments are being used by sex workers to host clients. But with the issue front and center in the tabloid spotlight following Gristina’s arrest last month, TRD took a closer look at prostitution in NYC apartment buildings. Since the 1990s, prostitution in New York City has steadily moved indoors, researchers said. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s crackdown on the city’s red-light districts, combined with the rise of information-sharing websites like Craigslist and Facebook, have largely transformed the streetwalker of yore into the apartment-dwelling escort of today, according to research conducted by Columbia University sociology professor Sudhir Venkatesh. “In their effort to clean up New York’s streets, police and law enforcement personnel effectively drove sex workers off

44 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

to buy a home in the city because the barriers to entry are higher and the background checks are stricter to own than to lease. Indeed, landlords often learn about prostitution in their buildfrom the

ings police or from other tenants. “What usually starts the whole ball rolling is other tenants in the building are complaining because people are pressing their buzzer by mistake at all hours of the night,” said Andrew Spinnell, a Manhattan real estate and family law attorney who has worked on several such cases. “Sooner or later, the landlord puts two and two together.” In Gristina’s case, it’s tough to identify her landlord. The site of her alleged brothel at 304 East 78th Street is owned by an LLC, but prosecutors have reportedly claimed that the building belongs to a male “lawyer friend” of hers. It’s also unclear whether she was paying rent at the

property. Diana Cadeddu Ruhl, an attorney whose name appears on the building’s property records, did not respond to a request for comment. At the Shefﬁeld, the building’s management company, Rose Associates, became aware of the situation when another resident wrote them an anonymous letter, complaining that the alleged escort was “lowering the standards of our building, not to

mention putting other tenants in danger.” (A spokesperson for Rose declined to comment, and several rental property managers contacted for this story did not respond to interview requests.) The Sheffield condo board ﬁled a suit in early March, claiming that both the unit owners and the tenant had violated the building’s by-laws prohibiting illegal activity at the apartment. Just about every lease out there has similar provisions, sources said, but even without this kind of explicit language, landlords have several legal options for removing tenants who practice the oldest profession. The so-called Bawdy House statutes — provisions in the New York State Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law — give a landlord, law enforcement or even a neighbor the right to terminate a lease and initiate eviction proceedings against a tenant who uses an apartment for an illegal trade, such as prostitution, drug dealing or gambling. Landlords don’t need a conviction — they just need enough evidence to convince a housing court judge that a tenant was engaged in repeated illegal conduct at the premises. A landlord can also ﬁle a suit in New York State Supreme Court to get an in-

junction requiring some sort of action, such as the Sheffield board’s request for court orders forcing the Italian couple to move to evict their tenant and blocking him from engaging in further illegal acts. “Most landlords take the maximum legal action as vigorously as possible, as soon as possible,” Aaron Shmulewitz, a partner at Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman, said. But others said that landlords, when confronted with evidence of prostitution, often first try to negotiate a “surrender,” essentially an agreement with the tenant to terminate the lease and surrender the apartment. (A landlord may still report the wrongdoing to police or the district attorney’s office to avoid liability, Krauss noted.) Not only does that approach save on legal costs, it also avoids a drawn-out proceeding in housing court. However, some landlords turn a blind eye, particularly if the rent is being paid in cash, or at a high premium. That’s often how it works with tenants planning to use their apartments for prostitution: They’ll pay the asking rent up-front, just like a restaurant might pay more for a commercial space because of the noises, odors and vermin associated with food establishments, Shmulewitz said. “They’re generally willing to pay more to find an apartment,” he said, “and then they go about their business.” TRD

“ We were delighted with First Republic’s mortgage process—in fact, we’re happy with every part of the Bank.” E I I C H I R O K U WA N A

Y U M I K U WA N A

President and Founding Principal Cook Pine Capital LLC

Managing Director and Founding Principal Cook Pine Capital LLC

P R I VAT E B A N K I N G • P R I VAT E B U S I N E S S B A N K I N G • W E A LT H M A N A G E M E N T (877) 486-6700 or visit www.firstrepublic.com • Member FDIC New York Stock Exchange Symbol: FRC

Real Deal May 12 Kuwana ND.indd 1

4/18/12 9:45:08 AM

PR O F I L E

Burkle buys low R

BY GUELDA VOIEN onald Burkle is known for many things: the billions he made in the grocery business, his now-sour relationship with former President Bill Clinton, even being the godfather to rapper P. Diddy’s children. But until recently, New York City real estate was not on that list. Indeed, Burkle — head of Los Angeles–based private equity firm Yucaipa — was focused more on investing in companies like Whole Foods and Barnes & Noble than on the Manhattan property market. But lately, Burkle has made high-profile investments in boutique hotels in New York City and elsewhere. In January, Burkle reportedly paid $550 million for a majority ownership stake in the Soho House company, which operates members-only nightclubs and hotels all over the world, and will soon expand to Moscow and China. A few months later, Burkle and partner Joe Cayre paid $81 million to purchase the Manhattan building occupied by Soho House New York. And last month saw the opening of Manhattan’s NoMad Hotel, where Yucaipa partnered with hotel developer the Sydell Group in a joint-venture investment. And Burkle’s involvement in New York City real estate extends beyond hospitality. In February, Burkle retained commercial firm Eastdil Secured to sell 430 West 14th Street, the site of trendy clothing retailer Scoop, which he owns a majority interest in. Burkle is said to be trying to flip the property for $100 million — far more than the $63 million he paid for it just a few months earlier. Together, these real estate investments mark a shift in direction for Burkle, according to his friend and fellow grocery magnate, Gristedes Foods CEO John Catsimatidis. “I’m not sure he’s in love with the food business anymore,” Catsimatidis said. When it comes to New York City real estate, sources say Burkle is on the hunt for opportunities others may have overlooked. “He is focusing on a market where he thinks people are not paying a lot, where there is a lack of competitive interest,” said Lloyd Greif, CEO of Los Angeles– based investment bank Greif & Co. and one of Burkle’s longtime partners. Or, as another source put it, “he’s not looking to buy the Four Seasons, even though he could. He’s looking to buy properties with a huge upside.” Burkle is known for his quick decisions and bold, opportunistic investment style, and he will likely deploy a similar strategy 46 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

in real estate, sources say. But some noted that the billionaire business tycoon is interested in making only a few strategic property investments rather than a wholesale crossover into the real estate industry.

him a prime candidate for prospective sellers and/or operators.”

Billionaire investor gets into the real estate game via boutique hotels

Born in the Los Angeles suburb of Pomona in 1952, Burkle famously began his

sunset, Burkle began investing in a diverse array of businesses. The Yucaipa chairman now owns the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team, as well as interests in numerous national and seminational grocery chains. (He started buying up stock

career as an entrepreneur at age 30, with an audacious bid to buy the Stater Bros. Markets grocery chain, where he worked as a manager. He reportedly failed in the endeavor when his bid was too low, and was then ﬁred from the chain — the only employer he and his father had ever worked for. Undaunted, he began buying up small grocery stores and ﬂipping them, with money he made in commodities investments, eventually building an empire of Fred Meyer grocery stores. He sold the company for $13.5 billion in 1998. Then, instead of riding off into the

in Wild Oats Market years ago, and became its majority shareholder just before Whole Foods bought the organics purveyor for $565 million in 2007.) He also has his hand in media properties, such as the magazines BlackBook and Vibe, and reportedly considered a bid for the Tribune Co., parent of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. And, he became a godfather to P. Diddy’s children after investing in the rapper’s clothing line, Sean John. That’s in addition to his investment in high-end clothing retailer Scoop NYC. Not all of Burkle’s investments have

Groceries and beyond

Ron Burkle

“He’s not in line to purchase a lot of buildings; he isn’t [running in real estate] circles,” said a source familiar with Burkle’s dealings, who asked to remain anonymous. “I don’t think he is a collector of real estate.” Regardless of his long-term plans, Burkle’s interest in the hospitality industry has generated excitement among industry professionals. “He is probably one of the ﬁrst calls that people make in this sector [right now],” said Steven Kamali, a hospitality broker in New York City and the Hamptons. “His ability to move quickly makes

www.TheRealDeal.com January 25 PHOTOGRAPH BY 2011 BRAD TRENT

PR O F I L E been welcome, though. The board of troubled bookseller Barnes & Noble changed its bylaws to prevent him from buying up any additional shares. While real estate has never been his primary focus, Burkle has always dabbled in the industry. His Americold cold storage company, for example, is structured as a REIT. And while he spends most of his time in London these days, he made New York headlines with the 2007 purchase of the penthouse at 704 Broadway (previously known as the Sky Studios event space), reportedly for $17 million in cash. But until now, he’s kept many of his investments quiet. “He owns a lot of real estate, he’s just very private about it,” said one source with knowledge of Burkle’s personal finances. Lately, however, his real estate deals have become too big to keep under wraps. In 2008, Burkle partnered with developer Raffaello Follieri, then-boyfriend of actress Anne Hathaway, to buy more than $50 million worth of properties from the Catholic Church. But in a high-profile scandal, Follieri ended up in court on federal fraud and conspiracy charges relating to his dealings with the church (which did not involve Burkle). Follieri pleaded guilty and was sent to prison, and Burkle later sued him for misusing $1.3 million of his funds. The money was returned. Last year, Burkle launched a venture with Sydell to invest in boutique hotels valued between $600 million and $1 billion, according to published reports. The venture is currently developing five hotels: the NoMad, two in the Saguaro chain in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Palm Springs, Calif., as well as two more yet-to-be-named hotels in Miami and Los Angeles. In November, Burkle and Sydell announced that they would also spend $250 million to renovate 10 low-cost hostels in major U.S. tourist cities and reposition them by adding amenities like trendy bars and pools — carving out another potentially lucrative niche in the hospitality business. “We think the sweetest spots are existing hotels that need capital, don’t have the right branding or could use an upgrade or repositioning,” Sydell Group CEO Andrew Zobler told the Wall Street Journal last year. A representative for Sydell declined comment for this article, as did Burkle.

Buy at a bargain Burkle’s bid for New York City real estate seems to be following the same philosophy as his other investments: buy low. Burkle “has an incredible sense of intuition with respect for companies that have the potential to grow rapidly, as to where there is an opportunity for value-creation,” said Kamali. That seemed to be on display in 2008, when Yucaipa started buying up stock in the organic grocery chain Whole Foods. Burkle bought enough stock to demand PHOTOGRAPH OF CAYRE FOR THE REAL DEAL BY HUGH HARTSHORNE

that the company adopt his recommendations — like more shelf space for in-house brands and opening fewer stores. Then, as the company’s stock price increased, he cashed out, making a 200 percent return, according to Business Week. “We always try to buy companies that are doing okay but have some issues,” Burkle told the publication in 2010. On its face, the Soho House deal may not have immediately appeared to be opportunistic, but sources say it was.

isn’t putting all his eggs in one basket. At around the same time Burkle took a stake in the NoMad, he also began buying up shares of a competitor, Morgans Hotel Group, the operator of the Mondrian Soho and other New York City hotels. The unconventional move raised eyebrows and caused much speculation in the hospitality sector about Burkle’s motives. Sources told the Journal he might bring

Burkle, who began holding political fund-raisers at his estate in Beverly Hills in the 1990s, famously had Clinton’s ear during his presidency. After Clinton left the White House, Burkle hired him as a Yucaipa consultant, though the relationship between the two has reportedly soured since then. Over the years, Burkle’s legal struggles and dubious business partners have besmirched his public image. Like many of Burkle’s deals, the recent Soho House

Soho House New York

From left: Burkle and P. Diddy

From left: Burkle and Bill Clinton

Joe Cayre

Because of debt in the deal, Burkle actually paid less than the reported $550 million ﬁgure, a source close to the transaction told The Real Deal. When it comes to New York City real estate, Burkle’s investments so far have spanned the middle-to-upper range, focusing on trendy neighborhoods such as the Meatpacking District and the niche market of boutique, high-end hospitality properties. “He recognizes value in the middlemarket, in the $50 million range,” said David Schechtman, a principal at Eastern Consolidated. “It should signal to us all that tremendous opportunity lies therein.” And when it comes to real estate, Burkle

on Morgan as the operator at the NoMad. “There may be an opportunity to create synergies, potential for him to crosspollinate between his various companies,” Kamali said.

Relationships matter Burkle may face some challenges infiltrating the tight-knit world of New York real estate, industry insiders said. Over the years, he’s developed a reputation as someone willing to do whatever is necessary to turn a profit. Early in his career, he received financing from notorious junk bond trader Michael Milken, and has been frequently criticized for leveraging his political liaisons to his advantage.

transaction prompted a lawsuit, when broker Nathaniel Christian, of NCG Real Estate, sued Yucaipa for $22.8 million. Christian alleged that he acted as the broker for the January purchase but was never compensated. In an industry where relationships are everything, Burkle’s reputation for litigation and quickly cashing out of deals may deter some real estate players from partnering with him. However, at a time when ﬁnancing is hard to come by, hooking up with Burkle is still many an investor’s dream. He’ll always be an attractive business partner, one source said, because of “his ability to act quickly from a ﬁnancial perspective.” TRD www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 47

Where the jobs are Real estate employment opportunities — especially in private equity — are on the rise in New York, sources say

BY SARAH EVELYN HARVEY ood news for graduates: While there are still more applicants than job openings in New York City real estate, sources say conditions are getting better. “The hiring environment has improved substantially from the last couple of years,” said Vishaan Chakrabarti, director of the Center for Urban Real Estate at Columbia University. “It’s not as strong as it could be, but there is definitely more interest out there.” Chakrabarti said he’s seeing an uptick in the number of real estate investment, financial and private equity firms now looking to hire Columbia students. (He declined to name specific companies recruiting at the school, however.) Meanwhile, at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, 60 companies attended the institute’s recent job fair, up from 40 last spring, the school said. The companies who attended this year’s fair included Goldman Sachs, the investment and advisory firm Blackstone, commercial brokerage Newmark Knight Frank, Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group and MetLife. “Maybe not all were hiring, but they were thinking about [hiring],” said Rosemary Scanlon, divisional dean at Schack. “They wanted to be in the mix to see our students. That was very encouraging.” Meanwhile, there are some 120 jobs and internships currently posted on Schack’s job board. This year, Scanlon said, she is seeing more available “associate” positions at financial firms — which tend to require more experience than entry-level analyst jobs — than last year. A number of public-sector positions have also been posted, specifically with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, although Scanlon did not say how many Schack graduates have been hired there. Both Schack and the Center for Urban Real Estate — which between them are producing nearly 200 graduates this year — said they have seen the most interest coming from private equity firms. As the real estate industry continues to pull itself out of the recession, there’s been an increase in property trading and repositioning of buildings, said Kipp Gillian, president of Gillian Executive Search, a national recruiting firm that specializes in real estate development, con48 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

struction management and related fields. That’s led to more job openings in financial analysis and underwriting, a trend Gillian expects to continue in the New York market. “The more transaction volume, the more these people are needed,” Gillian said. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment among financial analysts is expected to increase by 23 percent through 2020.

These job openings may be a good fit for students at top graduate programs — like the Center for Urban Real Estate, Schack and Columbia Business School — where most students already have work experience. Ironically, however, some construction management firms are actually having trouble filling open positions, Gillian said. These firms look to

At New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, 60 companies attended the institute’s recent job fair, up from 40 last spring. New ground-up construction projects are still relatively rare, however, so development firms are lagging behind when it comes to hiring, schools said. “There is less hiring on the development side, due to lingering issues with the financial side of new construction,” Chakrabarti said. Still, some large REITs and developers have recently started to show more interest in hiring. The Related Companies, for example, is hiring in a variety of positions this spring, a company spokesperson told The Real Deal. The company is looking for candidates with at least one to three years of experience in real estate, corporate finance or underwriting.

hire people with four to five years of real estate experience as project engineers, assistant project managers and assistant project superintendents, he said, but these candidates are few and far between in the postrecession economy. “For the past four years, candidates have been coming out of school and have not been able to find jobs in real estate,” explained Gillian. Those candidates moved on to other fields, and now that the jobs are coming back, there aren’t enough experienced people to fill them. Another active area for hiring is residential brokerage, where many twentysomethings and graduates of real estate licensing programs begin their job searches. Na-

tional employment of real estate brokers and sales agents is expected to grow 11 percent through 2020, according to the labor bureau. Many local real estate brokerages have been stocking up on sales and rental agents during the busy part of the year, said David Maundrell, founder and president of the brokerage aptsandlofts.com. “This is the season, so to speak,” said Maundrell, who’s preparing to hire 40 sales and rental agents for a new office in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, nearly doubling the size of the company. Maundrell said he plans on recruiting from local real estate licensing programs. Another New York residential brokerage — twoyear-old RealDirect — is expanding, and hopes to hire up to 15 new agents. Cofounder and CEO Doug Perlson said he is mostly looking for candidates with real estate experience, but would consider recent graduates who are familiar with the neighborhoods the firm covers. He’s also interested in candidates with experience uploading photos, blogging and using social media; because the brokerage is driven by its website, he said he wants agents who can connect with clients online. Newly licensed sales agents can also look to A.C. Lawrence & Company, which is in the midst of a hiring “frenzy,” said Olinda Turturro, the firm’s director of recruiting. A.C. Lawrence, which currently has 127 agents, is looking to grow by 40 percent this year, she said, mostly by recruiting from Manhattan’s New York Real Estate Institute and other local programs. “We’re going into our busiest season,” Turturro said. “People are relocating, sizing up or sizing down and graduating — there’s a lot of movement.” Larger brokerages, like Citi Habitats, are also open to hiring recent graduates. “We’re always looking to hire new people,” said firm president Gary Malin, though he said the firm isn’t necessarily looking for a set number of new employees. Gillian recommended that real estate job seekers — in any segment of the market — study the market to find out which comContinued on page 92

www.TheRealDeal.com March 2012 00

The blossoming of Boerum Hill The transit-friendly Brooklyn neighborhood sees an uptick in demand

BY JANE C. TIMM eveloper Abby Hamlin knew she was taking a risk when she bought a block of Boerum Hill properties in 2004 in a joint venture with Francis Greenburger’s Time Equities. But Hamlin, a longtime Brooklyn resident and the founder of Hamlin Equities, felt confident in her plan to build 23 new construction townhouses there. “Boerum Hill was thought to be somewhat edgy at that time,” she recalled. Still, “I didn’t need any convincing. It was within walking distance to everything, had 14 subway lines and was five minutes to Wall Street.” The first phase of her project, known as 14 Town Houses, went on the market in 2007 with the houses listed at around $2 million — a price point that was “unheard of ” for the area at the time, Hamlin said. But they all sold for $2 to $3 million, Hamlin said, and when the first resale occurred this summer, it fetched $3.4 million. The second phase of the project, 9 Town Houses, is being constructed now. When the houses hit the market this spring, they will be priced drastically higher than the first phase — between $3.5 and $4 million each. Hamlin isn’t the only one seeing a return on her investment in the rapidly evolving neighborhood. Boerum Hill — the 50-block area sandwiched between Cobble Hill, Park Slope, Fort Greene and Gowanus — has easy subway access and brownstone-filled blocks. But for years it had a reputation as grittier and less safe than neighboring areas, due in part to the presence of the Gowanus Houses, a public housing project, and the Brooklyn House of Detention. But the area has seen a recent surge in demand from buyers and developers alike. “It’s become very high on people’s wish lists,” said Citi Habitats vice president Anthony DelleCave, a Brooklyn native. “Only five years ago, no one wanted to live in Boerum Hill. Now, prices are through the roof and the demand is there.”

per month, up from $2,800 per month in the same period of last year. Throughout Brooklyn, median rents grew 11 percent during that time. “Boerum Hill is probably the coolest neighborhood in Brooklyn right now,” said Brooklyn resident Terry Naini, a senior vice president at the residential brokerage Town.

COOL AND CONVENIENT

That wasn’t always the case. “I remember when Smith, Court and Hoyt were the ‘West Side Story’ of Brooklyn,” said Toqir Choudri, a longtime area resident who manages the Cobble Hill Rapid Realty ofﬁce. Then, in 2005, hot Hollywood couple Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams bought a house on Hoyt Street for $3.5 million, focusing international attention on the changing demographics of the small neighborhood.

In 2011, the average sale price of a home in Boerum Hill was $810,915, up 16 percent from $697,318 the previous year, according to data compiled by listings website StreetEasy. By comparison, average prices in Brooklyn as a whole rose only 5.9 percent during the same period, to $523,808. The rental market, particularly, reﬂected the neighborhood’s popularity: In 2012’s ﬁrst quarter, the median asking rent in Boerum Hill rose 14.3 percent to $3,200 50 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

And while the housing projects used to deﬁne the area, “now it’s as if everybody else has encapsulated the projects, rather than the projects inﬂuencing the neighboring properties,” Naini said. Hamlin’s 14 Town Houses, which account for some of the neighborhood’s priciest sales (all but one of the top 10 priciest sales since 2006, according to Street-

Haute Parisien Macarons can now be found in Boerum Hill. In the last year, the neighborhood has seen several trendy restaurants open, including Rucola at 190 Dean Street, a Northern Italian restaurant so popular it often has a two-hour wait on weekends. Other newcomers include eatery Burger on Smith; Sottocasa, a pizzeria that made headlines for using a crane to install a 4,000-pound oven into an old brownstone at 298 Atlantic Avenue; and Maimonide of Brooklyn, a vegetarian and vegan restaurant at 525 Atlantic Avenue. These additions are crucial for building residential demand, said Elliman’s Scott Klein, who is marketing a townhouse at 140 Bergen. “Restaurants and shops are what changes the neighborhood,” he said. “People want to go out and walk and eat. If you don’t have the retail, you don’t see the dynamic changes that we’ve seen in Williamsburg, Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill.”

THE NEWCOMERS

Italian restaurant Rucola recently opened at 190 Dean Street.

Top Boerum Hill sales of 2011 ADDRESS

TYPE

LISTING BROKERAGE

PRICE

267 State St.

House (1 family)

Corcoran

$3.4 million

357 Paciﬁc St. House (1 family)

Brooklyn Properties

$2.17 million

396 State St.

Brown Harris Stevens $1.68 million

House (1 family)

Source: StreetEasy

Boerum Hill brownstones

Easy), are just blocks from the Gowanus projects. One big shift that’s helping drive the increased demand for Boerum Hill, brokers said, is new retail along Smith Street and elsewhere in the neighborhood. In Boerum Hill, “the retail proﬁle is changing,” said Prudential Douglas Elliman’s James Kerby, who is marketing a townhouse at 94 Bergen Street. Boutiques, yoga studios, hip clothing chains and the macaron shop Vendôme

When it comes to new development, Naini noted that “there’s really just not much space” in Boerum Hill. Still, several new projects are in the works, and some development projects stalled by the financial crisis are now getting back on track. Permits were recently renewed for 252 Atlantic Avenue, on the border of Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill, where plans for a 66unit building were first filed in 2008. Next door is 262–276 Atlantic Avenue, an empty lot and three vacant storefronts, which were bought last summer with possible plans for a seven-story apartment building, according to permits and city sale records. In January, Quinlan Development Group paid $6.2 million for an old warehouse at 259 Pacific Street, and is reportedly planning to build a 60-unit rental building there. Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities bought 292–294 Atlantic Avenue in February for a reported $5.4 million, and has plans to remodel the 6,000 square feet of retail space and renovate the apartments upstairs. The New St. Clair Diner, which has been open in the building since 1967, will close. Additional townhouses on State Street are also in the works. In 2009, developer IBEC reportedly filed plans for six 5,500-square-foot, elevator townhouses, but never broke ground. In December, however, the developer asked permission from Community Board 2 to install stoops on the new townhouses, indicating that the project has been revived. Prices for these brownstones would reportedly be around $4 million each. TRD PHOTOGRAPHS FOR THE REAL DEAL BY DEREK ZAHEDI www.TheRealDeal.com March 2012 00

Winner of the prestigious Mercedes Benz Property Award, The Beekman Regent offers the ďŹ nest luxuries for Manhattan living. A full service residence with a sleek, contemporary look and classic pre-war details, The Beekman Regent was named one of the top new developments in New York by International Homes Magazine. This Full-Service White-Glove Condominium Building has several world class amenities including, 24-Hour Doorman & Concierge, Library, Conference/Business Center, Media Room, Fitness Center with Private Locker Room, Showers and Saunas. Also included are Private Storage Facilities, a Bicycle Room and On-Site Parking Garage.

TOWN is proud to exclusively represent three exceptional properties of distinction at The Beekman Regent. Penthouse 6B; 3 BR, 3.5 BATH $25,500 Penthouse 6A; 2 BR, 2.5 BATH $15,750 Penthouse 7A; 2 BR, 2.5 BATH $13,995 VISIT US AT: TOWNREALESTATE.COM/THEBEEKMANREGENT

212.633.1000

212.269.8888

212.604.0300

212.242.9900

212.584.6100

212.929.1400

TOWN Residential, LLC is a licensed real estate broker and proud member of REBNY. Town Residential LLC is a partnership with Thor Equities LLC. We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

Building Blocks How many buildings do you own? We own about 13 buildings, mostly in Manhattan, and approximately 700 rental units. The smallest building is 16 units, and the largest, Tower 31 at 9 West 31st Street, is a 283-unit, 42-story building we built from the ground up. We also own an office building in Connecticut.

By Katherine ClarKe

The bottom line

How did you get into real estate?

My father [was] in the real estate business. He How has the recession impacted your business? did some condominium converIt was a mixed bag. A 260-room hotel develdevel sions, a little office and a opment deal we were working on at 11 little bridge lending. East 31st Street stalled because construction lendlend He was a big in-ing evaporated. We are fluence on me. close to restructuring When I gradthat deal, and hope uated colCompany: Simon Development Group to break ground at lege, most of Age: 46 my friends year’s end. Our multiHometown: Roslyn, N.Y. were going family portfolio expeto Wall Street, rienced weakness in Currently living in: Scarsdale, N.Y. rents. However, that but I always wanted to go into has all turned around. real estate.

Vital Stats:

Name: Jonathan Simon

How did you end up forming your own company? I started with the Donald Zucker Company, a property management firm, out of college in 1988. I did briefly work for my father around 1990. When the market collapsed in the early 1990s, he wasn’t doing any new projects, [so] I started my own company. … I bought my first building in the Bronx, at 952 Aldus Street.

Landlord Life What’s been your strangest development experience? I did a gut rehabilitation of five dilapidated walk-ups in Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill. … There was [only] one apartment that was occupied. We wanted to move the couple to a much better and safer apartment during construction, [but] they didn’t want to move. So we constructed a brand-new, 58-unit luxury building around them. It was challenging, and we had to set up some temporary ways for them to enter and leave the apartment. Luckily, they were on the first floor. We eventually received an award for the renovation, and the tenants still live in the building.

Are you currently raising or lowering rents in your residential properties? We are raising rents across the board. It has definitely swung back to a landlord’s market. Our portfolio was probably running a 4 to 5 percent vacancy after the financial crisis, and now it’s probably back to 99 percent occupancy. I would say [we’re raising rents by] 3 to 6 percent, depending on the building.

Tell us about your recent acquisition of the Crescent Club condo in Long Island City, which you’re planning to convert to a rental. I liked it the minute [I] saw it. It was directly over the 59th Street Bridge, 100 yards from the subway and one stop to midtown. It takes seven minutes to get to midtown. … There is still a lot of upside left in Long Island City because the neighborhood has not yet matured with retail and other conveniences.

Tenant horror story? I had an old guy try to attack me with a baseball bat in one of our Soho buildings. I’m still not sure why. We were fixing up the building, and he had lived there a long time. He was a little nuts. Tenants don’t like change sometimes, especially when they’re there a long time.

72 Charles Street

52 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

As a landlord, what keeps you up at night? I don’t really worry too much about the residential side of the business. I have owned property for about 25 years and have lived through a few recessions, and the residential side has always been very stable. It can get soft, but always comes right back. You can always pay your bills if you don’t take on too much leverage. The side of the business that keeps me up at night is the development business. You are planning years ahead and there are so many moving pieces. You need a lot of patience and money. … It’s also the most exciting side of the business because you get to really create something from scratch. We started working on our hotel deal in 2006. … Hopefully, the hotel will open around 2015. That’s almost a decade of my life in one deal. TRD

— Simon’s New York properties

PHOTOGRAPH FOR THE REAL DEAL BY CHRIS MARTIN

POWER PLAYERS

Where real estate meets politics A look at former City Hall politicos who wield big inﬂuence in the industry

W BY C. J. HUGHES

ith Mayor Michael Bloomberg nearing the end of his third (and final) term, it’s no surprise that many of his top aides have now caught a case of government fatigue and fled to the private sector. And a high percentage of those who’ve worked for the prodevelopment mayor have been tapped for jobs in the real estate industry. While hiring a former administration official (or former City Council member) doesn’t get a real estate firm the keys to City Hall, it can provide valuable insight when it comes to navigating the ins and outs of government. In the last few years, a number of the administration’s communication staffers have fled to do public relations for developers. Jordan Barowitz, for example, landed at the Durst Organization and John Gallagher went to Tishman Construction. Former Bloomberg spokesperson Jennifer Falk, meanwhile, moved over to the policy side, helming the Union Square Partnership, a business improvement district. More recently, David Lombino of the city’s Economic Development Cor-

Melinda Katz Then: City Council member (chair of Land Use Committee) Now: Attorney at Greenberg Traurig ormer city council member Melinda Katz — who was a mergers-andacquisitions attorney before elected to public office — is now a real estate attorney at a top law firm, Greenberg Traurig. As chair of the council’s powerful Land Use Committee from 2002 to 2009, Katz oversaw the rezoning of 6,000 city blocks, including the mega Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning in 2005. Katz has worked for Greenberg, a firm with one of the city’s most extensive real estate practices, since 2009. Her clients include: Lightstone Group, which owns shopping centers and apartments; Phoenix Development Partners, which last year bought a waterside parcel in Long Island City, where it’s planning a 220-unit apartment building; and S&H Equities, a rental and hotel development firm headed by Serge Hoyda focused on the Lower East Side. But Katz — who is also a registered lobbyist and was just hired by New York University to work on behalf of its expansion plan — said even though she’s working with developers, she keeps the interests of New Yorkers in mind. “They were the ones I was fighting for, so I bring that perspective to the table,” she said. “At the end of the day, it’s not helpful [to developers] if things get stalled [by objections from residents].” And Katz is not the only former council member to devote their postpolitical career to real estate. For-

54 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

poration departed for Two Trees Management to become director of special projects. And, last month, Andrew Winter, the founding director of the mayor’s Office of Capital Project Development, was hired by Cornell University to oversee construction of the school’s new Roosevelt Island campus, which is expected to break ground in 2014. Meanwhile, Josh Sirefman — who served as chief of staff to former deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff and then as EDC president — acted as an independent consultant for Cornell as it was preparing its bid for the new Roosevelt Island campus. (He was at Brookfield Office Properties for two years prior to that.) But there are firewalls in place: For example, an ex-government official can’t lobby their former employer for a year after stepping down, and can’t ever advocate for a project that he or she voted on while in office. Last month, The Real Deal examined which development firms have good — and not so good — relationships with City Hall. This month, we followed that up by looking at some ex-government veterans and where they’ve landed in the New York City real estate world.

mer council speaker Gifford Miller, through his Signature Urban Properties, is breaking ground on a 10-building mixed-use project in the Bronx’s Crotona Park East.

Vishaan Chakrabarti Then: Director, City Planning’s Manhattan office Now: Partner, SHoP Architects hile employed by the city from 2002 to 2005, Chakrabarti worked to rezone the Hudson Yards, and on the transformation of the High Line railway into a park. A winding post-public-sector journey took him to the Related Companies, where he worked from 2005 to 2009. While at Related, he worked on a plan with Vornado to redevelop Manhattan’s Farley Post Office into the Moynihan train station — a massive, yet-to-be-built project that required frequent interactions with the state’s Empire State Development Corporation. In 2009, he joined the faculty of Columbia University as the first head of the real estate development program. An architect by trade, who once worked at Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Chakrabarti recently joined the architectural firm SHoP. That firm completed

the master plan for Hunter’s Point South, Related’s 900-unit, mixed-use development in Long Island City. SHoP also designed another headline-grabbing project : Atlantic Yards, from Forest City Ratner. The firm’s specific credits there include the Barclays Center (the basketball arena), and B2 (the site’s first apartment tower). SHoP has also contributed designs for Moynihan Station, so there’s a chance Chakrabarti will need government agencies to sign off on his projects again.

Bob Lieber Then: Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Now: Executive Managing Director, Island Capital Group fter two decades with Lehman Brothers, Lieber became a public servant in January 2008 at the urging of Doctoroff

— another Lehman alum. Among Lieber’s accomplishments were the rezoning of Willets Point in Queens. He also worked to get the ball rolling for the engineering campus on Roosevelt Island as well as the city’s takeover of Governors Island. Yet he was unable to convince the City Council to approve a plan to let Related build a shopping mall at the Kingsbridge Armory. In 2010, Lieber left to take a job alongside real estate mogul Andrew Farkas, at Island Capital. Farkas founded Insignia Financial Group, the real estate services juggernaut, which he sold to CB Richard Ellis in 2003 for roughly $415 million. Today, in addition to helping sort out troubled real estate loans at Island Capital, Lieber is raising money and consulting on acquisition deals as part of a six-person team, according to sources at the company. Last year, his new employer bought NAI Global, the commercial real estate ﬁrm, which was seen by many as a move to re-create a company with the same clout as Insignia.

Jim Whelan Then: Chief of Staff to former Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff Now: Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, REBNY helan — a veteran of numerous city mayors who started working in government in 1984 — was also a Doctoroff conﬁdante. But when Doctoroff left in early 2008, Whelan departed for a two-year stint at Muss Development. Then in 2010, the Real Estate Board of New York came calling. At the time, the inﬂuential trade

www.TheRealDeal.com January 2011 25

POWER PLAYERS group was ramping up its efforts to defeat a proposed city living-wage law that could have required stores to pay their employees higher hourly salaries. REBNY argued that the added financial pressure would make it more difficult for retailers to lease storefronts from landlords. That provision was ultimately not included in the drastically slimmed down version of the bill, whose details are still being tweaked by Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Whelan filled the newly created position to run the trade’s political shop, which is next turning its attention to the city’s onerous property taxes, he said, as well as the sometimes heavy hand of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. (REBNY aggressively came out

ay, who began as an intern at City Hall in 1996, spent the next 14 years there. Among the feathers in his cap were helping put together Bloomberg’s sweeping environmental initiative PlaNYC and overseeing the call center for the popular 311 line. But after being passed over for the deputy mayor of operations job in the spring of 2010 — that went to Stephen Goldsmith, who later resigned after being arrested on a domestic violence charge — Kay departed for the private sector. In fact, he took over Whelan’s job at Muss, which has shopping malls, ofﬁces and condos. Kay’s government know-how is likely giving the Queens-based ﬁrm a leg up in pitching for public projects. For exam-

against the council’s recent approval of a Brooklyn Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District, arguing it would increase costs for landlords and stiﬂe development.) “We are not antilandmarking. We have members that have landmark and nonlandmark properties,” he said. “Unfortunately, this current commission doesn’t exercise any sense of balance and restraint.” As for whether his government roots come in handy in his current position, Whelan said: “It’s useful to be inside government to understand how government works.”

Jeff Kay Then: Director, Mayor’s Ofﬁce of Operations Now: Chief Operating Ofﬁcer, Muss Development

PHOTOGRAPH OF KATZ FOR THE REAL DEAL BY MAX DWORKIN

Today, Ascher is a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. She also heads up the months-old American practice at Buro Happold, a global engineering ﬁrm. Among her current projects is ﬁguring out a way for the city to improve its management of Gateway National Park, a 10,000-acre federal swath that has major portions in Brooklyn and Queens. She also recently took time out to write a book: “The Heights: Anatomy of a Skyscraper.”

Kate Ascher

Then: Senior Policy Adviser, EDC Now: Vice President, External Affairs, Forest City Ratner

K AT E A S C H E R

ple, Muss is currently vying to be selected by the city to develop Willets Point, which will eventually have more than 5,000 apartments, shops and a hotel on land that now has car-repair garages.

Patricia Lancaster Then: Commissioner, Department of Buildings Now: Professor, NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate ancaster, who’s an architect by training, ran the city’s DOB from 2002 to 2008 during the biggest building boom in decades. On the plus side, she oversaw the rewriting of New York’s complex building codes in 2007, which was the ﬁrst time it had been tackled in four decades. However, her tenure was marred by a series of construction-site accidents, including two high-proﬁle, fatal crane

Ashley Cotton

Then: Executive Vice President, EDC Now: Consultant, Happold Consulting

PAT R I C I A L A N CA S T E R

BOB LIEBER

JIM WHELAN

collapses. Under ﬁre, Lancaster resigned in 2008, and was hired by the Durst Organization to help demystify those new codes, which took less than a year. In her post-government career, she also founded the Lancaster Group, a consulting ﬁrm whose clients include Trump SoHo hotel, according to Lancaster’s website. In addition, Lancaster, who also worked for the developer LCOR earlier in her career, is employed at NYU, where she teaches courses on construction management.

J E F F K AY

VISHAAN CHAKRABARTI

scher was formerly with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and the EDC. In the 2000s, she worked under former EDC President Andrew Alper. Focused on infrastructure, she led the successful push for a new cruise ship terminal in Red Hook, Brooklyn. When she left the city after four years in 2007, she joined Vornado for a three-year stint, during which she worked to gain approval for the 15 Penn Plaza skyscraper project. In that job, she appeared before the City Planning Commission to promote the additional public work Vornado was offering to do if it won approval for its tower. The sweeteners offered by Vornado — whose proposal was approved — included reopening a long-defunct pedestrian passageway between Sixth and Seventh avenues under the proposed high-rise site, to alleviate subway overcrowding.

M E L I N D A K AT Z

otton — who got her start helping manage Andrew Cuomo’s successful campaign for state attorney general in the mid-2000s and later worked for deputy mayor Bob Steel — only recently left the public sector. At Forest City, she will focus on the opening of Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards, which is set to debut with a Sept. 28 concert featuring Jay-Z. The opening “is a huge moment for Brooklyn, and as a Clinton Hill resident, I’m thrilled to be a part of it,” she wrote in an e-mail. “There is no question that my City Hall experience was ideal preparation for working on a project that is going to be a game changer for this borough.” Cotton replaces government relations executive Bruce Bender, who also formerly worked for the city as policy advisor to the mayor. Cotton said Bender left to start his own consulting business. TRD

www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 55

��

� ��

1992: O LYMPIA & YORK FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY

lympia & York Developments — the world’s largest commercial real estate builder and the developer of the 8 million-square-foot World Financial Center — filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada 20 years ago this month. At the time, the $20 billion, Toronto-based empire was the city’s largest commercial landlord, with 23 million square feet of Manhattan Grand Central office space. During the bankruptcy, the city’s forStation mer first deputy mayor, John Zuccotti, was heading up the firm’s U.S. operations. Company owner Paul Reichmann, meanwhile, was in charge of global operations. Started in the 1950s as a tile company, Olympia Olympia & York owner Paul Reichmann & York ran into trouble during the recession of the late 1980s. It was particularly vulnerable to the slowdown because of its 97-acre commercial and residential development in London known as Canary Wharf, which was leasing up slowly. The company was liquidated in 1993. The firm’s Manhattan properties were sold off, but Brookfield Office Properties bought about 11.5 million square feet of buildings in 1996 as the portfolio was unwound. That included three of the four towers at the World Financial Center, 1 Liberty Plaza and 245 Park Avenue.

1929: C ITY PROPOSES REMOVING S IXTH A VENUE TRACKS

New York City agency wrote in a report 83 years ago this month that property values on Sixth Avenue were being dramatically suppressed because of the elevated train line running from Trinity Place in lower Manhattan to 50th Street in midtown. The report concluded that the steel tracks should be demolished and a subway built to replace it. The city’s Bureau of Transportation assessed real estate values on a stretch of Sixth Avenue between 53rd Street and Central Park South — where the elevated tracks had been removed in 1925 — to a portion below 23rd Street where the train was Sixth Avenue’s elevated train tracks blocking sunlight. What it found was that on the stretch where the train was demolished, values jumped by 193 percent over the prior ﬁve years. That stood in stark contrast to the portion where the train still existed, where property values rose by a meager 2.6 percent during the same period. The suggestion to tear down the elevated rail line had an almost immediate impact on investment sale activity. “Real estate men have reported a large increase in the number of inquiries for property,” the New York Times reported a few weeks after the study was released. Despite strong support from the city and real estate community, Sixth Avenue would have to wait another 10 years before the elevated train was demolished and replaced by a subway. The subway was fully operational by December 1940.

General Star-A Berkshire Hathaway Company, a highly rated carrier with many years of experience providing Errors & Omissions coverage for Real Estate Professionals.

56 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

1880: T RADITION OF MOVING ON M AY 1 FADES

ew York City’s more than century-old tradition to begin all residential leases on May 1 began shifting to the fall, moving companies reported 132 years ago this month. For much of the 1900s, the annual civic upheaval on the first day of May created confusion and a shortage of moving carts and vans as tenants scrambled to relocate on the same day. “All trade ceased that day because the streets were so heavily filled with traffic,” the Encyclopedia of New York City said. The spring housing shuffle customarily began gearing up on February 1, when landlords would notify their tenants of their new rental rates, which NYC moving day chaos would go into effect May 1. Those rent increases prompted many to look for new apartments over the next three months. The shift, which was reported in the New York Times, was written about almost every year in the springtime around the turn of the century. But 1880 seems to be one of the first, if not the first, times the shift in leasing start dates was reported. Toward the end of the 19th century, landlords shifted the start of leases to September and October, and then began to stagger them in the fall. Compiled by Adam Pincus

Delivering on the Assignment HKS Capital Partners LLC. is the industry’s PREMIER boutique commercial real estate capital advisory firm.

• Debt • Equity • Mezzanine • Construction • Bridge • Joint Ventures

127 West 24th Street, 2nd Floor, NY 10011 (212) 254 1600 • www.hkscapitalpartners.com

A selection of today’s Exclusive Rentals listings

A selection of today’s Exclusive Sales listings ADDRESS

SIZE

PRICE

ADDRESS

SIZE

PRICE

ADDRESS

SIZE

PRICE

ADDRESS

SIZE

PRICE

45 EAST 74TH STREET

5 BR, 7.5 BATH

$33,000,000

54 WARREN STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,495,000

153 FRANKLIN STREET

4BR, 4.5 BATH

$50,000

53 HOWARD STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$7,900

101 CENTRAL PARK WEST

5 BR, 6 BATH

$23,550,000

160 CENTRAL PARK SOUTH

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,495,000

263 NINTH AVENUE

4 BR, 4 BATH

$40,000

7 PARK AVENUE

2 BR, 3 BATH

$7,500

332 CANAL STREET

0 BR, 1 BATH

$23,500,000

180 EAST END AVENUE

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$3,490,000

129 LAFAYETTE STREET

4 BR, 3.5 BATH

$35,000

208 WEST 30TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$7,500

60 EAST 66TH STREET

8 BR, 7 BATH

$19,250,000

1 YORK STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,250,000

630 FIFTH AVENUE

0 BR, 1 BATH

$34,580

75 LUDLOW STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$7,500

161 EAST 63RD STREET

5 BR, 7 BATH

$18,500,000

15 BROAD STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,125,000

3 RIVERVIEW TERRACE

5 BR, 4.5 BATH

$34,500

441 EAST 57TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$7,250

23 EAST 74TH STREET

5 BR, 5 BATH

$18,500,000

311 WEST BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,100,000

49 BOND STREET

1 BR, 3 BATH

$30,000

17 BLEECKER STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$7,000

400 WEST STREET

5 BR, 4.5 BATH

$17,450,000

845 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA

3 BR, 3 BATH

$3,100,000

78 LEONARD STREET

0 BR, 1 BATH

$29,000

40 PRINCE STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$7,000

55 WARREN STREET

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$16,500,000

311 WEST BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,050,000

322 WEST 57TH STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$28,500

79 WORTH STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$6,900

33 VESTRY STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$14,950,000

1 YORK STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,995,000

79 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$25,000

640 BROADWAY

1 BR, 2 BATH

$6,850

165 CHARLES STREET

4 BR, 6 BATH

$14,500,000

15 BROAD STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$2,995,000

180 EAST 93RD STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$23,000

33 WEST 56TH STREET

1 BR, 1.5 BATH

$6,500

88 FRANKLIN STREET

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$12,500,000

55 WALL STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,995,000

1 NORTH MOORE STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$22,500

17 BLEECKER STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$6,500

153 FRANKLIN STREET

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$11,995,000

240 RIVERSIDE BLVD

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,950,000

240 EAST 62ND STREET

5 BR, 4 BATH

$22,000

164 KENT AVENUE

2 BR, 2 BATH

$6,400

50 GRAMERCY PARK NORTH

3 BR, 4 BATH

$10,800,000

330 EAST 72ND STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$2,850,000

79 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$20,500

640 BROADWAY

1 BR, 1 BATH

$6,350

277 WEST 12TH STREET

8 BR, 7.5 BATH

$10,500,000

330 SPRING STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,800,000

40 MERCER STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$20,000

333 EAST 45TH STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$6,000

1045 PARK AVENUE

5 BR, 4.5 BATH

$10,000,000

79 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,780,000

79 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$18,995

405 WEST 23RD STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$6,000

481 GREENWICH STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$8,950,000

51 WARREN STREET

1 BR, 5 BATH

$2,700,000

166 DUANE STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$17,500

6 VARICK STREET

LOFT, 1 BATH

$6,000

263 NINTH AVENUE

4 BR, 4 BATH

$8,850,000

32 WEST 20TH STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$2,675,000

155 FRANKLIN STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$16,500

424 WEST 49TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$6,000

238 EAST 4TH STREET

4 BR, 2.5 BATH

$8,500,000

344 BOWERY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$2,650,000

351 EAST 51ST STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$15,750

40 PRINCE STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$5,995

31 WEST 21ST STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$7,895,000

48 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$2,550,000

845 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA

3 BR, 3 BATH

$15,000

1600 BROADWAY

1 BR, 1 BATH

$5,995

141 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS

0 BR, 1 BATH

$7,500,000

48 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$2,495,000

60 RIVERSIDE BLVD

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$15,000

351 EAST 51ST STREET

1 BR, 1.5 BATH

$5,950

165 CHARLES STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$6,800,000

14 SUTTON PLACE SOUTH

3, BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,495,000

351 EAST 51ST STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$15,000

160 CENTRAL PARK SOUTH

1 BR, 1 BATH

$5,800

845 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$6,695,000

410 WEST 24TH STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$2,395,000

640 BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$15,000

200 WEST 60TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$5,800

322 WEST 57TH STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$6,500,000

462 GREENWICH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$2,300,000

291 SEVENTH AVENUE

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$14,500

208 WEST 30TH STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$5,500

55 WARREN STREET

3 BR,2.5 BATH

$6,300,000

59 JOHN STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,283,000

35 WEST 11TH STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$14,400

9 EAST 10TH STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$5,500

15 BROAD STREET

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$6,120,000

170 EAST 87TH STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$2,250,000

351 EAST 51ST STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$13,995

716 TENTH AVENUE

1 BR, 1 BATH

$5,500

To View More Than 12,000 of Manhattan’s Finest Properties, Please Visit Us at www.townrealestate.com

55 WARREN STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$6,100,000

322 WEST 72ND STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$2,199,995

8 WARREN STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$13,000

88 GREENWICH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$5,400

829 PARK AVENUE

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$5,999,000

400 EAST 67TH STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,199,000

101 WARREN STREET

2 BR, 3 BATH

$12,500

1 CHRISTOPHER STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$5,350

55 WARREN STREET

4 BR, 3.5 BATH

$5,995,000

65 WEST 13TH STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$2,195,000

1 GRAMERCY PARK WEST

3 BR, 2 BATH

$12,500

439 PACIFIC STREET

3 BR, 1.5 BATH

$5,250

230 WEST 78TH STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$5,950,000

255 HUDSON STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,195,000

1 YORK STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$12,000

164 EIGHTH AVENUE

2 BR, 2 BATH

$5,000

88 FRANKLIN STREET

4 BR, 3.5 BATH

$5,650,000

76 MADISON AVENUE

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,175,000

69 WOOSTER STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$12,000

349 EAST 10TH STREET

4 BR, 2 BATH

$4,800

188 EAST 64TH STREET

3 BR, 4.5 BATH

$5,500,000

438 WEST 37TH STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$2,100,000

100 WEST 58TH STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$11,000

215 EAST 59TH STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$4,750

169 HUDSON STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$5,500,000

101 WARREN STREET

4 BR, 3 BATH

$2,049,000

311 WEST BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$11,000

71 FRANKLIN STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$4,500

11 MERCER STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$5,495,000

210 CENTRAL PARK SOUTH

1 BR, 2 BATH

$2,000,000

462 WEST 58TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$10,995

77 READE STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$4,500

121 EAST 35TH STREET

5 BR, 4.5 BATH

$5,250,000

30 WEST STREET

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$1,999,000

170 HICKS STREET

4 BR, 2 BATH

$10,000

52 SPRING STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$4,400

410 WEST 24TH STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$4,950,000

288 WEST STREET

3 BR, 1 BATH

$1,995,000

76 LAIGHT STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$10,000

218 E 13TH STREET

2 BR, 1.5 BATH

$4,350

65 WEST 13TH STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$4,900,000

165 DUANE STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,995,000

311 WEST BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$10,000

516 WEST 47TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$4,350

53 NORTH MOORE STREET

5 BR, 4 BATH

$4,795,000

12 WEST 72ND

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,995,000

252 SEVENTH AVENUE

1 BR, 2 BATH

$10,000

52 GROVE STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$4,350

205 MULBERRY STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$4,750,000

130 FULTON

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,900,000

20 PINE STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$10,000

148 EAST 28TH STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$4,295

65 WEST 13TH STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$4,700,000

99 CLINTON STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$1,900,000

344 BOWERY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$9,750

349 EAST 10TH STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$4,200

88 LAIGHT STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$4,490,000

159 EAST 30TH STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$1,850,000

208 WEST 30TH STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$9,500

349 EAST 10TH STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$4,200

277 WEST END AVENUE

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,995,000

524 EAST 72ND STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,850,000

101 WEST 24TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$9,495

318 GRAND STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$4,200

100 CENTRAL PARK SOUTH

3 BR, 3 BATH

$3,950,000

28 EAST 21ST STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,795,000

524 EAST 72ND STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$8,900

16 PARK AVENUE

1 BR, 1 BATH

$4,200

203 WEST HOUSTON STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$3,950,000

455 CENTRAL PARK WEST

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$1,795,000

69 PERRY STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$8,750

15 WILLIAM STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$4,100

291 SEVENTH AVENUE

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,850,000

50 FRANKLIN STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$1,775,000

515 EAST 89TH STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$8,500

125 WEST 31ST STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$4,050

845 WEST END AVENUE

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$3,850,000

201 EAST 77TH STREET

4 BR, 3 BATH

$1,695,000

62 GRAND STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$8,500

129 EAST 27TH STREET

O BR, 2 BATH

$3,995

28 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,825,000

100 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$1,695,000

110 THIRD AVENUE

2 BR, 2 BATH

$8,500

7 EAST 14TH STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$3,995

75.5 BEDFORD STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$3,750,000

182 MULBERRY STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,650,000

17 BLEECKER STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$8,000

365 BRIDGE STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,900

554 BROOME STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,750,000

529 WEST 42ND STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$1,599,000

79 WORTH STREET

0 BR, 1 BATH

$8,000

222 EAST 24TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,895

235 EAST 73RD STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,650,000

56 THOMAS STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$1,595,000

175 EAST BROADWAY

1 BR, 2 BATH

$8,000

75 WALL STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$3,850

311 WEST BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,500,000

150 WEST 79TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,525,000

100 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$7,950

560 HUDSON STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$3,850

(212) 269-8888

(212) 604-0300

(212) 633-1000

TOWN Residential, LLC is a licensed real estate broker and proud member of REBNY. Town Residential LLC is a partnership with Thor Equities LLC. We are pledged to the letter in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. The information in this advertisement is

(212) 584-6100

(212) 929-1400

(212) 242-9900

and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program deemed reliable but subject to change.

A selection of today’s Exclusive Rentals listings

A selection of today’s Exclusive Sales listings ADDRESS

SIZE

PRICE

ADDRESS

SIZE

PRICE

ADDRESS

SIZE

PRICE

ADDRESS

SIZE

PRICE

45 EAST 74TH STREET

5 BR, 7.5 BATH

$33,000,000

54 WARREN STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,495,000

153 FRANKLIN STREET

4BR, 4.5 BATH

$50,000

53 HOWARD STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$7,900

101 CENTRAL PARK WEST

5 BR, 6 BATH

$23,550,000

160 CENTRAL PARK SOUTH

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,495,000

263 NINTH AVENUE

4 BR, 4 BATH

$40,000

7 PARK AVENUE

2 BR, 3 BATH

$7,500

332 CANAL STREET

0 BR, 1 BATH

$23,500,000

180 EAST END AVENUE

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$3,490,000

129 LAFAYETTE STREET

4 BR, 3.5 BATH

$35,000

208 WEST 30TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$7,500

60 EAST 66TH STREET

8 BR, 7 BATH

$19,250,000

1 YORK STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,250,000

630 FIFTH AVENUE

0 BR, 1 BATH

$34,580

75 LUDLOW STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$7,500

161 EAST 63RD STREET

5 BR, 7 BATH

$18,500,000

15 BROAD STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,125,000

3 RIVERVIEW TERRACE

5 BR, 4.5 BATH

$34,500

441 EAST 57TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$7,250

23 EAST 74TH STREET

5 BR, 5 BATH

$18,500,000

311 WEST BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,100,000

49 BOND STREET

1 BR, 3 BATH

$30,000

17 BLEECKER STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$7,000

400 WEST STREET

5 BR, 4.5 BATH

$17,450,000

845 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA

3 BR, 3 BATH

$3,100,000

78 LEONARD STREET

0 BR, 1 BATH

$29,000

40 PRINCE STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$7,000

55 WARREN STREET

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$16,500,000

311 WEST BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,050,000

322 WEST 57TH STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$28,500

79 WORTH STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$6,900

33 VESTRY STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$14,950,000

1 YORK STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,995,000

79 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$25,000

640 BROADWAY

1 BR, 2 BATH

$6,850

165 CHARLES STREET

4 BR, 6 BATH

$14,500,000

15 BROAD STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$2,995,000

180 EAST 93RD STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$23,000

33 WEST 56TH STREET

1 BR, 1.5 BATH

$6,500

88 FRANKLIN STREET

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$12,500,000

55 WALL STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,995,000

1 NORTH MOORE STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$22,500

17 BLEECKER STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$6,500

153 FRANKLIN STREET

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$11,995,000

240 RIVERSIDE BLVD

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,950,000

240 EAST 62ND STREET

5 BR, 4 BATH

$22,000

164 KENT AVENUE

2 BR, 2 BATH

$6,400

50 GRAMERCY PARK NORTH

3 BR, 4 BATH

$10,800,000

330 EAST 72ND STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$2,850,000

79 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$20,500

640 BROADWAY

1 BR, 1 BATH

$6,350

277 WEST 12TH STREET

8 BR, 7.5 BATH

$10,500,000

330 SPRING STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,800,000

40 MERCER STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$20,000

333 EAST 45TH STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$6,000

1045 PARK AVENUE

5 BR, 4.5 BATH

$10,000,000

79 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,780,000

79 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$18,995

405 WEST 23RD STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$6,000

481 GREENWICH STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$8,950,000

51 WARREN STREET

1 BR, 5 BATH

$2,700,000

166 DUANE STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$17,500

6 VARICK STREET

LOFT, 1 BATH

$6,000

263 NINTH AVENUE

4 BR, 4 BATH

$8,850,000

32 WEST 20TH STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$2,675,000

155 FRANKLIN STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$16,500

424 WEST 49TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$6,000

238 EAST 4TH STREET

4 BR, 2.5 BATH

$8,500,000

344 BOWERY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$2,650,000

351 EAST 51ST STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$15,750

40 PRINCE STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$5,995

31 WEST 21ST STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$7,895,000

48 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$2,550,000

845 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA

3 BR, 3 BATH

$15,000

1600 BROADWAY

1 BR, 1 BATH

$5,995

141 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS

0 BR, 1 BATH

$7,500,000

48 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$2,495,000

60 RIVERSIDE BLVD

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$15,000

351 EAST 51ST STREET

1 BR, 1.5 BATH

$5,950

165 CHARLES STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$6,800,000

14 SUTTON PLACE SOUTH

3, BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,495,000

351 EAST 51ST STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$15,000

160 CENTRAL PARK SOUTH

1 BR, 1 BATH

$5,800

845 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$6,695,000

410 WEST 24TH STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$2,395,000

640 BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$15,000

200 WEST 60TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$5,800

322 WEST 57TH STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$6,500,000

462 GREENWICH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$2,300,000

291 SEVENTH AVENUE

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$14,500

208 WEST 30TH STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$5,500

55 WARREN STREET

3 BR,2.5 BATH

$6,300,000

59 JOHN STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,283,000

35 WEST 11TH STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$14,400

9 EAST 10TH STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$5,500

15 BROAD STREET

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$6,120,000

170 EAST 87TH STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$2,250,000

351 EAST 51ST STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$13,995

716 TENTH AVENUE

1 BR, 1 BATH

$5,500

To View More Than 12,000 of Manhattan’s Finest Properties, Please Visit Us at www.townrealestate.com

55 WARREN STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$6,100,000

322 WEST 72ND STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$2,199,995

8 WARREN STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$13,000

88 GREENWICH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$5,400

829 PARK AVENUE

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$5,999,000

400 EAST 67TH STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,199,000

101 WARREN STREET

2 BR, 3 BATH

$12,500

1 CHRISTOPHER STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$5,350

55 WARREN STREET

4 BR, 3.5 BATH

$5,995,000

65 WEST 13TH STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$2,195,000

1 GRAMERCY PARK WEST

3 BR, 2 BATH

$12,500

439 PACIFIC STREET

3 BR, 1.5 BATH

$5,250

230 WEST 78TH STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$5,950,000

255 HUDSON STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,195,000

1 YORK STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$12,000

164 EIGHTH AVENUE

2 BR, 2 BATH

$5,000

88 FRANKLIN STREET

4 BR, 3.5 BATH

$5,650,000

76 MADISON AVENUE

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$2,175,000

69 WOOSTER STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$12,000

349 EAST 10TH STREET

4 BR, 2 BATH

$4,800

188 EAST 64TH STREET

3 BR, 4.5 BATH

$5,500,000

438 WEST 37TH STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$2,100,000

100 WEST 58TH STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$11,000

215 EAST 59TH STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$4,750

169 HUDSON STREET

3 BR, 3.5 BATH

$5,500,000

101 WARREN STREET

4 BR, 3 BATH

$2,049,000

311 WEST BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$11,000

71 FRANKLIN STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$4,500

11 MERCER STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$5,495,000

210 CENTRAL PARK SOUTH

1 BR, 2 BATH

$2,000,000

462 WEST 58TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$10,995

77 READE STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$4,500

121 EAST 35TH STREET

5 BR, 4.5 BATH

$5,250,000

30 WEST STREET

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$1,999,000

170 HICKS STREET

4 BR, 2 BATH

$10,000

52 SPRING STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$4,400

410 WEST 24TH STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$4,950,000

288 WEST STREET

3 BR, 1 BATH

$1,995,000

76 LAIGHT STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$10,000

218 E 13TH STREET

2 BR, 1.5 BATH

$4,350

65 WEST 13TH STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$4,900,000

165 DUANE STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,995,000

311 WEST BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$10,000

516 WEST 47TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$4,350

53 NORTH MOORE STREET

5 BR, 4 BATH

$4,795,000

12 WEST 72ND

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,995,000

252 SEVENTH AVENUE

1 BR, 2 BATH

$10,000

52 GROVE STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$4,350

205 MULBERRY STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$4,750,000

130 FULTON

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,900,000

20 PINE STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$10,000

148 EAST 28TH STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$4,295

65 WEST 13TH STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$4,700,000

99 CLINTON STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$1,900,000

344 BOWERY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$9,750

349 EAST 10TH STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$4,200

88 LAIGHT STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$4,490,000

159 EAST 30TH STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$1,850,000

208 WEST 30TH STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$9,500

349 EAST 10TH STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$4,200

277 WEST END AVENUE

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,995,000

524 EAST 72ND STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,850,000

101 WEST 24TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$9,495

318 GRAND STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$4,200

100 CENTRAL PARK SOUTH

3 BR, 3 BATH

$3,950,000

28 EAST 21ST STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,795,000

524 EAST 72ND STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$8,900

16 PARK AVENUE

1 BR, 1 BATH

$4,200

203 WEST HOUSTON STREET

4 BR, 4 BATH

$3,950,000

455 CENTRAL PARK WEST

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$1,795,000

69 PERRY STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$8,750

15 WILLIAM STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$4,100

291 SEVENTH AVENUE

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,850,000

50 FRANKLIN STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$1,775,000

515 EAST 89TH STREET

3 BR, 3 BATH

$8,500

125 WEST 31ST STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$4,050

845 WEST END AVENUE

4 BR, 4.5 BATH

$3,850,000

201 EAST 77TH STREET

4 BR, 3 BATH

$1,695,000

62 GRAND STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$8,500

129 EAST 27TH STREET

O BR, 2 BATH

$3,995

28 LAIGHT STREET

3 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,825,000

100 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$1,695,000

110 THIRD AVENUE

2 BR, 2 BATH

$8,500

7 EAST 14TH STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$3,995

75.5 BEDFORD STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$3,750,000

182 MULBERRY STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,650,000

17 BLEECKER STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$8,000

365 BRIDGE STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,900

554 BROOME STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,750,000

529 WEST 42ND STREET

3 BR, 2 BATH

$1,599,000

79 WORTH STREET

0 BR, 1 BATH

$8,000

222 EAST 24TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,895

235 EAST 73RD STREET

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$3,650,000

56 THOMAS STREET

1 BR, 2 BATH

$1,595,000

175 EAST BROADWAY

1 BR, 2 BATH

$8,000

75 WALL STREET

1 BR, 1 BATH

$3,850

311 WEST BROADWAY

2 BR, 2 BATH

$3,500,000

150 WEST 79TH STREET

2 BR, 2 BATH

$1,525,000

100 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA

2 BR, 2.5 BATH

$7,950

560 HUDSON STREET

2 BR, 1 BATH

$3,850

(212) 269-8888

(212) 604-0300

(212) 633-1000

(212) 584-6100

(212) 929-1400

(212) 242-9900

RETAIL FIRMS

Who reigns in retail?

An exclusive TRD analysis pinpoints Manhattan’s top brokerages — and those who are dominating the most active leasing corridors

W BY ADAM PINCUS

hile Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue and Times Square still hold the mantle for the city’s most expensive retail rents, brokers are headed downtown because that’s where the deals are. Indeed, the ever-popular Soho saw more retail leasing activity in the last year than any other neighborhood in Manhattan — by a long shot, according to an analysis by The Real Deal. Some of that activity has been fueled by ultra-luxury retailers, such as Tiffany & Co., French fashion house Chloé and designer Stella McCartney — all of which signed high-profile deals there in the last year. “[Retailers] recognize that these are very different trading areas, and that they can duplicate their [flagships] and still do well in each one,” said Joanne Podell, executive vice president at Cushman & Wakefield. “You don’t come to New York and open a store and figure you will get all your customers on just Fifth Avenue or Broadway.” Retail brokers say the move by luxury retailers to expand can be largely attributed to the boom in tourism that brought a record 50 million visitors to New York City last year. To look more closely at the state of the Manhattan retail landscape, The Real Deal conducted an exclusive analysis of more than 900 new and renewal leases signed over the 12-month period ending on March 31 on properties south of 96th Street. This survey builds on the first-ever ranking we published last year. At that time, we relied on firms to supply their total deal volume. This year we used data from the CoStar Group, TRD’s own database and deals provided by each firm. The survey — which covered more than 3 million square feet of activity of brokered deals — ranked each firm by the amount of square feet of deals they transacted. In addition, it looked at which firms were busiest over the past year in the city’s most-active retail areas — on Madison Avenue, in Soho and on the Lower East Side. The ranking found that the top five Manhattan firms overall were Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, Robert K. Futterman & Associates, Cushman & Wakefield, Winick Realty Group and the CBRE Group. (Some firms, including CBRE, Cushman and Ripco Real Estate, did not participate. In those cases, we relied on CoStar, our own database of deals and industry sources.) In addition to hot areas, the ranking also revealed other areas where activity

60 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Christopher Owles, a principal at Sinvin Real Estate, which did more Soho deals in the past year than any other ﬁrm.

Top Manhattan retail brokerages for past year RANK FIRM

TOTAL DEALS

TOTAL SF

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank

145

560,017

Robert K. Futterman & Assoc. 144

511,183

Cushman & Wakeﬁeld

498,446

Winick Realty Group

126

493,827

CBRE Group

303,888

Sinvin Real Estate

146,941

SCG Retail/Northwest Atlantic 46

130,750

Ripco Real Estate

129,603

Prudential Douglas Elliman

123,282

SRS Real Estate Partners

100,918

Steven Kamali Hospitality

97,950

Colliers International

96,328

NY Commercial Realty Services 58

94,729

PBS Real Estate

78,510

Zelnik & Company

64,398

Isaacs and Company

64,128

Lansco

61,481

Lee & Associates

54,539

JDF Realty

45,426

Thor High Street

43,200

Source note: The Real Deal conducted an exclusive analysis of new and renewal leases signed over the 12-month period ending on March 31, 2012, on properties in Manhattan south of 96th Street. The analysis used data from the CoStar Group, TRD’s own database and transactions provided by each ﬁrm, totaling more than 900 deals. It looked only at deals that were brokered. Some ﬁrms, including CBRE, Cushman and Ripco Real Estate, did not participate.

Cushman & Wakeﬁeld’s Joanne Podell, who pointed to a trend of Madison and Fifth Avenue retailers opening in Soho

PHOTOGRAPH OF OWLES FOR THE REAL DEAL BY CHRIS MARTIN; PHOTOGRAPH OF PODELL BY MAX DWORKIN www.TheRealDeal.com January 2011 25

RETAIL FIRMS was remarkably slow. For example, on one 21-block stretch of Second Avenue south of 45th Street, there was just one brokered lease during the entire yearlong period. Manhattan’s retail market is notoriously difﬁcult to rank because of the lack of transparency — far fewer deals are re-

ported to CoStar compared with ofﬁce leasing deals or investment sales. Yet, the retail marketplace has become an ever-more attractive and important source of revenue for brokerages that have been trying to diversify their income base since the recession. TRD estimated that

over the past year, these nearly 900 deals generated potential commissions between $100 and $130 million. And some brokers say the continued dark economic climate in Europe could even be good for Manhattan leasing. “I expect the next 12 months to be very

Top three brokerages in Soho in past year BROKERAGE

NO. OF DEALS

SQUARE FEET

Robert K. Futterman

58,496

Sinvin Real Estate

40,426

Cushman & Wakeﬁeld

37,047

Total deals in Soho

201,673

Source note: The data is for the area bounded by Houston, Canal, Lafayette and Sullivan streets. It includes the 47 deals brokered by all ﬁrms, not just those included on the chart. Data is for the period between April 1, 2011, and March 31, 2012. See main chart for additional source information.

Top three brokerages on Upper Madison Ave. in past year BROKERAGE

NO. OF DEALS

SQUARE FEET

Cushman & Wakeﬁeld

18,778

Prudential Douglas Elliman

16,560

Isaacs and Company

13,617

Total deals on Upper Madison 20

48,064

HOT OR NOT?

Jeffrey Winick, whose ﬁrm ranked fourth in Manhattan, boosted by its representation of drugstore Duane Reade.

Source note: The data is for Madison Avenue between 57th and 72nd streets. It includes the 20 deals by all ﬁrms, not just those included on the chart. Data is for period between April 1, 2011, and March 31, 2012. See main chart for additional source information.

Top three brokerages on Lower East Side in past year BROKERAGE

NO. OF DEALS

SQUARE FEET

Misrahi Realty

24,083

CBRE Group

5,465

New York Commercial Realty 2

2,400

Total deals on LES

38,176

Source note: The data is for the nine-block area bounded by Houston, Delancey, Essex and Allen streets. It includes the 25 deals brokered by all ﬁrms, not just those included on the chart. Data is for period between April 1, 2011, and March 31, 2012. See main chart for additional source information.

Robert K. Futterman, whose ﬁrm ranked second overall with a signiﬁcant presence in Soho

PHOTOGRAPH OF FUTTERMAN FOR THE REAL DEAL BY MICHAEL TOOLAN; PHOTOGRAPH OF WINICK BY MAX DWORKIN

strong for retail in New York City,” said RKF owner Robert Futterman. “Tenants will continue to expand, and notably, foreign brands will continue looking to Manhattan as a retail haven where they can open stores that will add to companies’ sales projections in light of Europe’s unstable economy.” Meanwhile, as TRD has reported, there are new retail players entering the Manhattan marketplace. Massey Knakal Realty Services and Studley both started New York retail divisions for the first time last year. In addition, just last month Jones Lang LaSalle, a global commercial firm with virtually no retail presence locally, poached a four-person team from Newmark Knight Frank (now Newmark Grubb Knight Frank), one of the city’s top firms. That’s on the heels of the November departure by another top Newmark retail broker, Amira Yunis, to CBRE.

Elliman’s Faith Hope Consolo, who did more deals than any other ﬁrm on Upper Madison Avenue.

The heart of Soho had a greater concentration of deals than any other area of Manhattan. There were 47 deals signed in the area between Lafayette and Sullivan streets, which has about 700 retail spaces, TRD’s survey found. And new tenants unable to ﬁnd space in the traditionally more-active storefronts closer to Houston Street have been inking deals south of Broome Street, said Christopher Owles, principal with Sinvin Real Estate. That desire to get a toehold in Soho, which sees heavy trafﬁc from U.S. and international tourists, has expanded the prime Soho retail zone onto previously sleepy streets. “That is what happens in a tight market — it effects great change at a rapid pace,” Owles said. The new activity has pushed up asking rents to about $300 per square foot from about $200 per foot, seen only two years ago on one stretch of Greene Street south of Broome, he said. Meanwhile, on the Lower East Side, tenants including vegan beauty store Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics have poured into spaces on Orchard and Ludlow streets, between East Houston and Delancey streets. There were 25 new and renewal deals signed in a nine-block portion of the district, with reported asking rents between $100 and $150 per foot. About two years ago, that range would have been $60 to $80 per foot, said Sion Misrahi, CEO of Misrahi Realty, which is based on the Lower East Side. But just as there were bursts of activity in Soho and the Lower East Side, there were also retail dead zones. The longest such stretch was on Second Avenue from Kips Bay to Turtle Bay, a strip that saw just one reported deal, a Staples represented by SCG Retail (formerly Northwest Atlantic Real Estate Services) at 570 Second Avenue. The area of drought extended from 413 Second Ave-

www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 61

RETAIL FIRMS nue at 24th Street — where Newmark represented Falafel Kitchen in a 700-squarefoot deal last July — to 825 Second Avenue, at 45th Street, where Winick represented Perfect Brows, which took 350 square feet in September. Surprisingly, Midtown West — including the Times Square “bow tie” — had some sleepy retail stretches, too. On Seventh Avenue from 38th to 55th streets, there were no transactions reported during the yearlong period. That was even as tenants inked a cluster of deals just to the west of Times Square, where Futterman represented the landlord at 229 West 43rd Street in a deal with the Heartland Group restaurant company, which took 15,670 square feet. But there were no deals at all in the heart of the neighborhood on Broadway. “I think there was a lull in terms of showcase tenants,” Futterman said. Over the past few years, American Eagle, Aéropostale and others inked marquee deals. “That’s kind of died down, but I think it will heat up again.” And in Lower Manhattan, tenants held off as well — perhaps as they waited for the 2015 completion of the 365,000square-foot retail development at the World Trade Center complex, and the 200,000 square feet of rehabilitated space at the World Financial Center, set for delivery in late 2013. Only 13 tenants — including Pret A Manger and Morton’s Steakhouse — signed deals south of Chambers Street and west of Broadway during the survey’s time frame. That was in an area almost twice as large as central Soho, which saw three times as many deals signed. Even on the city’s priciest stretch, from 49th to 59th streets on Fifth Avenue, only four tenants signed brokered leases, although one was for $2,700 per square foot — a Manhattan record. That was cosmetics retailer M.A.C, represented by Futterman, which signed for the former Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door Spa ground-ﬂoor space at 689 Fifth Avenue.

DOMINANT BROKERAGES While a number of firms divvied up the deals in Soho, one brokerage dominated on the Lower East Side. Interestingly, the firm, Misrahi, isn’t a giant firm at the top of the overall retail ranking. Indeed, the 18-year-old boutique firm, with just a handful of retail professionals, brokered 17 of the more than two dozen deals in the nine-block Lower East Side area. Misrahi — the founder of the Lower East Side Business Improvement District — entered real estate after operating a multistore clothing business. He said the strong leasing activity on Orchard and Ludlow streets was partly due to buildings changing hands and new hotels opening up. “Stronger tenants are coming in [as a

62 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Dissecting Manhattan’s retail deals A snapshot of the top ﬁrms and their deals over the past year Source note: See main chart on page 60.

result],” he said. Meanwhile, Owles said Sinvin, which is located in West Soho, was helped by its three-decade presence in that area. His firm was on 14 deals in Soho, among the 61 it did in Manhattan last year. He noted that the firm represented the landlord of 97 Greene Street, which landed Tiffany as a tenant, and re-signed tenants like Japanese clothing retailer A Bathing Ape, known as Bape, at 91 Greene Street. “When tenants are looking for deals down here, we tend to know before others,” he said, in part because the firm represents so many area landlords. But he added, “We’ve never had a lock on the market. There is certainly competition.” Manhattanwide, the most active firm, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Retail, brokered 145 deals, totaling 560,017 square feet on both the landlord and tenant sides. The firm nabbed the top spot partly because it has strong landlord and tenant representation. Second-place finisher Futterman completed 144 deals amounting to 511,183 square feet, while Cushman brokered 73 deals totaling 498,446 square feet. A spokesman for the firm, which declined to provide its deals, said the company “doesn’t participate in stories [even mentioning] broker commissions.” Winick had 126 deals, totaling 493,827

CBRE Group Cushman & Wakeﬁeld Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Robert K. Futterman & Assoc. Winick Realty Group Other

square feet. The firm got a big boost from Duane Reade, which signed 242,202 square feet worth of new and renewal deals. Rounding out the top five was CBRE, which TRD was able to tally on 63 deals, totaling 303,888 square feet. However, its numbers are likely undercounted because there was no clear way to gauge its deals without its participation. Several of the city’s large firms concentrate — or, in some cases, avoid — certain neighborhoods. For example, Cushman focuses on a region near its headquarters

in midtown — from Third to Seventh avenues and from 42nd to 60th streets. Approximately 26 of its 73 recorded deals were in that area, including the 66,000-squarefoot renewal representing toy store FAO Schwarz, at 767 Fifth Avenue, the largest retail deal of the last 12 months. Meanwhile, some ﬁrms focused on a sector of retail rather than a geographic area. James Famularo, senior executive managing director at Soho-based New York Commercial Realty Services, concentrated on food and beverage. Brokers at New

www.TheRealDeal.com May 2011 63

RETAIL FIRMS York Commercial completed 58 deals with a total of 94,729 square feet. “I kind of carve out a niche and focus on the restaurant spaces and anything to do with food and beverage.” Because of city and state laws, he said, doing deals for bars and cafés is “very complex.”

DOMINANT RETAILERS

Hakkasan opened last month at 311 West 43rd Street. Newmark represented the landlord.

Susan Kurland, executive vice president at CBRE, which brokered a Key Food lease at 55 Fulton Street

Sion Misrahi, whose ﬁrm, Misrahi Realty, did more deals than any other ﬁrm in the heart of the Lower East Side

Duane Reade — which has dominated the retail pharmacy sector in Manhattan since it began to expand rapidly in the late 1990s — has not let up. The drugstore chain — now owned by former rival Walgreens, but still represented by Winick — signed 25 deals for a total of 242,202 square feet in Manhattan south of 96th Street over the past year. That’s almost twice the activity of the next mostactive store, Potbelly’s. Jeffrey Roseman’s team at Newmark represented the fastfood sandwich shop, which signed 13 deals for 41,266 square feet. Roseman, an executive vice president at Newmark, said finding a good location for a tenant often requires keeping an eye out for underperforming retailers. “If you look at trends, you see four or ﬁve [chains] expand rapidly, whether coffee or ice cream, and generally there is a shake out,” he said. “Those that do not survive become opportunities.” Other active chains included cosmetics retailer L’Occitane, represented by Joe Sitt’s retail brokerage Thor High Street, which signed three leases; convenience store 7-Eleven, represented by Futterman, which signed at least four leases; and TD Bank, represented by Cushman, which signed at least four leases.

LUXURY LEADERS

Peter Ripka, a principal at Ripco Real Estate

Newmark’s Jeffrey Roseman, who repped Potbelly sandwich shop, which signed 13 Manhattan deals

Steven Kamali, whose ﬁrm did 18 deals, including restaurant Jack’s Wife Freda at 224 Lafayette Street

Designer clothing company Ted Baker is opening at 595 Fifth Avenue. Cushman & Wakeﬁeld represented the landlord in the deal.

PHOTOGRAPH OF RIPKA FOR THE REAL DEAL BY MICHAEL TOOLAN; PHOTOGRAPHS OF ROSEMAN AND KAMALI BY MAX DWORKIN

While Upper Fifth Avenue saw only four deals signed (among its roughly 60 storefronts) during the yearlong period, Madison Avenue was a different story. Activity there was much stronger with 20 deals signed between 57th and 72nd streets. Prudential Douglas Elliman was the most active broker there, involved in 10 of those deals, including representing the landlord and tenant at 667 Madison Avenue. Clothing brand Paul & Shark took 3,100 square feet at the building. The rent reﬂected a return to a high watermark for the strip, at $1,217 per square foot. Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing, marketing and sales at Elliman, said pricing has been ﬂuctuating wildly on that stretch, from the peak of the market at $1,200 per foot to a low of $600 per foot, and back again. For her, and many other retail brokers, the Manhattan market is looking bright — despite looming credit troubles overseas. “Europe should be much more stable this year,” Consolo said. “A recovering Europe — though very, very slowly — will be good for the U.S. as people continue to travel.” TRD

www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 63

Using their powers for good?

Industry casts increasingly skeptical eye to brokers on co-op and condo boards

BY KATHERINE CLARKE n late 2009, the owners of 15 apartments at the Atelier in midtown filed suit against members of the condo board, including its president, Daniel Neiditch. They claimed that Neiditch, head of the brokerage River 2 River Realty, was using his influence to gain a monopoly on real estate deals there. Neiditch had been directing all leasing and sales inquiries in the 42nd Street building to his company, they claimed in court documents, treating it as “his own fiefdom.” Owners who listed their apartments with an outside broker, the suit claimed, would never make a sale. “Leasing and sales activity ... has been dominated by River 2 River and Neiditch, who effectively controls, as a result of Neiditch’s position as president of the board, the vast majority of units in the condominium,” the complaint alleged. Neiditch, who currently has 32 of the 38 active sales listings at the Atelier, according to StreetEasy, declined to comment on the accusations. The case was eventually dropped, on the basis that individual owners in a condominium can’t assert claims for damages against the common interests or finances of the building. But the suit highlights the ethical issues that confront real estate brokers serving on the boards of their co-ops and condos. There is no law prohibiting real estate professionals from serving on their building’s boards, and some of the city’s most prominent agents are currently members of co-op and condo boards. In fact, many 64 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

in the industry say real estate brokers bring invaluable expertise to the management of their buildings. Still, the question of possible conflicts of interest has become increasingly visible recently, due in part to a late March e-mail blast from Neil Garfinkel, residential counsel to the Real Estate Board of New York. In his e-mail, which was sent to every residential member of REBNY, Garfinkel strongly criticized the practice of brokers serving on boards. “I do not believe that a co-op board member (whether the president or not) should serve on a co-op board and act as a real estate broker in real estate transactions in the co-op building,” he wrote. Despite good intentions, Garfinkel continued, it’s not always possible for brokers to properly balance competing obligations to their clients and to the board. In one recent instance, he said, a REBNY broker was serving on her co-op board, which was considering a major capital improvement program. As a broker, she felt she had an obligation to disclose the existence of the project to a prospective purchaser, since it would impact the value of the property. But the board president had forbidden her to disclose the capital improvement project to anyone. The situation put her in “an untenable position,” Garfinkel wrote. “She has a duty of confidentiality to her co-op board that directly conflicts with her duty of disclosure to the prospective purchaser.” Still, a broker could serve a lifetime on a board without encountering a conflict like this one, Garfinkel told The Real Deal, and

would likely not be able to foresee such a conﬂict until it’s too late. But in recent years, some buildings — often after encountering situations like these — have instituted policies prohibiting brokers form serving on their boards. In 2009, an Upper East Side building removed a real estate broker from the coop board and amended its bylaws to pro-

board member at 31 Jane Street. Whether it’s warranted or not, he said, “shareholders can have a negative connotation with brokers being on boards,” suspecting that agents will “use the building as a personal piggy bank.” As a result of perceptions like these, some brokers, like Elaine Mayers of Citi Habitats, have purposefully opted out of

“I think I could be totally impartial. But I don’t want any appearance of impropriety. Even if I recuse myself on certain issues, someone might think the board viewed my deals more favorably because I was a member.” ELAINE MAYERS, CITI HABITATS hibit other brokers from serving, said Aaron Shmulewitz, a partner at the law ﬁrm of Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman, who currently represents the board. The move stemmed from what the board felt were the brokers’ efforts to “take advantage of his position and beneﬁt monetarily,” Shmulewitz said. A few isolated incidents like these have sullied the perception of brokers who serve on co-op and condo boards, said Core broker Tony Sargent, a former

serving on their boards to avoid potential conﬂicts of interest. “I think I could be totally impartial,” said Mayers, who resigned from her coop board at 205 Third Avenue when she started working in real estate seven years ago. “But I don’t want any appearance of impropriety. Even if I recuse myself on certain issues, someone might think the board viewed my deals more favorably because I was a member.” Continued on page 94 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DEREK ZAHEDI www.TheRealDeal.com March 2012 00

THE BEEKMAN REGENT AT 351 EAST 51ST STREET

ONE OF NYC’S FINEST CONDOMINIUM RENTAL HOMES

BUILDING AMENITIES

60 Residences • 4 Elevators • 24-Hour White-Glove Doorman • Top-of-the-Line Finishes • Concierge • Fitness Center Valet Parking • On-Site Garage • No Board Approval

PENTHOUSE 3B | $22,950 PER MONTH | Prewar elegance meets 21st-century living in this spectacular three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath residence. With four balconies comprising 267 sf, the outdoor space is as alluring as the home’s interior. The grand, spacious unit features soaring 11-ft ceilings, mahogany wood floors, and stunning details, including base and crown moldings, recessed lighting, and solid core raised-panel doors throughout. Grand, floor-to-ceiling windows display magnificent City and River views, and the granite kitchen offers top-of-the-line appliances. Beautiful marble baths feature jet-stream soaking tubs, while the 24-karat gold brushed hardware lends a sense of luxury to the space. There are custom closets throughout the unit, as well as a washer/dryer. Web# 1422176.

PENTHOUSE 8 | $39,900 PER MONTH | This sprawling duplex penthouse comprises an incredible 4,500 sf interior, with four beautiful bedrooms and five marble and wood-paneled baths. A grand 1,470 sf terrace delivers sweeping City and River views, while abundant, oversized windows facing north, south, east, and west drench the space in sunlight. The formal dining room encourages elegant dining and memorable entertaining, while the library, media/family room, and maid’s room/office facilitate comfortable, luxurious living. Details include direct elevator access, fi ve wood burning fireplaces with custom imported mantels, and custom herringbone wood floors. The secluded master bedroom with wood burning fireplace and separate study occupies the second floor. Web# 1436192.

BETTINA SCHRIVER

646.339.3866 | bschriver@elliman.com

ANDRE ROUACH, SVP

917.216.8849 | arouach@elliman.com

A TALENT FOR GETTING DEALS DONE. BETTINA SCHRIVER AND ANDRE ROUACH KNOW NEW YORK CITY. ASKELLIMAN.COM ©2012. Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities. An independently owned and operated broker member of Prudential Real Estate Af filiates, Inc., a Prudential Financial company. Prudential, the Prudential logo and the Rock symbol are ser vice marks of Prudential Financial, Inc. All material presented herein is intended for information purposes only. While, this information is believed to be correct, it is represented subject to errors, omissions, and its related entities, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Used under license. Equal Housing Oppor tunit y. changes or withdrawal without notice. All proper t y information, including, but not limited to square footage, room count, number of bedrooms and the school district in proper t y listings are deemed reliable, but should be verified by your own at torney, architect or zoning exper t.

PDE The Real Deal April Schriver-rev14.indd 1

3/30/12 3:15 PM

Investor wins right to buy $112M stake in Ring portfolio: sources

Arbitrator sides with Princeton Holdings and Bluestone Group BY ADAM PINCUS eal estate investor Joseph Tabak won a victory last month that gives him the right to buy a $112.5 million stake in the infamous Ring family portfolio. Brothers Michael and Frank Ring have owned a 14-building portfolio in Manhattan for nearly 30 years. The largely vacant properties, including ofﬁce buildings such as 251 Park Avenue South and 212 Fifth Avenue, are concentrated in the nation’s tightest commercial ofﬁce market: Midtown South. Frank and Michael each own 50 percent in 13 of the buildings (and each own 25 percent of the 14th) in a structure known as tenant in common. But the brothers haven’t been able to agree on how to manage the properties, sources said, so vacancy rates have risen. Recently, when the portfolio was threatening to become cash-negative, Michael Ring reached out to Tabak’s

212 Fifth Avenue

quire a 56.25 percent interest in Michael’s interest in the properties. Princeton and Bluestone need to come up with $65 million in cash to fund their portion, one source said. The balance will be funded by Michael Ring. Once the joint venture is ﬁnal-

251 Park Avenue South

Brothers Michael and Frank Ring have owned a 14-building portfolio in Manhattan for nearly 30 years. ... But they haven’t been able to agree on how to manage the properties, sources said, so vacancy rates have risen. Frank Ring

Princeton Holdings and partner the Bluestone Group. In February 2011, the parties signed an agreement allowing Princeton and Bluestone to buy into Ring’s 50 percent interest in the properties. But Princeton Holdings began dueling with Michael Ring shortly after the agreement because Ring wanted to back out of the deal, according to court records. Last month, a professional arbitrator issued a decision forcing Michael Ring to sell his stake to Princeton and Bluestone. A source familiar with the arbitration said the two sides need to negotiate the joint venture and will meet again with the arbitrator this month. The complex deal structures the $112.5 million as a loan to ac-

ized, Princeton, as the managing partner of the new company, will begin filing lawsuits to get a court-ordered sale of each of the 14 properties, and then take control of them at auction by buying out Frank Ring’s portion, court records show. Extell Development’s Gary Barnett used a similar strategy — suing to force out a tenantin-common owner — to gain full control of 20 West 47th Street in the Diamond District from the Ring brothers last year. Extell is now looking to the courts to wrest control of 251 Park Avenue South through a lawsuit filed last month. Extell owns half of the 120,000square-foot office building, while the other half is owned by the Rings. TRD

Become a fan of The Real Deal on Facebook: www.facebook.com / TheRealDealMagazine 66 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

PHOTOGRAPH OF RING FOR THE REAL DEAL BY DEREK ZAHEDI Mar-

cPH

f fASH ioN, fuNCtioN ANd fENG SHui

LuxuRy CoNdomiNiumS In the heart of Downtown flushIng, Queens Sky View Parc builds on a lifestyle concept popular among the world’s most cosmopolitan cities. Soaring above a 800,000 sqft shopping

immEdiAtE oCCuPANCy Studio StARtiNG At $395,000 1 BR / 1BR + dEN fRom $490,000 2 BR fRom $635,000 3 BR fRom $825,000 offERiNG 4-6% CommiSSioNS

center, our elegantly appointed apartments include 9’ ceilings, marble kitchen & baths, individual dryer / washer and soundproof windows. 24 hour staffed lobby & concierge 4-acre rooftop garden 8,000 sqft state-of-the-art health-club basketball and tennis courts children’s playground putting green dog run entertainment lounge. 15 yEAR 421A tAx ABAtEmENt

Founded in 1984, ONEX is one of North America’s oldest and most successful private equity firms. 238,000 employees * 320 acquisitions * 29% IRR The complete offering terms are in an Offering Plan available from: Sponsor. File No. CD06-0697 (Tower 3) and File No. CD07-0640 (Tower 1 and Tower 2)

SVP-REALDEAL_2012-03-WK5-10.5x14.5_AD_v6.indd 1

fAvoRABLE fiNANCiNG AvAiLABLE

Sales and Design Center

22 mins to times Square

17 minutes to Penn Station.

3/30/2012 4:22:10 PM

ARCHITECTURE REVIEW

JA M E S G A R D N E R

The Village Vanguard

It’s time to move forward with NYU’s scaled-back superblock proposal

t seems to be part of the very destiny of New York institutions, at least in recent years, to wish to expand, as though in obedience to the injunction of the poet Goethe that “you must rise or sink.” Standing still, in New York, is no longer an option. And so, just as our museums are expanding, Columbia University yearns to double its campus in Harlem, while New York University, with the 2010 announcement of its bold initiative NYU 2031, wants to increase the amount of real estate it occupies by about 2 million square feet. As natural as NYU’s desire to expand, however, is the scandalized response to the proposal from West Village residents. A famously querulous bunch, the Villagers immediately organized protests arguing that such an expansion would ruin the character of the West Village. And, last month, NYU, which needs the space to meet both academic and housing needs, ﬁnally agreed to scale back its plan. A proposed deal — which both Mayor Bloomberg and Borough President Scott Stringer are backing — has the school decreasing its original 2.3 million-squarefoot proposal by 370,000 square feet. Still, the move is unlikely to gratify the project’s many opponents. The proposed developments are on sites already covered by two superblocks — both between Mercer Street and LaGuardia Place. The northern parcel, the Washington Square Village block, is between Third and Bleecker streets. The second, southern site, which extends from Bleecker to West Houston streets, takes its name from the distinctive I.M. Pei & Associates buildings there, and goes by the name of Silver Towers. The northern part of the expansion, which consists of two boldly curving academic buildings 14 and eight stories high and nestled between the two slabs of Washington Square Village, will be reduced in size by 85,000 square feet. Meanwhile, a proposed 14-story building on the southern block is now planned as a seven-story, city-operated public school. Also on the southern site, a zippershaped dormitory and academic structure — which will be built on the site of the Coles Sports and Recreation Center — is to be set further back from Mercer Street, thus providing more light. The plan still needs approval from the City Planning Commission and the full City Council. 68 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Allow me to say that I have not the slightest sympathy for the Villagers. The entire ambition of NYU 2031 (that year being coincident with the institution’s 200th anniversary) is to develop properties already owned by the university. And as for ruining the West Village, it may be of some comfort to the locals to know that the Village was ruined about half a century ago, by my computation. And the event that ruined the Village

NYU President John Sexton

was precisely the construction of the two misbegotten sites that the locals — though they fervidly, and quite correctly, opposed them at the time — now wish just as fervently to preserve. The communitarian ideals beloved by urban theorist Jane Jacobs, which had existed before that time, were bulldozed to oblivion by those developments, and the signature low-rise appeal of the Village largely disappeared with them. Both of these superblocks are monuments to a style of urban planning that has long since gone out of fashion. They recall the golden age — but not in any honoriﬁc sense — of large-scale, top-down, human engineering. “Urban blight” (as it was then conceived by the likes of Robert Moses) had to be rubbed out of the cityscape, so streets were erased, and whole communities displaced, in order to raise truculently Modernist utopias.

True, it would be all too easy to find far more extreme examples of this sort of thing than these two sites. Especially the Silver Towers development, which was conceived as housing for the NYU faculty, yet was designed by Pei’s firm in the same distinguished style the firm later used in their Kips Bay Towers development. Together, in fact, the three buildings that make up the Silver Towers complex constitute one of the best examples of Modernist architecture in the city, in

conceived, they were not entirely bad as far as superblocks go: In addition to the fact that the buildings are elegant, and mostly well-made, the landscaping that originally filled the spaces between the buildings was well-intentioned. However, chicken-wire fences have risen around the perimeter of much of both of these blocks, which doubtless were intended to keep unwanted intruders out, but which, visually, look as though they were intended to keep inmates from escaping. Although the gardens of Washington Square Village were ably designed by Hideo Sasaki, much of their intended charm has been lost. As for Silver Towers, its exemplary highrises are marred by two of the ugliest one-story structures in the city, the vaguely flesh-tone Coles Sports and Recreation Center on its eastern flank and a Morton Williams supermarket on the northeast corner, housed in a thoroughly vulgar white-brick building. With last month’s scaleback, the architecture of the proposed NYU buildings — which is being designed by SMWM (now part of Perkins+Will) together with Toshiko Mori, Grimshaw Architects and Olin Partnership — is still very much in the planning stage and there is little point arguing about their aesthetics at this point. Yet I will A rendering of NYU’s roughly 2 million-square-foot expansay that the bold curving forms sion proposal, which was scaled back by about 370,000 square feet last month. of the two buildings planned for Washington Square Village terms not only of the towers themselves, would almost surely seem out of place, but also of the interaction between them given the rectilinearity of the rest of the and the generous space that surrounds development. them. Let it be said, though, that howevEven the two hulking monolithic er well-intentioned and airy these two slabs that confront one another to form superblocks were supposed to be back Washington Square Village, designed by in 1960, they now constitute a waste of Paul Lester Wiener, are better-looking, space that Manhattan no longer has the as buildings, than most other Modernist luxury of supporting. residential slabs in the borough, and that Perhaps most importantly, though, includes Gordon Bunshaft’s fabled Man- today’s architects can no longer be called hattan House on East 65th Street. Modernists. They have learned the lesThe problem, then, with the buildings sons of Modernism and can implement that now occupy these sites is not so much them with greater skill and taste than their aesthetics as the overall concept of most of the original Modernists did. the superblock. The greatest problem Their forms tend to be cleaner and more confronting the sites is not what NYU, inviting than in the past, and the buildheaded by John Sexton, has in store for ings are, on the whole, more comfortable them now, but rather what’s happened and commodious. For this reason, whatever happens to to them in the half-century since their completion. the two superblocks (as long as something As I’ve noted, when Washington happens) will be a vast improvement over Square Village and Silver Towers were what we see there today. TRD

Experience that counts Choose Brian Scott Cohen of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage as your local mortgage consultant and benefit from: · The extensive experience a top producing mortgage consultant can provide · Our PriorityBuyer® preapproval helps your bid stand out to home sellers and listing agents · Exceptional customer service every step of the way from planning, to closing, and even as you own

Call Brian today. Brian Scott Cohen Sales Manager 457 Atlantic Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11217 718-780-9132 646-584-8009 brian.cohen@wellsfargo.com www.brianscottcohen.com NMLSR ID 410025

Information is accurate as of date of printing and is subject to change without notice. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. © 2011 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. NMLSR ID 399801. AS938193 1/12-4/12

Q&A

Manhattan’s northern limit Washington Heights and Inwood ﬁnally see residential activity surge after longer-than-average market lull

BY MELISSA DEHNCKE-MCGILL n the last few years, the part of Northern Manhattan that’s received the most press ink has, of course, been Harlem. But there’s an entire residential market farther north in Washington Heights and Inwood that often gets overlooked by the New York real estate community. This month, The Real Deal talked to brokers and market analysts who follow what’s going on in the two adjacent neighborhoods. What we found is that the area has seen a recent surge in sales activity, some of which is a result of the major drop it saw after the crash, which lasted longer than it did in some other Manhattan neighborhoods. In addition, prices there are also starting to creep up because inventory has started to tighten. One broker source we talked to said she’s seen more buyers coming uptown after getting priced out of neighborhoods like the Upper West Side, which had experienced several years of more affordable prices during the slowdown. “One of the reasons things sat on the market for so long in the last two years was

Francisco Menendez vice president, Barak Realty What are you seeing when it comes to residential sales volume in Washington Heights/Inwood these days, and how does that compare to a year ago, two years ago and during the boom? The market is deﬁnitely way more active than it was in the past couple of years. However, with higher demand there is less inventory, especially for larger apartments. Right now it’s mostly people that really need to sell who are on the market.

ers’ concessions such as splitting purchase application fees and including sellers’ furniture in the sale price.

Sandy Edry

broker, Keller Williams How are prices in the area holding up these days? We are not anywhere near boom pricing, but we are deﬁnitely creeping up. I just had a unit go into contract last week that was an all-cash deal that came in $35,000 higher than the same line one ﬂight below two years ago.

TRD reported last month that prices were down in 2011 in the area compared to the last few years. What’s going on with residential prices so far in 2012? As everywhere else in the city, prices were down for the past few years in Upper Manhattan. But in 2012 here in [Washington Heights], there’s been a slight increase in prices due to the lower inventory.

Which price ranges and unit types are performing best right now in the area? I’m seeing much more strength in the larger apartments — two-bedrooms and up. The sweet spot of the market had been $400,000 to $550,000, generally in the two-bedroom range. The one-bedrooms are doing ﬁne, but they are not necessarily as attractive as they were a year ago.

Which price ranges and unit types are performing best right now in the area? People come uptown searching for larger spaces and room to grow, therefore twoand three-bedrooms are always in demand, with co-ops dominating the market starting in the mid-$400s and up.

How is the new development market doing compared to the rest of the residential market? Are developers becoming more interested in the area? The interest is slowly rekindling. I am deﬁnitely getting calls from developers who are starting to look at new projects in more outlying areas like Washington Heights. ... [But] there is always a lag between when they start looking and when we actually start to see something happen.

Which price ranges and property types are struggling the most? One-bedrooms in the mid-$200,000s are staying in the market for longer periods of time. What kinds of discounts or negotiations are being seen these days in the area? We are seeing more buyers asking for sell70 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Which parts of the area are doing best and which are struggling most? Lower Washington Heights, the Audubon Park area has deﬁnitely been doing well and, I believe, outpacing other parts of north-

because buyers could get a one-bedroom for [as low as] $400,000 on the Upper West Side,” she said. Today, the bulk of the Washington Heights/Inwood buyers are looking for larger apartments, where they can get more space for their money. As a result, smaller apartments are struggling, much like they are in other New York City neighborhoods. Brokers also say they are seeing an uptick in all-cash deals, which may be spurred by the fact that prices are lower and therefore the amount of cash a buyer needs for a down payment is less than what it would be elsewhere. Still, most report that the biggest challenge to selling in the area is convincing downtown buyers to cross over not just 96th or 125th Streets, but 155th Street. And that’s even with retail improvements like all of the new restaurants and cafés on Broadway in the 190s and on Dyckman Street. For more on how long properties are staying on the market, what’s happening with new development and which areas within Washington Heights and Inwood are doing best and worst, we turn to our panel of experts. ern Manhattan. Part of that is there is less inventory to absorb. In Hudson Heights, at the bottom of the market, there was a glut of one-bedrooms on the market and it has taken a while to get those absorbed.

clients that commercial tends to lag behind residential. Usually it’s a two-to-three-year cycle ... but we are now starting to see the 99 cent stores shut down and [new] businesses open up in their stead.

What are the most surprising trends you’re seeing in the area right now? The increased number of all-cash offers has surprised me. I didn’t know that people had that much free cash anymore. Maybe a quarter of the offers I have gotten recently have been all cash. Part of that is because our price points are lower than other parts of Manhattan, so people are selling downtown and moving uptown because they want a better bang for their buck.

Jennifer Pasbjerg

What are the biggest challenges to selling residential property in Washington Heights? It’s always a challenge to get the average Manhattanite to come uptown. There are plenty of people who have never been above 96th or 110th Street and can’t imagine that an entire world exists up here. A new green market just opened in Inwood. Are there other new retail stores or restaurants in the area that are helping to bring in more residential buyers?

salesperson, Halstead Property I know you live and work in Washington Heights. What’s going on generally with the market in the area these days? A year ago, there were hundreds of one-bedroom apartments on the market in both Washington Heights and Inwood. It was very hard to move them without extreme discounting. Now there are fewer on the market, qualiﬁed buyers are here looking and things are picking up. Which property types are struggling the most now? It seems like the new construction condos on Bennett ... had trouble getting buyers. Many of those units have changed to rentals because the developers couldn’t get their prices and want to wait out the slow-

“The increased number of all-cash offers has surprised me. I didn’t know that people had that much free cash anymore.” SANDY EDRY, KELLER WILLIAMS It’s deﬁnitely going in the right direction. For example, at 157th and Broadway, a new Planet Fitness is moving in. That’s a big step for the neighborhood. Along Broadway in the 190s, a bunch of new restaurants and cafés and hip little places have opened up over the last year. Generally, I tell my

er market for a year or two. But it seems that they came on the market at the worst possible time up here. We lagged behind the rest of the city a bit. What’s going on with the broker landscape in Inwood/Washington Heights these days? www.TheRealDeal.com May 2006

Q&A We still have the small, local non-REBNY ﬁrms in both neighborhoods. [But] we, the bigger ﬁrms, are much more present than we were in the past.

Gus Perry

principal broker, owner, Stein-Perry Real Estate What’s going on with residential prices in the area? Certainly from the boom they are down. [In postLehman terms], last year was a fairly decent year. So far this year, I think there is certainly an uptick in pricing — not tremendous, but I would say somewhere between 3 and 5 percent. Which price ranges and property types are struggling the most? Studios in the $130,000-to-$175,000 range are probably the slowest moving because for that range some of the onebedroom apartments are at or right above the $200,000 mark. So the differential on a monthly mortgage payment is not huge and neither is the maintenance. There are some new development projects in this area, like 212 Bennett Avenue and 812 Riverside Drive. How is the new development market doing compared to the rest of the market? Unfortunately, [those two buildings] got caught up in the downturn and weren’t able to achieve the price points [for sales] they had projected. So in a lot of these projects, we have had to come in and rent some of the units. [But] there is absolutely interest in new development and I think there will be a lot of new development in the next ﬁve to 20 years in northern Manhattan. ... The Hudson 192 building was to be built as a condo, but midstream they were smart enough to switch gears and make it a rental with 86 units and it did phenomenally. [The developer] got higher-than-projected rents so that tells me that there is a need and there is room for that type of development for both rentals and condos. The rental market happened to be stronger for the last few years. Which parts of Inwood/Washington Heights are doing best and which are struggling most? Most of the co-ops are in Hudson Heights and therefore that neighborhood has always done well, and it’s only getting better. Inwood was slower to develop and gel. Right now it’s doing well. It might have to do with the prices being slightly lower than in Washington Heights. How long are properties staying on the market in Inwood/Washington Heights, and how does that compare to a year ago?

If the unit is priced right, it stays on the market, right now, somewhere between 60 and 90 days. If it is not priced right, then it usually lingers and can go beyond six months. Comparing it to a year ago when the average was probably 120 to 150 days, it’s gotten better. Are there new retail stores or restaurants that are helping to bring in more residential buyers to the area? For a very long time, the stretch of Broadway in Washington Heights, north of 183rd Street going into the 190s, was pretty much a dead zone for commercial activity. The restaurant APT78 opened up there. The guy that owns 181 Cabrini opened up a place on Broadway at 190th or 191st. It’s a bar/restaurant that has 50 beers on tap. [So that formerly dead area] is becoming the cool trendy place to hang out. On Dyckman Street west of Broadway, there’s Mamasushi and Mamajuana, there’s Corcho, which is a wine bar. There is a lot happening on that strip. ... Farther up in Inwood, the area north of 207th to 218th, that was also another dead area for commercial. Now there’s a lot of activity with restaurants, outdoor cafés and supermarkets.

Thomas Healy

vice president, Prudential Douglas Elliman Which price ranges and unit types are performing best and worst in the area? Two- and threebedrooms are doing the best in both Inwood and Washington Heights up to about $700,000. One-bedrooms [are struggling most]. Are developers becoming more interested in the area? It’s difﬁcult for developers. I don’t sense a big push for development in Washington Heights and Inwood. I don’t know if there is a lot of land for them, frankly. When they think uptown, developers are focused on Harlem. What kinds of discounts off asking prices are being seen these days in the area? We’re seeing pretty signiﬁcant discounts and negotiability. It’s not uncommon for us to see prices drop approximately 8 percent from their initial asking price with additional negotiation sometimes done to seal a deal. How long are properties staying on the market in Inwood/Washington Heights? On average, we’re seeing properties stay on the market for approximately six months. But there are a lot of properties that have been on the market for 258 or 360 days. They are just not priced to move. I think a better question is how long is a

very well priced property on the market? If it’s priced to move, it can be [sold] in under three months. What are the biggest challenges to selling residential property in the area today? The biggest challenge is convincing buyers that these neighborhoods not only offer them good value, but have the amenities they expect.

Kelly Cole

senior vice president, Corcoran Group What are you seeing when it comes to residential sales volume in the area? Things are ﬁnally starting to trade, especially the larger units. We were in a stagnant market for the most part up here in Washington Heights and Inwood for the better part of 2010 and 2011 — unless something was priced really well or had special features. What’s going on with residential prices the area? In late 2011, especially in Washington Heights, we did see an increase in prices in some of the anchor buildings. For example, in the Audubon section of Washington Heights, we saw prices increase from 2010. In the River Arts, which is the building in the area that commands the highest price per square foot compared to the average price per square foot in Washington Heights, prices were $525 to $552 a square foot, compared to the average, which is about $441. How negotiable are sellers when it comes to prices these days? The one problem [with discounting] is that so many sellers that bought at the height of the market literally can’t negotiate beyond a certain point because they have to bring money to the closing table since prices have come down. What are the most surprising trends you’re seeing in the market right now? Buyers from downtown are coming up here in larger numbers because, after two to three years, they’re getting priced out of the product they want on the Upper West Side and other neighborhoods. One of the reasons things sat on the market for so long in the last two years was because buyers could get a one-bedroom for [as low as] $400,000 on the Upper West Side. Granted it was half the space and in a walk-up building with brick-wall views. Who are the most active buyers in Inwood/Washington Heights right now? We are still outperforming Brooklyn in terms of value, so many buyers that are looking at Brooklyn are realizing that in

upper Manhattan they are getting more for their money. [Also], empty nesters [and] families that have dual commutes — one who works outside the city and one who works in midtown.

Rob Kleinbardt

principal broker, New Heights Realty What’s going on with residential prices in Washington Heights/Inwood? Residential prices were down in our area 15 percent and, in some cases, almost 20 percent from the peak. Now, prices are stabilizing. What are the biggest challenges to selling residential property in Inwood/Washington Heights today? In some ways the biggest challenges lately have been in dealing with lenders. Most of our sales are cooperatives. For years, the process from accepted offer to closing took two and a half to three months. Now it’s longer. [Also], with so few sales two years ago and even last year we have come up against appraisal problems in several cases. Often there are simply not enough good comps to justify — to the lender at least — the selling price of a unit. In some cases, this has forced sellers to renegotiate an accepted offer in order to get a deal done.

Noah Rosenblatt founder, UrbanDigs

What are you seeing when it comes to residential sales volume in Washington Heights/Inwood these days? Deal volume in this area really started to pick up in early February and has continued the uptrend up to the present market. We show pending sales for the Washington Heights/Inwood area to be up 74 percent over the last year and 28 percent from two years ago. The recent surge is partially due to a downtrend in pending sales in this area over the second half of 2010. That slide in demand lasted until early May 2011. What’s the inventory like in the area these days? Right now we show 17 condos actively marketed for sale versus 141 co-ops for sale in the area. Which price ranges and unit types are performing best right now in the area? By far, new deal volume for co-ops is outpacing deals for condos. This is largely due to the fact that co-op inventory outnumbers condo inventory by a multiple of about nine right now. TRD www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 71

�� CONNECTICUT

City Place I sells for $99M

and United Healthcare, City Place I hit the market last June. Christopher Ostop, an executive vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, told the Courant that “the high-quality, investmentgrade tenants, along with its excel-

lent location, high-quality construction and consistently high historical occupancy, made this property extremely compelling, and we received numerous offers.”

A drawing of the proposed plan for the Tappan Zee Bridge.

ROCKLAND &

In downtown Hartford’s biggest WESTCHESTER real estate transaction since 2007, A Tappan Zee park? the 38-story, 885,000-square-foot As plans move forward for the office tower City Place I has sold construction of a new Tappan Zee for $99 million, the Hartford CouBridge, local advocates are calling rant reported. Jones Lang LaSalle for the existing bridge to be transrepresented seller CityPlace LLC, formed into a pedestrian park, the Feiner, cofounder of the Tappan and the Courant identified the purNew York Times reported. The Bridge Park Alliance advocacy chaser as the Massachusetts-based new, $5 billion bridge is slated to group, last fall proposed turning CommonWealth REIT. Newly rencome online in about five years, the aging bridge into a park with ovated and 98 percent occupied according to CBS New York. with tenants like Bank of America 0412:SolTombRealDeal_7.625x9.75 Christopher Ostop SolTombRealDeal_7.625x9.75 0412 4/26/12 4:08 PMPaul Page a1walkway rather than demolish-

The Solomon Organization announces recent multifamily transactions totaling

$261,000,000 2,700+ units in

Pennsylvania New York and Connecticut 35 Years of PRIVATE EQUITY Marc Solomon • Mark Rosen

92 River Road Summit, NJ 07901 908-988-1000 www.solomonorg.com

ing it. In February, Gov. Andrew Cuomo called that idea an “exciting option,” and since then, various groups have started drafting ideas for the park. Milagros Lecuona, an urban planning professor at Columbia University who leads the alliance with Feiner, said she has been working with her students on plans for the park, and next semester hopes to enlist the help of Columbia’s Business School students on a ﬁnancial plan for the project. Lecuona said she is hoping to organize an international design competition to attract ideas for transforming the bridge. Others question the feasibility of converting the bridge into a park, however, since the necessary maintenance, renovation and personnel costs would likely make the project too expensive. Meanwhile, homeowners in the area have raised concerns about the construction of the new bridge, which will bring the span closer to some waterfront homes in Tarrytown, potentially hurting property values, NBC News reported. In an appearance at Manhattanville College last month, Cuomo said bids for the bridge project will be awarded this spring.

LONG ISLAND

Historic buildings for rent Suffolk County has found a creative way to restore vacant county-owned historic sites, Newsday reported. In December, the county passed legislation allowing the government to lease historic properties virtually rent-free to individuals and businesses willing to pay to renovate them. The program is the brainchild of Suffolk County legislator Wayne Horsley, who told The Real Deal that the tenants will renovate the properties under the strict supervision of the Parks Department to ensure period authenticity. Ofﬁcials aim to seek bids this year for leases at ﬁve sites, including the Elwood Schoolhouse and Nesconset’s Commerdinger Homestead. Compiled by Zachary Kussin

72 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

FAMILY ROOM 18’-9” x 12’-11”

DINING ROOM

LIVING ROOM

18’-0” x 12’-9”

15’-10” x 15’-11”

E.I.K.

FIREPLACE

PENTHOUSE 1

9’-7” x 12’-5”

PRIVATE TERRACE ON ROOF

4,346 sq. ft. Duplex

117 SF

PANTRY

5 Bedroom, 5-1/2 Bathroom Rooftop Terrace 11´ Ceilings Priced at $19,999,990

KITCHEN

12’-2” x 9’-9”

FOYER REFUSE

GUEST BEDROOM 13’-2” x 11’-4”

ELEVATOR

STAIR “B”

STAIR “A”

1st Floor B MASTER BEDROOM 20’-6” x 11’-8”

BEDROOM #2 16’-6” x 10’-2”

BEDROOM #3 10’-5” x 11’-0”

WIC B WIC

BEDROOM #4

WIC

12’-7” x 12’-11”

8 SF

TERRACE

LAUNDRY

WIC

ELEVATOR

STAIR “A”

STAIR “B”

W/D

2nd Floor

WE’VE SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST PENTHOUSE 1 NOW AVAILABLE

By Appointment Only • 212-576-1030 • TheTouraine.com The Touraine | 132A East 65th Street | New York, NY 10065 | (212) 576-1030 This is not an offering. The complete offering terms are in an Offering Plan available from the Sponsor file No CD 11-0119 Toll Brothers reserves the right to change or withdraw any offer at any time. Prices subject to change. Photos may be shown for representative purposes only. Offers, incentives, and seller contributions vary by community and are subject to certain terms, conditions, and restrictions.

34208-AD-TOUR.indd 1

4/26/12 9:17 AM

��

The Chicago skyline

Madonna and her Beverly Hills mansion (below)

Madonna has listed her Beverly Hills home for $28 million, the RealEstalker blog ﬁrst reported last month. The 5,800-square-foot property, which the singer bought for $12 million in 2003 while married to director Guy Ritchie, sits on 1.14 acres and includes a tennis court and swimming pool. LOS ANGELES

Chicago

Houston

The housing market in the Chicago metropolitan area remains

Weingarten Realty Investors, a Houston-based real estate invest-

“fragile” due to a large number of vacant homes, lengthy foreclosure

ment trust, is in contract to sell 52 industrial properties to New York

processing times and “severely underwater” mortgages, the Chicago

City–based DRA Advisors for $382.4 million, the Boston Globe re-

Tribune reported. According to a report last month from the U.S.

ported. Weingarten, which is looking to pay down a $200 million

Treasury Department, around 35 percent of Chicago’s home sales

unsecured loan and other debts through the sale, has decided to

are distressed, compared to 34 percent in the nation as a whole.

exit the industrial real estate market entirely, the paper said. The

The average time needed to process a foreclosure in Illinois is 575

deal should close in the next two months and includes properties

days, the Tribune said, compared to 348 days nationally, which

in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, a spokesper-

causes delays in the Chicago market’s absorption of foreclosed

son for the REIT told the Globe. The market for industrial proper-

properties. “The challenges in the diverse Chicago housing market

ties has improved markedly in the last year as manufacturing has

have been more severe than those in most areas of the nation,” the

rebounded nationwide. Demand for Class A warehouse and dis-

report said.

tribution centers in major U.S. markets surged in the last quarter

Seattle

of 2011, according to published reports. Average vacancy rates in U.S. industrial markets are below 10 percent, and almost all of the

The telecommunications company CenturyLink sold its head-

nation’s largest industrial real estate markets recorded positive

quarters at 1600 Seventh Avenue last month for $137 million,

absorption results in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to data

Commercial Property Executive reported. Clarion Partners, a New

from brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle.

York–based real estate investment manager, bought the 598,000-

Parc 55 interior

SAN FRANCISCO The Rockpoint

Group sold the Parc 55 Wyndham hotel to the Blackstone Group for $235 million, or $231,984 per room, in a distressed sale, CoStar News reported last month. The 700,985-square-foot, 1,013room hotel is located at 55 Cyril Magnin Street.

square-foot, 32-story tower on behalf of an unnamed separate ac-

Atlantic City

count investor. CenturyLink, formerly known as Qwest Commu-

The $2.4 billion Revel casino and resort opened last month, the Wall

nications, built the tower as its headquarters in 1976. CenturyLink

Street Journal reported. The ﬁrst new casino to open in Atlantic City

will remain in its 260,000-square-foot ofﬁce at the building, and

since 2003, the 47-story Revel is also Atlantic City’s tallest. The city’s

much of the balance of the space will be occupied by the clothing

gambling revenue has fallen sharply in recent years, dropping to $3.3

retailer Nordstrom, which recently signed a 300,000-square-foot

billion from $5.2 billion in 2006, the Journal said. But Revel, and by

lease there and will be moving in this fall. Clarion, which manages

extension New Jersey’s taxpayers, are betting on better times. Revel

over $1 billion in real estate assets in the metropolitan Seattle area,

was rescued by the state after funding for the project’s construc-

is planning a major renovation of the property’s retail space, lob-

tion evaporated during the recession. When original owner Morgan

PALM SPRINGS “Three’s Com-

by and common areas. Ofﬁce leasing in the Seattle area has been

Stanley bailed out of the project, agreeing to take a $1.4 billion loss,

relatively healthy, bolstered by large recent leases by Boeing and

New Jersey governor Chris Christie stepped up with a $261 million

Amazon.com, CPE noted. The ofﬁce vacancy rate in Seattle was

tax credit and a pledge to invest in the resort in the future, a move

14.53 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, down 3.03 percent for

which drew some criticism. Revel, which has 1,399 rooms, features

the year, according to a market report from the Broderick Group,

a rooftop botanical garden and a spa designed after the bathhouses

a commercial brokerage.

of ancient Rome. Compiled by Guelda Voien

pany” star Suzanne Somers has relisted her estate in Palm Springs, Calif., for $17.5 million, Curbed reported. The 65-acre spread ﬁrst hit the market in 2008 for $35 million.

74 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Suzanne Somers

AN ABS DEAL MEANS EVERYBODY WINS

8TH ST

29 W 3

200

PAR

K AV

E SO

UTH

8TH ST 3 W 9 2 UNIO

WAY D A RO

47 B

250

N SQ

UAR

915 BROADWAY

WAY

547

915 BROADWAY

AD BRO

able l i a v a e pac Retail s eEty48othf sizes, in a vari s and value ned i location a t n i a ely m t a l u c a Imm ation t r o p s n tra Close to 160

For information on all retail opportunities, call Mark Tergesen 212.400.9528 Richard Farley 212.400.2356

WE BUILD PARTNERSHIPS THAT LAST 1ABSRE099_10.75x14.75.indd 1

absre.com 4/30/12 11:20 AM

��

CBRE to market two Midtown buildings CBRE Group vice chairmen Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan are bringing 15 West 47th Street and 22 West 48th Street to the market on behalf of the Italian families that have owned the ofﬁce buildings for more than 30 years, Crain’s reported. The properties are expected to fetch up to $130 mil22 West 48th Street lion. The 47th Street building, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, has 175,000 square feet among its 18 stories and is worth about $75 million to $80 million, according to Crain’s. It has a jewelry store in its ground-ﬂoor retail space. The 15-story 48th Street building is 75,000 square feet. It has a Duane Reade as a retail tenant and is estimated to be valued at about $50 million.

Midtown East conversion site for sale A five-story building at 425 East 53rd Street is on the market as a conversion site with an asking price of $32 million. The 34,125square-foot property, located between First Avenue and Sutton Place, has large, open-floor plates of about 6,825 square feet as well as ceiling heights of up to 16 feet. Currently, the building is completely occupied by Newel Art 425 East 53rd St Galleries, but it will be delivered vacant. Although the property is zoned for residential use, it has a commercial certificate of occupancy, allowing for

a variety of redevelopment opportunities. Clint Olsen and Daniel Doherty of Massey Knakal Realty Services are handling the assignment.

Harlem apartment building on the block A seven-story multifamily building at 101–113 West 140th Street is on the market with an asking price of $15.45 million. The five-story, 65,736-square-foot elevator building, located on the corner of Lenox Avenue and 140th Street, has five retail tenants. Most of the 53 residential units at the prewar property have been renovated, and many have been converted from five-bedrooms to three-bedrooms, yielding 101–113 W 140th Street larger rooms overall. The apartments have hardwood floors, granite countertops and kitchens with stainless-steel appliances. About a third of the apartments have an average monthly rent of $566. It’s unclear what average rents are for the remaining units. Greg Corbin and Amit Doshi of Besen & Associates are marketing the building.

Soho retail condo asking $11 million The retail condo portion of the residential building at 145 Greene Street is for sale with an asking price of $11 million. Located on the southwest corner of West Houston and Greene streets, the space features 124 feet of frontage and has 1,971 square feet of space on the ground ﬂoor. The unit has a 964-square-foot basement that’s currently be-

ing used as a kitchen prep and storage area. Aroma Espresso Bar currently occupies the retail condo, which is the coffee chain’s fourth location in Manhattan. Aroma’s lease 145 Greene Street runs through October 2015, with a ﬁve-year extension option. The upper ﬂoors of the building contain residential condos and are not part of the offering. Eastern Consolidated’s David Schechtman, Inbal Himelblau and Gary Meese are handling the assignment.

UWS apartment buildings on the market Two adjacent, ﬁve-story apartment buildings at 242–244 West 103rd Street are on the market with a combined asking price of $5.43 million. The prewar walk-ups, located between Broadway and West End Avenue, total 10,625 square feet and include 21 apartments. There are eight free-market units and 13 rent-stabilized units, ranging from studios to two-bedrooms. The rent-regulated studios are 9 percent below market value; the rent-regulated one-bedrooms are 16 percent below market value; 242–244 West 103rd Street and the rent-regulated twobedrooms are 14 percent below market value. Marcus & Millichap’s Peter Von Der Ahe, Scott Edelstein and Seth Glasser are marketing the buildings. Compiled by Linden Lim

YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A STORAGE ROOM EXPERT YOU JUST NEED TO CALL ONE.

We’ll turn your wasted space into a clean, secure, state-ofthe-art storage facility – for FREE. We’ll handle the entire renovation process, start to ﬁnish.

Call (212) BARGOLD / (718) 247-7000 76 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

We’ll handle resident billing and customer service. We’ll PAY YOU monthly. And we’ll make it all seem so easy.

www.BARGOLD.com

ONCE WE SEE THE TARGET READY, AIM , SOLD FA S T E R S A L E S SMARTER MARKETING HIGHER PRICE PER SQ FT

MNS.COM MNS Chelsea MNS Gramercy Park MNS Williamsburg

1 8 9 8 th A v e n u e , N e w Yo r k , N Y 1 0 0 1 1 212.721.2500 1 1 5 E a s t 2 3 rd S t r e e t , N e w Yo r k , N Y 1 0 0 1 0 212.475.9000 165 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211 718.222.1545

Built-in Appliances

AMERICA’S LARGEST WHOLESALE APPLIANCE DISTRIBUTOR For OVER 100 years P.C. Richard & Son has been providing the building industry with unbeatable service, integrity and reliability.

SAVINGS

GUARANTEED LOW PRICES ALL QUALITY BRANDS FOR LESS

SELECTION

THE LARGEST SELECTION OF BRAND NAME DESIGNER KITCHEN APPLIANCES

SERVICE

THE LARGEST INVENTORY FOR NEXT DAY DELIVERY BY OUR VERY OWN DELIVERY TEAMS

P.C. RICHARD & SON ... HERE FOR YOU ... ALWAYS

PROFESSIONAL NEXT DAY DELIVERY AVAILABLE

THE COMPANY YOU CAN TRUST SINCE 1909

1.800.368.6869 DISTRIBUTING TO: NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY, CONNECTICUT, PENNSYLVANIA, DELAWARE, MARYLAND, WASHINGTON DC, MASSACHUSETTS, RHODE ISLAND

Builders@PCRichard.com Fax# 1.800.479.0336 150 PRICE PARKWAY FARMINGDALE, NY 11735

DESIGNER #5 - P.C. Richard & Son - Ad for BUILDERS DIVISION ‘THE REAL DEAL’ Magazine • AD SIZE: FULL PAGE: • Bleed Size: 10.75”w x 14.75” • Trim Size: 10.5”w x 14.5”h • Safety Area: 10.25”w x 14.25” Full Color-Bleed Please -- REQUEST PREFERRED POSITION / RIGHT-HAND PAGE - Thank you -- again!

Deal Sheet summary

The Deal Sheet, on pages 80 to 88, covers transactions from 3/11/12 through 4/10/12. Please submit future deals to deals@therealdeal.com.

Sales

Overview

By type

Property sales Dollars

Development

Hotel

Industrial

Mixed-Use

Development

Deals

48 $552,070,000

Financing

By dollar volume (in millions)

Mixed-Use Multi-family

128.30 57.55 23.685 49.37

Multi-family

116.20

Transactions

Office

136.67

Buildings

Retail

40.30

Aggregate value

$191,950,000

Leases Office

Retail

Total

140

Leases square feet Office

656,452

Retail

230,065

Total

886,517

Office leases Office leases by industry Industry

Office leases sf by industry Leases

Advertising & Marketing

Industry

Top tenant reps for office leasing by sf

Square feet leased 310,685

Tenant representative

Square feet leased

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank

Advertising & Marketing

307,282

Architecture & Design

25,525

Adams & Co.

61,608

Construction

7,171

CBRE Group

46,018

Ecommerce

17,148

Feld Real Estate

39,347

Education

6,269

PBS Real Estate

37,256

Fashion*

76,075

Tarter Stats Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Toole

21,790

Financial

93,576

Cassidy Turley

17,148

Health & Beauty

11,912

Rice & Associates

12,611

Legal

12,503

Byrnam Wood

9,850

Media

14,481

Miyad Realty

8,500

Medical

20,113

Miron Properties

6,500

Other / n/a

30,743

CBC Hunter Realty

6,182

Other / n/a

Publishing

12,556

Norman Bobrow & Co.

5,625

Retail

4,000

Jones Lang LaSalle

5,618

Science & Technology

6,000

Cushman & Wakefield

5,412

Sports & Recreation

Cresa Partners

4,706

7,695

Retail leases Top tenant reps for leasing by sf

Retail leases by industry

Broker

Drugstore

28,736

Fashion

19,500

Square feet leased

Retail leases sf by industry

Winick Realty

39,706

Fashion

Ripco Real Estate

19,400

Food & Beverage

70,865

Charter Realty & Development

19,200

Health & Beauty

45,300

Welco Realty

17,514

Home Furnishings

20,594

NYCRS

14,100

Other

45,070

Commercial Acquisitions Realty

10,000

JDF Realty

10,000

Sinvin Real Estate

7,000

Kassin Sabbagh Realty

6,400

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank

6,400

Robert K. Futterman & Assoc.

5,300

Besen Retail

4,695

Thor High Street Advisors

2,400

(*includes showroom space)

www.www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 79

Deal Sheet

Commercial deals in New York City Deals are listed from largest to smallest in square feet leased or bought. The Deal Sheet covers transactions from 3/11/12 to 4/10/12. Please submit future deals to deals@therealdeal.com.

Office leases Address

Size

Tenant / Representative

Landlord / Representative

Notes

200 and 205 Hudson St

260,000

Havas / David Falk, Newmark Knight Frank

Trinity Real Estate / n/a

The French advertising and communications firm signed a lease to consolidate its Manhattan offices, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to the paper, the tenant’s rent is in the mid-$40s per square foot. The company currently has offices at 350 Hudson Street, 195 Broadway and 110 Fifth Avenue.

195 Broadway

39,347

Omnicom Group / Lee Feld, Feld Real Estate

L&L Holding Company; Beacon Capital Partners / Represented inhouse

The communications company signed an expansion lease for the entire 17th floor, bringing its total occupancy in the building to 260,000 square feet, the Commercial Observer reported. The tenant will now occupy five and a half floors in the property. The reported asking rent was in the mid-$40s per square foot.

625 Madison Ave

37,256

Stuart Weitzman / L. Pomerantz, J. Brod, PBS Real Estate

n/a / n/a

The footwear designer signed a 10-year lease to expand and relocate its corporate headquarters. The company is moving from 50 West 57th Street to the building’s third floor, which is located above the retailer’s flagship store.

520 Madison Ave

23,411

The Carlyle Group / N. Goldmacher, B. Goldman, D. Madison, Newmark Knight Frank

Tishman Speyer / Represented inhouse

The global alternative asset manager signed an expansion lease. The tenant will now occupy a total of about 123,000 square feet on floors 38 to 43.

One Whitehall St

17,882

Janney Montgomery Scott / K. Rapp, M. Rizzo, M. Movshovich, CBRE

Rudin Management Co. / Represented in-house

The financial services firm signed a lease to relocate its Downtown headquarters, the New York Post reported. The asking rent was $35 per square foot, according to the Post.

292 Madison Ave

17,148

FiftyOne Global Ecommerce / Wendy Miller, Cassidy Turley

The Marciano brothers / W. Cohen, R. Kass, Newmark Knight Frank

The ecommerce company signed a lease on the fifth and 17th floors, the New York Post reported. The asking rent was $55 per square foot, according to the Post.

619 West 54th St

16,869

West Side GI / Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

KBS Realty Advisors / M. Astrachan, A. Tener, E. DiTolla, Jones Lang LaSalle

The ambulatory surgical center signed a 15-year lease. The reported asking rent was $39 per square foot.

100 Wall St

11,406

Informa USA / M. Movshovich, K. Meyerson, C. Corrinet, R. Hill, M. Rizzo, CBRE

Savanna / M. Konsker, S. Cahaly, B. Reiver, Jones Lang LaSalle

The publishing house signed a lease for 11 years and six months on the ninth floor.

5 Hanover Square

9,850

Journal Register Company / Gordon Ogden, Byrnam Wood

Savanna / F. Cento, J. Fein, C&W

The media company signed an eight-year lease for the entire 25th floor.

34 West 33rd St

9,820

Babyfair Inc. / D. Levy, B. Maslin, Adams & Co.

Arcade Building Associates / D. Levy, B. Maslin, Adams & Co.

The private label for children signed a lease renewal. The reported asking rent was $39 per square foot.

450 Seventh Ave

9,600

Unclaimed Property Recovery and Reporting LLC / n/a

Kaufman Organization / Barbara Raskob, Kaufman Organization

The unclaimed property market specialist signed a seven-year lease. The reported asking rent was in the high $40s per square foot.

1071 Sixth Ave

8,832

Unzipped Apparel Inc. / D. Levy, J. Schwartz, Adams & Co.

Ten Seventy One Associates / D. Levy, J. Schwartz, Adams & Co.

The apparel company signed a lease renewal. The reported asking rent was $43 per square foot.

11 Broadway

8,500

Goldstein, Hill & West Architects / M. Rouzenrouch, A. Saks, Miyad Realty

n/a / Mendy Braun, Braun Management

The architecture firm signed a new lease on the 17th floor.

805 Third Ave

7,695

Legends Hospitality Management / S. Zarba, S. Bogetti, CBRE

Charles S. Cohen / Bruce Mosler, C&W

The hospitality and sales and marketing services provider for the sports industry signed a lease on the 31st floor, the New York Post reported. The asking rent was $60 per square foot, according to the Post.

414 West 14th St

7,500

Capital Access Network / Elizabeth Juviler, Rice & Associates

The Carlyle Group / B. Gerla, M. Bergey, CBRE

The financial firm signed a lease for the entire third floor, the New York Post reported.

414 West 14th St

6,885

Davis Shapiro / Laurence Briody, CBRE

The Carlyle Group / B. Gerla, M. Bergey, CBRE

The law firm signed a lease on the fifth floor, the New York Post reported.

1384 Broadway

6,500

Worldview Entertainment Holdings / Sarah Collier Woodrow, Miron Properties

n/a / Matthew Feigen, Newmark Knight Frank

The media investment company signed a lease for two floors. The reported asking rent was $46 per square foot; the taking rent was $41.50 per square foot.

505 Eighth Ave

6,271

Curtis Partition / n/a

Newmark Holdings / Allen Gurevich, Newmark Knight Frank

The drywall and ceiling subcontractor signed a lease renewal.

120 Fifth Ave

6,200

Essence Digital / Eric Cagner, Newmark Knight Frank

n/a / Peter Tong, The Bromley Companies

The media, creative and design digital agency signed a sublease.

259 West 30th St

6,000

Scharff Weisberg / David Emden, Newmark Knight Frank

n/a / Joe McLaughlin, Capstone Realty Advisors

The entertainment technology firm signed a lease for the entire 12th floor.

805 Third Ave

5,975

Sherb & Co. LLP / G. Linder, R. Emden, Newmark Knight Frank

805 Third New York LLC / Represented in-house

The accounting firm signed a lease renewal.

1540 Broadway

5,696

Virtus Investment Management / Eric Cagner, Newmark Knight Frank

CBRE Investors / H. Fiddle, E. Deutsch, J. Pollen, C. Harle, CBRE

The investment management firm signed a lease.

30 West 24th St

5,625

B Five Studio LLP / Norman Bobrow & Co.

Twenty Three R.P. Associates / J. Buslik, A. Bonett, Adams & Co.

The interior design company signed a lease renewal. The reported asking rent was $35 per square foot.

126 East 56th St

5,618

Blakes / Randy Abend, Jones Lang LaSalle

Pearlmark Real Estate Partners / H. Blair, S. Kearns, C&W

The Canada-based law firm signed a lease renewal and relocated from the building’s eighth floor to the entire 17th floor.

350 Fifth Ave (Empire State Building)

5,412

Freeh Group International Solutions / J. Fabrizi, B. Lee, D. Malawer, C&W

W&H Properties / W. Cohen, R. Kass, Newmark Knight Frank

The risk management firm signed a lease on the 31st floor.

15 West 37th St

5,200

O’Neil Langan Architects PC / A. Bonett, N. Zagar, Adams & Co.

Kamber Management / Represented in-house

The architecture firm signed a lease. The reported asking rent was $36 per square foot.

75 Maiden Lane

5,000

TradeCard / David Danick, CBC Hunter Realty

AM Properties Holdings / Andrew Zezas, Real Estate Strategies Corporation

The payment and settlement network for business-to-business marketplaces signed an expansion lease.

183 Madison Ave

4,706

The Rubicon Project / E. Wartels, B. Davies, Cresa Partners

Rigby 183 LLC / H. Blair, S. Kearns, C&W

The advertising technology firm signed a five-year lease on the 14th floor.

For the best deal visit our website: www.TheRealDeal.com 80 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

www.TheRealDeal.net December 200

Arbor_TheRealDeal_MAY_2012_FP4C:.

4/24/12

4:00 PM

Page 1

Arbor Bridge Loans

dge Loans Bri

idge Br

Loan s

Ease Your Asset’s Financial Transition

COMING SOON! Arbor’s Bridge Financing Webinar To register in advance, email webinars@arbor.com Send your proper ty on the right investment path Arbor’s Bridge Loans offer commercial real estate investors the opportunity to leverage short-term financing benefits without compromising their long-term ROI, making your property’s financial transition seamless.

Growing Financial Partnerships 1-800-ARBOR-10 • www.arbor.com Follow us on twitter @arbor1

Unique Arbor Advantages • Fannie Mae or FHA Loan Exit • Rapid Execution • Flexible & Customized Loan Structures • Full Leverage - Up to 80% • Low Minimum, No Maximum ($3 Million and Above)

FANNIE MAE • FHA • BRIDGE • MEZZANINE • CMBS Birmingham, AL • Bloomfield Hills, MI • Boston, MA • Dallas, TX • Los Angeles, CA New York, NY • Philadelphia, PA • Uniondale, NY • Washington, DC

Office leases continued Address

Size

Tenant / Representative

Landlord / Representative

Notes

505 Eighth Ave

4,631

Richmond Home / Kate Pezzolla, JRT Realty

Newmark Holdings / Allen Gurevich, Newmark Knight Frank

The home healthcare provider signed a lease renewal.

80 Maiden Lane

4,400

Invisa Logistic Services / T. Hatzimichael, Redrock NYC; M. Moustakas, My NY Commercial Group

AM Properties / Represented in-house

The international visa services company signed a seven-year lease. The reported asking rent was $36 per square foot.

366 Fifth Ave

4,218

August Accessories / Richard Mayer Segal (independent broker)

Joseph P. Day Realty / Represented in-house

The fashion accessories company signed a seven-year lease renewal on the 11th floor. The reported asking rent was $45 per square foot.

231 West 39th St

4,120

D.N.A.M. Apparel Industries / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

231/249 West 39 Street Associates / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

The apparel company signed a three-year lease renewal and expansion. The reported asking rent was $35 per square foot.

84 Franklin St

4,000

Pureform Movement LLC / Elissa Patterson, Tarter Stats O’Toole

Brosrub Company LLC / Janet Liff, Tarter Stats O’Toole

The online sporting goods retailer signed a lease.

275 Madison Ave

3,500

Hudson Ferry Capital / Mitchell Waldman, Cogent Realty Advisors

RFR Realty / Represented in-house

The private equity firm signed a lease to relocate to the building’s 31st floor. The reported asking rent was $58 per square foot.

321 West 44th St

3,350

SPE Development Inc. / Elissa Patterson, Tarter Stats O’Toole

n/a / C. Engel, M. Thomas, Colliers International

The society of oil and gas industry professionals signed a five-year lease.

450 Seventh Ave

3,250

Invention Resource International / n/a

Kaufman Organization / Barbara Raskob, Kaufman Organization

The invention assistance organization signed a five-year lease. The reported asking rent was in the high $40s per square foot.

100 Wall St

3,100

Westminster Securities Corporation / n/a

Savanna / Represented in-house

The investment banking firm signed an eight-year lease renewal on the seventh floor.

64 West 48th St

3,000

Weight Watchers / Grace Sardell, Sardell & Co.

Muss Development / n/a

The weight loss lifestyle company signed a lease for 10 years and four months on the 14th floor.

317 East 34th St

2,844

New York University / David Levy, Adams & Co.

317 East 34th Street / David Levy, Adams & Co.

The school signed a lease renewal. The reported asking rent was $61 per square foot.

150 West 30th St

2,775

Piol Inc. / Elizabeth Juviler, Rice & Associates

150 Habern LLC / David Berger, Bernstein Real Estate

The tenant signed a lease.

537 Eighth Ave

2,700

The Skin Spa / Glenn Teyf, Gideon Group

n/a / Joe McLaughlin, Capstone Realty Advisors

The spa signed a lease for the entire second floor of the office building.

537 Eighth Ave

2,700

Red Model Management / Chelsea Merrifield, Capstone Realty Advisors

n/a / Joe McLaughlin, Capstone Realty Advisors

The modeling agency signed a lease for the entire third floor.

231 West 39th St

2,696

Destino Vero Designs and Apparel LLC / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

231/249 West 39 Street Associates / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

The fashion company signed a new three-year lease. The reported asking rent was $35 per square foot.

450 Seventh Ave

2,289

The Compliance Search Group / Daniel Lolai, Murray Hill Properties

Kaufman Organization / Barbara Raskob, Kaufman Organization

The compliance professionals recruitment and placement firm signed a threeyear lease. The reported asking rent was in the high $40s per square foot.

450 Seventh Ave

2,181

CourtAlert.Com Inc. / Dave Menaged, Intrepid Real Estate Group

Kaufman Organization / Barbara Raskob, Kaufman Organization

The court-data provider signed a five-year lease. The reported asking rent was in the high $40s per square foot.

Taking our clients to the next level for almost a century

OWNER ��BUILDER ��OPERATOR 82 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Manhattan Office

Corporate Headquarters

Contact: Jordan Pla� 757 Third Avenue, Suite 2028 New York, New York 10017 212.376.5508 www.kaled.com

Contact: Gregory J. Kalikow, Esq. 7001 Brush Hollow Road, Suite 200 Westbury, New York 11590 516.876.4800 www.thekalikowgroup.com

Office leases continued Address

Size

Tenant / Representative

Landlord / Representative

Notes

277 Fifth Ave

2,150

Syncapse Inc. / Gerry Miovski, CBRE

Mirsal L. / T. Jacobs, E. Groh, Rice & Associates

The social media marketing firm signed a lease on the sixth floor.

317 East 34th St

2,094

NYU Hospitals Center / David Levy, Adams & Co.

317 East 34th Street / David Levy, Adams & Co.

The medical center signed a lease. The reported asking rent was $30 per square foot.

10 West 33rd St

2,024

Aron’s Manufacturing Corp. / David Levy, Adams & Co.

Ten West Thirty Third Associates / David Levy, Adams & Co.

The accessories manufacturer signed a lease renewal. The reported asking rent was $38 per square foot.

35 West 31st St

1,800

She Creates Change LLC / Elissa Patterson, Tarter Stats O’Toole

n/a / n/a

The women’s education services company signed a five-year lease.

66 West Broadway

1,800

Motivate LLC / Jane Slade, Tarter Stats O’Toole

n/a / n/a

The advertising, marketing and communications agency signed a lease.

231 West 39th St

1,770

Forum Showroom LLC / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

231/249 West 39 Street Associates / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

The fashion company signed a three-year lease renewal. The reported asking rent was $35 per square foot.

2495 Broadway

1,750

Riverside Physical Therapy NYC PLLC / Nancy Washburn, Jonathan Barry Associates

Friedland Properties / Represented in-house

The physical therapy office signed a new 10-year lease. The reported asking rent was $42 per square foot.

231 West 39th St

1,600

ESP Showroom LLC / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

231/249 West 39 Street Associates / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

The fashion company signed a three-year lease renewal. The reported asking rent was $35 per square foot.

259 West 30th St

1,600

Wealth-X / Jane Slade, Tarter Stats O’Toole

n/a / n/a

The database of the world’s high-net-worth individuals signed a lease for part of the fourth floor.

505 Eighth Ave

1,544

Multimedia System Design Inc. / n/a

Newmark Holdings / Allen Gurevich, Newmark Knight Frank

The tenant signed a lease renewal.

39 West 32nd St

1,500

JMS Direct Inc. / Jamie Cohen, Tarter Stats O’Toole

n/a / n/a

The direct marketing company signed a lease.

330 West 38th St

1,435

The Accomplished Traveler / Elissa Patterson, Tarter Stats O’Toole

Hudson 38 Holdings / n/a

The travel management company signed a five-year lease.

333 West 39th St

1,250

Brand Building Communications / Matthew Kurzban, Rice & Associates

Joffee-333 W 39 Realty LLC / Alan Steinberg, Newmark Knight Frank

The communications agency signed a lease.

224 West 35th St

1,200

Optimum Security Services LLC / Elissa Patterson, Tarter Stats O’Toole

Gatsby Enterprise LLC / n/a

The security services company signed a five-year lease.

161 West 81st St

1,200

n/a / J. Famularo, R. Idnani, NYCRS

The children’s learning center signed an office lease.

233 Broadway

1,182

Armstrong Associates Inc. / M. Okun, M. Piccirillo, CBC Hunter Realty

233 Broadway Owners LLC / Brian Siegel, The Lawrence Group

The advertising firm signed a lease. The company is relocating from 170 Broadway.

330 West 38th St

1,150

Literary Agency East Ltd. / Elissa Patterson, Tarter Stats O’Toole

Hudson 38 Holdings LLC / n/a

The literary agency signed a five-year lease.

330 West 58th St

1,150

Rudy Rezzadeh MD / Nancy Washburn, Jonathan Barry Associates

Park Towers South Company LLC; Goldfarb Properties / Represented inhouse

The medical tenant signed a new four-year lease. The reported asking rent was $55 per square foot.

330 West 38th St

1,150

Matt Hoyle Photography LLC / Elissa Patterson, Tarter Stats O’Toole

Hudson 38 Holdings LLC / n/a

The photography company signed a three-year lease.

40 West 29th St

1,086

The Rise Studio NYC Inc. / Elissa Groh, Rice & Associates

Kew Management Corp. / Leeat Hacker, Kew Management

The tenant signed a lease.

37 West 20th St

1,043

RL Audio Inc. / Jane Slade, Tarter Stats O’Toole

n/a / n/a

The tenant signed a lease.

231 West 39th St

1,039

Brooklyn Motors / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

231/249 West 39 Street Associates / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

The T-shirt company signed a new three-year lease. The reported asking rent was $35 per square foot.

139 Fulton St

1,012

Chic Studios NYC LLC / Rafina Ibragimova, Tarter Stats O’Toole

n/a / n/a

The makeup artistry studio signed a lease.

231 West 39th St

900

Lili Global Apparel Inc. / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

231/249 West 39 Street Associates / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

The apparel company signed a new three-year lease. The reported asking rent was $35 per square foot.

231 West 39th St

900

Sweet Romeo LLC / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

231/249 West 39 Street Associates / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

The fashion company signed a new three-year lease. The reported asking rent was $35 per square foot.

231 West 39th St

900

J.T. Design Studio Inc. / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

231/249 West 39 Street Associates / James Buslik, Jeff Buslik, Adams & Co.

The fashion designer signed a three-year lease renewal. The reported asking rent was $35 per square foot.

969 Third Ave

900

n/a / Betty Posner, NYCRS

Friedland Properties / Betty Posner, NYCRS

The construction company signed a lease.

224 West 35th St

800

Metropolitan Management Corp. / M. Kabiri, W. Stein, Manhattan Commercial Realty

n/a / James Bullaro, Gatsby Enterprises

The tenant signed a 10-year lease.

126 Fifth Ave

750

Michael Jortner / Jane Slade, Tarter Stats O’Toole

n/a / n/a

The Pilates studio signed a lease on the 14th floor.

866 UN Plaza

750

n/a / Better Posner, NYCRS

n/a / Betty Posner, NYCRS

The tenant signed a lease.

1133 Broadway

640

QFive / Chris Salizzoni, A.C. Lawrence & Co.

Kew Management / Represented inhouse

The information management start-up signed a one-year lease. The reported asking rent was $46 per square foot.

2231 Broadway

425

n/a / Betty Posner, NYCRS

Private investor / Betty Posner, NYCRS

The language center for children signed an office lease.

Retail leases Address

Size

Tenant / Representative

Landlord / Representative

Notes

163-02 Jamaica Ave (Queens)

19,200

Blink Fitness / Peter Levine, Charter Realty & Development

Sol Goldman Investments / B. Fishbach, D. Rosenberg, RKF; B. Weinblatt, Sol Goldman Investments

The affordable gym concept by Equinox signed a lease for its first Queens location.

1110 Third Ave

17,514

Pier 1 Imports / Jerry Welkis, Welco Realty

The Related Companies / B. Rosen, J. Totolo, RKF

The home furnishings retailer signed a lease for multi-level space. The store includes 4,638 square feet on the ground floor, 8,119 square feet on the lower level and 4,757 square feet on the second floor. This will be the chain’s second Manhattan location.

600 Third Ave

16,000

Blink Fitness / n/a

n/a / n/a

The gym chain signed a lease for space on the ground floor and concourse level, the New York Post reported. The asking rent on the ground floor was $200 per square foot, according to the Post.

www www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 83

Retail leases continued Address

Size

Tenant / Representative

Landlord / Representative

Notes

44 Court St (Brooklyn)

15,684

Duane Reade / Louis Eisinger, Winick Realty

44 Court Street LLC / n/a

The drugstore chain signed a lease for another location.

44-27 Kissena Blvd (Queens)

14,000

Biryani Indian Restaurant / n/a

n/a / Jerry Houlihan, Houlihan-Parnes Realtors; Metro Property Group

The restaurant signed a 10-year lease.

2681-7 Broadway

13,052

Duane Reade / Louis Eisinger, Winick Realty

235 W 102nd Street / J. Roseman, S. Morden, Newmark Knight Frank

The drugstore chain signed a lease renewal.

210 Clarkson Ave (Brooklyn)

10,000

Food-Dynasty / Shlomi Bagdadi, Commercial Acquisitions Realty

n/a / Shlomi Bagdadi, Commercial Acquisitions Realty

The food market signed a lease.

18 East 16th St

10,000

True Love Bakery / B. Kahr, L. Siben, JDF Realty

The Winter Organization / A. Schuster, J. Totolo, Z. Winkler, RKF

The bakery signed a lease.

120 Avenue M (Brooklyn)

10,000

Deals by Dollar Tree / Richard Senior, Ripco Real Estate

120 Avenue M LLC / Richard Senior, Ripco Real Estate

The discount retailer signed a lease for another location.

318 Knickerbocker Ave (Brooklyn)

9,400

Deals by Dollar Tree / Richard Senior, Ripco Real Estate

324 Knickerbocker Associates / Richard Senior, Ripco Real Estate

The discount retailer signed a lease for another location.

909 Madison Ave

9,000

Rag & Bone / n/a

Friedland Properties / n/a

The fashion boutique signed a lease for its sixth Manhattan location, the Wall Street Journal reported.

99 Wooster St

7,000

Victorinox / Michael Glanzberg, Sinvin Real Estate

n/a / Michael Glanzberg, Sinvin Real Estate

The Swiss knife manufacturer signed a lease for retail space, the New York Post reported.

31-01 Ditmars Blvd (Queens)

5,500

California Farmer Market / R. Smith, T. Jung, Winick Realty

Sol Goldman / Represented in-house

The food market signed a lease.

279 Church St

5,000

n/a / J. Famularo, R. Idnani, NYCRS

The wine bar signed a lease.

1268 Broadway

4,800

New York Community Bank / Bob Weber, Winick Realty

Yehuda Realty Inc. / John Magnani, Daniel Gale Sotheby’s

The bank signed a lease.

2427 Broadway

4,400

Candle West / n/a

WMK 89th Street LLC / Spencer Levy, RKF

The candle retailer signed a lease.

3612 White Plains Rd (The Bronx)

4,000

Simpson Travel Agency / n/a

n/a / Jerry Houlihan, Houlihan-Parnes Realtors; Metro Property Group

The travel agency signed a new lease.

3614 White Plains Rd (The Bronx)

4,000

Molino’s Hair Salon / n/a

n/a / Jerry Houlihan, Houlihan-Parnes Realtors; Metro Property Group

The hair salon signed a 10-year lease.

620 Atlantic Ave (Brooklyn)

4,000

Adidas / n/a

Forest City Ratner / n/a

The athletic wear retailer signed a lease to operate a store in the Barclays Center.

504 Sixth Ave

3,000

n/a / J. Famularo, R. Idnani, NYCRS

The café signed a lease.

127 North Sixth St

2,400

HW Carter & Sons General Store / Thor High Street Advisors

n/a / Robert Gitto, Reliant Realty

The work clothes company signed a lease for its first-ever store, the New York Post reported.

1590 Second Ave

2,300

The Penrose / Michael Hayes, Boxers Realty

Eberhart Brothers / Jay Gilbert, Newmark Knight Frank

The owners of gastropubs the Wren, Wilfie & Nell, Sweet Afton and Bua signed a lease for another location.

352 Bowery

2,100

Environment Furniture / Hilly Soleimon, Besen Retail

Three to Get Ready LLC / Z. Winkler, B. Segall, RKF

The furniture store signed a lease.

1408 Avenue J (Brooklyn)

2,000

Blue Group / A. Beard, D. Rosenberg, RKF

Eugine Reizis / A. Beard, D. Rosenberg, RKF

The tenant signed a retail lease.

545 West 25th St

2,000

Network Showroom LLC / Lisa Rosenthal, Lansco Corp.

The Nassos Daphnis Family 2000 Trust / Hilly Soleimon, Besen Retail

The shoe designer signed a retail lease.

467 86th St (Brooklyn)

2,000

Sally Beauty Supply LLC / Greg Batista, Pliskin Realty & Development

n/a / n/a

The beauty supply retailer signed a lease.

37 East 29th St

1,800

Queen of Sheeba / Morris Sabbagh, Kassin Sabbagh Realty

J & T Tsai Inc. / n/a

The restaurant signed a lease.

333 Park Ave South

1,700

Potbelly / M. Frankel, J. Roseman, B. Birnbaum, Newmark Knight Frank

Anwar Zamel / S. Ferrigno, R. Gelber, RKF

The sandwich chain signed a lease for another location. The reported asking rent was $115 per square foot.

37 East 60th St

1,700

Il Mulino / n/a

The Estate of Sol Goldman / Represented in-house

The Italian restaurant signed a new lease, the New York Post reported. The asking rent was $230 per square foot, according to the Post.

46 West 56th St

1,700

Potbelly / M. Frankel, J. Roseman, B. Birnbaum, Newmark Knight Frank

46 West 56th Street LLC / n/a

The sandwich chain signed a lease for another location. The reported asking rent was $150 per square foot.

122 Greenwich Ave

1,570

The Juice Press / K. Bellantoni, P. Haber, RKF

American Realty Capital New York Recovery REIT Inc. / K. Bellantoni, P. Haber, RKF

The juice and smoothie bar chain signed a lease for a flagship location at the building, also known as One Jackson Square.

150 East 52nd St

1,500

Potbelly / M. Frankel, J. Roseman, B. Birnbaum, Newmark Knight Frank

Plaza 52 LLC / n/a

The sandwich chain signed a lease for another location. The reported asking rent was $175 per square foot.

127 Fulton St

1,500

Potbelly / M. Frankel, J. Roseman, B. Birnbaum, Newmark Knight Frank

127 Fulton LLC / n/a

The sandwich chain signed a lease for another location. The reported asking rent was $150 per square foot.

120 St. Marks Place

1,500

Time for Spa / Abraham Kassin, Kassin Sabbagh Realty

120 St Marks LLC / Ken Brandman, NYCRS

The spa signed a lease.

338 Eighth Ave

1,300

n/a / Abe Bichoupan, NYCRS

The deli signed a lease.

2284 Amsterdam Ave

1,250

n/a / Roberto Guilbet, Inwood Property Group

A church signed a retail lease.

87 Mercer St

1,200

Zimmermann / John Cahill, Colliers International

n/a / n/a

The Australian designer signed a retail lease.

484 Ninth Ave

1,000

Dunkin Donuts / Morris Sabbagh, Kassin Sabbagh Realty

Dell’orto Realty / Ryan Horvath, Massey Knakal

The coffee and donut chain signed a lease for another location.

2 West 14th St

1,000

Ben’s Pizza of Soho / J. Pasquale, A. Bichoupan, NYCRS

n/a / Abe Bichoupan, NYCRS

The pizzeria signed a lease.

275 Seventh Ave

1,000

GNC / A. Schuster, G. Covey, RKF

Unite Here LLC / n/a

The supplements and nutritional products retailer signed a lease.

947 First Ave

900

Subway Real Estate / Morris Sabbagh, Kassin Sabbagh Realty

947-949 First Avenue LLC / Rafe Evans, Walker Malloy & Company

The sandwich chain signed a lease for another location.

4025 Laconia Ave (The Bronx)

870

Fawaz Coffee Shop / M. Mager, E. Dweck, Besen Retail

BLDG Management Co. Inc. / M. Mager, E. Dweck, Besen Retail

The coffee shop signed a lease.

108 Thayer St

800

Nasser Gourmet Delicatessen / M. Mager, E. Dweck, Besen Retail

ALP Realty LLC / M. Mager, E. Dweck, Besen Retail

The deli signed a lease.

17 Perry St

700

Saturdays Surf NYC / Anna Rhein, Zelnik & Co.

n/a / Rafe Evans, Walker Malloy & Co.

The surfing-accessories retailer signed a 10-year lease, the New York Post reported. The asking rent was $240 per square foot, according to the Post.

84 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Retail leases continued Address

Size

Tenant / Representative

Landlord / Representative

Notes

111 St. Marks Place

600

n/a / H. Demetrious, I. Donath, NYCRS

The macaroon shop signed a lease.

147 First Ave

600

The Bean / Morris Sabbagh, Kassin Sabbagh Realty

Icon Realty Management / Terrence Lowenberg, Icon Realty Management

The coffee shop signed a lease.

62 West Fordham Rd

600

Perfect Brows / Morris Sabbagh, Kassin Sabbagh Realty

Grand Ford Associates / n/a

The salon signed a lease.

202A Mott St

600

n/a / Kathleen Perkins, NYCRS

The Italian sandwich shop signed a lease.

120 MacDougal St

550

BaoBQ / Josh Siegelman, Winick Realty

BMRE 120 LLC / Steve Rappaport, Sinvin Realty

The eatery signed a lease.

796 Madison Ave

500

Ippolita / Laura Pomerantz, PBS Real Estate

Parkoff Organization / Brad Siderow, The Siderow Organization

The Italian jeweler signed a lease, the New York Post reported. The asking rent was $1,100 per square foot, according to the Post.

214 East 70th St

500

n/a / J. Famularo, R. Idnani, NYCRS

The fitness center signed a lease.

225 West 23rd St

500

Eye Candy / H. Demetrious, I. Donath, NYCRS

n/a / Jay Einbender, ABS Partners

The women’s accessories retailer signed a lease.

527 Amsterdam Ave

500

Down Quilt Shop Ltd. / Elliott Dweck, Besen Retail

175 West 85 Realty LLC / M. Mager, E. Dweck, Besen Retail

The home furnishings store signed a lease at the building, also known as 175 West 85th Street.

115 Dyckman St

500

n/a / Roberto Guilbet, Inwood Property Group

The pawn shop and jewelry store signed a lease.

215 East 3rd St

500

Marcus Epstein / H. Demetrious, I. Donath, NYCRS

n/a / Dough Kleinman, Ripco Real Estate

The martial arts studio leased retail space.

521 Amsterdam Ave

480

Kitchen Factory / G. Alterman, A. Stern, RKF

Stanley Wasserman / Elliott Dweck, Besen Retail

The kitchen design company leased retail space.

787 Ninth Ave

425

$1 Pizza / K. Schunk, E. Dweck, Besen Retail

787 Ninth Avenue Partners LLC / Matt Mager, Besen Retail

The pizza shop signed a lease.

1435 Lexington Ave

400

Richard Salome Flowers / Jane Slade, Tarter Stats O’Toole

n/a / Howard Aaron, Square Foot Realty

The florist signed a lease.

166 Elizabeth St

400

n/a / Ken Brandman, NYCRS

The women’s fashion retailer signed a lease.

504 East 12th St

400

n/a / Ken Brandman, NYCRS

The Japanese tapas and sake bar signed a lease.

514 East 6th St

300

n/a / Ken Brandman, NYCRS

The Italian café signed a lease.

235 Bleecker St

250

Bisous Macaroons Inc. / P. Haber, S. Levy, RKF

233 Bleecker LLC / n/a

The bakery signed a lease.

22 West 34th St

120

The Change Group / R. Smith, T. Jung, Winick Realty

Sol Goldman / Represented in-house

The currency exchange services provider signed a lease for its seventh Manhattan location.

Buys Address

Size

Buyer / Representative

Seller / Representative

Notes

292 Madison Ave

24-story, 170,230 sf office bldg

The Marciano brothers / n/a

SL Green / D. Harmon, A. Spies, Eastdil Secured

The Marciano brothers purchased the ground under the building for $85 million and took over the $59.1 million mortgage, the New York Post reported.

5 Beekman St

Development site

GB Lodging / n/a

The Chetrit Group; Bonjour Capital / n/a

The sale of the nine-story Temple Court building closed for $64 million. The property will become a hotel under the Thompson Hotels brand, and will be operated by Commune Hotels & Resorts. It will be a 297-room boutique hotel with 90 residences, according to a statement from Commune issued in March.

1150 Sixth Ave

8-story, 48,000 sf office bldg

Morris Moinian / n/a

n/a / n/a

The property sold for $39 million, the New York Post reported. The buyer plans to build a new hotel or office building on the site.

156 North 12th St (Brooklyn)

64-room hotel

King & Grove Hotels / n/a

Graves Hospitality; KSK Construction / n/a

The sale of the hotel closed for $33 million, or $520,000 per key.

321 East 22nd St

6-story apt. bldg, 117 units total

Benedict Realty Group / n/a

GID Investment Advisors / A. Scandalios, J. Crus, J. Julien, K. O’Hearn, HFF

The property sold for $31 million. The building has an average unit size of 441 square feet and includes 6,000 square feet of commercial space.

430 East 80th St

38,100 sf assisted living facility

Coast to Coast Assisted Living Realty / n/a

Healthcare REIT / n/a

The property sold for $26.4 million.

77 Commercial St (Brooklyn)

Development site

n/a / n/a

n/a / R. Knakal, M. Lively, Massey Knakal

The waterfront development site sold for $25 million. The property has 235 feet of frontage along the water.

242 Bedford Ave (Brooklyn)

Stalled development site

Midtown Equities; Aurora Capital; Alex Adjmi / n/a

Yahuda Backer / n/a

The purchase of the stalled development site closed for $23 million, the New York Post reported. The buyers will develop a 150,000-square-foot luxury rental building with a Whole Foods and New York Sports Club at the base.

342-350 West 71st St

3 single-room occupancy bldgs, 365 rooms total

Icon Realty Management affiliate / n/a

J & J Hotel / A. Doshi, A. Frantz, G. Raff, Besen & Associates

The adjacent properties sold for $18.5 million. The buildings had been used for years as an informal hotel.

21 and 25-27 Mercer St

Mixed-use bldgs, 27,750 sf total

East End Capital / D. Schechtman, P. Hauspurg, L. Lieberman, G. Meese, Eastern Consolidated

Aion Partners / D. Schechtman, P. Hauspurg, L. Lieberman, G. Meese, Eastern Consolidated

The properties sold for $18 million.

109 Gold St (Brooklyn)

7-story, 36,944 sf apt. bldg, 33 units total

The Praedium Group; North End Equities / n/a

The Constellation Group / Stephen Palmese, Massey Knakal

The property sold for $14.5 million.

45 Bay 19th St (Brooklyn)

7-story, 79,700 sf apt. bldg, 80 units total

Bay Street Properties LLC / Aaron Jungreis, Rosewood Realty

45 Bay 19 LLC / Aaron Jungreis, Rosewood Realty

The elevator building sold for $11.8 million. The price represents a gross rent multiple of 11.9.

1000 Dean St (Brooklyn)

4-story, 140,000 sf industrial bldg

n/a / n/a

n/a / M. Amirkhanian, J. Ciraulo, Massey Knakal

The warehouse building sold for $11 million.

72-74 and 104 Forsyth St

3 apt. bldgs, 56 units total

n/a / n/a

n/a / Jonathan Aziz, City Prime Realty

The properties sold for $9.8 million. The buildings have a combined six stores.

2146 Nostrand Ave (Brooklyn)

15,000 sf retail bldg

Local investor / n/a

n/a / W. O’Brien, K. Cohen, M.C. O’Brien

The Flatbush Federal Savings and Loan Building sold for $9.3 million in a transaction that also included another nearby retail property and a parking lot.

The

www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 85

Buys continued Address

Size

Buyer/ Representative

Seller / Representative

Notes

2150 Wallace Ave (The Bronx)

6-story, 69,927 sf apt. bldg, 71 units total

Seymour I. Hurwitz Esq. / Ronnie Shaban, Besen & Associates

Lawrence S. Rabine Esq. / A. Doshi, L. Blumberg, Besen & Associates

The prewar building sold for $8.75 million, or $125 per square foot. The price represents a capitalization rate of 6.2 and a gross rent multiple of 8.9.

620 Foster Ave (Brooklyn)

26,665 sf office bldg

National Society for Hebrew Day Schools / Nick Zweig, Locations Commercial Real Estate

620 Foster Avenue Associates / Nick Zweig, Locations Commercial Real Estate

The property sold for $7.87 million, or $295 per square foot.

337 East 62nd St

27,314 buildable sf development site

n/a / George Tule, Landmark

n/a / R. Knakal, C. Olsen, Massey Knakal

The development site sold for $7 million, or $256 per buildable square foot. The property consists of a vacant, three-story building and an adjacent lot.

134 Grand St

Comm. co-op

n/a / T. Ghose, J. Barnett, Halstead

Michael Rollhaus / n/a

The ground-floor commercial co-op unit sold for $6.9 million.

245 Seaman Ave and 570 Isham St

2 apt. bldgs, 55 units total

Robert E. Helpern / A. Doshi, L. Blumberg, Besen & Associates

Gary A. Kreinik Esq. / Will Rogers, Fenwick Keats

The elevator buildings sold for $6.7 million.

166 West 18th St

4,000 sf retail condo

Lloyd Goldman / Jeffrey Fishman, RKF

Ben Shaoul / Jeffrey Fishman, RKF

The retail component of the Yves Chelsea condo building sold for $6.6 million. The space is currently occupied by real estate brokerage Core NYC, whose lease runs through 2018.

6303-6311 Fifth Ave (Brooklyn)

Three 1-story comm. bldgs, 35,500 sf total

Local investor / A. Hess, J. Colleran, TerraCRG

Joseph Vitacco / A. Hess, J. Colleran, TerraCRG

The package of three retail and industrial buildings sold for $6.3 million, or $177 per square foot. The properties have an additional 42,000 square feet of air rights.

15 West 20th St and 32 West 18th St

2 retail condos, 8,933 sf total

YH18 / Aliza Avital, Eastern Consolidated

Extell Development Company / Martin Ezratty, Eastern Consolidated

The retail condos sold for $6.1 million.

1050 Atlantic Ave (Brooklyn)

50,000 sf industrial bldg

Storage Deluxe / n/a

Twin City Lofts LLC / n/a

The property sold for $5.375 million. Real estate law firm Cohen & Perfetto LLP represented the buyer in the transaction.

5601 First Ave (Brooklyn)

3-story, 39,432 sf industrial bldg

5601 Realty LLC / n/a

Shorecor Realty / TerraCRG

The property sold for $5 million, or $127 per square foot.

221-10 Jamaica Ave (Queens)

4-story, 47,062 sf office bldg

GWB Realty Associates of New Jersey LLC / D. Sargoy, Z. Hassid, Brown Harris Stevens

n/a / n/a

The property sold for $4.8 million.

363-371 Prospect Place (Brooklyn)

36,000 buildable sf development site

n/a / n/a

n/a / Michael Amirkhanian, Massey Knakal

The block-through development site sold for $4.5 million, or about $125 per buildable square foot. The property currently has an Interfaith Medical storage facility. The buyer plans to convert the existing warehouse building into 44 rental apartments.

3511 Dekalb Ave (The Bronx)

6-story, 36,244 sf apt. bldg, 27 units total

Shivirai Realty LLC / Amit Doshi, Besen & Associates

3511 Dekalb Avenue LLC / Amit Doshi, Besen & Associates

The elevator building sold for $4.4 million, or $122 per square foot. The price represents a capitalization rate of 8.2 and a gross rent multiple of 7.7.

190 Claremont Ave

13,680 sf apt. bldg, 15 units total

n/a / n/a

n/a / R. Knakal, R. Shapiro, Massey Knakal

The property sold for $3.95 million, or $289 per square foot. The price represents a capitalization rate of 3.71 percent and a gross rent multiple of 14.02.

The most comprehensive commercial mortgage and real estate tool available! ACTOVIA is the premier software for commercial mortgage AND real estate business intelligence. Its powerful new technology with an easy-to-use interface that targets opportunities to purchase or sell commercial buildings below market value. The system integrates the owner and contact information so you can reach the decision makers!

Let us show you! Please call today for your complementary demo and trial.

86 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

732 . 987. 9870 908 . 247. 8900 www.actoviacmi.com

Buys continued Address

Size

Buyer/ Representative

Seller / Representative

Notes

36-40 Linden St (Brooklyn)

4-story, 37,300 sf apt. bldg, 38 units total

Private investor / Lev Mavashev, Besen & Associates

Godspeed New York LLC / Lev Mavashev, Besen & Associates

The walk-up building sold for $3.8 million. The price represents a capitalization rate of 7.4 and a gross rent multiple of 7.9.

42 Walker St

5-story, 11,200 sf bldg

n/a / n/a

n/a / M. Decheser, N. Petkoff, Massey Knakal

The Interim Multiple Dwelling building sold for $3.37 million. The property, which has a useable basement, retail on the ground floor and four residential units above, sold with three IMD tenants in place.

127 West 24th St

7,518 sf comm. co-op

Chakrasambara Kadampa Meditation Center / n/a

TREC Rental Corp. / Rudder Property Group

The ground-floor commercial co-op sold for $3.2 million.

845 Manhattan Ave

9,000 sf apt. bldg, 4 units total

n/a / Bart Zimmerman, Barcel Group

n/a / n/a

The vacant building sold for about $3.08 million.

161 Columbia Heights

5-story, 6,273 sf apt. bldg, 10 units total

n/a / n/a

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York / R. Knakal, S. Palmese, Massey Knakal

The walk-up building sold for $3 million.

652-654 Bergen St (Brooklyn)

22,270 buildable sf development site

650-654 Bergen St Partners LLC / n/a

Relyea French Ltd. / TerraCRG

The property sold for $2.7 million, or $121 per buildable square foot.

447 and 449 16th St (Brooklyn)

Two 4-story apt. bldgs, 16 units total

DSA Management Company Inc. / Aaron Jungreis, Rosewood Realty

Konstantinos Realty LLC / Samuel Kooris, Rosewood Realty

The walk-up buildings sold for $2.625 million. The price represents a gross rent multiple of 13.5.

1119 64th St (Brooklyn)

4-story, 16,020 sf apt. bldg, 20 units total

Local investor / Jake Blatter, Rosewood Realty

Naveh Realty Corp. / Jake Blatter, Rosewood Realty

The walk-up building sold for $2.4 million. The price represents a gross rent multiple of 9.7.

216 Macon St (Brooklyn)

4-story, 15,888 sf apt. bldg, 17 units total

n/a / n/a

n/a / Michael Amirkhanian, Massey Knakal

The property sold for $2.4 million, or $151 per square foot.

60-21 Flushing Ave (Queens)

1-story, 15,450 sf industrial bldg

n/a / n/a

n/a / Thomas Donovan, Massey Knakal

The warehouse building sold for $2.31 million, or about $150 per square foot.

155 Newton St (Brooklyn)

4-story, 7,257 sf apt. bldg, 8 units total

n/a / n/a

n/a / B. Emmetsberger, B. Maddigan, Massey Knakal

The property sold for $2.16 million, or about $297 per square foot.

27-40 21st St (Queens)

25,000 buildable sf development site

n/a / n/a

n/a / A. Holloman, R. Knakal, Massey Knakal

The development site sold for $2.1 million, or $84 per buildable square foot.

8630 23rd Ave (Brooklyn)

4-story, 15,000 sf apt. bldg

n/a / n/a

n/a / J. Shalom, S. Preuss, Massey Knakal

The walk-up building sold for $2 million, or about $132 per square foot. The property consists of three studios, 13 one-bedrooms and four two-bedrooms.

90-01 Jamaica Ave (Queens)

1-story, 4,750 sf retail bldg

n/a / n/a

n/a / B. Sarath, B. Hanson, Massey Knakal

The property sold for $1.9 million, or $400 per square foot.

710 President St (Brooklyn)

3-story townhouse, 3 units total

n/a / n/a

n/a / Andrew Westphal, Ideal Properties Group

The multi-family townhouse sold for $1.73 million.

43-11, 13 and 15 28th Ave (Queens)

Three 2-story mixeduse bldgs

Private investor / n/a

H & S Gordon LLC / Rubin Isak, Falco & Isak Realty

The contiguous properties sold for $1.6 million, or $250 per square foot. The price represents a capitalization rate of 5.6 percent and a gross rent multiple of 14.4.

339-341 Broadway (Brooklyn)

3-story single-room occupancy bldg, 126 rooms total

n/a / n/a

n/a / J. Nelson, M. Lively, Massey Knakal

The property sold for $1.55 million, or $114 per square foot. The building is currently run as the Glenwood Hostel, which caters to overseas tourists.

637 Henry St (Brooklyn)

8-unit apt. bldg

n/a / Marcel Fridman, Barcel Group

The property sold for $1.1 million. The price represents a gross rent multiple of 11.

706 Classon Ave (Brooklyn)

4-story, 6,124 sf apt. bldg, 8 units total

n/a / Shawn Sadaghati, GFI Realty

n/a / Shlomo Antebi, GFI Realty

The walk-up sold for $1 million. The price represents a gross rent multiple of 7.8.

Financing Address

Size

Borrower / Representative

Lender / Representative

Notes

250 North 10th St (Brooklyn)

6-story apt. bldg, 234 units total

LCOR / n/a

Helaba / n/a

A $50 million construction loan was provided for the rental project. The development is slated for completion in 2013, and leasing is anticipated to begin in fall 2013.

76 North 4th St (Brooklyn)

110,000 sf mixeduse bldg

Cayuga Capital Management; Jacob Toll / A. Appel, M. Diaz, Meridian Capital Group

Regional balance sheet lender / n/a

A $28.4 million acquisition and construction loan was arranged for Steelworks Lofts.

53 West 36th St

12-story, 78,426 sf office bldg

Hidrock Realty / n/a

Allstate Investments / n/a

A $22.5 million loan was provided to refinance the property. The five-year mortgage was secured with a 30-year amortization at an interest rate of 3.98 percent.

1489-1565 Forest Ave (Staten Island)

190,000 sf shopping center

Kimco Income Operating Partnership LP / C&W Sonnenblick Goldman

n/a / n/a

An $18 million non-recourse first mortgage was arranged for Forest Avenue Shopping Center.

130 East 18th St

286-unit apt. bldg

130 E. 18 Owners Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $9.5 million first mortgage and a $2 million line of credit were arranged for the building.

2400 Johnson Ave

129-unit apt. bldg

2400 Johnson Avenue Owners Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $10 million first mortgage and a $500,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

72 Poplar St (Brooklyn)

4-story, 33,000 sf bldg

The Daten Group / John Harrington, HKS Capital Partners

n/a / n/a

A $10 million construction loan was arranged for the condo conversion project.

353 East 72nd St

130-unit apt. bldg

Fontaine Owners Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $7 million first mortgage and a $500,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

116 Pinehurst Ave

353-unit apt. bldg

Hudson View Gardens Inc. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $7.4 million first mortgage was arranged for the building.

157 West 79th St

55-unit apt. bldg

157 West 79th Street Owners Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $2.5 million first mortgage and a $500,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

139 East 94th St

39-unit apt. bldg

139-94 Apartments Corp. / n/a

665 Thwaites Place (The Bronx)

132-unit apt. bldg

Thwaites Terrace House Owners Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $2.3 million first mortgage and a $250,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

3671 Hudson Manor Terrace (The Bronx)

190-unit apt. bldg

Manor Towers Owners Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $2.5 million line of credit was arranged for the building.

NCB / n/a house ad

A $2.3 million first mortgage and a $500,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 87

Financing continued Address

Size

Borrower / Representative

Lender / Representative

Notes

98-120 Queens Blvd (Queens)

70-unit apt. bldg

98-120 QB Owners Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $2 million first mortgage and a $500,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

10 West 86th St

30-unit apt. bldg

Ten West Eighty Six Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $2 million first mortgage and a $500,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

9524 Fort Hamilton Pkwy (Brooklyn)

60-unit apt. bldg

Fortham House Realty Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $2 million first mortgage and a $200,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

235 West 108th St

32-unit apt. bldg

235 West 108th Street Owners Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $1.7 million first mortgage and a $500,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

2020 Avenue V (Brooklyn)

49-unit apt. bldg

2020 Avenue V Apartment Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $1.4 million first mortgage and a $300,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

855 West End Ave

24-unit apt. bldg

855 West End Owners Corporation / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $1 million first mortgage and a $200,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

6 East 72nd St

18-unit apt. bldg

6 East 72nd Street Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $1 million third mortgage was arranged for the building.

3105 Avenue V (Brooklyn)f

305-unit apt. bldg

Brigham Park Cooperative Section #3 Inc. / n/a

NCB / n/a

A $1 million line of credit was arranged for the building.

77 Eastern Pkwy (Brooklyn)

39-unit apt. bldg

77 East Owners Corp. / n/a

NCB / n/a

An $800,000 first mortgage and a $200,000 line of credit were arranged for the building.

Other Deals BofA unloads FiDi building for $230 million Bank of America struck an accord last month to sell a Lower Manhattan office building to Beacon Capital Partners and L&L Holding for about $230 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The deal for the 31-story tower, at 222 Broadway and the corner of Vesey Street, was brokered by Jones Lang LaSalle and comes to about $300 a square foot. Beacon and L&L will lease back about 590,000 square feet in the building to the bank, according to Bloomberg News. Bank of America took ownership of the building when it merged with Merrill Lynch, which acquired the building in 1997. (The deal was announced after the deadline for the Deal Sheet.)

Time Warner ramps up office search efforts Time Warner will soon send tri-state landlords a request for proposals as it seeks some 4 million square feet of office space, the Wall Street Journal reported last month. It represents the first step in the firm’s search for space as its leases at 1100 and 1270 Sixth Avenue near their end. It also owns office space in Columbus Circle. Time Warner has 6,500 full-time employees and is considering space in about 20 sites, including the World Trade Center, Hudson Yards and other Far West Side developments, including Manhattan West. Previous reports have indicated that the media giant might opt to trade its coveted Columbus Circle space for a larger block in Related’s Hudson Yards, where it could consolidate operations.

Three UWS rental buildings sell for $145.5M The sale of three Upper West Side buildings once marketed as part of a residential portfolio comprising four properties closed last month for a combined price of approximately $145.5 million, according to Aaron Jungreis, founder of Rosewood Realty Group, who brokered the deal. The first two buildings, at 165 West 91st Street and 393 West End Avenue, sold for $69.9 million and $55.6 million, respectively, and were sold by Hirth Real Estate Entities, a family-owned business that’s owned the properties for decades. Hirth was not immediately available for comment. The third building, 55 West 92nd Street, was sold separately to an unknown buyer for $20 million. (The deal was announced after the deadline for the Deal Sheet.)

Normandy closes on $125 million purchase of Sitt’s 1370 Broadway Normandy Real Estate Partners finalized its $125 million purchase of the 275,000-square-foot office building 1370 Broadway last month, according to several sources. The sellers were Sitt Asset Management and Carlton As80 88 July May2009 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

sociates, the latter of which is the investment arm for the founders of Duane Reade, the Cohen family. In November, the transaction was reported to be in contract for the same price to New Jersey-based Normany, which is led by managing principals Finn Wentworth, David Welsh and Jeff Gronning. (The deal was announced after the deadline for the Deal Sheet.)

Chetrit grabs Brooklyn development site for $25 million The Chetrit Group acquired a residential development site in Greenpoint for $25 million, according to property records filed with the city last month. The site, at 77 Commercial Street between Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street and near the Queens border, is currently home to a 95,000-square-foot warehouse. Thanks to the 2005 Brooklyn waterfront rezoning, the site is zoned for residential building and can be built to at least 271,499 square feet, according to Massey Knakal Realty Services, which listed the property on behalf of seller New York Community Bank. (The deal was announced after the deadline for the Deal Sheet.)

Shamah acquires $42M Brooklyn portfolio Multi-family real estate investment firm Shamah Properties has acquired a six-building, 376-unit portfolio in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, for $42.1 million, Michael Kaplan, director of property management for Shamah, told The Real Deal last month. The company, which launched a $50 million investment fund last year to acquire multifamily properties in New York City, closed on the portfolio April 19, which includes buildings at 2015 Foster Avenue, 1 St. Paul’s Court, 200 East 18th Street, 350 East 19th Street, 75 Hawthorne Street and 2101 Bedford Avenue. (The deal was announced after the deadline for the Deal Sheet.)

W’burg development site sells for $66M A group of parcels known as the Bedford portfolio, along Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, has closed for upwards of $66 million, according to a statement last month from Eastern Consolidated, who arranged the sale. The plots of land — at 158-160 North 4th Street, 151-173 North 3rd Street and 237-241 Bedford Avenue — will be developed into 50,000 feet of retail space and 39 residential units by a joint venture consisting of RedSky Capital and Waterbridge Capital. The development will front on Bedford Avenue, comprising almost the entire block between N. 3rd and N. 4th streets. (The deal was announced after the deadline for the Deal Sheet.)

25 Broad, 627 Greenwich return to lenders Despite much anticipation from the real estate community, two large foreclosure auctions that took place last month drew little excitement. Both properties — 25 Broad Street and 627 Greenwich Street — returned to lenders Lehman Brothers Holdings and Royal Bank of Scotland, respectively. RBS Securities, the mortgage lender on the 124,000square-foot, 13-story building at 627 Greenwich Street that was slated to be transformed into a condominium development pre-crash, took control of the property April 18 for just $40 million, the amount of the original mortgage on the property. The upset price, the lowest price at which the property would be auctioned or sold, was set at $110 million. There were no competing offers despite the presence of several observers.

No hotel for Chelsea Market? The proposed nine-story, 90,000-square-foot hotel addition to the Chelsea Market expansion could soon be dropped, DNAinfo reported. The news came out of a Community Board 4 Preservation and Planning Committee meeting April 16 — the first meeting for the Chelsea Market expansion plan since the Department of City Planning certified it early last month. An attorney for Jamestown Properties, who is behind the project, said the company could cast aside plans for the construction of a nine-story hotel if the board asked for it.

Balazs shows off subdued plans for revamped Standard East Village Andre Balazs unveiled his plans last month for revamping the Standard East Village hotel, the property formerly known as the Cooper Square Hotel he acquired and renamed last year. The Local East Village reported his biggest changes focused on the public spaces of the 21-story property at 25 Cooper Square near 5th Street. “The hotel failed,” Balazs said. “We bought it from bankruptcy. One reason was that the public spaces didn’t work.”

Thor files demolition plans for three adjacent Midtown properties Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities filed demolition plans last month for three adjacent properties on Fifth Avenue, according to city Department of Buildings records. Thor plans to redevelop the three buildings, located at 516, 518 and 520 Fifth Avenue between 43rd and 44th streets, into a 300,000-square-foot building, a spokesperson said. The plans call for building “an architecturally significant modern glass building,” according to a press release the firm sent to The Real Deal. TRD

Relationship Driven. Execution Focused. Recent Financing Highlights

Columbus Square

Public Square

1551 Broadway

Hotel Chelsea

New York, NY 500,000 SF Retail Portfolio

Cleveland, OH 1,264,000 SF Office Property

New York, NY 25,600 SF Retail Property

New York, NY 175,900 SF Hospitality Property

$280,000,000

$127,000,000

$180,000,000

Conduit Financing

West 14th Street

The Berkshire

Steelworks Lofts

Route 17 North

New York, NY 61,000 SF Mixed-Use Property

Hoboken, NJ 93-Unit Multifamily Building

Brooklyn, NY 110,000 SF Mixed-Use Property

Paramus, NJ 125,000 SF Retail Property

$55,000,000

Balance Sheet & Mezz Financing

$33,000,000

Balance Sheet Financing

Conduit Financing

$85,000,000

Balance Sheet Financing

$28,400,000

Construction Financing

Balance Sheet Financing

$23,350,000

Balance Sheet Financing

In 2011, Meridian proudly advised on nearly 2,800 real estate financing transactions. Over our 20-year history, Meridian has earned the trust and confidence of the market, becoming a leading advisor to many of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most sophisticated real estate investment firms.

www.meridiancapital.com New York Office 1 Battery Park Plaza 26th Floor New York, NY 10004 Tel: 212-972-3600 Fax: 212-612-0100

Real Deall - Large - May 2012.indd 1

New Jersey Office 517 Route 1 South Suite 4000 Iselin, NJ 08830 Tel: 732-301-3200 Fax: 732-301-3299

Florida Office 2385 Executive Center Dr. Suite 400 Boca Raton, FL 33431 Tel: 561-367-0005 Fax: 561-367-0099

Illinois Office 8170 McCormick Blvd Suite 220 Skokie , IL 60076 Tel: 773-439-1200 Fax: 773-439-1299

California Office 2029 Century Park East Suite 1400 Century City, CA 90067 Tel: 310-867-2300 Fax: 310-867-2350

California Office 2173 Salk Ave. Suite 250 Carlsbad, CA 92008 Tel: 858-964-0300 Fax: 212-201-5141

Maryland Office 7600 Wisconsin Avenue Suite 800 Bethesda, MD 20814 Tel: 240-507-1919 Fax: 410-504-5748

4/30/12 2:13 PM

Private equity ﬁrms snap up debt on small rental buildings

NYC follows national trend, but city’s real estate firms focus on violation-laden properties BY ADAM PINCUS rivate equity firms such as Stabilis Capital Management, Madison Realty Capital and Onex Real Estate Partners have been buying debt on small, often severely distressed rental properties in secondary neighborhoods in New York City with little fanfare over the past year. These acquisitions resemble similar purchases at the height of the market, when private equity firms, often in partnership with local operators, bought large portfolios of rent-regulated apartment buildings.

tions each, considered a high level, according to the UHAB survey.

But this round of deals is different in two significant ways: The properties are much smaller, and the buyers are seeking to gain control of them by buying the debt, instead of directly purchasing the buildings. This trend of buying debt on small properties in New York City mirrors the nationwide strategies of large funds, which are buying distressed single-family homes and converting them to rentals. In New York City, firms are targeting the nonperforming debt on rental buildings with a high number of housing-code violations, often a sign that the owner cannot cover the mortgage and is cutting back on maintenance, according to several real estate professionals involved in this practice. The housing advocacy group Urban Homesteading Assistance Board recently looked at five private equity and debt firms that, over the past year, bought mortgages on 31 New York City buildings with a total of 588 units. As of last month, those properties had a combined 3,437 Department of Housing Preservation and Development violations, yielding an average of 5.8 viola-

“It is hard to tell what the strategy for the buyer would be here, because it requires very close and very careful management to eke any proﬁt out of these [small] buildings, let alone the kinds of returns you would expect a major private-equity fund would be looking for,” said Harold Shultz, a senior fellow at the Citizens Housing and Planning Council. In February, Manhattan-based Stabilis Capital bought the note on six small buildings in Queens, including 1894 Cornelia Street. Last fall, Madison Realty Capital bought the debt on 237 units in 12 buildings, including 974 St. Nicholas Avenue in Washington Heights; and in December, Onex Real Estate Partners bought the debt on ﬁve buildings with a total of 131 units, including 100 Audubon Avenue in Washington Heights. In addition, Waterfall Asset Management — through its Waterfall Victoria Master Fund — bought the notes on two Bronx properties with a total of 15 units, including 852 East 213 Street, last June. Richard Maidman’s Townhouse Management re-

90 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

SHORT-TERM, HIGH VALUE UHAB was among the advocacy groups that raised concerns during the real estate boom about private equity snapping up rental apartments, which they said caused many buildings to fall into disrepair. To some housing advocates, this new round of investments could be following a similar pattern, though it’s too early to draw any conclusions.

cently bought the notes on five properties — including 735 Bryant Avenue in the Bronx — with a total of 133 units, UHAB said. The number of note acquisitions over the past year has been significant, but not yet anywhere near the level of the boom, when private equity firms purchased about 90,000 rent-regulated apartment units in New York City. Dina Levy, director of organizing and policy at UHAB, said her group needed to further study the debt levels and see if the housing code violations rise or fall over time,

to remove violations, both to improve the properties and to avoid getting slapped with an Emergency Repair Program charge from the city, which puts a senior lien on distressed buildings. The ﬁrm’s strategy is to stabilize a property, then work with the existing owner to reﬁnance or gain control of the deed and sell the building. The process takes an average of one to two years, he said. Townhouse Management, which has an ownership interest in more than 4,000 apartment units and manages about

but the purchases suggest that buyers may be ramping up prices for another cycle of over-leveraging. “We know that private equity tends to expect short-term, high-value returns and we ﬁrmly believe rent-regulated housing — particularly if it is physically distressed — is not the place to realize those kinds of proﬁts,” Levy said, adding that it was too early to know what the outcome of these recent acquisitions would be.

2,000 units in New York City, specializes in small buildings, which is why it has been targeting them in debt acquisitions, according to firm vice president Eliezer Cohen. Cohen said Townhouse has been working to remove code violations at the Bronx and Brooklyn buildings where it has purchased the notes. There are now less than 400 violations in those buildings, he said, down from more than 1,500 one year ago. But even knocking down code violations is under scrutiny from the city. City Council speaker Christine Quinn, in her annual State of the City speech in February, said she wanted HPD to have the power to force landlords to fix underlying conditions and not just make cursory repairs. Cohen emphasized that these small rental buildings can be profitable “if you buy [them] at the right price and don’t overpay. “A lot of the people who are having difficulty bought at the height of the market,” he added. TRD

A NEW BREED Principals at private equity ﬁrms said this time, investors would be more careful. Thomas Capasse is a principal with Waterfall Asset Management, which manages a $2 billion national portfolio. He said the Victoria Master Fund is targeting small-balance, nonperforming commercial loans. Unlike “the bubble era,” when private equity tried to increase net operating income by vacating tenants and raising rents, he said, “the new breed of private equity seems to be a lot more focused on the property.” Waterfall, he said, is spending money

www.TheRealDeal.com March 2012 00

MINIMALIST SOHO LOFT Featured in Vanity Fair, this exquisite loft is located in Soho’s premiere full-service prewar condominium, The New Museum Building at 158 Mercer Street. The 4,171 sf residence is a true masterpiece of minimalist design; a meticulous renovation by acclaimed architect Deborah Berke incorporates the finest 21stcentury conveniences and impeccable design, earning a 2001 Interior Architecture Award from the American Institute of Architects. With 10’6” ceilings, the striking loft offers three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, and a maid’s room. A keyed elevator lends direct access to the entry foyer, leading to the magnificent living room, nearly 59 feet long. Adjoining, the open kitchen features custom walnut cabinetry as well as top-of-the-line appliances by Sub-Zero and Gaggenau. Abundant light floods the space, filtering through 16 oversized windows with north-, south-, and west-facing exposures. The New Museum Building is a prestigious, landmarked, prewar condominium built in 1895 and converted in 1996. Amenities include a 24hour doorman, private storage, and common roof deck. $8,400,000. Web# 1470625.

DENNIS MANGONE

212.418.2060 | dennis@elliman.com

EXCEPTIONAL DOWNTOWN LIVING PENTHOUSE AT 35 NORTH MOORE STREET This sprawling, light-filled penthouse is truly the ideal TriBeCa trophy apartment. Perched atop the Merchant’s House on TriBeCa’s premier block, this duplex six-bedroom home is comprised of over 6,800 sf complemented by 3,000 sf of private outdoor gardens. The north wing of the home features the grand, contemporary great room with 17 feet ceilings and 50 feet of floor-to-ceiling windows with a continuous skylight overhead. The restaurant-grade kitchen is stainless steel from top to bottom and features top-of-the-line commercial appliances. In the southern wing of the loft, a formal living room opens onto the southern terrace, home to an elegant flower garden. Built in 1905, the Romanesque Merchant’s House is a boutique loft condominium with a private garage. PHAC is deeded two garage spaces and the entrance is discreetly located on Ericsson Place. $19,950,000. Web# 1464049.

RAPHAEL DE NIRO

212.460.0655 thedenirogroup@elliman.com

REPRESENTING DOWNTOWN’S MOST COMPELLING RESIDENCES ©2012. Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities. An independently owned and operated broker member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential Financial company. Prudential, the Prudential logo and the Rock symbol are All material presented herein is intended for information purposes only. While, service marks of Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Used under license. Equal Housing Opportunity. this information is believed to be correct, it is represented subject to errors, omissions, changes or withdrawal without notice. All property information, including, but not limited to square footage, room count, number of bedrooms and the school district in property listings are deemed reliable, but should be verified by your own attorney, architect or zoning expert.

PDE Real Deal May Mangone and DeNiro-rev9.indd 1

4/27/12 4:43 PM

Commercial market

from page 24

Midtown, some high-powered (although smaller staffed) financial companies were taking space in Midtown South — largely to be closer to the tech and multimedia firms they often bankroll. Bain Capital Ventures — the venture capital affiliate of private equity firm Bain Capital, cofounded by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney — inked a 3,500square-foot deal on the eighth floor of 632 Broadway. The local office for the private equity firm Bain Capital remains at 590 Madison Avenue in Midtown, a spokesperson for the company said. Nora Stats, the president of Tarter Stats O’Toole, which represents the landlord at the 12-story 632 Broadway, declined to comment on the Bain deal. But she said other financial firms have moved to the building, including hedge fund Serengeti Asset Management. And, she noted, Boston-based venture capital fund, Spark Capital, recently took the top floor at the nearby 138 Spring Street in Soho. “They want to be near the tech companies,” she said, adding that the money managers who work at the financial firms also want to be near their homes in Soho

and Tribeca. Meanwhile, in the Meatpacking District, sources said fashion brand Alexander McQueen is expected to lease space in 22 Little West 12th Street at about $60 per square foot. Jared Epstein, a vice president at Aurora Capital Associates, has been analyzing potential development options in the Meatpacking District. “The freshest new retail concepts are in the neighborhood,” he said. “Where else would you want to be if you are an aspirational retailer?” Overall, the Midtown South asking rent rose in April to $44.23 per square foot, up $0.54 per foot. The availability rate fell by 0.4 points to 8.6 percent, Cassidy Turley statistics showed.

Morgan Stanley’s Downtown deal provided a huge boost to the market. It included an 816,000-square-foot renewal, plus a 337,000-square-foot expansion. The latter lease does not

begin until October 2013, CoStar data showed. Despite growing its footprint in the 50-story, 2.5 million-square-foot 1 New York Plaza, the availability rate in the tower remained high — with a block of nearly 415,155 square feet on the market, all of it above the 42nd floor, CoStar showed. Downtown was the only market where asking rents declined last month, Cassidy Turley figures showed. The average asking price fell by $0.71 in April to $38.08 per square foot. However, in a sign the market was tightening, the availability rate fell by 0.2 points to 10.8 percent, the firm reported. Avison Young’s Kraut, speaking about Manhattan overall, said landlords were getting nervous about larger blocks on the market. “Big blocks tend to drive the market. So some of the bigger landlords with lots of space in the bottom of the buildings are getting nervous now,” he said. But not nervous enough to pare back rents. “You don’t see much price-cutting at all. But there may be additional incentives,” Kraut said. TRD

More recently, one of Fox’s clients — a 35 year-old advertising executive who asked to remain anonymous — bought a condo in Hell’s Kitchen and tried for several months to refinance. But he didn’t have enough equity to meet the bank’s requirements. On Fox’s advice, he took out about 50 percent of the cash reserve he had built up in his life insurance policy, which he’d been contributing to for 15 years. “It was pretty much a no-brainer,” said the borrower, who does not have children. “It saved me a few thousand dollars off my monthly [mortgage] payment.” But industry experts urge borrowers to use caution when considering borrowing against life insurance, especially if they have dependents who are likely to need the money should anything happen to the policy holder. Shnayder cautioned that homebuyers shouldn’t view their life insurance policy as a “piggy bank to fill up another piggy bank.” Tapping life insurance to help refinance a home can be

effective for those individuals disciplined enough to pay back the loan in a timely manner. But costs mount through compounded annual interest as more time passes. Michael Giannetto, a New Jersey–based mortgage loan originator at Residential Home Funding, said borrowing against life insurance should only be used as a last resort. He noted there are other options to help distressed homeowners reﬁnance, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s Home Affordable Reﬁnance Program. “Unless it was a last resort or the only solution, I would not recommend it,” he said. Fox doesn’t see it that way, noting that by borrowing against life insurance, “you’re not changing someone’s net worth, you’re just changing how their debt is positioned,” he said. “They’re not disinheriting their family.” He added that much of the stigma arises from misperceptions about life insurance. People “don’t realize how powerful it can be while they’re alive,” Fox said. TRD

Take Battery Park City, where the gap between renting a one-bedroom and owning a one-bedroom condo is only $94 per month, and where a three-bedroom rents for just under $10,000 per month, or about 10 percent less than the cost of owning a similar unit. That’s despite the fact that Battery Park City comes with some of Manhattan’s highest common charges because condo owners must pay to lease the land from the city. Still, that has made some buyers wary — which has impacted prices — while rents have not been affected, Dunayer noted.

Meanwhile, in Soho it costs 52 percent more per month to own a one-bedroom condo than to rent: $6,084 versus $4,000. Likewise, three-bedroom Soho condos cost $20,359 per month to own, or about one and a half times as much as the median rent of $13,500. No doubt that is the result of the expensive properties on offer in the neighborhood, which has some of the priciest listings in the city. “It’s very desirable for people [to buy in Soho], so they pay a premium to own something there,” Dunayer said. TRD

“You might be really good with people, but you have to be willing to learn the business,” Malin said. Most importantly, employers want candidates who are a good ﬁt for the industry. Success in real estate “takes a maverick type of personality,” said Daun Paris, president of the commercial brokerage Eastern Consolidated. “It requires communication skills, and also the ability to be creative and thrive on the unknown.”

Most of Eastern Consolidated’s new hires are seasoned professionals, including attorneys, accountants and small business owners, so Paris doesn’t typically hire right out of college. But she recommends that graduates interested in commercial real estate start by researching the industry and figuring out if they have the skillset for sales. “For the right person, there are always opportunities in real estate,” she said. TRD

Downtown

Life insurance from page 28 and tax penalties. Plus, it has no bearing on credit scores, making it a relatively cost-effective way to tap liquidity, Fox said. The strategy works best for borrowers who have whole life insurance, which includes investments like stock and bonds, as opposed to term life insurance, which pays only the face amount of the policy to the beneﬁciary upon the death of the insured. “It is actually a really good solution to a lot of problems if you have whole life insurance,” said Tracy Becker, president and founder of North Shore Advisory, a New York–based credit restoration and education company. In 1993, Becker bought a house in Forest Hills, Queens, for $120,000. To come up with the principal, she tapped the cash reserve of her life insurance policy. Four years later, she sold the house for $320,000. “I knew it was a really great real estate deal,” she said. “But without that life insurance cash value, I would never have done it.” She has since paid back the loan.

Monthly nut from page 41 Apartments for sale also tend to be larger than rentals on a square-footage basis, which is especially noticeable among homes with three or more bedrooms, said Mark David Fromm, CEO of brokerage Mark David & Co. “The sweet spot is one- and two-bedrooms ... where it’s often beneﬁcial to purchase,” Fromm said. Some neighborhoods have particularly small spreads between the monthly cost of owning and renting, while in other areas the difference is more pronounced, especially when it comes to condos.

Hiring from page 48 panies are most active, and therefore likely to be hiring. “Open those newspapers, read those business columns, learn who is doing what and what transactions are going on,” Gillian said. “And look at what companies are behind those transactions — those are the companies that are really helping push things.” Similarly, candidates should look for ﬁrms with training programs, Malin said; Citi Habitats offers a ﬁve-day training program for new hires, plus on-the-job training. 92 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Harney

from page 36

to-income ratios of 24 percent (housing costs) and 41 percent (total debt). Homeowners who refinanced existing conventional loans had the best profiles of all: average 770 FICOs, 65 percent LTVs indicating 35 percent equity stakes and debtto-income ratios of 22 percent housing and 32 percent total debt. The main alternative to conventional financing — the Federal Housing Administration — requires much smaller down payments, is more generous on credit standards and will stretch much further on debt-to-income ratios than Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mainstays of the conventional marketplace. What’s the profile for success — and denial — at FHA? You might be a little surprised. According to Ellie Mae’s data, successful applicants at FHA had average FICO scores during February of 701 as well as debt-to-income ratios of 28 percent for housing expenses and 41 percent for total household monthly debt. Although FHA accepts down payments as low as 3.5

percent, successful applicants threw in a bit more — an average 5 percent down. People who didn’t make the cut averaged 666 on FICO and 6 percent for down payments, and had debt ratios of 30 percent (housing costs) and 46 percent (total debt). Successful FHA refi applicants had 722 FICOs, 12 percent average equity stakes and lower debt-to-income ratios than purchasers — 26 percent on average for housing costs, 40 percent for total household debt. What to make of numbers like these? First observation: Ouch! It’s “pretty pristine out there” in the mortgage market right now, said Bob Walters, chief economist for Quicken Loans. Even those rejected for loans appear to have what used to be considered solid and acceptable credit risk profiles. It is still possible to get conventional financing with lower down payments — say, 10 percent or even 5 percent — but those loans require nearly flawless credit and come with steep private mortgage insurance premiums and add-

on fees by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as stringent debt-to-income limits. For cash-short buyers with good — but not outstanding — credit scores who are looking for a low down payment alternative, FHA is the way to go, unless they qualify for VA (veterans) or USDA (rural housing) loans requiring zero down. Another thought about the numbers: Even though the proﬁles of successful borrowers may look challenging to match, keep in mind these are averages. Many homebuyers make it through the application gantlet with FICO scores and debt ratios that don’t quite meet the current benchmarks — often because their full ﬁnancial and credit-risk pictures are good enough to get them accepted by Fannie Mae’s or Freddie Mac’s automated underwriting systems. So don’t fret if you don’t measure up to the averages. You still may have a good shot. But know this about today’s mortgage standards: They’re arguably tougher than ever. Kenneth Harney is a syndicated real estate columnist.

These spaces can also be used as “hobby rooms.” At one family-style building near the Theater District that his ﬁrm is working on, Cetra said he is exploring the idea of making such extra rooms soundproof so musicians can practice in them. At buildings like Walker Tower and One57, master bedrooms aren’t just for sleeping: They often have separate

dressing and/or lounging areas. “This is going beyond just the big bedroom,” Cetra said. “It’s creating an adult suite.” Cetra said he’s seen these areas furnished as sitting areas with TVs, or outﬁtted with wet bars. That way, he added, “if you’re not sleeping, there’s another way to use the space.”

Two markets: Supersize from page 38 architecture ﬁrm Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel. “So why go to the amenities space?” Today’s large apartments also tend to have large walk-in closets and in-unit storage space that’s easily accessible, Cetra said. Some projects he’s worked on have laundry rooms “big enough that you could do the ironing in there.”

Two markets: Pied-à-terre from page 38 lounge aimed to create “a cool, urban club ambiance,” according to its website. Pied-à-terre buyers tend to be more focused on fullservice buildings than on in-home amenities, especially since they may not be planning to spend much time in their apartments.

“If you’re coming in and out of the building only a few times a year, typically you want the knowledge that it’s a staffed building with doormen and such,” Chakrabarti said. “You want as few headaches and as little maintenance as possible.” That may include the services of a full-time concierge.

William Beaver House takes it a step further, with a “lifestyle manager,” to provide services to its residents. Reade 57 has a 24-hour doorman, and all the apartments are prewired for cable, phone and Internet; services that “are designed to make your life easier and hassle-free,” the website says. TRD

weigh in on building issues are tremendous, he said. “As much as a co-op is a place to live, it’s also an investment,” he said. “It’s valuable for people who are deciding what to spend the building’s money on to know what improvements will have the highest dividends in the market.” Sotheby’s International Realty power broker Elizabeth Sample is serving her fourth year as president of the condo board of the Time Warner Center, one of the city’s priciest buildings. Sample and partner Brenda Powers currently have five of the nine active sales listings at the property, including a 75th-floor unit listed for $60 million. Sample said her profession “has never been an issue” for the board, and in fact, she’s used her negotiating skills to vastly improve the building’s financials. “I have a very vested interest in increasing values in the building,” she said. “Who’s going to know the building better than a broker?” When she was first elected as board president, “we went line-by-line through every expense and existing contract, and renegotiated every contract where we felt we were being overcharged,” she said. For example, “our Christmas expenses were $38,000 — that’s absurd.” Since then, the board has built the building’s reserve fund up to $2 million, she said, and has been able to refund carrying charges back to owners. Of course, she noted, the potential conflicts in a condo are less than in a co-op, where board members must approve each resident who moves into the building.

Most real estate brokers who do serve on co-op boards say they voluntarily recuse themselves from decisions affecting buyers they bring into the building, or the listings they market. Some go so far as to absent themselves from all decisions involving approvals. In some buildings, these requirements are written into the bylaws, but most operate with a type of honor system, leaving the decisions up to the brokers themselves. And Garfinkel said brokers recusing themselves doesn’t go far enough to prevent conflicts of interest. “There is no appropriate way for the real estate broker/co-op board member to filter the information that he or she receives in the ordinary course of serving on the coop board,” he wrote. “Once the information is received, the real estate broker may have an obligation to disclose such information.” There are other ways a broker can participate in their building’s affairs, Garfinkel said, without “potentially putting themselves in harm’s way.” For example, they can provide the board with recent market information, he said. These considerations may not be practical, however. There are plenty of other professions or affiliations that could present a conflict of interest on a board, Axelrod noted. “Would you say you can’t have an architect, a contractor or lawyer on your board?” she said. “Where does it end?” TRD

Brokers on boards from page 64 Big time board members Other real estate professionals disagreed, saying it’s entirely possible to serve on boards without crossing any lines of propriety. Moreover, they noted that brokers often use their industry know-how to beneﬁt their buildings. Roberta Axelrod, director of sales and marketing at Time Equities, represents the developer on 10 co-op and condo boards across the city. She said that brokers, provided they conduct themselves ethically, can bring a great deal of value to their buildings. “Most people on the board are not professionals,” she explained. Real estate brokers, by contrast, can advise on resale values and lender requirements. Plus, few residents are willing to give their time to serve on the board, so it’s often appreciated when real estate brokers are willing to do so. Indeed, some of the city’s most high-proﬁle brokers sit — or have sat — on the boards of their buildings. Eastern Consolidated senior director Adelaide Polsinelli is past-president of the co-op board at 2 Fifth Avenue. Sonia Stock, a top sales agent at Prudential Douglas Elliman, has been on the co-op board of 16 Hudson Street in Tribeca for two years and is currently vice president. Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Jared Seligman serves on the condo board at 184 Thompson Street. Gil Neary, president of the brokerage DG Neary, not only serves on the co-op board at 255 West 23rd Street, where he lives, but sits on the co-op boards of two buildings where he owns investment units. The advantages of having a broker 94 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

www.TheRealDeal.com January 2012 00

Hotels

from page 18

pay more money for properties with less income, betting that revenues would increase. As an example, Wilcox pointed to the sale of the debtplagued Union Square W Hotel. The property was auctioned off after its Dubai-based owner went into foreclosure. Despite the hotel’s problems, he said, “there were a lot of people who were looking at it and bidding on it who were willing to accept that cap rate of a very low number because they liked the property and they believed it was going to improve.” He added: “People were viewing it as a once-in-a-cycle opportunity to get this asset.” Now, Wilcox said, sales volume is still high, but prices are “more normalized” because there is less expectation of growth.

Okay to overpay? Despite the slight cooldown in new investment, hotel construction is expected to continue, with about a dozen properties scheduled to come online by the end of 2012, according

to PricewaterhouseCoopers. That includes seven properties in Lower Manhattan, with more than 900 rooms between them. Another two dozen are planned for 2013, including Extell Development’s 487room Hyatt Times Square and the McSam Hotel Group’s Holiday Inn Manhattan Financial District at 99 Washington Street. Moreover, the hotel investment sales market in New York is far stronger than elsewhere in the country. And analysts do not expect big hotel sales — especially deals involving foreign buyers — to drop off in the next year. Sean Hennessey, CEO at Lodging Advisors, a Manhattan-based industry consulting ﬁrm, said there are several properties that may soon hit the market in a bid to attract overseas investment. In March, the Dubai Investment Group announced it was putting the 509-room Jumeirah Essex House, on Central Park South, up for sale. The Wall Street Journal reported that it could net a stunning $1 million per room.

Hennessey speculated that the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel could also hit the market. The hotel, also on Central Park South, was for sale in 2008, but never changed hands. And last month, the New York Post reported that the Sahara Group, an Indian conglomerate, would pay $600 million for the Elad Group’s stake in the Plaza Hotel — including $400 million for the building’s hotel component, or roughly $1.7 million per room. That, Kamali’s Schwartz noted, would be the highest per-key trade in New York’s history. Schwartz also pointed to the March sale of the Hotel Williamsburg to King & Grove Hotels for $33 million, or $520,000 per room, as another recent noteworthy acquisition. At the moment, the number of hotels on the market in the city is down, Magazine said, in part because so many hotels have already changed hands in the last 18 months. Still, he said, talk at a recent hotel-industry conference that he attended in Berlin was encouraging for New York City. “Even if you overpay a little,” he said, “it’s regarded as a safe investment by international buyers.” TRD

Sellers in glass houses

obsession with New York real estate. “Million Dollar Listing New York” doesn’t have much impact on deals for individual listings, since the show airs almost a year after it’s filmed, when most units have already sold. (By contrast, “Selling New York,” appears only a few months after it’s shot.) But developer Zach Vella said he’s seen a bump in activity at his properties, due in part to “Million Dollar Listing.” While the show was being taped, Elliman’s Fredrik Eklund was marketing two of Vella’s new condo developments, 471 Washington Street and 939 Park Avenue. Those two buildings are now sold out. But while filming, Eklund said he made sure to refer to Vella — who also appeared on camera — as one of “the hottest developers of the moment.” Since “Million Dollar Listing” began airing in March, Vella said there’s been a definite uptick in interest in his other properties, including 60 Collister Street, a 15-unit condominium. It’s hard to tell whether the interest comes from the show or from increasing demand for boutique downtown condos, Vella said. Still, he’s confident that the show has helped his properties. “When people are buying multimillion-dollar apartments, they want to see other projects you’ve done,” he said. This summer, the company will begin marketing another development, 250 Bowery. There’s already a waiting list of potential buyers, Eklund said. TRD

Reality TV from page 30 the show, and that attracted a lot of interest. ... People think if it’s been on the show, it must be special.” The unit went into contract a few weeks after the episode aired, Modell said. While the show helped draw attention to the listing, it didn’t seem to do much for the price: The unit closed for just $995,000, almost $200,000 below the $1.18 million asking price. That was also the case at Morgenstern’s Gramercy Park deal, which sold for 23 percent off the $5.45 million asking price. While TV exposure can help pique buyers’ interest in a unit, they don’t seem willing to pay extra just because an apartment has appeared on the small screen, said Shaun Osher, CEO of Core and another “Selling New York” regular. “The market’s the market,” Osher said, “so I don’t think [TV] generally affects the sales price.” Saft found that renters were willing to pay slightly more at 1 Seventh Avenue South after seeing it on “Real Housewives.” Still, it’s very difficult to tell how much the added publicity impacted the sale price, and how much was simply market fluctuation. Before the show, “we were getting 3 to 5 percent less” for units in the building compared to after the show aired, Saft said. But then again, “market conditions had improved” by the time of the airing. And reality TV can also harm a listing, as Elliman’s Shtainer discovered when a three-bedroom Yorkville apartment she’d listed appeared on “Selling New York.” The client viewing the apartment was an elderly lady; appalled by the thought of moving further east than Park Avenue, she harshly criticized the unit on camera. Luckily, the apartment had been sold a month before the show aired; if not, the appearance would likely have hurt its chances of selling. “If the apartment hadn’t already gone into contract,” Shtainer said, “I would have lost the listing.” But that’s the risk brokers take when they agree to have their listings filmed. Clients often disparage the apartments they see, both in the real world and on TV, Modell said. “They say ‘I don’t like the view’ or ‘I don’t like the way it’s decorated,’ ” she said. “All publicity’s good publicity, but you don’t want someone ripping your apartment to shreds on a national TV show.” Modell takes steps in advance of filming to reduce the possibility of a strong negative reaction from buyers, she said; selecting a “neutral” color palate, for example.

Reality TV also comes in handy when brokers want to change perceptions about a building or neighborhood, or even counteract negative publicity. At the Urban Glass House condo in Soho, for example, sales had virtually stalled because of a much-publicized odor problem from a sanitation facility next door. An agent with two listings in the building, Core’s Tom Postilio, decided to spread the word about newly unveiled city plans for a new building to house the odorous garbage trucks. “I spearheaded an effort, through ‘Selling New York,’ to show how fabulous the building is, factoring in the city’s plans,” said Postilio, who arranged an on-camera meeting with other brokers to strategize about how to reinvent the building’s image. The episode, which aired in January 2011, also showed Postilio and Osher taking a tour through the building, pointing out its strengths: great views of the Statue of Liberty and generous layouts. It also painted the new sanitation facility as attractive-looking; “We called it a ‘condominium for garbage trucks,’ ” Postilio said. The strategy worked: Four of six available units in the building sold within three months of the show’s broadcast. “After the show aired, there was tons of extra traffic,” Postilio said. “There were at least 100 people through the door in the first 30 days, and a lot of them referenced the show.” Developers, too, are seeing the benefit of TV’s current

C O R R E C T I O N S A N D C L A R I F I C AT I O N S In the April issue of The Real Deal, the article “Teaming up” quoted a broker who said that Halstead Property requires two-person teams to split commissions in half. In fact, Halstead does not have this requirement. In the April issue of The Real Deal, the article “Leftover lowballing” incorrectly stated that Sandy Edry is the founder of the Edry Group, a Manhattan-based residential brokerage. In fact, the Edry Group is a sales team at Keller Williams NYC. In the April issue of The Real Deal, the “Top deals of the month” feature incorrectly included Stephen Salmon of Salmon & Co. In April’s “Meet the landlord,” Robert Nelson’s age was incorrectly stated as 58. He is, in fact, 51 years old. In April’s “Broker exchange,” Zev Holzman was recently promoted — not recently hired — at Studley, and his new title is corporate managing director, not managing director. He has been with the ﬁrm since 2008, and his former title was managing director. The article “Brooklyn’s Class A woes” from the April issue of The Real Deal incorrectly stated that Ali Esmaeilzadeh’s title is assistant vice president at Forest City Ratner. In fact, he is a vice president at the ﬁrm. www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 95

Rallying cry Pre-crash, in 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial Average for the ﬁrst quarter was 12,354.35, while Manhattan residential sales totaled 3,474. Post-crash, in the ﬁrst quarter of 2009, the Dow Jones average was 7,776.18, while sales dropped to 1,195, Miller’s data shows. More recently, the number of sales has

Noah Rosenblatt, publisher of UrbanDigs, a Manhattan data site and brokerage, agreed, saying: “I don’t think you can make statements to quantify daily market activity unless there is a noticeable change in equities and accompanying fear headlines that happen. You would have to see a 15-to-20 percent correlation in equities sustained over a couple of months [to guarantee any correlation].” Still, brokers maintain there is a psychological impact of stock market movement on real estate consumers. “We are much busier now, compared to last year, and we’re seeing pent-up demand for the last quarter of 2011 because concern over Europe [has decreased,]” said Naomi Muramatsu, director of sales for Bond New York. “At open houses, we have triple the people attending than we had in the last

David Salvatore, a broker with Town Residential, said some of his clients got spooked. On April 20, Apple shares had dropped 9.9 percent since reaching a record April 9, the biggest nine-day slide since August. “It sort of surprised some of [my clients],” Salvatore said. “It was very surprising to them that something so seemingly foolproof would suddenly back up a little.” News such as Apple’s slide is often a worry for house hunters with investments in stocks, Salvatore said. “[If the Dow Jones drops], it’s something of a negative for the day,” he said. “You have to act like a ﬁlter for clients. You need to calm people down and help them think clearly and not micromanage the news. I often think it would have helped me if years ago I’d gotten a degree in psychology.”

been consistent, despite the jump in the Index. For example, in the first quarter of 2011, the Dow average was 12,220.59 and the number of sales came in at 2,394. By comparison, in the first quarter of this year, the average was 13,197.73, with a volume of sales of 2,311. But Miller said he does not believe the results have a causative relationship. “Twenty-five percent of New York City wages come from financial services,” Miller said. “It’s part of the fiber of being here, and so there’s always been a propensity to correlate the Dow Jones Industrial Average with housing here. I don’t ascribe to that belief. Housing is not a stock. [Rather], if you have a robust and actively traded market, in theory, employment is more likely to be stable, which consummates sales transactions.”

quarter of 2011.” Elliman’s Stock said buyers are often more hesitant in a down market. “In a bad market, people become more and more cautious and are afraid to pull the trigger on something that could work for them. The stock market is a very big deal for us brokers downtown so close to Wall Street. Good news means more business.” Eklund argued that the perception of the buyer’s own wealth contributes to how quickly a deal goes through. “I check the markets on my phone a couple of times a day,” he said, “and it does make you feel a certain way — poorer or richer. It’s all perception. It’s about how you view your wealth. When the stock exchange is up 2 percent, the phones are ringing off the hook.” When Apple stock slid late last month,

Often, clients can misinterpret the information they receive from news outlets and blogs, said Lisa Verdi, a vice president at Sotheby’s International Realty, saying it can occasionally lead to nervous delays in sales. “I do have customers that quote the stock market on occasion,” Verdi said. “I think they think the real estate market will reﬂect what the stock market is doing, which is really not true at all.” The most reasonable way to view the correlation, Malin said, is to recognize that there are multiple factors at play in people’s buying decisions. “All the things that are going on in the economy affect people’s psyche,” he said. “All of these things together paint a picture and have a cumulative effect on people’s decisions.” TRD

NYC brokers say stock market bounce has led to more sales, but analysts dispute cause-and-effect connection

BY KATHERINE CLARKE eal estate agents and brokers are beaming about the effect the stock market — which posted its best first quarter in 14 years — is having on interest, sales volume and open house attendance. While there is little data to definitively confirm a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the performance of the stock market and the real estate market, brokers say the success of the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index is boosting the number of calls they’re receiving. (The index was up 3.3 percent year-over-year for March and 12 percent for 2012’s first quarter compared to the same time last year.) Brokers also say the decreasing threat of a European collapse is boosting confidence among potential buyers. When people see their portfolios rise, said Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats, “their confidence goes up and they think maybe they can stretch a little further. For some people, it’s their guide on how to transact.” Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Fredrik Eklund said he put seven units, totaling $24 million, into contract in eight days at the beginning of last month. He attributed the rush in sales to buyers responding to the stock market rally and the onset of tax season. The Eklund-Gomes Group at Elliman — which Eklund coheads with partner John Gomes — even added tickers to the group’s website showing activity for stock markets in New York, London and Stockholm to capitalize on the positive psychological impact the stock rally is having. Other brokers also said the bump in the stock market is having a direct impact on their business. “When the stock market is good, that’s when I start kicking off my high heels and putting on my [sneakers], because that’s when I begin to do more and more business,” said Sonia Stock, a senior vice president at Elliman. But despite a general consensus among a handful of brokers about the correlation between stocks and demand for real estate, analysts argue that causation between the stock market and closed deals is almost entirely coincidental. Data provided to The Real Deal by Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel (see chart) showed that sales have correlated with the fluctuations of the Dow Jones Industrial Index over the last 20 years. Indeed, the number of sales correlated with the strength of the Index.

96 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Residential market from page 16 When those brokers’ clients start looking, likely in May or June, they’ll enter the market prepared to buy, Morrel noted. On the sale side, sellers are pricing properties closer to what they are worth, brokers said. That’s in contrast to this time last year or in 2010, when sellers would overshoot on the listing price in anticipation of lowball offers — essentially factoring in some heavy bargaining. “There are far less tire-kickers,” said Max Moondoc, a vice presi-

dent at Barak Realty, “and the sellers that are listing their properties are listing at prices that indicate they are serious about selling.” To be sure, that’s not true of all sellers. Patricia Levan, the president of Levan Real Estate, described one client who has listed his Upper West Side home at about 40 percent over comparable properties, citing record sales at 15 Central Park West and the Time Warner Center, “even though they are more than 10 blocks away and in a different kind of building,” she said. TRD www.TheRealDeal.com March 2012 00

STI_The Real Deal_May2012_fin.pdf 1 4/20/2012 11:58:55 AM

SELECT LISTINGS you accidentally broke a shade in a client's apartment...

SUPERIOR SERVICE IN SAFETY MANAGEMENT

��

SAFETY RELATED SERVICES:

h o r i zo n

� �� -�� -�� -�� -�� -��

C U RTA I N S S H A D E S B L I N D S MANUAL & ELECTRIC

Hunter Moore & Stearns Mystic CT $1,695,000

21 West 38th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10018

(212) 683-7200

www.site-safety.com

For inquiries and more information contact Steven Bailey (212) 300-1509 Email steven@scaniomoving.com

REFERRAL PROGRAM •Generate Additional Revenue•Impeccable Reputation• •Superior Customer Service• •Exceeding Clients’ Expectations•

Waterfront Luxury 3 brm Condo 3632 SF

Follow The Real Deal on Twitter: twitter.com/ trdny

860 535 8300 Michael or Mari Ann

www.hmsct.com/17water

www.BroadwayRealty.com Is now the time to buy? �� Rental rates in Manhattan are up for the 17th consecutive month, reaching 2007 peak levels in 4Q11 �� Mortgage interest rates are at historic lows today �� Your mortgage payment could be less than or equal to your rent �� Capital appreciation potential – �� as economy rebounds �� and you still have time to take advantage of the 421A tax exemption program in new developments

Why choose Broadway Realty to help with your real estate needs? �� Over 15 years in the business with many active market listings today, multiple exclusives, variety of listings from studios/one bedroom starters to high end luxury apartments in the city’s most exclusive buildings (15 CPW, TWC, The Plaza) �� Holistic service approach: inform, educate and execute best deal possible for every client �� Network of mortgage providers that have worked with our clients for over a decade �� with exclusive access to an online database of all NYC listings (a service that prior to this was available only to brokers) – visit www.BroadwayRealty.com and see for yourself

DON’T WAIT! CALL US AT ANY TIME AND WE CAN START

YOUR SEARCH

212.577.2270

Elliot Bogod

Valentina Sharapan

Managing Director

Senior Vice President

ebogod@broadwayrealty.com

valentina@broadwayrealty.com

t. 212.577.2270 ext.221

t. 212.577.2270 ext.224 c: 347.622.1723

ALL QUALIFIED BUYERS WITH THIS AD WILL ALSO RECEIVE 4 COMPLIMENTARY BROADWAY TICKETS TO ANY SHOW OF THEIR CHOICE

98 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

www.TheRealDeal.com May 2011 00

SELECT LISTINGS

[ new york private realty group ] Your Key to Manhattan

Discreet Representation.

Complete Compliance Services:

Monthly Inspections Fire Dept. Testing Repairs & Alterations System Installed Backflow Preventers 718-651-3333 www.citywidefiresprinkler.us

Diligent Research. Results.

Accurately track employee time and attendance at your building

889 First Avenue @ 50th Street New York, N.Y .10022 ٠ www.NYPRG.com David J. Larijani, Broker. DLarijani@NYPRG.com Main 646.502.8969

516-414-1290 www.handpunchguys.com

FRANK D. ISOLDI Invites You To Discover Westfield, NJ

FRANK D. ISOLDI Broker Associate #1 Agent, Westfield Office 908-233-5555 x 202 isre@aol.com www.frankdisoldi.com

$400

A unique community renowned for its top notch schools, beautiful parks, quaint, tree lined streets & vibrant, bustling awardwinning downtown filled with great retail shops & outstanding restaurants. A commuter’s dream town … just 22 miles from New York City with NYC bus & train service & 10 miles to Newark Liberty Airport. Call me to arrange a tour of the town.

Run your ad in print issue and in digital edition Contact: Robert Stearns rs@therealdeal.com 212-991-5047

Buying, Selling or Referring .. FRANK can assist you with ALL your real estate needs.

 

   





     

   

 00 May 2011 www.TheRealDeal.com

  www.TheRealDeal.com May 2012 99

MA Y 1

The Sales Brokers Committee of the Real Estate Board of New York holds its 68th-Annual Cocktail Party to present the Most Ingenious Deal of the Year Awards. The 101 Club, 101 Park Avenue. 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Fee: $60. Information and registration: www.rebny.com.

2–3

The Associated Builders & Owners of Greater New York hosts the BuildingsNY trade show, aimed at small and midsize building owners and building managers. The keynote speaker is David Lowenfeld, executive vice president at World Wide Holdings, who will discuss his company’s residential, retail and school project at 57th Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan. The event also offers continuing education sessions on topics such as LEED, management and code compliance. Jacob Javits Center, 655 West 34th Street. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Information and registration: www.buildingsny.com.

C A L E NDA R 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

The B’nai B’rith Real Estate Unit hosts a luncheon featuring New York City Economic Development Corporation president Seth Pinsky. Among other topics, Pinsky will discuss the creation of the 2 million-squarefoot applied science and engineering campus on Roosevelt Island, with Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The Cornell Club, 6 East 44th Street. Noon to 2 p.m. Fee: $80, $70 before May 4. Registration: 212-885-7239 or akuilan@bdo.com.

The New York Building Congress holds its 91st-Anniversary Leadership Awards Luncheon, honoring Forest City Ratner Companies CEO Bruce Ratner. Hilton New York hotel, 1335 Sixth Avenue. 11:30 a.m. Fee: $475, $850 for priority seating. Information and registration: www.buildingcongress.com.

Openhousenewyork hosts an event called openstudios Brooklyn Navy Yard, featuring self-guided tours of the studios of the architects, artisans and manufacturers housed in the historic complex. BLDG 92, 63 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn. Noon to 5 p.m. Fee: $30 in advance, $35 at the door; for students, $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Information and registration: www. ohnyopenstudiosbny.eventbrite.com.

The Real Estate Board of New York hosts its Ninth-Annual Commercial Management Leadership Breakfast, honoring leaders in the field of commercial property management with the presentation of the Edward A. Riguardi Commercial Executive of the Year Award. Also presented will be the Portfolio Manager of the Year Award, the On-Site Manager of the Year Award and the John M. Griffin Community Service Award, among others. Hilton New York hotel, 1335 Sixth Avenue. 7:30 to 10 a.m. Fee: $100. Information and registration: www.rebny.com. 100 May 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

Groundbreaking Women in Construction holds its third-annual women’s leadership conference. Speakers include Nancy Czesak, first vice president of Tishman Construction; and Joann Gonchar, senior editor at Architectural Record. McGraw-Hill Conference Center, 1221 Sixth Avenue. 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Fee: $545, $345 for members of participating associations, $325 for groups of five or more people. Information and registration: www.groundbreakingwomen.com.

12 13 14 15 16 17

The New York City chapter of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, presents a forum entitled “Building the Future of New York City: New York’s Top Thinkers and Leaders Discuss the Economic and Societal Future of New York City.” Speakers will include Elizabeth Berger, president of the Downtown Alliance; Sam Chandan of Chandan Economics; and Janno Lieber, president of World Trade Center Properties. 7 World Trade Center. 8 a.m. to noon. Fee: $49 for NAIOP members, $150 for nonmembers. Information and registration: www.buildingthefutureofnyc.eventbrite.com.

18 19 20 21

The Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable continues its luncheon series. Speakers include New York City finance commissioner David Frankel; Dan Hartman, principal at Ares Management; and Michael Matrisciani, principal at Matri Holdings. Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn. Noon to 2 p.m. Fee: $900 for individuals (includes the three remaining roundtables), $3,000 for up to four attendees. Information and registration: www.brooklynhistory.org.

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

The Center for Urban Real Estate at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation hosts Megaprojects, an urban planning and development conference focusing on New York City and London. Speakers include Related Companies CEO Stephen Ross, Real Estate Board of New York president Steven Spinola and New York City Economic Development Corporation president Seth Pinsky. McGraw-Hill Conference Center, 1221 Sixth Avenue. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fee: $295, $195 for government or academic admission, $75 for students. Information and registration: www.megaprojects2012.com.

The NYU Stern School of Business hosts the Center for Real Estate Finance Research Inaugural Conference to encourage networking and dialogue between Stern alumni and faculty. A luncheon and faculty presentation will be followed by an alumni panel and reception. Panelists include Silverstein Properties president and CEO Larry Silverstein, Philip Milstein of Ogden Cap Properties and William Mack, chairman and founder of AREA Property Partners. St. Regis New York, 2 East 55th Street. Noon to 7 p.m. NYU Stern alumni and corporate partners only. Information and registration: www.sternalumni.nyu.edu.

ADVANTAGE WHOLESALE SUPPLY

Co-op, Condo and Rental Property Supplies

1-718-BUILDING

(284-5346)

BROOKLYN – Flatbush 1335 Flatbush Ave. (corner Foster Ave.) Direct Showroom Number: 718-534-4511

    

Showroom Hours: Monday - Thursday: 7:30am - 5:00pm Friday: 7:30am - 2:00pm Sunday: 9:00am - 1:00pm

BROOKLYN – Crown Heights 172 Empire Blvd. (between Bedford & Rogers) Direct Showroom Number: 718-534-4510 Showroom Hours: Monday - Thursday: 7:30am - 5:00pm Friday: 7:30am - 2:00pm Sunday: 9:00am - 1:00pm

BRONX – South Bronx 962 Washington Ave. (between 163rd & 164th St.) Direct Showroom Number: 718-292-7300 Showroom Hours: Monday - Thursday: 7:30am - 5:00pm Friday: 7:30am - 2:00pm

MANHATTAN – Washington Heights 1662 St. Nicholas Ave. (corner West 193rd St.) Direct Showroom Number: 718-543-3184 Showroom Hours: Monday - Thursday: 7:30am - 5:00pm Friday: 7:30am - 2:00pm

MANHATTAN – Washington Heights 1028 St. Nicholas Ave. (corner West 162nd St.) Direct Showroom Number: 212-543-1121

st ! e w Ne ation Loc

Showroom Hours: Monday - Thursday: 7:30am - 5:00pm Friday: 7:30am - 2:00pm

More Locations. Better Service.

www.AW Supply.co m

Call us for our full color catalog.

Please call for a sales rep to visit you.

Web hits: The month in review The Beastie Boys

ONLINE

COMMERCIAL SALES OFFICE LEASES RETAIL LEASES

THE CLOSING THE DATA BOOK EVENTS

MAGAZINE

MULTI-MEDIA

The Ace Hotel

Dolly Lenz

Beastie Boy sells JOB BOARD

TIPS

ADVERTISING