By Laura Kusisto 6/08/11 10:46am

lease beat

High-Brow Coupon Concern Lands Union Square Digs

If whipping out a crumpled coupon following dinner at Le Cirque doesn’t exactly appeal, this might be the start-up for you. E-coupon innovator Village Vines has landed its first grown-up office.

“When we went to see the space, it helped that the agent said, ‘I know what you guys are. I just used you!’” the tenant’s broker, Elliot Warren of The Kaufman Organization, told The Observer. Village Vines then successfully landed its first 2,500-square-foot permanent digs near Union Square for five years at 37 West 17th Street.

The company is less than a year old, so for the less technologically inclined, he explained the concept thusly: Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 5/10/11 7:51pm

The Power Broker

Gerald Kiley of Grubb & Ellis: The Fisherman of the Suburban Markets

On a sun-kissed Thursday afternoon, Gerard Kiley arrived at Grubb & Ellis’ new Manhattan headquarters. It was the broker’s first visit to the Avenue of the Americas office, but it certainly wouldn’t be his last.

Indeed, for a broker who focuses squarely on Westchester and Fairfield counties, the 25-year commercial real estate pro’s thrice-weekly, 45-minute Read More

By Laura Kusisto 4/26/11 3:08pm

lease beat

Colorful Hunt Slonem Lands Near 10th

Man of many mansions Hunt Slonem has garnished a new far West Side space.

The Southern painter-cum-interior designer has taken 22,500 square feet for 10 years at 509 West 34th Street, past 10th Avenue. The four-story industrial building over a parking garage has a few columns and windows on three sides, offering the perfect canvas for Read More

By Laura Kusisto 3/10/11 10:39pm

lease beat

MySpace Marketing Gurus Sextuple Space

Big Fuel Communications, the braintrust behind MySpace’s marketing campaign, are massively growing their Manhattan headquarters.

The social media marketing and branded content agency has taken 40,000 square feet at 40 West 23rd Street, which also houses Home Depot’s Chelsea store. We should clarify they did some work for MySpace and Fox a few years ago, and Read More

By Laura Kusisto 2/08/11 5:15pm

Features

The Top 20 Office Leases of 2010

“Banks started to feel a lot better, businesses started to stabilize,” said CB Richard Ellis’ Ken Meyerson, reflecting on 2010. “There was a risk of it starting to get better and better.”

Mr. Meyerson, who helped broker 2010′s largest lease for tenant Société Générale, was not alone in eyeing the recovery in the office-leasing market Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/27/10 6:31pm

Up Up and Away

Air China Lands at Empire State Building

Air China, the official airline of the Communist regime, is moving into some swanky new space on the 69th floor of the Empire State Building. Apparently the looming threat of 15 Penn Plaza was just that, as Fred Posniak, a W&H Properties executive suggested in a release announcing the deal today.

“International brand-name companies appreciate Read More