By Daniel Geiger 1/24/12 1:00pm

Lease of the Week

750 Third Avenue.

Endurance Ensures 750 Third

Endurance Reinsurance needed more office space. But growing wasn’t going to be as easy as just tacking a few new floors onto its existing footprint.

The firm had split its operations between two closely located buildings on Third Avenue, 750 and 767 Third Avenue. A quick perusal of the former revealed that only a tantalizing scrap on the building’s 10th floor was available. Alone, it wasn’t going to cut it. Endurance, a roughly 60,000-square-foot tenant at the time, was looking to grow by about 50 percent or more. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 1/24/12 11:08am

Postings

1173 REBNY 116th Annual Banquet, 1.19.12

Walking the REBNY Ballroom: Hungry Brokers, Angry Lapidus

Speeches were casually ignored, drinks were spilled and bonds were formed at last Thursday’s 116th annual Real Estate Board of New York Gala, which this year drew an estimated 2,000 brokers, owners, advertising buyers and real estate reporters to the New York Hilton for an evening of conviviality, honorifics and hushed deal making. Among the fray was Commercial Observer staff writer Daniel Geiger, who during the course of the evening saw his stenopad tossed by an irate real estate broker and who unabashedly accosted Studley’s Woody Heller in the hotel’s bathroom, all for the sake of the story. Below, a timeline of gala comings and goings, from the innocuous gossip down to the downright obnoxious.  Read More

By Janon Fisher 1/17/12 4:00pm

REBNY2012

David E. Green. (Illustration by Joao Maio Pinto)

David E. Green: Young Real Estate Man of the Year Recipient

Whether it’s revitalizing an old property with hip new tenants, or reassuring an established firm that its current address is the right fit, David E. Green showcases the kind of commercial real estate savvy that has earned him trust among an eclectic portfolio of clients.

Mr. Green’s peers recognize it, too, and that’s why the Cushman & Wakefield executive director has been named this year’s Real Estate Board of New York “Young Real Estate Man of the Year” recipient. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 1/17/12 10:30am

Commercial Observer

Bernard Resnick, Sheldon Silver and Steven Spinola, circa 1996.

Reeling in the Years With the Real Estate Board of New York: In their own words, brokers and owners tell the tale of REBNY’s past half century

Since it started with a roll call of 27 members in 1896 with the goal of “facilitating transactions in real estate,” the Real Estate Board of New York has indisputably been the city’s most influential real estate organization, with its annual gala being to brokers what the Vanity Fair Oscar party is for Hollywood: If you’re there, it means you’re somebody.

Sure, some may lovingly write it off as a veritable men’s club (men are thought to outnumber women five to one), chide it as “The Liar’s Ball” (each year is a broker’s best year, no matter how wretched the marketplace) and speak ill of the food (nearly everyone avoids the chicken and filet mignon).

But the REBNY gala is as essential to a real estate person’s reputation and status as the buildings and bricks he works with. A dozen of the city’s most legendary players spoke to The Commercial Observer about the blurry nights and boom years that helped make the event what it is today.
Read More

By Daniel Geiger 1/12/12 9:00am

lease beat

114 West 47th Street

Durst: BofA Reduction Won’t Hurt Us

Leasing executives at the Durst Organization say that Bank of America’s decision late last week to reduce its office footprint in midtown won’t create a pocket of vacancy in the landlord’s office portfolio. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 1/10/12 5:32pm

Manhattan Market Report

Joseph Harbert.

C&W: Demand for Large Space Shrinks

Year end leasing data unveiled this morning by the real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield showed a host of impressive measures of the Manhattan office market: vacancy dropped, rents rose modestly and more space has been leased in over a decade.

Yet, in spite of the encouraging figures and what is clearly the strongest performance by the market since the recession, uncertainties loom. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 1/10/12 9:00am

lease beat

114 West 47th Street (Courtesy Property Shark)

EXCLUSIVE: Bank of America Shaves 300,000 Feet Off 47th Street Lease

Bank of America has renewed its lease at 114 West 47th Street for approximately 360,000 square feet of space—far less than it currently occupies in the building.

The bank had been in discussions to extend its occupancy at the building for months. On Monday, insiders with direct knowledge of the deal and a spokeswoman for the bank, confirmed that the contracted lease had been signed on Friday morning. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 1/05/12 10:00am

lease beat

40 Wall Street. (Courtesy Property Shark)

Duane Reade Commits to Big Office Relocation at Trump’s 40 Wall Street

New York City drugstore pharmacy giant Duane Reade has agreed to relocate its corporate offices to 40 Wall Street, the same Trump Organization-owned office tower that already houses its sushi-serving, hair-styling flagship megastore.

Duane Reade will be taking the 21st and 22nd floors, for a total of 54,500 square feet, inside the 72-story building. The lease is for 15 years, with asking rents in the mid-$30s per square foot, several brokers said. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 1/04/12 10:00am

lease beat

499 Park Avenue.

Home Goods Maker Inks on Park Ave.

French luxury home goods maker Daum Inc. and its sister dinnerware company Haviland will officially move out of its longtime Madison Avenue storefront to 4,500 square feet of office and retail space at 499 Park Avenue, where the business had been recently operating a temporary store for the holiday season. Read More