By Matt Chaban 3/12/12 6:30pm

Under Development

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SCOPE-ing Out West 57th Street: Art Fair Takes Over Durst Pyramid Site for the Weekend

Next month, one of the most anticipated groundbreakings in the city is set to take place at the corner of 57th Street and the Hudson River. There, the Durst Organization will sink its shovels in preparation for Bjarke Ingel’s unusual apartment pyramid. Before that fanfare begins,  another triangular structure has quietly risen on the lot, only the latest project to occupy the not-quite dormant site. The giant white tent is this year’s home for nomadic SCOPE art fair.

“I was hoping if we built it, they would come, and so far, they have come,” Alexis Hubshman said. “This is easily our best year yet.”

It does not hurt that the tent is just a block north of Pier 94, where the Armory Show has camped out for the past few decades. “I would be lying if I said that the convenience of it wasn’t important,” Mr. Hubshman said. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 3/01/12 4:34pm

Investment Sales 2012

Peter Hauspurg. (Illustration by Joao Maio Pinto)

Peter Hauspurg on Mastering the Middle

The investment sales market, most brokers agree, has been heating up over the past 12 months. Approximately $25.8 billion in commercial properties changed hands last year, a turnaround that represented an 88 percent increase over 2010. But while the positive uptick is easily verifiable, what happens next for Manhattan’s investment sales market is still up in the air.

Accordingly, The Commercial Observer set out to speak with the real estate industry’s most accomplished capital markets and sales practitioners to learn what’s in store for 2012. Over the next several days, we’ll post interviews with heavy hitters like Richard Baxter of Jones Lang LaSalle, J.D. Parker of Marcus & Millichap, Woody Heller of Studley and Darcy Stacom and William Shanahan of CBRE. But, first, after the jump, none other than Peter Hauspurg of Eastern Consolidated.

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By Drew Grant 10/31/11 12:09pm

Events

Bette Midler and Steve Wonder at the Waldorf

Bette Midler's Hulaween Party Brings Out the (Undead) Stars; Makes Trees Grow on Money

We felt woefully under-dressed as we stepped into the 2nd floor foyer of the Waldorf-Astoria, the entrance to Bette Midler‘s Hulaween party. The theme was Día de los Muertos – the Mexican Day of the Dead – and although we felt like zombies after occupying Wall Street earlier that Friday evening, we weren’t decked out in any apparel that suited the $1,000-a-plate dinner. Read More

By Laura Kusisto 2/25/11 6:50pm

Back to School

Douglas Durst: ‘Showings’ Afoot for Conde Space; China Trip for 1 WTC ‘Like Davos’

Now that Conde Nast is headed south, the publishing giant’s landlord, Douglas Durst, reveals there is already active interest in Conde’s current digs in 4 Times Square.

“It’s a good building and a good space,” Mr. Durst, chairman of the Durst Organization, said Wednesday, following a lecture to an overflowing room with members of Columbia’s Real Estate Development Program. There Read More