jones lang lasalle

By Daniel Geiger 3/02/12 9:30am

Investment Sales 2012

Richard Baxter. (Illustration by Joao Maio Pinto)

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Richard Baxter on 75 Rockefeller Plaza and 10 East 53rd

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 Darcy Stacom and William Shanahan of CBRE, J.D. Parker of Marcus & Millichap, Woody Heller of Studley and Peter Hausperg of Eastern Consolidated. But, first, after the jump, none other than Richard Baxter of Jones Lang LaSalle.

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By Daniel Geiger 3/01/12 10:15am

The Lobby

Lee & Associates Nabs Four New Hires

The burgeoning brokerage Lee & Associates is adding more brokers, including another executive from the bankrupt real estate services company Grubb & Ellis, executives at the firm revealed.

Robert Kunikoff, a retail leasing executive at Grubb & Ellis, will be moving over to Lee & Associates starting this week the executives said. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 3/01/12 9:42am

Big Real Estate

What’s MIPIM? In NYC, Nobody Knows.

It’s not just the biggest real estate conference no one has heard of. It’s the biggest real estate conference period. And, yes, most real estate professionals, at least in New York, haven’t heard of it.

Next week 19,000 guests from 90 countries will descend on Cannes, France, for MIPIM, a four-day event that roughly translates as “International Market for Real Estate Professionals” featuring speaking panels and networking opportunities that allow developers to shop major new projects to prospective tenants and investors. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 2/28/12 1:26pm

lease beat

Knewton Signs Lease on Fifth Avenue

The wave of tech tenant leasing deals in Midtown South continues.

Knewton Inc., a provider of sophisticated online-based learning and education programs for students and test takers, has signed a 16,000-square-foot lease at 100-104 Fifth Avenue, an office building owned by the Kaufman Organization. The term of the deal, which is for the 20-story building’s entire eighth floor, stretches ten years. Asking rents for the space were $55 per square foot. Read More

2/27/12 10:18am

Leasing Woes

A Whole Lotta Space Up for the Takin’ in 2013, WSJ Sez

While leasing activity for much of New York City in the past few months has been more lackluster than blockbuster, a sizable chunk of available space –sizable in the, say, 6 million square foot range– is on the cusp of hitting the market, The Wall Street Journal reports.

New developments like 1 World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center, and Edward Minskoff’s 51 Astor Place, are all slated to hit the market in 2013. The last time NYC had this much new space becoming available was in 1989, said Cassidy Turley’s Robert Sammons. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 2/16/12 9:00am

lease beat

Penson Expands and Renews at 1 Penn

Penson, a financial services company, has expanded and renewed its lease at 1 Penn Plaza, the company’s brokers have told The Commercial Observer.
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By Daniel Geiger 2/15/12 9:00am

lease beat

Amidst Jersey Expansion, Publisher Pearson Expands in Manhattan

Not included in Pearson’s announcement last week to relocate from its headquarters in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, was news of an expansion the firm has secured at 330 Hudson Street in Manhattan, The Commercial Observer has learned. Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 1/31/12 3:40pm

Postings Commerical Observer

Postings: $100 Per Sq. Ft. Or Bust

While a far cry from a peak in 2007, the number of office transactions that crossed the $100-per-square-foot threshold in Manhattan last year—a whopping 56—was three times that of 2010, when only 19 such deals were tallied in the borough. The number of leases signed for office space in the $80-to-$99 range, meanwhile, also saw Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 1/31/12 3:36pm

The Lobby

Eastern Consolidated Promotes, Massey Knakal Hires, Cassidy Turley Poaches

Eastern Consolidated has promoted Lipa Lieberman and Aliza Avital, both former directors turned senior directors whom the firm’s president, Daun Paris, described in a press release last week as talented dealmakers and rising stars at the company. Read More

1/31/12 12:17pm

power broker

Trump Card: The Rise of 40 Wall Street and its Steward, Donald Trump Jr.

“For us, we had to do something different,” said Donald Trump Jr. last week, his voice rising with excitement.

Freshly tanned from a recent visit to Mexico, where he was overseeing a new project, the slicked-back scion grew steadily more enthusiastic as he discussed 40 Wall Street, an office tower that, with its rising and falling tenant roster, has contributed to the Trump Organization executive vice president’s growing reputation as a competent steward of the family name, a reliable fixer and successful dealmaker in his own right. Read More

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