By Daniel Geiger 1/26/12 9:37am

Landmarks

16 Court Street.

Pinsky Defends Downtown Brooklyn Landmarks Preservation Decision

Seth Pinsky, head of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said that the recent motions to landmark buildings in downtown Brooklyn wouldn’t prohibit landlords there from attracting tenants in search of 21st-Century accommodations.

Mr. Pinsky gave his comments participating in a panel this morning in midtown hosted by the accounting and business consulting firm Margolin, Winer & Evens LLP and came as other panelists, including Mr. Pinsky himself, highlighted the need for new space in the city. Read More

By Michael Stoler 11/15/11 10:54am

Investment Tales

mike stoler photo from television

Hudson Waterfront Draws Interest From Institutional Investors

The demand for office space is New Jersey is considered “tepid” in a report by Cassidy Turley.

The Northern New Jersey office market ended the third quarter with a vacancy rate of 14.5 percent, a slight increase from the end of the second quarter. Office-market activity slowed in the third quarter, resulting in 339,408 square feet of negative absorption. Class B office space continues to account for the majority of negative absorption in the market, representing 92 percent of this quarter’s negative demand. Read More

By Michael Stoler 8/16/11 1:50pm

Tales of Investment Sales

452 Fifth Avenue.

Goy-ing Strong! Stoler on Israeli Investors

Earlier in the year, the Association of Foreign Investors issued its latest report, noting that foreign investors see the U.S. as the country providing the best opportunities for capital appreciation. In fact, more foreign investors feel that way than during any time in the past 10 years. This interest seems to be much more highly concentrated in just two cities: New York City and Washington.

A few weeks ago, Globes, the Israeli publication and website, released the results of a survey it commissioned that found that Israelis invested $1.15 billion in U.S. income-producing properties in the one-year period ending June 30, 2011. The survey by Bregman Baraz Real Estate found that Israelis were the second-largest foreign buyers after Canadians. Read More

By Michael Stoler 8/12/11 9:04am

suburbia

mike-stoler-photo-from-television-150x150

Stoler On the Suburban Markets Right Now

The office leasing market has vastly improved in New York City and the region as well as around the nation. Cushman & Wakefield reported that the overall average vacancy rate for the nation’s central business districts fell to 13.9 percent, its lowest level since mid-2009 and its sharpest annual drop since 2007. Vacancy rates declined in 71 percent of the markets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield, with the strongest drops in Miami, midtown south in New York, and Washington, D.C.

New leasing activity in the U.S. C.B.D.’s was up 43.9 percent from midyear 2010 levels. New leases totaling 41.8 million square feet in office space were signed year to date, the first half of 2011 proving to be the strongest in terms of leasing activity since 1998. In the second quarter of 2011 alone, leases adding up to 23.6 million square feet were signed, the highest three-month total since the third quarter of 2007. Read More

By Michael Stoler 7/11/11 3:14pm

$$$

dollarbillsflickr

Insurance Companies Get Busy Lending

Our guest columnist Michael Stoler on the latest big-time lender in Manhattan real estate.

Insurance companies, for many years the most active lenders in the financing of commercial real estate, remain bullish on the state of the real estate market, especially when it comes to our region and the city.

In June, MetLife and Pacific Life Insurance Company provided a 12-year, $500 million mortgage to a joint venture of SL Green and the New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) for the 1.4-million-square-foot, Class A office tower at 919 Third Avenue. The loan bears interest at a fixed rate of 5.116 percent and matures in 2012. Read More

By Michael Stoler 6/01/11 3:46pm

Tales of Investment Sales

Summertime, and the Hotel Trading’s Brisk

Our guest analyst Michael Stoler on the New York hotel market going forward.

As summer gets underway, New York City hotels continue to be busy. A survey by Priceline.com reports that hotels located in midtown west ranked in fourth position for the top 50 destinations nationwide for the Memorial Day holiday. Times Square and Read More

By Michael Stoler 5/18/11 2:44pm

Tales of Investment Sales

Retail Investment in New York Right Now

With ICSC in Vegas in two days, guest columnist Michael Stoler on retail investment sales right now in New York.

Timing is everything, especially when it relates to real estate. It is hard to imagine that in April 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported that a partnership led by the Carlyle Group and Read More

By Michael Stoler 4/13/11 6:01pm

Big Real Estate

Everything You Need to Know About REITs and Hotels Right Now

With the record tourism in the Big Apple last year, coupled with the improvements in the hospitality industry, one of the most favored asset classes for investment is a New York City hotel. While many hotels are owned by local independent investors, one of the most active investors in this asset class is real estate Read More

By Michael Stoler 3/30/11 5:14pm

Tales of Investments

Everything You Need to Know About Israeli Investment Right Now

Ever since the founding of the state of Israel, citizens of this tiny nation have made small financial investments in commercial real estate in the United States. Fifty years ago, these investors might have purchased a six-story walk-up apartment house on the Upper West Side. Today, new breeds of Israeli investors are aggressively pursuing commercial Read More