By Kim Velsey 11/29/12 6:30pm

Housing Developments

Overcharged.

Stuyvesant Town Tenants Settle Rent Degregulation Lawsuit, Winning $68.7 M.

The tenants of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village have finally settled their class action suit, winning $68.7 million in damages that will be awarded to tenants who were overcharged on their rent between January 2003 and December 2011 as a result of illegal rent deregulation.

The settlement means an end to the lengthy Roberts v. Tishman Speyer legal battle. Tishman Speyer defaulted on its loans in 2010 and the property is now owned by CW Capital Asset Management LLC. The damages, to be paid by CWCapital (on behalf of the
bondholders’ trust) and former owner MetLife Inc, will be divided among 21,250 tenants in 4,300 units. Read More

By Matt Chaban 10/16/12 11:33am

Making History

Let's celebrate. (GEI NY)

Rainbow Room Granted Landmarks Status, Paving Way for Restaurant’s Reopening

Despite concerns the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission might not grant the Rainbow Room landmarks status, having denied a request to do so only a few years ago, the commission did exactly that this morning, voting unanimously to add the historic eatery to the city’s list of interior landmarks, making it the 115th. Now Tishman Speyer and the as-yet unnamed restaurateur it has selected to reopen the restaurant atop Rockefeller Center can get on with the task—though any changes to the space would not have to pass muster with the commission. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/12/12 10:50am

Making History

Dancing into history. (bilde/Angelfire)

Rainbow Room Gets Its Gold: Landlord Tishman Speyer Blesses Plan to Landmark Sky-High Club

One of the big questions surrounding the landmarking of the Rainbow Room was whether or not it would win the support of Tishman Speyer, the august real estate firm that owns Rockefeller Center, home to the famed dance hall and eatery. But the space is lucky as a leprechaun, as the Rainbow Room’s landlord came out in support of landmarking yesterday, according to Crain’s. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/14/12 4:52pm

Making History

Ginger Rogers and Howard Hughes, two years after the Rainbow Room opened. (Getty)

Chasing the Rainbow Room: Landmarks Commission Considers Iconic Eatery

The Rainbow Room, like Tavern on the Green or Chumley’s, was one of those New York institutions no one ever visited, until it was gone, at which point the lamentations became unceasing. The fate of the restaurant atop Rockafeller Center remains a mystery, since it was abruptly closed by the Ciprianis three years ago amidst a rent dispute with another of New York’s august families, the Speyers, who control Rock Center.

Whoever takes over the famous (and famously garish) catering hall in the sky, one thing that is unlikely to change is the decor. Today, the Landmarks Preservation Commission decided to consider the two-story space on the 65th floor of 30 Rock for designation as an interior landmark, one 114 in the city. (Others include the Four Seasons, the New York Public Library and, just downstairs, Radio City Music Hall.) Read More

By Kim Velsey 5/04/12 3:01pm

Manhattan Transfers

6 Photos

Tishman's Apartment

Pierre Co-op With Ample Views of All Robert Tishman Built Sells For $3.82 M.

During his life, king contractor Robert V. Tishman played a role in many of Manhattan’s biggest construction projects and real estate deals, including the construction of of both World Trade Centers.

Among the less-impressive pieces of real estate that Tishman, who died in 2010 at age 94, had in his real estate portfolio was a pleasant, if largely unexceptional two-bedroom co-op in the Pierre. It has been sold by his estate for $3.82 million. 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 Dan Geiger 12/20/11 10:25am

lease beat

666 Third Avenue.

European Union Seeks Midtown Space

The European Union is poking around midtown’s east side for space and is in talks to do a roughly 50,000 square foot deal at 666 Third Avenue, several sources told The Commercial Observer.

The lease at 666 Third Avenue is not yet done, but a person close to the EU said the organization is considering two floors at the building. Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 3/15/11 6:44pm

lease beat

Lazard Takes More of 30 Rock

Already among Manhattan’s top tenants, in terms of space, Lazard, the financial advisory and asset management firm, has renewed its lease at Rockefeller Center, taking an additional 60,000 square feet. The 21-year renewal lease with Tishman Speyer for office space at 30 Rockefeller Plaza will bring the firm’s total square footage to a whopping 430,000 Read More

By Laura Kusisto 3/07/11 9:40pm

Prospective Tenants

Madoff Treasure Hunters Scavenging

Tishman Speyer and a major law firm are sharpening their skates for yet another high-stakes renewal duet at Rockefeller Center.

Baker Hostetler, the world’s 85th-largest law firm, which represented Bernie Madoff’s victims in their search for lost treasure, now occupies 100,000 square feet at 45 Rockefeller Plaza. But with its leases expiring Read More