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Tom Acitelli

An Arena Grows in Brooklyn

Bounced from Brooklyn? Prokhorov's Prospective Presidential Run Poses Questions

By Tom Acitelli 9/14/11 12:10am

Hmmm... do I take the pay cut?

On Sept. 2, Mikhail Prokhorov, billionaire owner of the soon-to-be-Brooklyn Nets, announced he would consider a run for the Russian presidency this winter if the political party he created, Right Cause, does well in parliamentary elections in December. (The Transom first learned of this from a friend who is a journalist in Moscow, and confirmed it with English-language reports of Mr. Prokhorov’s comments.)

So, if Mr. Prokhorov, the central-casting projection of modern muscular Russia, does, in fact, edge out his friend Vladimir Putin or Mr. Putin’s hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, what will it mean for the borough’s b-ball? Can one man be the leader of a superpower and the owner of a powerhouse at the same time? Read More

office space

The Fall Season in Downtown

By Guelda Voien 9/13/11 1:28pm

Tara Stacom of Cushman & Wakefield.

“I’m more bullish today than I was in 2007,” said Cushman & Wakefield’s Tara Stacom of  1 World Trade and the outlook for the 1,776-foot tower that will offer 3.1 million square feet of Class A office space. “I did not think one of the first tenants would be a million-plus feet.”

Signing the lease with Condé Nast in May of this year was, for lack of a less hackneyed term, a game-changer for downtown Manhattan, especially as the area emerges not only from the Great Recession but from the malaise that characterized so much of the area since 9/11. Read More

the sit-down

Mitch Rudin’s Quarterly Report

By Jotham Sederstrom 9/13/11 12:53pm

mitchrudin_1

In June, Mitch Rudin took the reins as Brookfield Office Properties’s president and C.E.O. of U.S. Commercial Operations following news that Ric Clark would relinquish his role as president of the Canadian firm, which controls downtown’s World Financial Center, while remaining on as C.E.O. of corporate operations. Last week, Mr. Rudin, 58, assessed his progress.

The Commercial Observer: So, why don’t you assess your progress over your first 60 days at Brookfield?

Mr. Rudin: It’s been terrific. I wouldn’t quite call this my midterm report card, but I’ve been here for two months, and to the extent that there have been any surprises they’ve all been pleasant.

What kind of surprises? Read More

power broker

Silverstein's Janno Lieber on the Progress at Ground Zero

By Jotham Sederstrom 9/13/11 10:57am

Mr. Lieber joined Silverstein in 2003.

Uniformed men milled about, waiting for Leon Panetta, the newly appointed Secretary of Defense, to embark on his morning tour of 7 World Trade Center. At the same time, the leader of one of the city’s most powerful trade unions was being greeted as he crossed from the building’s elevator bank to a floor model of the World Trade Center site. Heavyset and stoic, that labor leader was there to address the members of Helmets to Hardhats, an organization that assists soldiers in their transition from battlefields to construction sites.

A few hours earlier, Mayor Bloomberg had arrived in Lower Manhattan along with his own entourage, calling for the end to “Ground Zero” as the shorthand to describe what, over the course of a decade, has changed from a pile of smoldering ashes to the early metallic seeds of a transit hub, a memorial site and a massive complex of skyscrapers. Read More

lease beat

High-End Coffee Outfit Signs with Harbor

By Jotham Sederstrom 9/12/11 4:06pm

coffeebean

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, which is a purveyor of bowling balls (seriously, though, they sell coffee), has signed a 1,500-square-foot retail lease on the ground floor of 1412 Broadway.

The deal at the base of the 24-story, Harbor Group International-owned building brings occupancy to 95 percent occupancy, brokers told The Commercial Observer. The company, which operates at 750 locations worldwide, has, until now, not peddled its iced coffee, green teas or signature brews from a Manhattan store. Read More

lease beat

Finance Firm Expands in Trinity’s 100 A of A

By Jotham Sederstrom 9/12/11 4:00pm

100 Ave of Amer (1)

Two Sigma Investments, an international finance and technology firm, has inked a five-year lease at 100 Avenue of the Americas that will allow the company to expand from its current 38,332 square feet, brokers told The Commercial Observer. Read More

Elsewhere

The Closing: Doorman Debate; 3 Columbus Circle; Night at the Apthorp

By Tom Acitelli 9/08/11 5:32pm

Jonathan Miller breaks down Manhattan housing, pre- and post- 9/11 and Lehman Brothers. [Journal]

How the Lower Manhattan skyline changed—slowly—over the last decade. [Curbed NY]

3 Columbus Circle ready for its close-up. [Crain's]

Mayor Bloomberg’s ex- goes to contract at One Kenmare. [NY Post]

Ralph Gardner Jr. sleeps with the Apthorp, tells. [Journal]

Resolved: the doorman is pointless. [Real Deal]

Avenue U out of juice because of a fire. [Sheepshead Bites]

And this Fort Greene house made us pause and stare wistfully out the window. [Brownstoner]

the lead indicator

Taking Economic Stock at Summer’s End

By Sam Chandan 9/08/11 10:55am

A winter of discontent coming?

The summer our discontent behind us, the weight of inaction threatens anew. It is readily apparent from the most recent data that economic growth and labor market trends slowed markedly during July and August. Yet precious little has been accomplished over this same period to seriously assess or offset the deficiencies in the recovery.

Absent politicians in Washington calming down, or new private or public sources of stimulus, the near- and medium-term outlook for the economy remains clouded. Would that policymakers could approach the growth and employment conundrum with the same zeal—and occasional ferocity—as they approached the budget debates over the past few months, we might be in a stronger position two years after the recession reached its putative end. Read More

Our City Since

Glass Action: The Condo Since 9/11

By Tom Acitelli 9/06/11 8:14pm

The Fresh Direct fridge goes here.

One winter evening in 2006, host Martin Bashir’s voice intoned over the opening of Nightline: “Meet the brash, young real estate assassin, selling lavish dream apartments to clients with money to burn.”

The TV screen bled to an earnest-looking Michael Shvo. “When you see a photo of the New York skyline,” the 32-year-old informed us, “these are buildings I made happen.”

And what made Mr. Shvo happen? Read More