Category: Brokerage

New York, NY At the Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY) 123rd Annual Banquet on January 17th, New York City’s real estate industry gathered with city and state dignitaries to honor the professional and civic achievements

New York, NY The New York Real Estate Journal recently sat down with Eli Karp, founder and CEO at Hello Living for a question and answer session. Q: How did you get your start in real estate?  A: I love to create things; it is as simple as that. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a part of something that shapes communities.

A very long time in the making, Hudson Yards is a project taking form in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. Thought up in the early 2000’s, the project broke ground in 2006 and for the past 13 years the eyes of Chelsea, Manhattan and the rest of the world have been focused on the once forgotten, vast, far-west part of Chelsea being redeveloped through this enormous undertaking. The dreaming up and execution of Hudson Yards involves renowned developers, architects, government offices and retailers, all part of an extensive list of the project’s stakeholders.

Manhattan, NY According to John Brod, a partner at ABS Partners Real Estate, men’s fashion and accessories brand, Bugatchi Group, Inc., has signed a 4,751 s/f lease for the entire ninth floor at 145 East 57th St., a 13-story, 64,000 s/f “curated” office property located between Lexington and Third Aves. Bugatchi will be utilizing the space to house its family and business offices

Manhattan’s real estate investment market was a mixed-bag last year and there are concerns that rising interest rates and changes to rent regulation may have the potential to suppress activity in 2019. A look back at Manhattan’s investment sales activity in 2018 shows that investors were already anticipating these market shifts; yet total sales volume and pricing remained rather stable compared to 2017. Investors will continue to be active this year as Manhattan will continue to prove to be one of the stronger markets for both national and international buyers. 

The NYS Self Storage Association (NYSSA), in partnership with the National Self Storage Association, held its 12th Annual Investment Forum this past week at the Union League Club in New York City. This is a national self storage Conference intended for the real estate and capital markets professionals from across the nation as principals or resources serving our industry. Keynote address was given by Calvin Schnure, senior vice president of research at NAREIT, to a sell out audience. Talonvest Capital updated attendees on the changes occurring in both the debt and equity markets with their guest speakers from StorQuest Storage, Metro Self Storage and Christian Sonne, chief appraiser at CBRE’s self storage division. 

When looking at primary real estate markets such as New York City and San Francisco, investors with limited experience in these markets usually comment on their inability to get comfortable with the low capitalization rates relative to secondary or tertiary markets. The main reason for this dichotomy in capitalization rates is due to the value of the land relative to the total value of the real estate, and a real estate investor looking to gain a comfort with primary markets needs to fully understand the factors that influence the value of land. A real estate investor looking to gain a comfort level with primary markets needs to fully understand the factors that influence the value of land.

Not many – if any – things in life remain exactly the same for long.  Consider that statement in the context of real estate. What happens to a piece of real estate over several decades? Of course, without proper maintenance, the property would severely change in appearance and functionality. Certainly property values change from year to year, but over several decades, it’s possible the values increase many fold. How about a legal requirement that remains exactly the same for almost five decades? What if that legal requirement was permanently fastened to the value of real estate in 1973; and effectively precluded you from challenging the city assessor’s annual real estate tax guesstimate?  What you have is a not so warm welcome to New York City tax certiorari.

Manhattan, NY Taconic Investment Partners LLC, a fully integrated owner, operator, and developer of commercial and residential real estate, together in partnership with TH Real Estate (an affiliate of Nuveen, the investment business of TIAA), have acquired mixed-use office and retail tower 440 Ninth Ave. The 411,000 s/f commercial building, located in the Hudson Yards neighborhood at the corner of West 35th St., was purchased for $269 million. The mixed-use office and retail property was sold by Japan-based real estate company UNIZO Holdings Company, Ltd. Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan of CBRE repped the seller. Metlife Real Estate Investors provided the mortgage financing for the acquisition and redevelopment. The venture was represented by Evan Pariser and Michael Gigliotti of HFF and Tom Traynor and James Millon of CBRE on the debt placement. 

Queens, NY The Queens Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Queens) honored its general counsel Raymond Mellon, senior partner at Zetlin & De Chiara LLP, on December 13th with a Chapter Citation Award. Mellon was recognized for his efforts on behalf of AIA Queens to establish the Queens Foundation for Architecture. His legal guidance and advocacy were instrumental to the nonprofit’s inception and launch.

Manhattan, NY According to Cushman & Wakefield, the firm has arranged the sale of 117 East 15th St., a five-story multi-tenanted brownstone in the Gramercy Park neighborhood, off Union Sq. The 6,800 s/f walkup building consists of six residential units, a live-work loft on the parlor floor and a restaurant on the ground floor and basement that was previously home to long-time neighborhood bar & nightclub, Belmont Lounge. The final closing price was $11 million.

Manhattan, NY Howard Epstein, director, HSP Real Estate Group, a member of NAI Global, has arranged a five-year lease at 16 West 36th St. for Plusgrade, L.P. a leading technology provider of upgrade solutions for airlines. The tenant will be moving from a comparably-sized space on the fourth floor of the building to its newly built-out, 5,320 s/f second-floor office in January 2019.