By Al Barbarino 4/18 7:30am

Lease Beat

780 Third Avenue

EverBank Inks Valley National Sublease at TIAA-CREF’s 780 Third Avenue

Jacksonville, Florida-based EverBank has inked a 5,118 square feet sublease at its first New York location at 780 Third Avenue in Midtown East, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The sublease from Valley National Bank is for part of the 16th floor, which was already built out and designed for the needs of a bank, making for a perfect match.

“We acted immediately when we found out that Valley National was offering space at this location,” said CBRE’s Arkady Smolyansky, who represented EverBank with Gerry Miovski and Oliver Barakat, who works out of CBRE’s Florida offices.  “The space at 780 Third Avenue was already built and furnished, allowing us to get EverBank a great space quickly and with minimum up-front capital expenses.  It made a lot of sense.” Read More

By Gus Delaporte 4/17 12:15pm

The Lobby

MaryAnne Gilmartin

Forest City Ratner Confirms Succession Plans

Forest City Ratner Companies today confirmed what has long been understood in New York real estate circles: MaryAnne Gilmartin will succeed Bruce Ratner as president and chief executive officer of the development company.

Mr. Ratner, 68, will serve as the executive chairman of FCRC, stepping aside so that Ms. Gilmartin, executive vice president of commercial and residential development, can take over.

“I’m exhilarated by the notion of being able to partner with Bruce going forward, but I know business,” Ms. Gilmartin told The Commercial Observer in a telephone interview. “I am a developer at heart so Bruce and I are like-minded in terms of the importance of civic building and community and how we create great places.” Read More

By Gus Delaporte 2/26 9:00am

Feature

8SpruceStreet

Head of the Class: Teachers Retirement Fund TIAA-CREF Making Waves in New York

Though not a traditional owner-operator, TIAA-CREF has begun to draw the attention of the real estate industry in recent months for a bevy of deals, including its acquisition of a stake in the Frank Gehry-designed building at 8 Spruce Street and a joint venture with Norges Bank Investment Management.

The asset management firm’s steady persistence in the real estate market during the downturn has led to a realization of gains, and recent deals could lead to the redeployment of capital in key markets going forward, said analysts familiar with the firm’s strategy going into 2013.

“TIAA is one of the investors that was pretty active in the depths of the market in 2009 and 2010, and some of those investments have turned into significant home runs,” said Dan Fasulo, managing director and head of research at Real Capital Analytics. Read More

By Carl Gaines 10/02/12 7:30am

The Sit-Down

dfdfdfd

Cushman Retail Team Bullish on Lower Manhattan Leasing

The list of luxury retailers jockeying for space in Lower Manhattan the past several years, particularly along Wall Street, has been impossible to miss. The same holds true for investment in residential in the area, with Rose Associates taking on the former AIG headquarters at 70 Pine Street, 8 Spruce Street standing tall and the upper floors of the Woolworth Building even potentially on the verge of being transformed into luxury condos. All signs point to retail having a moment. Sensing the trend three and a half years ago, a team from Cushman & Wakefield installed itself in the middle of it all. Senior Directors Michael Stone and David Tricarico and Senior Associate Carl Wunderlich spoke to The Commercial Observer last week from their office at 100 Wall Street.

The Commercial Observer: Can you tell me a little bit about the retail team here?
Mr. Stone: We’ve been with Cushman & Wakefield a little over seven years, our team. About three and a half years ago, we were asked if we wanted to come down to the Wall Street office and establish a retail presence in our Lower Manhattan office. We have a strong office leasing component down here, and they’ve traditionally, for the past 40 or 50 years, dominated office leasing in Lower Manhattan, and we thought, based upon the fact that high-end retail deals were starting to get done on Wall Street and Broad Street, that it was a good idea for one of the big firms—and ours especially—to move a team down here. So we decided, because our practice area is really throughout the city, and we need some mobility and flexibility, that it was a good idea to assist the company in expanding retail. Read More