The New York-based development and construction firm Wonder Works Construction will be leaving its offices in Flatiron to move to Herald Square.
The firm currently houses its main office in a 5,000-square-foot office on the fourth floor of 18 West 21st Street, but will move out in favor of a larger 8,000-square-foot suite at Sol Goldman Investments’ 894 Sixth Avenue. Read More
Marathon Ventures has renewed its lease at 655 Third Avenue, the Commercial Observer has learned.
The investment firm will increase its foothold to 7,340 square feet in the the Durst Organization’s building, leaving its space on half of the fifth floor in favor of the entire nineteenth floor. The firm specializes in technology, media sales Read More
Five retail tenants on Front Street, which was hit hard by Sandy, have extended their leases and will remain at the Historic Front Street development, a joint venture of The Durst Organization and Zuberry Development Corporation, The Commercial Observer has learned.
Il Brigante signed again for 1,100 square feet at 214 Front Street, Jack’s Coffee renewed for 536 square feet at 222 Front Street, Aphrodite Cleaners will stay in 600 square feet at 221 Front Street. Dermatologist Dr. Bobby Buka and Donna Gallo re-inked at 220 and 225 Front Street, respectively. All leases are on 10-year terms with the exception of Aphrodite Cleaners, which signed a seven-year lease. Read More
Some commercial real estate brokers are “kicking and screaming” about the audacity of some city landlords who they claim are disregarding their “exclusives” with retailers by attempting to land tenants on their own.
The idea of “skipping the middle man,” once thought of as a tool for efficiency, is enraging some brokers, who tell The Commercial Observer that large retail owners including Joe Sitt, Jeff Sutton and Joe Moinian, are steering out of their way – but digging deep under their skin.
“Totally not kosher,” one perturbed president of a top city brokerage wrote in an email to The Commercial Observer. “It puts the retail brokers in a difficult spot and it is morally incorrect.” Read More
As forecasters became more and more certain that a monster storm named Sandy was barreling toward Manhattan in the 48 hours leading up to its landfall on Monday, October 29, Real Estate Board of New York President Steven Spinola lay in a hospital bed recovering from a sudden medical emergency.
But the hospital stay didn’t Read More
The West Side of Midtown has increased its presence in the commercial real estate market within the past 20 years. The market now boasts a vacancy rate below 10 percent across all assets.
“To understand this market, it’s important to view it in the context of the history of the last 25 years,” explained Mitch Arkin, an executive director at Cushman & Wakefield. “In the ’80s, the market started pushing west with the development of Carnegie Hall Tower, the Equitable Building, 787 Seventh Avenue, followed by 1585 Broadway, 1540 Broadway, 750 Seventh Avenue, Worldwide Plaza, 1745 Broadway [and] Metropolitan Tower. Those buildings all brought Eighth Avenue and Broadway north of Times Square into Midtown.” Read More
In the face of one of the worst natural disasters in the city’s history, commercial real estate landlords braced for Hurricane Sandy, employing every measure possible to hold property damage to a minimum and keep tenants safe.
But not even prophetic foresight could have allowed the city’s landlords—or New York City as a whole—to prevent much of the destruction that the mammoth storm wreaked across the five boroughs.
The road to recovery, especially in low-lying coastal areas like Staten Island, Coney Island and the Rockaways, will take months, if not years. Lower Manhattan went dark for days, with many companies largely shutting down due to power outages and salt water flooding, which is especially corrosive to mechanical equipment.
“It’s—It’s—It’s just a mess,” said Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the Durst Organization, who struggled to find words to describe the destruction in Lower Manhattan. Read More
Japanese corporate giants Mitsubishi International Corp. has tinkered with its layout at 655 Third Avenue by adding one floor and vacating three inside The Durst Organization-owned building.
The company will be leaving its old space at the 8th, 9th, and 21st floors and will be moving in to the 6th floor in addition to floors 2 through 5 that it already occupied, as was first reported by The New York Post. In the move, Mitsubishi will be tacking on 23,387 square feet to its total footprint, now at a robust 122,500 square feet.
Mitsubishi’s reason for the move was to consolidate space, said Jordan Barowitz, director of external affairs for The Durst Organization. Read More
Insight Global, an information technology employment firm, has signed for 7,300 square feet at the Durst Organization’s 675 Third Avenue. The firm will move from the 30th floor at the building down to the 10th floor, where it will be able to occupy more space.
Located on the northeast corner of 42nd Street and Third Read More
John Grotto has joined the real estate investment and services company Transwestern the firm has announced this morning.
Mr. Grotto was a well-known leasing executive in the city before joining Transwestern, handling deals in-house for the Durst Organization. For several years with Durst, he arranged transactions in the company’s many notable skyscrapers, including One Bryant Park, 655 Third Avenue and 205 East 42nd Street. Read More
CBRE has been tapped to lease up the retail space at the Durst Organization’s 4 Times Square, former home of ESPN Zone, which closed in June 2010, a victim of the recession.
Amira Yunis, an executive vice president, and Gary Trock, a senior vice president—both at the CBRE Retail Group—will lead the team marketing the Read More
John Grotto has abruptly left the Durst Organization The Commercial Observer has learned.
Mr. Grotto was a top leasing executive at the company, which is one of the most prominent landlords in Manhattan, involved in overseeing deals at many of its top assets, including One Bryant Park, Four Times Square and 205 East 42nd Street. Read More
CUNY is close to completing a 161,000-square-foot lease at 205 East 42nd Street The Commercial Observer has learned.
The city university system, which operates Hunter College, Baruch and Brooklyn College among the 24 campuses under its purview, will take the space to relocate and consolidate several administrative offices and the CUNY chancellor’s office on the Upper East Side. Read More
The new logo for One World Trade Center, which The Commercial Observer unveiled to the public last week, has made fans of some, detractors of others.
This writer liked the icon for its simplicity and it’s timeless qualities. In some ways it’s reminiscent of a 1970s building logo, which is a fitting touch, given the 1 World Trade Center’s historical importance on a hallowed site that has seen the destruction of two 1970s skyscrapers. Read More
The Commercial Observer just got the brand spanking new logo for One World Trade Center and we have to say, it is quite eye-catching.
The building, which is being built by The Port Authority in a partnership with The Durst Organization, already has Condé Nast as its anchor tenant. We trust that the Read More
Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof
