By Billy Gray 5/16 2:36pm

Assignments

The Harrison at 355 Greenwich Street

Eastern Consolidated Tapped to Sell Homes of The Harrison, Flor de Sol and Five Guys

Eastern Consolidated is marketing the $11.2 million sale of a package of buildings that house downtown restaurants The Harrison, Flor de Sol and Five Guys Burgers and Fries, The Commercial Observer has learned.

A Swedish investment group that owns the three properties tapped Eastern to sell the adjacent Tribeca buildings at 355 and 361 Greenwich Street. The Five Guys branch is located at 496 LaGuardia Place. Read More

By Billy Gray 5/07 11:01am

Power Broker

Lipa Lieberman (Photo: Darcy Rogers)

The Rabbi of Realty: Lipa Lieberman of Eastern Consolidated on Balancing Religion with Real Estate

Growing up in the Hasidic community of Midwood, Brooklyn, Lipa Lieberman noticed early on that his most successful neighbors owned real estate.

“Real estate was always in the back of my mind,” said Mr. Lieberman, 33, a senior director at Eastern Consolidated. But before he entered the industry, Mr. Lieberman earned a bachelor’s degree in Jewish studies at Rabbinical College of America and attended the Central Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch, where he was ordained as a rabbi.

“You’re ordained because you study Jewish law in college and then take the rabbinical equivalent of the bar exam,” Mr. Lieberman said. “You don’t necessarily do it to practice in a synagogue.” Although he never led a congregation, Mr. Lieberman’s religious background—he’s a member of the Chabad sect and spent time abroad at a Chabad center in Venice, Italy—did inform his secular career choice. Read More

By Billy Gray 4/11 1:34pm

Development Sites

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Eastern Consolidated Markets Prime Greenpoint Development Site for $4 Million

Eastern Consolidated Director Gabriel Saffioti, Executive Managing Director David Schechtman and Director of Financial Services Gary Meese are marketing a $4 million, 5,500-square-foot residential parcel at 170-174 West Street in Greenpoint, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The property allows for roughly 18,810 square feet of buildable space between three tax lots. It also includes a 3,960-square-foot inclusionary housing certificate from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Mr. Saffioti said the buildings would likely rise five or six stories and include either 18 or 21 units with rents at $55 per square foot. Read More

By Al Barbarino 4/03 12:00pm

Midtown

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Midtown Wears Crown as Nation’s Priciest Market

A long list of attractions draws cash from all corners of the world to the money pit that is Midtown Manhattan, making it among the most expensive markets in the world.

Midtown’s continued popularity comes thanks to a tourism boom and high demand for commercial real estate that have blossomed post-recession, creating a melting pot of cultures—and cash.

“It’s like a small city within the city,” said Adelaide Polsinelli, a senior director at Eastern Consolidated. Read More

By Al Barbarino 4/03 1:00am

Midtown

Marriott Marquis, Times Square (Credit: Marriott)

No End in Sight for Midtown Hotel Boom

While not on the scale of the hotel boom that captured the city in the late 1980s, significant development in Midtown is keeping pace with continued growth in tourism.

Occupancy rates in the city remain among the highest in the nation, bolstered by Midtown and Times Square, even with a significant uptick in product (i.e. the number of hotel rooms)—and, remarkably, despite the fact that hotels continue to charge the highest room rates in the country.

“Hotels are on fire,” said Alan Miller, an executive managing director at Eastern Consolidated. “I can’t see a location more vibrant than Times Square, because so many people visit here.” Read More

By Billy Gray 3/04 3:48pm

Assignments

Trump Place (Credit: Trulia)

Eastern Consolidated Markets Two-Unit Retail Condo Package At 120 Riverside Blvd.

Eastern Consolidated is marketing two Upper West Side retail condominiums for $5.75 million, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The retail condos are on the ground floor of Trump Place  at 120 Riverside Boulevard, an 18-story, 297,850-square, 277-residential unit tower.

Senior Director Adelaide Polsinelli, Associate Director Robert Khodadadian and Director of Financial Services Gary Meese are leading the marketing initiative, which extends to a five-story brownstone apartment building farther uptown at 310 West 109th Street priced at $2.9 million.  Read More

By Al Barbarino 2/13 4:35pm

Sales Beat

Credit: Granitz/WIREIMAGE

SoHo Property and Alleged Lady Gaga Hangout Sells for $6.1 M.

A bit of economic certainty and some love from Lady Gaga apparently added more than $2 million of value to a SoHo property that just traded hands at 29 Greene Street.

The commercial building, home to a creative media firm that reportedly worked with pop star Lady Gaga, sold for $6.1 million, city records show.

The two-story, 3,700-square-foot property is leased to Two Hustlers, which creates content for the fashion, art, music and gaming industries and birthed a Gaga Constellation interactive window display for Barney’s in 2011, according to a report in Crain’s in October 2012 announcing that the property had hit the market for $6.5 million. Read More

By Al Barbarino 1/15 4:34pm

Manhattan Market Report

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Sevenfold Retail Sales Volume Catapults $13 Billion Q4: Eastern Consolidated

An unprecedented sevenfold increase in retail property sales fueled the Manhattan commercial real estate sales market’s epic comeback in the fourth quarter – its strongest performance since 2007, according to preliminary data from Eastern Consolidated.

The hallmark quarter, with nearly $13 billion in sales volume – the strongest since record-breaking performances in 2007 (peaking at $19 billion in Q2 of 2007) – was triggered by fears of impending capital gains taxes, which had owners scrambling to unload properties before year’s end.

“This was definitely fiscal-driven growth,” said Barbara Byrne Denham, Eastern Consolidated’s chief economist.  “Sellers wanted to cash out and buyers knew it, so they were eager to come to the table as well.” Read More

By Al Barbarino 1/14 3:19pm

Manhattan Market Report

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Education Sector’s Manhattan Office Space Surges With Monster Deals and Expansions

Though it still makes up just two percent of the Manhattan office market’s total inventory, a number of significant deals have caused a surge in the education sector’s Manhattan footprint.

A report from CBRE attributes the 47 percent jump in office space leased by the sector – between 2005 and November 2012 – to a growing residential population, increases in enrollment at universities, campus expansions, greater availability and lower asking rents in sections of Midtown South and Downtown. Read More

By Karsten Strauss 1/10 1:09pm

Sales Beat

2410-2418 Broadway, aka 214-218 West 89th Street

New Year’s Eve Sale: Gilar Group Acquires 2410-2418 Broadway for $47 Million

Albert and Robert Gilardian, of The Gilar Group, acquired 2410-2418 Broadway for $47 million. The transaction closed prior to the New Year and the seller, M.E. & A Realty Co., was motivated in part by concerns over the looming hikes in capital gains taxes and fiscal cliff concerns, according to a release prepared by Eastern Consolidated, which represented the seller in collaboration with Besen & Associates.  Read More

By Karsten Strauss 1/08 7:00am

4Q12

4Q12 for web

Weathering the Storm: 4th Quarter Leasing Saw Improvements

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Times of change and uncertainty are always worrisome for investors—fear takes hold, spending is called into question and valuations become unpredictable.

Mix an election season with the impending threat of a potentially devastating fiscal cliff, then throw in a destructive, rogue tropical storm named Sandy, and you’ve created an environment that is not conducive to a stellar business quarter for the commercial market.

However, thanks to tax law-motivated sales and retail—as well as a handful of big end-of-year leasing deals—the fourth quarter ended on a relatively positive note, despite a slowdown in leasing activity. Read More

By Al Barbarino 1/03 7:30am

Sales Beat

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Eastern Consolidated Arranges $2.5M Sale of TriBeCa Retail Condo

Eastern Consolidated has arranged the sale of a 1,500-square-foot retail condo at 119 Chambers Street, currently occupied by high-end designer thrift shop Housing Works, for $2.5 million, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The condo, located in TriBeCa’s densest retail thoroughfare, features a 1,500-square-foot street level space, with 25 feet of retail frontage, and a renovated 1,500-square-foot basement. Read More