By Damian Ghigliotty 5/31 8:00am

Mortgage Observer

Cover_gentrification

Brooklyn’s Retail Financing Redux: Hipper Shopping En Route

As the economy continues to build steam, a new Brooklyn finds itself craving a new retail culture—and developers and financers are keeping close watch. While New York’s most populous borough has seen a large number of residential buildings take shape in the past year, financing for retail construction projects and acquisitions are just now beginning to catch up.

When asked, the developers behind several of the latest big retail projects told The Mortgage Observer that many of those properties would have a more chic look and feel and a more versatile use than traditional shopping outlets and malls. One common point of comparison has been Jamestown’s Chelsea Market, the high-end urban food court and shopping center with galleries and production studios mixed in. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 5/29 7:30am

Lease Beat

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Mount Sinai Expansion Tops 20,000 Square Feet of Leasing at 1556 Third Avenue

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has signed a 10-year, 3,616-square-foot expansion on the fifth floor of Muss Development’s 1556 Third Avenue, known as the Agora Building, The Commercial Observer has learned. Asking rents were not disclosed.

The medical tenant’s lease, which brings its total footprint to 8,424 square feet, is the largest of 20,000 square feet of new leases and renewals at the Upper East Side property.

“The Agora Building at 1556 Third Avenue is meticulously maintained, providing Upper East Side tenants a high-end leasing option in an area with few comparable alternatives,” said Jason Muss, principal at Muss Development, in a prepared statement. “We continue to see strong demand for space.” Read More

By Gus Delaporte 4/30 1:15pm

Lease Beat

64w48

Document Technologies Expands at 64 West 48th Street

Document Technologies has signed an 8-year lease for an additional 7,852 square feet at Muss Development’s 64 West 48th Street. Asking rents for the property range from the low to mid $40s per square foot.

“We think they’re happy in the building, which is great,” Jason Muss, principal at Muss Development told The Commercial Observer. “It is part of why they’re expanding.” Read More

By Gus Delaporte 4/23 7:30am

Lease Beat

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Brooklyn-Based Medical Practice Expands to Forest Hills Tower in Queens

Central Medical Services of Westrock, a medical practice specializing in workers’ compensation cases, has signed a 10-year, 4,150-square-foot lease on the ninth floor of Forest Hills Tower in Forest Hills, Queens, The Commercial Observer has learned. Asking rent for the building is in the mid-$30s per square foot.

CMSW will occupy the space in the Muss Development property at 118-35 Queens Boulevard beginning in May. The practice is headquartered in Brooklyn with satellite offices in Jamaica, the Bronx, Syosset and White Plains. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 3/01 6:00pm

Lease Beat

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Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Relocates Headquarters

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce has signed a 10-year lease for 4,426 square feet at Muss Development’s Brooklyn Renaissance Plaza at 335 Adams Street in Downtown Brooklyn, it was announced last week. Asking rent was $40 per square foot.

“They were looking for an overall upgrade,” Jason Muss, principal at Muss Development, told The Commercial Observer. “They wanted to send the message that the Chamber is thriving and attracting new members.”

The Chamber of Commerce is expected to occupy the new space sometime in the second quarter. New offices will be added to the space, but there will be few other changes, according to Mr. Muss.

Currently, the Chamber of Commerce is located at 25 Elm Place, also in Downtown Brooklyn. Read More

By Al Barbarino 12/20/12 8:00am

Year in Real Estate

New York And New Jersey Continue To Deal With Aftermath Of Hurricane Sandy

Fast & Furious: The minute-by-minute, behind-the-scenes negotiations that led to this year’s F.E.M.A transaction

The whirlwind negotiations between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Muss Development to create an impromptu relief outpost in Queens in the days following Hurricane Sandy’s descent on New York would not have happened had it not been for one of the real estate industry’s leading dynasties.

In a deal that would later come to symbolize the overall dedication of the city’s real estate titans, government officials and executives banged out terms for 200,000 square feet of temporary space at the Forest Hills Tower in a mere five days, a minor miracle in the world of office leasing. Read More

By Al Barbarino 11/13/12 3:47pm

Post-Tropical Storm Sandy

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FEMA and Muss Development Ink Deal for Hurricane Relief Headquarters in Two Days

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has pulled together a Queens home base for its Hurricane Sandy relief efforts in a matter of days.

FEMA, as the agency is better known, is taking 200,000 square feet across 10 of 17 floors in the Forest Hills Tower, located at 118-35 Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, Queens.

Negotiations began last week with owner Muss Development, and by Sunday the relief agency had begun its move into the building. Read More

By Carl Gaines 7:15am

2012 Owners Magazine

September 4, 2012 (4)

New York City’s Commercial Real Estate Dynasties: The Next Generation

On a recent late-summer conference call, William Rudin, Michael Rudin and Samantha Rudin Earls—three members of one of New York City’s most venerable commercial real estate families—were engaged in a bit of dactylonomy.

The three weren’t trying to come up with the number of buildings currently in the family’s commercial and residential portfolio, but rather were adding up the number of family members currently working at the company.

“That’s two, four …” Some names were mumbled. After a little back and forth, they settled on nine.
In a city known for the prominence of a handful of families in commercial real estate, single names like Rudin, Durst, Rose, Muss and LeFrak have come to symbolize the industry. These families have survived the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression while witnessing, along with the rest of us, the rise of real estate investment trusts, the top three of which now have a combined New York portfolio of roughly 67.6 million square feet.

In a era when the word ‘dynasty’ is often overused and left to trail behind words like—let’s face it—‘sports’ or ‘Kardashian,’ it finds true meaning when one surveys these biggest families in New York commercial real estate. Many of them, after all, are generations old and still control vast portfolios of properties while wielding the type of power that only comes with reputation and recognition. Read More

By Michael Ewing 7/23/12 8:00am

Lease Beat

Courtesy of For the Mommas

Rite Aid Renews Two Leases in Queens

The national drug store, Rite Aid, has renewed leases for two locations in Queens totaling over 17,000 square feet.

The company will take 10,645 square feet in Jackson Heights at  75-75 31st Avenue, the Jackson Heights Shopping Center. The center is a large 130,267 square foot office and shopping complex with tenants including Modell’s, Carvel, Read More

By Daniel Geiger 1/24/12 11:08am

Postings

1173 REBNY 116th Annual Banquet, 1.19.12

Walking the REBNY Ballroom: Hungry Brokers, Angry Lapidus

Speeches were casually ignored, drinks were spilled and bonds were formed at last Thursday’s 116th annual Real Estate Board of New York Gala, which this year drew an estimated 2,000 brokers, owners, advertising buyers and real estate reporters to the New York Hilton for an evening of conviviality, honorifics and hushed deal making. Among the fray was Commercial Observer staff writer Daniel Geiger, who during the course of the evening saw his stenopad tossed by an irate real estate broker and who unabashedly accosted Studley’s Woody Heller in the hotel’s bathroom, all for the sake of the story. Below, a timeline of gala comings and goings, from the innocuous gossip down to the downright obnoxious.  Read More