By Billy Gray 5/27 12:03pm

Always Be Selling

The Shops at Atlas Park

Macerich Bets on Affordable Tenants to Draw Customers to Queens Mall

The real estate investment trust Macerich‘s plan to turn around the troubled Shops at Atlas Place mall in Queens will hinge on a roster of retail tenants hawking low-cost goods.

That’s a significant turnaround for the shopping center at 8000 Cooper Avenue, which pleased the local Glendale population with a spiffy design and Regal Cinemas theater when it opened in 2006, but did not woo neighborhood shoppers to its stores. Macerich, which owns 80 malls across the country, bought the 25-acre shopping center out of bankruptcy for $54 million in early 2011. Read More

By Robert Knakal 2/13 9:00am

concrete thoughts

knakal-silo-for-web

Brooklyn Fire: The Borough’s Cultural Renaissance Began a Decade Ago, But in 2013, Values Finally Catching Up

The Brooklyn commercial real estate market is on fire.

Demand for properties in the borough is at an all-time high, and many neighborhoods in Brooklyn are rivaling some Manhattan neighborhoods in terms of value and desirability. Today, many young people moving to New York City are choosing Brooklyn over Manhattan, and their motivation is not simply based on affordability. For teenagers and those in their 20s who live in Manhattan, partying in their own borough is passé. They want to go to Brooklyn, which is now widely considered the hipper of the two boroughs. 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 7:15am

Year in Real Estate

kingsPlaza

A King-Sized Deal In Brooklyn Marked the Biggest Investment Sale of the Year

Brooklyn malls don’t usually come to mind as the city’s highest-grossing commercial real estate. But this year was different, with 5100 Kings Plaza, a k a the Kings Plaza Mall, taking the top spot among citywide sales when it sold for $751 million earlier this month.

It wasn’t just the biggest sale of the year—it was the biggest outright, single-trade sale in Brooklyn ever, according to data provided by Massey Knakal Realty Services. Read More