By Gus Delaporte 6/19 7:30am

Lease Beat

1450 broadway

1450 Broadway Welcomes Taiwanese Airline

EVA Airways, the second largest Taiwanese airline, has signed a lease for the entire 3,771-square-foot 31st floor at 1450 Broadway, where asking rents for the tower range from $65 to over $70 per square foot.

“EVA Air might not be a household name to you and me but it is a major corporate tenant,” Jonathan Fanuzzi, broker at Jones Lang LaSalle, who represented the landlord The Zar Group, told The Commercial Observer. Mr. Fanuzzi declined to comment on the exact term of the airline’s lease, but did say it was between five and 10 years. Read More

By Al Barbarino 5/13 11:08am

Hudson Yards

Hudson

Time Warner ‘Leaning Towards’ Hudson Yards

Time Warner is “leaning towards” selling its 1.1-million-square-foot headquarters at 60 Columbus Circle and moving to Hudson Yards, Following the cue from anchor tenant Coach, last month SAP and L’Oréal cut deals to lease 115,000 and 402,000 square feet at Related Companies’ South Tower, respectively, bringing it to 80 percent occupancy.

A media company with the influence and scope of Time Warner would be a game-changer for the Yards, some believe.

“The next tenant is an important moment for the district because it starts to build real momentum with tenants from other parts of the city,” Derek Trulson, a broker at Jones Lang LaSalle, who represents Extell Development Co. in leasing its site in the area, told the Journal. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 4/24 1:00pm

Lease Beat

3_columbus_circle_472-retouch

CVS Leases Space at 3 Columbus Circle

Pharmacy CVS Caremark has signed a 15-year lease for 21,158 square feet at 3 Columbus Circle, it was announced this morning. Asking rents were not disclosed.

The lease is for the vacant part of the 768,565-square-foot building’s ground floor and a portion of the second floor, according to a statement from SL Green Realty, the landlord in partnership with The Moinian Group. The pharmacy is expected to occupy the space beginning June 1. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 4/05 3:00pm

Lease Beat

lower_manhattan_from_helicopter

Nyack College to Relocate Manhattan Campus to 2 Washington Street

Nyack College, a Christian college anchored in the Upstate town with which it shares its name, will double the size of its Manhattan campus when it relocates next month, brokers told The Commercial Observer.

The college signed a 20-year, 166,385-square-foot lease at 2 Washington Street in Lower Manhattan near Battery Park City. The lease includes an option to extend its lease to 2042. Asking rent was $36 per square foot. Read More

By Al Barbarino 2/06 12:06pm

Controversies

Moinian

Group Grades The Moinian Group With a Big Fat “F”

Things could get rowdy when a consortium of elected officials including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn rallies near City Hall this afternoon to issue a report card to Joe Moinian’s The Moinian Group for alleged failings as a real estate developer and landlord.

The report card grades the developer – with letter grade “F” across the board – on tenant relations, safety, financial stability, vendor relations and the creation of good jobs.

“It’s going to be rowdy – we’re expecting hundreds of people,” said Jessica Ramos, a spokesperson for Build Up NYC, one of the groups spearheading the effort.  “We want to create public support and awareness for them to be a responsible developer and build buildings with good jobs that actually help the economy.” Read More

By Al Barbarino 12/14/12 7:45am

Lease Beat

30 Broad Street (Credit: Gotham Realty Holdings)

Skygroup Realty Takes 2,340 Square Feet at The New York Stock Exchange Building

Residential brokerage Skygroup Realty has signed a seven-year lease for 2,340 square feet in the The New York Stock Exchange Building at 30 Broad Street, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The firm relocated to the 26th floor of the building from its previous location at 350 Broadway.

“The tenant runs a successful brokerage firm downtown and they needed to expand into a prebuilt space ASAP,” said Daniel Lolai of Murray Hill Properties, who represented SkyGroup Realty.  “It was very important for them to have minimal downtime when moving so 30 broad was the perfect match… Skygroup Realty deserves it.  It’s a great firm with honest people and they are growing quickly.” Read More

By Billy Gray and Al Barbarino 11/21/12 7:30am

Postings

The Thanksgiving Turkey float during th

Real Estate Leaders Give Thanks

Scanning the papers and business web-sites, you’d assume the economy—and, perhaps, the real estate industry in general—was approaching a quagmire, what with employment rates still lower than expected and leasing sluggish.

Nonetheless, with Thanksgiving approaching we asked some of the commercial real estate industry’s biggest names what they were thankful for this year,and their answers were far more positive than expected.

After the jump, a brief sampling of the responses, as told to Commercial Observer staff reporters Al Barbarino and Billy Gray.
Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 8/07/12 7:30am

Lease Beat

60 Madison Avenue (photo courtesy of CoStar)

DSA Management Takes Part of the 11th Floor in 60 Madison Avenue

Family-owned real estate company DSA Management has inked a 7-year lease to take part of the 11th floor at 60 Madison Avenue, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The company, which is currently listed at 113 East 12th Street, will be moving into a 2,200 square foot office space inside the The Moinian Group-0wned building.

Daniel Lolai of Murray Hill Properties represented DSA Management in the deal. Jovani Rampersad of The Moinian Group represented the landlord in-house.

Asking rent was $45-a-square-foot.

The space had been vacant for a spell, while the 11th floor of 60 Madison Avenue attracted a mix of new tenants like consulting and design companies, a person familiar with the deal said. Corbel Capital Services, a financial firm, and G. Hensler & Company , a fashion designer, also take space on the 11th floor, according to CoStar data.  Read More

By Carl Gaines 5/08/12 7:00am

Power 100

Marc Holliday and Andrew Mathias.

The REIT to Beat: SL Green’s Holliday, Mathias, Named Most Powerful

It was April 23, two days before SL Green’s first-quarter 2012 earnings were announced, and chatter was reaching a fever pitch: Would Viacom, which occupies about 1.3 million square feet at SL Green’s 1515 Broadway, choose to renew its lease or opt to follow its Times Square cousin Condé Nast in taking space in Downtown Manhattan? Read More

By Carl Gaines 4/03/12 9:00am

Mortgage Observer

The Ocean.

1 West Street Condo Refis for $135M

Berkadia Commercial Mortgage has closed on a $135 million Freddie Mac loan for the 446,000-square-foot condo unit on floors 14 through 31 of the landmarked Whitehall Building in Battery Park City.

Vice president Erik Storz and senior vice president Stewart Campbell worked to originate the loan to refinance the 492-unit property for The Moinian Group. It’s a fixed-rate, seven-year loan with three years of interest only payments, the duo said. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 2/21/12 12:30pm

The Sit-Down

Gregg Weiser.

Moinian’s Main Man: Gregg Weisser on Columbus Circle and Young & Rubicam

Gregg Weisser knows how to handle a hot house. The newly anointed executive managing director of the Moinian Group, and volunteer fireman with the Kismet Fire Department in Fire Island, New York, is no stranger to putting out fires, be it a burning beach house or as a director of leasing across some of the city’s most notable addresses. As the real estate director of JPMorgan Chase, where he had worked for over 20 years, Mr. Weisser closed a million and a half feet of empty space in 1 New York Plaza.

Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 1/10/12 8:00am

Leasing Assignments

Colliers

Colliers Named Agent for 245 Fifth Avenue

Brokerage firm Colliers International has been named the exclusive leasing agent for 245 Fifth Avenue, a Midtown South building co-owned by The Moinian Group and Thor Equities.

The 303,000-square-foot Class A building has received pre-build improvements to its mid-level and tower floors, which will have an added emphasis on high-end finishes and glass front offices, the company said in a press release. Sizes for those floors range from 2,000 to 9,000 square feet. Read More