By Daniel Geiger

L&L Holding Company dropped a lawsuit yesterday against Barclays alleging that it was owed a right of first refusal to acquire the distressed office building 475 Fifth Avenue. The elmination of the suit, which L&L launched against the British bank in early May, would appear to pave the way for the nearly 300,000 s/f building’s sale. Last month Barclays hired CB Richard Ellis to handle leasing and management at the nearly vacant property. Read more...

By Daniel Geiger

Palantir Technologies is close to expanding at 15 Little West 12th Street, the brand new office building in the Meatpacking District where the California based software company took a floor late last year. Palantir leased the fifth floor, the building’s 13,300 s/f penthouse, in that deal and is now near signing a lease to expand onto the property’s entire fourth floor as well, a roughly 16,000 s/f space. The expansion is the first deal in the building since it was sold to the real estate investment company Epic LLC last month for about $70 million. A leasing team from the real estate services company Newmark Knight Frank led by Newmark’s New York area president David Falk had handled deals at 15 Little West 12th Street before the sale and has been retained by Epic to continue to work at the property. Read more...

By Roland Li

A development site at 612-618 West 47th Street has been sold for $6.79 million in a foreclosure auction, according to city records. According to a listing by Massey Knakal, the the site is zoned to allow 19,750 buildable s/f, and a planned Hell’s Kitchen rezoning could bring the site to 49,375 buildable s/f. The buyer was 618 West 47th Street LLC. Attorney John St. Jeanos of Herrick Feinstein LLP, who represented the buyer, declined to comment. Read more...