By Roland Li

For Richard Guarino of ERG Property Advisors, brokerage is a family affair. In 2009, he founded the company with his older brother, Jim, along with Matthew Sparks and James Kinsey. Guarino’s younger brother, Michael, and father are also experienced brokers in the business. Guarino, a managing director who works in investment sales, is seeing an uptick in activity, particularly in multifamily sales. Read more...

By Roland Li

On Tuesday, Forest City Ratner and Frank Gehry unveiled the upper-floor apartments at 8 Spruce Street. The two and three-bedroom units from the 40th to 76th floors were shown to around 150 brokers. Rents weren’t immediate available. The new apartments include three-bedroom model unit on the 52nd floor, as well as the newly opened 22,000 s/f amenities. These include a sixth floor grilling terrace and game room and a seventh floor, 50-foot pool. The building also has a drawing room, private dining room, fitness room and spa. Read more...

By Roland Li

On a sweltering morning last week, a line of visitors, luggage in tow, snaked inside the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. In an adjacent space, workers were constructing an upcoming jewelry exhibit, with half-built walls and tables emerging from the showroom floor. And high above, on an intricate lattice of scaffolding, personnel from Tishman Construction were transforming the building’s roof, unseen and unheard by the masses below. The renovation and greening of over half of the Javits Center’s 12-acre roof is part of a $463 million renovation for the 25-year-old convention center, which sees over 3 million annual visitors. Read more...

By Linda O’FLanagan

Construction is underway on the new Calko Medical Center at 6010 Bay Parkway in the Boroughh Park Park and Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, a multi-million dollar facility that can claim to be a bit of a medical miracle for the borough. Calko will be one of the most technologically advanced medical facilities in the city, as well as one of the largest endoscopy centers in the country. It will also generate an estimated $40 million in business revenue for Brooklyn annually. Yet, for nearly four years, developer Mark Caller couldn’t find a lender willing to back the project … until he met Dr Robert Kodsi … Read more...

By Liana Grey
Five years ago, Vie Wilson, a senior vice president at Corcoran, helped a restaurateur close on a luxury condo east of Morningside Park. The buyer and her husband owned several lounges downtown, including Bar Twelve in Murray Hill and Tonic Bar in Times Square. “I told her she should open a restaurant in Harlem,” said Wilson, a longtime resident of the neighborhood and a top producer at Corcoran.  Sure enough, several weeks ago, Harlem Tavern opened on the corner of 116th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard Read more...

By Liana Grey
Before visiting Mercedes House, a luxury tower in Midtown West, prospective tenants can learn, through the project’s website, that the glass-and-steel structure was designed by Enrique Norten, and that it zigzags above the Hudson River, offering unobstructed sunset views. No mention is made, however, of the building’s LEED Silver rating. And energy efficient features are hardly the focus of leasing office brochures. Read more...

By Linda O’Flanagan

Branded Concept Development (BCD), a real estate design and construction services company for developing restaurant and retail concepts, is on the hunt for good grilled cheese spots. The company has launched a roll out for chef Kary Sparks’ new Melt Shop Grilled Cheese chain. Andrew Moger, CEO and president of BCD, said the goal is to open up to a dozen new locations throughout Manhattan over the next three years. Read more...

By Roland Li

A partnership of Tribeca Associates and Starwood Capital has closed on the $67.4 million purchase of the former Donnell Library at 18-30 West 53rd Street, according to city records. The closing is a substantial step forward in the redevelopment of the building, whose original plan was stymied by the downturn. According to the Tribeca Associates’ website, the partnership intends to build a new 120-room, five-star hotel on the site, which is across the street from the Museum of Modern Art. Read more...

Tony handbag retailer Ghurka which already has an outlet at The Plaza Retail Collection is opening a second Manhattan store at the Sherry Netherland Hotel. Robert K. Futterman & Associates arranged the long-term, 1,140 s/f lease for Ghurka at 781 Fifth Ave. The Ghurka flagship will occupy 915 s/f on the ground-floor and 225 s/f in the basement at its new Fifth Avenue space. Read more...

Photos by Roland Li for Real Estate Weekly