By Liana Grey
Last week, Nick Stolatis, a sustainability director at TIAA-CREF and a past president of New York’s IREM chapter, flew to Toronto to attend the US Green Building Council’s annual trade show. He was there to speak about benchmarking, a practice he’d advocated long before Mayor Michael Bloomberg required landlords to track energy usage. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” Stolatis said.

By Liana Grey
For brokers that handle swanky new condos or TriBeCa lofts, the sale that landed Norman Horowitz REBNY’s Deal of the Year Award might seem the stuff of paperback thrillers. The seller of a townhouse in the West 150s, eyed by a local businessman looking for live-work space, was neither trusting nor entirely trustworthy. “There was a lot of cloak and dagger stuff going on between buyer and seller,” Horowitz said.

The economy has been showing mixed signs of recovery and recent third quarter leasing statistics appear to indicate that the uncertainty could be leeching into the Manhattan office market. But Boston Properties feels confident that its big bet on midtown’s West Side will pay dividends in the next few years.

Deals are lining up at 150 East 52nd Street. Since taking over the agency work at the building in recent weeks, a team from the real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle says that it already has two leases in the works and expects more on the way.

The William Kaufman Organization announced that Practical Law Company Inc. has renewed its lease and expanded to almost double its previous space in the Tower Floors of 747 Third Avenue
The direct-lease renewal and expansion totals 32,791 s/f and has been signed for a period of 10 years. Financial terms were not disclosed.
According to Michael Lenchner, vice president and director of leasing for Sage Realty Corporation, “We are delighted that Practical Law Company Inc. has not only renewed their lease at 747 Third Avenue, but is also expanding their space. We …

An innovation in the financing of large-scale tenant improvements (TI) has helped close a 400,000 s/f leasing deal in Downtown Brooklyn.
Based on the tenant’s rent cash flow and tied to privately placed bonds, the new form of financing was used for the first time and played an integral part of a $200-million re-capitalization to support the 400,000 square foot transaction.
The financing was arranged by Lance Capital LLC, a firm specializing in tenant improvements funding, and provided by CGA Capital Corporation, which structures credit-backed financing for real estate and other assets.
According …

NEW YORK (October 21, 2011) – In anticipation of the New York City Marathon, scheduled this year for Sunday, November 6, CityRealty Editor Carter B. Horsley announced his list of the top 10 apartment buildings for viewing the world famous event.

“More inspirational than most parades and street fairs, the New York City Marathon has become an international event in which viewers cheer on thousands of runners representing nations throughout the world,” points out Mr. Horsley. “But for those lucky enough to be in any of these 10 buildings, they are also treated each year to birds-eye views of the best of human strength, athleticism and competition.”

Marriott International has reached an aggreement to acquire the clock tower at 5 Madison Avenue according to sources.

Last week, Africa Israel USA, the property’s previous owner, announced that it had arranged a deal to sell the building to an unnamed buyer for $165 million.

By C. Jaye Berger, Esq.
Law Offices of
C. Jaye Berger
As a construction attorney, I can say that it is rare that a change is made in the law which revolutionizes the design industry.
Up until now, the laws in the State of New York only allowed architectural and engineering firms to be owned solely by licensed individuals in those respective fields.
In other words, an architectural or engineering firm may have employees who have worked for them for 20-years, but who have for some reason never became licensed in that field.
There may …

By Liana Grey
Jamella Swift, a broker at Citi Habitats, lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and often handles listings there. Lately, she’s sold a handful of two-bedroom condos and brownstones to young professionals ready to start families.

The neighborhood’s quaint historic district is particularly attractive to parents priced out of Park Slope. The average apartment in Bed Stuy — currently the most-searched Brooklyn neighborhood on Trulia — is listed at $478,732.