StreetEasy hosted a summer soiree at the Equinox rooftop terrace atop The Printing House condominium at 421 Hudson this week. Guests enjoyed cocktails and Latin fare by La Esquina and took in the Hudson River views from the condo which boast “the best gym in the West Village.”  Guests included Sotheby’s International Realty’s Katie Rosenberg and Jeffrey Firth; Timothy Simmons, vice president at Brown Harris Stevens; PDE’s Max Dobens, Fredrik Eklund, Yuval Greenblatt and John Gomes, to name a few.
 
 
 

By Al Barbarino

An entity controlled by real estate investor Isaac Shalom has purchased a one-story retail strip at 1875-1925 Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn for $18.5 million.

The strip, located between Foster and Newkirk Avenues, includes 14 mom and pop stores, with 34,000 s/f of rentable retail space.

By Al Barbarino

The latest data from real estate data provider PropertyShark shows that a majority of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city are only getting more expensive.

“Even though there are some slightly negative trends, the majority are either stable or positive, which is a good thing,” said Andrew Mcelhone, who oversees sales and marketing at PropertyShark.

The data suggests that SoHo is the most expensive residential neighborhood in New York City, with median prices at $1,382 psf (despite just two percent year-over-year growth).

By Al Barbarino

Declines in residential inventory in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens have caused significant price increases over the last year, giving sellers a confidence boost.

Manhattan inventory dropped 19.1 percent, from 1,464 to 1,184, as year-over-year median pricing increased 15.4 percent to $1.5 million, according to the June 2012 New Development Report from StreetEasy.

In 2008, Eric Benaim and Ted Kokkoris co-founded Modern Spaces, a brokerage that has grown from a single storefront in Long Island City to a 45-broker operation stretched along the shore of the East River, from Astoria to Williamsburg.

By Sarah Trefethen

Halloween is right around the corner, and retailers are gearing up for the associated spike in demand for wax teeth, curly-haired clown wigs, plastic pitch forks, pointed black hats and little frilly aprons.

The NYC-based fashion chain Ricky’s and the national retailer Spirit Halloween are both planning to roll out seasonal pop-up stores across the city in the coming months.

Katherine Gale, great granddaughter of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty founder Daniel Gale, has joined the organization’s Cold Spring Harbor, New York sales office. She joins one of the nation’s leading realtors as a licensed salesperson.
“We are so pleased that Katie has chosen to join Daniel Gale Sotheby’s and hope that she will have an enjoyable and rewarding experience,” said Kent Gale, Katherine’s grandfather and the family patriarch, who ran the organization from the 1950s until 1990.
Kent and his wife Jean were early influences and remain as mentors to their …

BOND New York, Manhattan’s largest independently owned residential rentals and sales brokerage, has announced that Brian Dusseau, has returned to BOND after a short stay at the recently defunct Barak Realty where he was an executive vice president and director of rentals.
Dusseau’s responsibilities as senior vice president at BOND will include managing his team of five agents and corporate relocation.Dusseau has ten years of real estate experience and was previously a managing director of two boutique firms.
In addition he has run brokerage teams at several of New York’s top residential …

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) has negotiated a long-term lease renewal and expansion for health and wellness communications agency Havas Worldwide Health.
 
The deal provides the agency with nearly 170,000 s/f of offices at 200 Madison Ave., enough room to bring together the employees who already occupied a portion of that space with another Havas Worldwide Health division that will relocate to the Madison Avenue address.
“With soaring ceilings and abundant natural light, 200 Madison Ave. has provided an excellent environment for the creative talents at Havas Worldwide Health over the past …

In one of the largest real estate transactions in New Jersey state history, of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) has renewed its 825,000 s/f lease at the 25-story 80 Park Plaza in Newark.
Both the tenant and the landlord, Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II (Wells REIT II), plan to make significant capital and energy efficiency improvements to the building.
Bryn Cinque, an executive managing director of Colliers International New Jersey, and vice chairman Eric Witmondt, represented the tenant in the transaction. John Meisel, of Jones Lang LaSalle, represented the landlord.
“With this single transaction PSEG makes a tremendous statement for the viability of Newark and the state of New Jersey as business-friendly environments and a center of economic activity,” said Robert Martie, executive vice president of the Colliers International New Jersey region. “Transactions of this size and stature are rare, and will help define the future of this city.”