The New York City District Council of Carpenters union has approved a contract that will help members rake in nearly $100 per hour and well over $200,000 annually in wages and benefits by 2017.

Members of the union approved the new five-year contract with the Association of Wall-Ceiling and Carpentry Industries last week (Wednesday), passing the deal by a majority vote of 60 to 26.

“This contract is about saving jobs and increasing wages for thousands of hardworking New Yorkers in a time when the industry is suffering, non-union contractors are on the rise and everybody else is taking cutbacks,” said Michael Bilello, executive secretary treasurer of the New York City District Council of Carpenters.

Cushman & Wakefield, the world’s largest privately held commercial real estate services firm, yesterday (Tuesday) reported positive earnings performance.
As the company continues to execute “strategic growth initiativesˮ and expand its platform, consolidated gross revenue was up 3.2 percent and consistent with prior year quarter.
Despite continuing uncertainty in global economic environment, operating income and earnings before interest grew 5.9 percent. And net income improved $4.6 million to $6.8 million.
“In the first half of 2012, we made significant progress in executing our long-term strategic plan, investing in quality talent and positioning ourselves …

Shaun Henderson, a 40-year veteran of commercial real estate development known for his contributions to Benenson Capital Partners, has launched his own firm, Henderson Capital Advisors.
The firm will provide investors with consulting and advisory services to help conceive and execute asset enhancement programs for office, retail, industrial and multifamily properties.
“It has always been my dream to build a company of my own, and follow the inspiration provided by the Benenson Family to create a flourishing company that makes a real contribution to the business and civic worlds,” said Henderson, …

CompassRock is a subsidiary of CW Financial Services. The change will be effective September 1, 2012.

Rose Associates was appointed by the property’s receiver to manage the 11,200-apartment complex after former owner Tishman Speyer handed back the keys when it defaulted on its over $6 billion mortgage.

Adam R. Rose, co-president ofthe company, said, “It has been extremely gratifying to have spent two years increasing the professionalism of property management at PCVST on behalf of our client, CWCapital Asset Management. We are confident that CompassRock will continue this trend to the benefit of residents, staff, and visitors.”

By Howard Rubin
Goetz Fitzpatrick
A common tale of woe I hear from brokers is that they acted on an open listing by introducing a property to a potential buyer and the buyer eventually buys the property but the broker is frozen out of a commission.
These cases can be difficult to prosecute because there is usually no writing to support the broker’s claim that they were the procuring cause of the transaction. This is a fact pattern that can be avoided by a broker who makes proper use of …

Just under half on the nation’s metorpolitan areas have seen construction jobs shrivel, according to a new report.
Construction employment declined in 165 out of 337 metropolitan areas between July 2011 and July 2012, increased in 123 and was stagnant in 49, according to the analysis of federal employment data released yesterday (Tuesday) by the Associated General Contractors of America.
Construction employment in New York state fell two percent, with the loss of 6,800 jobs, according to the survey. In New Jersey it was down six percent, or 8,200 jobs lost in …

Lennar Urban broke ground on a new 74-unit condo building on a Weehawken’s Hudson River waterfront last week.
The new building will be the first of five Lennar has planned for the property.
Known as The Avenue Collection, the buildings will encompass luxury, for-sale condos.The first building, 1000 Avenue at Port Imperial, will be located in the heart of the $2 billion master-planned Port Imperial community which stretches for two miles and across three towns along the Hudson River “It’s a beautiful day for us to begin the next stage of the …

By David Jo

Mohan “Johnny” Lal, a vice president at Citi Habitats, started selling early.
Growing up in Kartarpur Punjab, India, as a son of a furniture merchant, he recalls the highlight of his childhood as when he sold his first piece of furniture at the age of 11. “I learned some sale techniques in my childhood,” Lal says.
In 1985 at age 18, Lal came New York to take a two-week course in real estate at New York University. He was following the advice of a relative who was a broker in India, …

HAVE YOUR HEARD ….
HALSTEAD PROPERTY clients are looking at properties in a whole new way.
Through a partnership with Drone Helicopter Imagery, Halstead’s high-end suburban listings now feature ultra-high resolution photographs from bird’s-eye angles, captured by a camera mounted on a remote-control helicopter.
The photos allow the consumer to take in the scope of land, the accurate size of the home, and the beauty of its architecture, according to the company.
 
THE Residences at 400 Fifth continued with a sporting theme last weekend with a welcome party for a group of tennis pros
Chinese …

New York City logged impressive high-tech services job growth over the past two years; but in Midtown South, the industry failed to achieve the colossal rent growth seen among its west coast counterparts.

The city’s high-tech jobs — defined as those that involve mobile, search, social, cloud computing software and service technologies — grew 22 percent between Q2 2010 and Q2 2012, second only to San Francisco, where jobs grew 41 percent, a new report from CBRE shows.