Leading Marcus & Milichap broker Peter Von Der Ahe and his team are joining Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a national institutional apartment advisory and brokerage firm.

“Peter and his team will play a critical role in the expansion of our national platform through his New York-based client relationships and in our further penetration of the vast New York market locally,” said IPA national director Brian Murdy.

IPA was formed just over two years ago as a special division of Marcus & Millichap dedicated to serving the needs of institutional and major private investors.

Former Corcoran Sunshine executive vice president Dan August Cordeiro has launched a new real estate venture that his website says is “just betterˮ than anything else out there.
HotelHomes.com is a directory and information source on hotel-branded residences worldwide.
The site, launched by Cordeiro in the U.S. and Europe, includes a global property guide of 200 hotel branded developments in more than 30 countries.
“Hotel-branded residences are just like other forms of residential property, just better,ˮ says the website. “They are typically located in the same building or resort as a luxury hotel …

Gruzen Samton · IBI Group announced the opening of a new 145,000 s/f facility for The Abraham Joshua Heschel School on West End Avenue and 61st Street in Manhattan.
Classes began in September 2012 and the Opening Celebration took place on December 9, 2012.
Gruzen Samton · IBI Group  designed a new nine story building that allows Heschel’s Early Childhood Facility, Lower School and Middle School to relocate from the Upper West Side and unite with its existing High School to create a single campus.
In addition to a variety of general and specialized …

Hackensack University Medical Center (HackensackUMC) has awarded a contract to utiliVisor for energy monitoring and optimization services for the hospital’s central boiler plant.
The project is being performed under a carbon abatement program offered by PSE&G in New Jersey.
The PSE&G Hospital Efficiency Program is a $129 million initiative that will fund installation of energy conservation measures at some 35 hospitals in the utility’s service territory.
Through the program, PSE&G provides an investment-grade audit at no cost to the customer, then proposes various cost effective energy conservation measures that make a substantial impact …

Developer Larry Silverstein has just bought a building that he once couldn’t afford to eat in.

The 81-year-old WTC builder announced today he has partnered with Fisher Brothers, Capstone Equities, Migdal Insurance Company and Arkin Holdings, to buy the Beekman Tower in Midtown Manhattan. The sale price was $82 million, according to sources.

“The first time I visited the Beekman was on a date in 1955 with my fiancé Klara,” said SIlverstein.

Columbia University Medical Center last week unveiled its newest medical facility, filled at a pace that demonstrates demand for specialized office facilities.

ColumbiaDoctors inked a lease for 125,000 s/f at 51 West 51st Street in Midtown with landlord Vornado in October 2011.

It took 15 months to built out the property that will house 200 doctors in a variety of specialties allowing the hospital to serve 20 percent more patients per year, according to the university.

Savanna, the New York-based real estate private equity and asset management firm, announced that it completed 71 leasing transactions in its New York City portfolio in 2012, totaling over 500,000 s/f.
“These leases are indicative of the level of service and investment associated with Savanna’s properties across our New York City portfolio, as evidenced by the growing number of lease renewals, expansions and new leases. We thank the brokerage community for their continued support in these transactions and look forward to working together in 2013,” said Nicholas Bienstock, Managing Partner at …

The Fashion District showroom property, 530 Seventh Avenue, ended the year on a high note with five major, national and international fashion companies committing to over 8,000 s/f of space in December alone.
The fashion tenants signed direct leases, or renewed and expanded their lavish showrooms at the prominent Fashion District tower owned by Savitt Partners.
In the largest transaction, contemporary fashion company Hybrid Promotions renewed its 2,400 s/f lease and added 1,100 s/f of showroom space for its growing operations.
The Savitt Partners’ team of Marc Schoen and Michael Schoen represented Hybrid …

Related Companies has unveiled four commissioned works by painter Derek Reist at 1214 Fifth Avenue, a 53-story rental tower located along Museum Mile in Upper Carnegie Hill.
Reist’s work will be permanently displayed in the building’s recently completed lobby.
Known for his unique handling of light and shadow, his work is in numerous private collections and corporate collections including the Milton Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins, General Mills, UBS, Pfizer and the International Peace Academy.
Daria Salusbury senior vice president and head of luxury leasing operations for Related Companies, the building’s exclusive leasing …

The Durst Organization announced the completion of a lobby upgrade and the installation of Leo Villareal’s “Volume (Durst), 2013” at 1133 Avenue of the Americas.
The eight-month multi-million dollar lobby renovations, overseen by the architecture firm Gensler, includes new elevator cabs with destination dispatch, LED energy efficient lighting, new lobby desk, terrazzo floors, portals, fire alarm, turnstiles and lobby concessions and newsstands.
The 1.1 million square foot, 45-story Emery Roth & Sons designed building was completed by The Durst Organization in 1970 and its Modernist lines heralded the transformation of Sixth Avenue …