NY Observer > Investment Sales

Bank-Developer Relationships Hit The Rocks

Dana Rubinstein — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:18:20 -0400

It's a divorce that may soon dwarf the Brinkley-Cook debacle in ugliness.

The banking industry, pressured by regulators to reduce its exposure to the collapsing real estate market, has been squirming out of its loan obligations to developers, killing projects midstream, according to developers quoted in an article in today's Wall Street Journal:

"As lenders rush to curtail their real-estate exposure and preserve sorely needed capital, they are triggering lawsuits from builders that say the banks have unfairly cut off their construction financing, stopped their projects midstream and forced their companies to the brink of bankruptcy.

'Lender-liability lawsuits are coming. It's only just beginning,' says Michael Hackard, a lawyer in Sacramento, Calif. read more »

Three's A Trend! Commercial Real Estate Prices Drop Third Consecutive Month

Dana Rubinstein — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:18:58 -0400

Soon, we'll be as blase about the bad economic news as we were -- oh so recently -- about the good news.

But not yet. On today's downbeat wire, Reuters reports that, "Commercial real estate prices fell 3.5 percent in May, the biggest drop since at least December 2000, as a slowing economy took a toll on property values, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday."

"Commercial real estate prices, as measured by Moody's/REAL Commercial Property Price Index, are down 5.7 percent from a year earlier and 8.8 percent from their peak in October 2007, Moody's said in a report.

May's decline marked three straight months of negative returns for the index, Moody's said in a report."

For more on this dispiriting development, click here.

New York Most 'Alluring' U.S. City For Foreign Investors

Dana Rubinstein — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:35:38 -0400

At least Australians can afford property in New York City!

The comparative weakness of the dollar and the tanking American economy, coupled with New York City's international cache, have made New York top dog among American cities in its ability to soak up the international real estate dollars, according to Forbes.

The other cities in the top 10 -- which is based on an annual Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate Survey -- include: 10-Orlando; 9-Phoenix; 8-Las Vegas; 7-Chicago; 6-Boston; 5-Seattle; 4-San Francisco; 3-Los Angeles; and 2-Washington, D.C.

According to the article: read more »

New York holds the top spot, but not because of the much celebrated pied-à-terre buyers in Manhattan using the weak dollar to buy into pricey neighborhoods, a trend that has flattened out, says Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a New York appraisal firm.

Wimbledon Sells For $150 M. (The Apartment Complex, Silly)

Dana Rubinstein — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:18:57 -0400

On June 25, as tennis lovers raptly followed the progress of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Serena Williams and her sister Venus on the grass courts in England, a separate Wimbledon drama was happening stateside.

That day, JP Morgan Investment Management closed on the purchase of The Wimbledon from P&H Associates. The building, a 28-story, 230-unit apartment complex at 200 East 82nd Street on the Upper East Side, sold for $150 million.

“The credit crunch has taken its toll on the multifamily market in Manhattan over the last year, with very few transactions completed, but the sale of The Wimbledon ─ at such a strong pricing level ─ verifies there is still a market for prominent buildings with strong fundamentals,” said Jubeen Vaghefi, a managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle, in a statement. read more »

Haim Beats The Buzzer On Lipstick Building

Tom Acitelli — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:18:08 -0400

Haim Revah and partners "emerged unscathed in their refinancing of the iconic Lipstick Building, a New York office tower it bought near the top of the market in 2007 for $607 million," the Wall Street Journal reports this morning.

Mr. Revah's Metropolitan Real Estate Investors and partners had a $60 million loan from Goldman Sachs due July 10, tomorrow. The partners were able to refinance, however, and reduce the principal owed the banking giant.

The Lipstick Building, at 885 Third Avenue, is nearly full, the Journal notes, though a small space remains available on the 33rd floor.

Harry Winston Sells Flagship Store to Paramount For $62 M.

Dana Rubinstein — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:44:37 -0400

Ronald Winston, son of the founder of the eponymous Harry Winston jewelers, has sold the firm's flagship building at 718 Fifth Avenue for $62 million, according to city records.

Paramount Group, which made the purchase, is apparently on a shopping spree that would make even Harry proud. Albert Behler's Paramount is apparently snapping up 1301 Avenue of the Americas, the Credit Lyonnais Building, for a staggering $1.5 billion.

Neither Paramount Group's spokeswoman nor the spokesperson for Harry Winston could be reached for comment.

Tumble! Manhattan Investment Sales Plunge In '08

Tom Acitelli — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:04:19 -0400

Over $13.8 billion in Manhattan investment sales closed or went under contract in the first six months of 2008, a precipitous drop from the $34 billion in sales volume done in the first six months last year. Nearly half of this 2008 volume came via foreign investors.

The numbers come from brokerage Cushman & Wakefield's latest quarterly Manhattan market report, released this morning during a breakfast at Midtown power eatery Michael's.

The dismal investment sales numbers--which cover building, property and portfolio sales--aren't a surprise, really. Nor is the increase in the amount of foreign investment (it accounted for maybe 12 to 15 percent of investment sales in previous six-month periods). read more »

If You Want To Know How Valuable New York Real Estate Is...

Tom Acitelli — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:17:58 -0400

... Look at real estate in other American cities. And what better cities for comparison than the nation's second and third largest?

Tribune Company potentate Sam Zell is considering selling the Chicago Tribune Tower and the Times Mirror Square complex, home of the Los Angeles Times. He could get as much as $150 million for the Tribune Tower and $235 million for the Times Mirror compex, The Wall Street Journal reports.

A little perspective: Were the 950,000-square-foot Tribune Tower in Manhattan, it would likely fetch as much as $1,000 a square foot, even in this current, rather bearish market. That means Mr. Zell could get nearly $1 billion from its sale. In Chicago, he's lucky if he gets 15 percent of that.

Just sayin'.

Zuckerman Would Be Crazy To Run for Mayor, Zuckerman Says

Tom Acitelli — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:26:16 -0400

Boston Properties chairman Mort Zuckerman appeared on Fox Business Channel on Wednesday. He talked about his record buy of the GM Building, the development at the World Trade Center site, and the foreign investment in city real estate. He also, apropos of nothing (as far as we can tell), took himself out of the 2009 mayoral campaign:

“If you ever hear anybody or me talking about that, you have the right to send me to a serious shrink.”
read more »

Chasing The Why of The GM Building Deal

Tom Acitelli — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:27:20 -0400

My colleague Dana Rubinstein has inside details about the record GM Building deal in today's Observer.

The Wall Street Journal asks the burning question: Why did Mort Zuckerman and partners pay so much for a tower where most of the leases are locked in for several more years? read more »