Office Market | The New York Observer

Office Market Martin Luthers

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:50:01 -0500

There’s a prevailing narrative in New York real estate, and it goes something like this: Lehman Brothers’ collapse sent the Manhattan office market into a horrifying and precipitous tailspin. Commercial tenants, fearing for their survival, fled in droves. Months of deathly inactivity followed. Then the fright passed. And the waiting game ensued. Tenants, their brush with the unknown having scared them from profligacy into prudence, waited patiently for the market to bottom. That happened...

Exactly What They Want

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:35:33 -0500

Tiffany & Co., the retailer whose flagship store, packed as it is with precious metals and rare stones, exerts a seemingly magnetic pull on both Fifth Avenue tourist swarms and men seeking to please their bauble-headed brides, is looking for new office space.

The firm is working with brokers at Studley to find more than 200,000 square feet of office space, according to an industry source. We imagine there are countless landlords slavering for the...

The Office Market Arborist

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:06:55 -0500

The Commercial Observer: You’re the president. How’s it feel?
Mr. Falk: It’s really been a lot of fun. I think both internally and externally. Internally, I think people were excited. Someone like myself, who was a broker and started out in the bullpen, is going to be involved in making decisions and leading where the company is going—because I, like them, want certain things, and that’s to have someone who knows what a broker...

Gilding the Lobby Lily

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:21:46 -0500

The frugality fad is fading fast.

Bidders are dropping multimillions on Warhols at Sotheby’s; Goldman Sachs wives are preparing holiday shopping extravaganzas in anticipation of record bonuses; and in the realm of commercial real estate, tenants are spending more than $100 a square foot on office space (in which to hang their newly acquired artwork?).

Right now, an Italian Bank is negotiating for offices atop Mort Zuckerman’s monumental white marble GM Building for more than...

Outside Iran-Linked 650 Fifth, Just Another Rainy Day at the Office

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:40:42 -0500

On a dreary Friday morning at 650 Fifth Avenue, a day after the U.S. government announced it would seize the building because of ownership links to Iran, it was just another day at the office. Most employees who worked there had little reaction to the seizure, and no one reported anything unusual about the building.

“It’s like a normal office building,” said Reggie Mathas, 54, an IT technician for Delta National...

Battle of the Holland Tunnel

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:54:59 -0500

It was Oct. 13, and inside the wood-paneled lobby of the Newport Office Center, which rises like a glass punctuation mark from the Jersey City shore of the Hudson River, Governor Jon Corzine was gleefully announcing a huge score in the Garden State's long-simmering battle with Manhattan for office tenants.

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation had signed a long-term lease to relocate 1,600 of its employees from 55 Water Street in Lower Manhattan to...

The Neighborhood Changer

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:03:37 -0500

Sirio Maccioni, the legendary Le Cirque owner, needed a new location for his restaurant. He asked Henry Kissinger, a regular customer, for advice. The Bloomberg Tower, Dr. Kissinger answered. Le Cirque moved there in 2006.

Such is the deserved luck of the ballyhooed tower at 731 Lexington Avenue-half-luxury condo, as One Beacon Court (owners have included, among others, Johnny Damon of the world champion Yankees, and Beyoncé), and half-office building, as the Bloomberg Tower. The...

Nonprofit Public Interest Projects Splits Downtown for Midtown South

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:21:09 -0500

Public Interest Projects, a nonprofit that provides support to public interest organizations across the country, is joining a growing number of nonprofits in midtown south. Formerly located in downtown Manhattan, the organization signed a 10,000-square-foot lease for the entire sixth floor at 45 West 36th Street.

Michele Lord, PIP’s executive director, noted that the move increases the organization’s office space. The rent—around $31 a square foot—was “optimal,” she said.

“Midtown south market rents are continuing the...

It Depends on What Your Definition of Manufacturing Is

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:27:45 -0500

A software development company is in contract to buy two commercial condominiums in a Time Equities building, and it’s able to do so thanks largely to a bit of lexicographical acrobatics buried deep within the 2009 stimulus plan.
In short, the verb “to manufacture” no longer means what you think it does, at least within the context of the “Nimble: Small Issuance Bond Program,” and that, oddly enough, has bearing on the commercial condominium...

Scotiabank Leaving Lower Manhattan?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:32:13 -0500

Scotiabank may trace its origins to Halifax—a city synonymous with harbors and boundless horizons—and it may have chosen One Liberty Plaza, on the Hudson River, as its longtime New York home, but that doesn’t mean the bank is water-bound.

The Canadian institution has hired CB Richard Ellis broker Bruce Surry to find new offices of about 120,000 square feet, according to industry sources.

Mr. Surry declined to comment on precisely where Scotiabank is looking, or on...

Arena Hardball

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:49:35 -0500

The Commercial Observer: How did Grubb & Ellis brace for the recession when it first came on the horizon?
Mr. Arena: What I’m most proud of is that during this whole period, from last September to today, we have not lost one person here in New York. We didn’t lay a person off. We shared the sacrifice amongst the people in the office. And, to me, that’s our biggest accomplishment. And that’s what differentiates...

Clothier, and So Much More, Rocawear Takes Floor-Plus at 1411 Broadway

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:31:26 -0500

When not producing chart-topping records, putting a ring on multiplatinum divas or investing in basketball teams, Jay-Z is at work on his other dynasty: fashion. Rocawear, the clothing label created by the rapper also known as Shawn Carter, inked a 40,000-square-foot deal at 1411 Broadway. The apparel company will hold down the entire 38th floor as well as part of the 39th.

In 2007, Rocawear was bought for $204 million in cash by Iconix Brand...

Lighting Wizard Fisher Marantz Stone Re-ups in Kaufman’s 22 West 19th

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:13:27 -0500

The lighting and design wizards at Fisher Marantz Stone, known for such pyrotechnics of illumination as the World Trade Center phantom towers and Brooklyn’s psychedelic-infused, color-coordinated Borough Hall, will remain in their 18,300-square-foot studios at 22 West 19th Street. A tenant of the Chelsea building since 1999, Fisher Marantz Stone extended its lease by another eight years.

With lighting designs to his name from Studio 54 in its polyester prime to the Washington Monument’s stark...

Monday’s 230 Park Racks Up Marquee Tenants: Encyclopædia Britannica, Stanley Tools, New York City

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:07:03 -0500

With its gilded pyramidal roof, marble interiors and cast-iron flourishes, 230 Park Avenue, the former Helmsley building, is arguably the most iconic New York building never scaled by a giant ape. Its enduring prominence in the city’s skyline is reflected in its recent acquisition of tenants. Encyclopædia Britannica and Stanley Tools are moving to the building, and the City of New York renewed its lease for the chief judge of the New York Court...

The Imperial Guard

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:52:25 -0500

The last thing Fred Posniak expected to hear when he walked into a regularly scheduled public relations meeting last week was that Malkin Holdings’ prestigious W&H brand of prewar Manhattan properties was on track for a record-shattering year. But in a year that most analysts would describe as positively inert, the portfolio is expected to tally 1 million square feet by the end of December.

To be sure, brokers for the five-year-old brand—which boasts 8...

Katz Picks Another Tenants’ Market to Hunt

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:47:41 -0400

In the remarkably similar real estate climate of 1991, landlord Harry Macklowe went all out to lure Katz Media Group to his new building at 125 West 55th Street, even offering to take on Katz’s remaining 170,000-square-foot lease at One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, though it had five years left on its term.

Katz was sufficiently enticed, and that year signed a lease of about the same size at the glass-clad 55th Street scraper.

Now that Boston...

Mintz Levin Re-ups for 85K Feet in Speyers’ 666 Third

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:28:39 -0400

On the residential front, the world may seem like it’s collapsing for Tishman Speyer (read: Stuyvesant Town), but in its more traditional role as an office landlord, things could be worse.

To wit, attorneys at Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC have signed on for another 14 years of 85,000 square feet at Tishman Speyer’s Chrysler Center at 666 Third Avenue. Mark Weiss, vice chairman of Newmark Knight Frank, represented the law firm...

Win an Office for a Year!

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:50:06 -0400

Yes, that office to the right, or something quite like it, could be yours for a year! For free!

The clever folks at Regus, a company that specializes in short-term office leases, have decided to launch a sweepstakes. The lucky winner will get a choice of office in one of Regus' 18 Manhattan locations for a full year, free of charge.

If this sounds like some cynical cry for attention, well, perhaps it is. But it's...

Insurance Firm Taking Burberry Space at SL Green’s 1350 Sixth

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:57:09 -0400

Commercial insurance brokerage the Krauter Group is moving up the street to 1350 Avenue of the Americas, where it signed a lease for 17,750 square feet. The insurance firm will take the entire 18th floor as well as part of the 19th.

To expedite the deal, landlord SL Green subleased the space from Burberry, the current tenant, for 18 months. The asking rent for the 13-year lease was $65 a square foot, according to Crain’s.

Currently...

Hip Hollister Inks Second Manhattan Location at Crown’s 668 Fifth

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:44:27 -0400

In July, Hollister launched its frenetically hyped flagship store in Soho, a four-story extravaganza of Southern California surfer ethos, complete with bronzed, swimwear-clad sales assistants obsessively folding $70 torn jeans. Apparently, the brand has filled a void in New Yorkers’ up-until-now unbeachy fantasy lives: The Abercrombie & Fitch brand announced it will open a second Manhattan location to tap into the burgeoning market of tween-age New Yorkers.

The 15,500-square-foot, multilevel store at 668 Fifth Avenue,...

Payment Due! Class A Midtown Loans

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:57:05 -0400

As conditions in Manhattan’s commercial market grow grimmer, one question continues to dog investors: Where’s the debt and how can I break me off a piece?

The Manhattan office market dropped 22.9 percent between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009, according to the Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price September Indices, compared to 30.1 percent regionally and 21.2 percent nationally. (The indices track the price changes for commercial real estate in the top 10 U.S. markets...

Amusement Shark

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:21:54 -0400

In June, Six Flags, owner of 20 amusement parks (frankly, the notion of willfully getting on machines that simulate death has never much struck us as particularly “amusing”) across North America, declared bankruptcy.

This bankruptcy wasn’t one of those out-of-the-blue deals. It was what they call a pre-negotiated bankruptcy, the final phase in a plan to restructure Six Flags’ troubled finances and unburden itself of a staggering $1.8 billion in debt.
And so, at the...

Litigious MoFo Looking for 200K Feet

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:32:36 -0400

Morrison & Foerster—the international San Francisco–based law firm that takes a twisted sort of pleasure in its nickname, MoFo (the firm’s URL is mofo.com, just one “s” away from an entirely different kind of Web site)—has hired CB Richard Ellis to find it new office space in Manhattan, according to industry sources.

Right now, Morrison & Foerster is housed in about 160,000 square feet at the utterly vanilla-looking 44-story, 2 million–square–foot tower at 1290 Avenue...

New Finance Firm Takes Prebuilt Space in Sherwood’s 370 Lexington

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:26:46 -0400

In uncertain times following a financial implosion, it is either a terrible time to be a financial consulting firm or the perfect time to start one. Newly formed Boxwood Strategic Advisors is going with the latter option. The firm signed a lease for 3,562 square feet at 370 Lexington Avenue.

After a search consisting of three months, covering upward of 20 properties, Boxwood settled on the Sherwood Equities–owned building, which caters to the particular requirements...

Healthcare Network Moves Its Admin Offices to Moinian’s 60 Madison

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:21:00 -0400

Community Healthcare Network, which provides medical care and services to underserved New York neighborhoods, is shifting its administrative offices down the street to 60 Madison Avenue. The nonprofit signed a 15-year lease for the entire fifth floor.

Community Healthcare Network provides primary and mental health care, along with social services, in schools and community centers in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens. Two mobile health vans make weekly visits to locations throughout the city, providing...

U.N.’s IT Guys Take 24th Floor of 730 Third

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:17:51 -0400

With the looming United Nations Secretariat building about to undergo a $1.9 billion renovation, its legions of diplomats, bureaucrats and support staff are seeking refuge. The tide of office-space demand in a downbeat market is resulting in some East Side real estate shake-ups and a few surprising beneficiaries—namely, the U.N. and its assorted agencies.

One such agency, the United Nations International Computing Center, is taking the 24th floor—8,345 square feet—at 730 Third Avenue, owned by...

Boston Properties Woos Studley to 399 Park for New HQ

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:50:40 -0400

Studley, a leading brokerage specializing in tenant representation, played the tenant itself in a major deal at 399 Park Avenue. The firm is relocating its corporate headquarters to the entire 11th floor of the Boston Properties–owned building, known for its roster of investment houses and high-profile law firms. The 61,000-square-foot location represents a 50 percent upgrade in space from the firm’s current headquarters at 300 Park Avenue, where it has been based for more...

The Peacock Slayer

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:04:23 -0400

When Country-Wide Insurance Company chose to renew its lease in Lower Manhattan last month, the move was shepherded by a close ally.

The lengthy search, which steered the insurance behemoth to Brooklyn and other exotic locales before ending right where it started, was the culmination of a 20-year relationship with Mark Weiss, vice chairman of Newmark Knight Frank.

The alliance first bloomed in 1990, at the behest of Mr. Weiss’ wife, an executive recruiter who had...

Real Estate Titans Gather, Express Commercial Confidence

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:00:06 -0400

Amid increasingly apocalyptic prophecies about the fate of New York’s commercial property market, more than a dozen “Masters of Real Estate” convened at the Metropolitan Club on Tuesday for an eponymous conference hosted by The Observer devoted to making sense of the market’s troubles. The major players appear to have emerged from the recessionary trenches leaner, shell-shocked, and hungry for deals, though some panelists were more upbeat than others about the prospects for...

Memories of the Way We Were … Hopeful Stats a Year Since Lehman

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:30:04 -0400

There are lots of memories—many of them apparently traumatic—in that glass-encased and forever under-heated back room at Michael’s, the midtown power lunch-counter where Cushman & Wakefield executives host quarterly market briefings for the press.

“It’s hard to believe, but it was about a year ago when we came here, and we didn’t know what was going on,” reflected Ken McCarthy, Cushman’s managing director for research, on Tuesday morning.

Mr. McCarthy was right. It kind of is...

WNET Looks to Go Dark at 450 West 33rd Street

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:19:28 -0400

Channel 13 has hired a broker to dispose of its cavernous offices on the far West Side, and to find it new offices that measure roughly half the size of the old ones.

Right now, Channel 13, also known as WNET, produces public TV like Worldfocus and Bill Moyers Journal in its 200,000-square-foot studios and offices within the 1.6 million–square–foot media megalopolis at 450 West 33rd Street, the building that Broadway Partners bought for an...

U.S.D.A. Choice? Muss’ Queens Tower for 10 Years

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:49:20 -0400

That the U.S. Department of Agriculture is relocating its New York office from Manhattan to Queens is less surprising than the news that the federal government maintains a sizable agricultural presence in the city in the first place. Currently based at 201 Varick Street, the agency will move to the entire seventh floor—roughly 18,500 square feet—of the Queens Tower at 88-11 165th Street.

The U.S.D.A., which began accepting bids for new office space last year,...

Sturner Recapitalizes 1412 Broadway

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:41:45 -0400

“We are happy to report that we have concluded the purchase and recapitalization of 1412 Broadway,” began a recent email sent by Murray Hill Properties owner Norman Sturner to his investors.

This is the 400,000-square-foot, Class B garment-district building at 39th Street that Mr. Sturner and his partners bought for $177.5 million in December 2006, right at the height of the frenzied real estate market.

After searching for new investors from within the ranks of New...

Copyright Reps Jump Across Town to Starrett Lehigh Building

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:37:48 -0400

The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, representing the copyrights of artists including Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Andrew Lloyd Weber and, of course, the eponymous duo themselves, is moving across town to the Starrett Lehigh Building at 601 West 26th Street. Previously located at 35 East 21st Street, Rodgers & Hammerstein signed a 14-year lease for 10,382 square feet on the third floor.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II founded the organization in 1944 to represent their...

A Sport of It

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:20:45 -0400

The Commercial Observer: What’s happening right now at Jones Lang LaSalle?
Mr. Riguardi: We’re on a journey as an organization, and we’re on a journey as a group here in New York; and I think they’ve been traveling at pretty parallel courses. For years, people thought Jones Lang LaSalle was a great adviser and provided great information, but they were critical that we weren’t necessarily aggressive enough. Particularly in the brokerage area, they felt...

Insurance Firm Inks 109K-Foot Deal in Trumps’ 40 Wall

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:42:24 -0400

After scouring Lower Manhattan for office space, and even venturing across the East River to check out the compellingly priced digs at Bruce Ratner’s MetroTech (compelling, but not compelling enough), Country-Wide Insurance Company has decided to stay put at 40 Wall Street, signing a long-term lease renewal for a stunning 109,000 square feet in what is a largely moribund downtown market.

(Nota bene: The third-generation, family-owned property-casualty insurance company Country-Wide is entirely distinct from...

The Op-Ed Page: Remember Rockefeller Center!

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:31:11 -0400

Why does every downturn feel like the first time?

New York City has always had a deeply cyclical economy, going back to the first Dutch settlement four centuries ago. But history has also shown that time and again, downturns have laid the foundation for change and, ultimately, have regenerated our city. Historically, those who acted wisely at the bottom of the cycle have looked brilliant at the top.

There are so many examples of...

King Kong Vacancy Gone?

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:09:36 -0400

The New York Times reported that on April 30, 1930, “the roar of the riveting machines” fastening together the steel skeleton of the 1,250-foot Empire State Building were silenced so former New York governor and president of Empire State Inc. Al Smith could address retailers gathered at the James McCreery and Co. Department Store.

“Manhattan Island is in the process of remaking,” Smith told an audience of almost 2,000 people. “It has been, in a...

Reader’s Digest Wants 100K Feet

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:01:46 -0400

Reader’s Digest, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has hired Cushman & Wakefield to find about 100,000 square feet of new office space, according to industry sources.

The media conglomerate, which publishes 94 magazines worldwide, including the eponymous Reader’s Digest, has offices “all over the place,” as one source put it. “All over the place” includes offices in Chappaqua, Westchester, as well as more than 70,000 square feet at the Sapirs’ 260 Madison...

Only in New York! Museum of Vampyric Artifacts Opens Haunted House

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:54:15 -0400

By day, the newest museum in town offers everything a New Yorker might expect—guided tours, worldly artifacts, meticulously curated exhibits. But by night, the exhibits come alive and your tour guide might just turn out to be a vampire. Welcome to the Museum of Vampyric Artifacts (MoVA, for short), the latest incarnation of the annual Nightmare haunted house. This year—the event’s sixth—director Timothy Haskell decided to cash in on the cultural capital of all...

Go for the (LEED) Gold! CS Tang Signs Up at LCOR’s 545 Madison

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:47:38 -0400

Financial services provider CS Tang signed a two-year lease at the newly green-certified 545 Madison Avenue. The 17-story building earned LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council—an honor only 26 other New York buildings can claim.

CS Tang will occupy 3,400 square feet on the eighth floor, becoming the building’s first tenant since it underwent a drastic gut rehabilitation beginning in 2007. The structure was stripped to its frame, then built back up...

GM Picks GM Building

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:28:31 -0400

General Motors’ torturous search for a new home in New York City has finally reached an end. And, oh, what an anticlimactic end it is.

General Motors has signed a 114,300-square-foot, 10-year lease renewal at, you guessed it, Boston Properties’ General Motors Building, at 767 Fifth Avenue, the white-marble shaft that has borne its name since completion in 1968.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

General Motors filed for bankruptcy on June 1, the very day...

Fourth Quarter Calls

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:03:51 -0400

The prospective tenants came one by one until finally, inexplicably even, four financial services companies made bids earlier this summer—all on the same Park Avenue office space.

A hedge fund and a foreign conglomerate are among the firms that have pushed the asking price of the 25,000-square-foot space to more than $100 a foot, said CB Richard Ellis’ managing director, Matt Van Buren.

It all sounds so decadent, so positively bullish, so five years ago, but...

The Center Holds

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:49:38 -0400

The Commercial Observer: What’s happening at Brookfield?

Mr. Clark: We’ve just gone through a period of working to both preserve and enhance our liquidity. We’ve been working through some refinancing, and we did a very large equity raise of over a billion dollars. We did a $200 million preferred shared issue. We did it for two reasons. One, we wanted to have lots of liquidity in order to both make sure the...

Debtor's Prison Holds No Place for Kent Swig: A Bankruptcy Case Study

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:47:20 -0400

On Sept. 15, developer Kent Swig filed an affidavit with the Manhattan Supreme Court in which he claimed, "I cannot, out of my personal proceeds, satisfy a money judgment of $32,432,288.87 without being subject to extreme financial hardship. I do not have access to $28 million in cash or liquid assets and, if the Judgment is enforced against me at this time, I will likely have to file for personal bankruptcy protection. This will...

Canada Wants as Much as 100K Feet

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:08:53 -0400

On Nov. 14, 1997, when the government of Canada opened its brand-new Consulate General offices on the mezzanine and concourse levels of 1251 Avenue of the Americas, the country’s trade minister and two uniformed mounties traveled down south for the occasion.

The Canadians unveiled an 80-square-foot artwork by Inuit artist Irene Avaalaaqiaq, and Mayor Giuliani declared Nov. 14 Canada Day in New York. Or so claims a press release in Lexis Nexis.

Be that as it...

Water Charity Runs Cheaply at Gurals’ 200 Varick

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:02:55 -0400

Scott Harrison, who just five years ago worked as a promoter of posh Manhattan nightclubs and bars, now promotes liquid of a different sort—water, specifically clean water, which one in six people around the world lives without. Mr. Harrison’s nonprofit organization Charity: Water, which develops clean drinking wells in Asia and Africa, signed a lease for 7,800 square feet at 200 Varick Street.

Born after a revelatory trip to Africa, Charity: Water fuses sexy marketing...

Bon Appétit Pops Up on West 57th Street

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:54:47 -0400

The annual Bon Appétit Supper Club & Café, like an ephemeral carnival, returns this week to woo midtown Manhattan with its epicurean delights. A temporary, or pop-up, restaurant–cum–culinary spectacle, 101 West 57th Street will again play host to a rotating cast of international celebrity chefs, how-to demonstrations and Food Network star appearances (followed by obligatory book signings).

Within six weeks each fall, Bon Appétit transforms the 11,600-square-foot space (formerly devoted to a cultural phenomenon at...

Big, Juicy Stake

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:43:54 -0400

Seven months into 2009, SL Green agreed to sell 49.5 percent of its stake in 485 Lexington Avenue for $504.2 million, in one of the biggest trades of a major Manhattan building in more than a year.

Once the deal is approved by SL Green’s mortgage lender, Wachovia, a joint venture between the Israeli technology firm Optibase and its Nigerian partner, Gilmor USA, will assume the company’s $450 million of outstanding debt and extend SL...

The Leasing Boom, Fact From Fiction

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:36:05 -0400

Between bites of soft-shell crab and tempura-battered shrimp at Aureole, the sleek new Charlie Palmer kitchen affixed to the ground floor of One Bryant Park, brokers from the Durst Organization allowed themselves a few celebratory wine toasts.

A clink here for global trading firm Instinet, which signed a deal earlier this month for 107,000 square feet at 1095 Sixth Avenue; and another there, in celebration of the decision by Bank of America to pull 500,000...